Zoom court hearing postponed after accused found in same location as witness • Hacker News Board

Re: Zoom court hearing postponed after accused found in same location as witness

#41

Post by Hackwar » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 6:28 PM UTC

jdavis703 wrote: post #14

dheera wrote: post #6

> “Um, I’m at a house,” [NAME] said, with hesitation, giving a [STREET NAME] address in [CITY]. This should NOT have been publicized. There is enough information in the above sentence that I was able to Google for her exact address. This is a gross danger to violence victims.

The other solution seems to be endangering the general public by opening the courts in a pandemic or to start having secret courts. Neither are particularly compelling. Far less people were assaulted in the US than died of coronavirus, and even fewer were assaulted for witness intimidation. And a secret court is obviously bad for a rules based democracy.

You can censor live events for nuisances like strong language or nudity, but you can't protect the privacy of victims? You would be absolutely astonished, how many women are intimidated/assaulted each year. The infection rates of covid pale against that.

Re: Zoom court hearing postponed after accused found in same location as witness

#42

Post by dylan604 » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 6:28 PM UTC

regulation_d wrote: post #7

inetknght wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. The court handled this quickly and appropriately. I don't see a reason to lose one's privacy.

obviously the question is, are there cases of witness intimidation that aren't being caught?

short answer, yes. as long as there are "bad guys" willing to do anything to stay out of jail, witness intimidation will occur as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow.

Re: Zoom court hearing postponed after accused found in same location as witness

#43

Post by liquidise » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 6:32 PM UTC

I found my way to court feeds (namely Judge Middleton's[1]) during Covid. Incidentally i'm listening to Aug 19's proceedings now. Seeing these specific clips go viral feels like a microcosm of modern consumption habits.

There is so much to learn about the legal system and, more broadly, about the nature of people in trying circumstances watching court proceedings. The pureness of exchanges and the total lack of editorial bias is refreshing and too hard to find these days.

I have a theory that if more people watched court proceedings (daily misdemeanor, not just OJ/Floyd cutups), political opinions might shift toward humanizing both the accused and the victims.

1: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS8gM5S889oBPyN6K07ZC6A/vid...

Re: Zoom court hearing postponed after accused found in same location as witness

#44

Post by leephillips » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 6:34 PM UTC

jaywalk wrote: post #22

dheera wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It allows more people to go and attack her, and opens the door to much more violence in the future. Now instead of 1 predator knowing where she lives there are a million. Is that good? Transcripts should redact addresses and contact information.

Your thought process is wild. I honestly cannot see where you're coming from.

I’m baffled, myself. Everyone lives somewhere. I don’t see how knowing someone’s address creates a hazard from random people. If a lunatic wants to assault someone he can kick in a random door. In the case of someone, say, testifying against the mob or against a violent person who doesn’t already know where she lives, sure.

Re: Zoom court hearing postponed after accused found in same location as witness

#45

Post by ryandrake » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 6:43 PM UTC

sovietmudkipz wrote: post #11

I have seen this video before this HN post. There is a follow up video depicting our antagonist from a jail. He loses his temper and is put on mute. You can see from his body language how distressed he is. It disturbed me greatly. This young man appears to be able to go from 0 to 100 very quickly with little self control. I can only imagine the kind of environment that helps create a person like that… It is so sad.

> This young man appears to be able to go from 0 to 100 very quickly with little self control.

Maybe this is Captain Obvious speaking, but poor impulse control seems like the single common denominator among a whole load of social ills that consistently land people in trouble (legal, financial, social, across lots of spectrums). From crimes of opportunity/passion, to short-tempers and "blowing up" on people in public or private, to impulse shopping, to road rage, to everything you see on r/PublicFreakout, and so on. Seems that some people just entirely miss that part of their upbringing, and suffer needlessly for it for the rest of their lives.

EDIT: This thread took a wild turn. I guess I never considered there might be a genetic or environmental explanation. Much food for thought!

Re: Zoom court hearing postponed after accused found in same location as witness

#46

Post by jdavis703 » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 6:43 PM UTC

dheera wrote: post #20

djbebs wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No parr of the justice system should be hidden from view. If its too dangerous to be made public, its not important enough to be used.

I disagree. I strongly think the justice system should be first and foremost protecting victims and not exposing them to more harm. That would encourage victims to not bring wrongdoings to trial in fear of their personal info being exposed. If someone is convicted, then yeah, go ahead and put them on a sex offender registry with their address. Loss of privacy is a consequence of their actions. That's justice. But god…

Everyone should be treated equally in the court. A court that prioritizes the victim is barely batter than having a system based on vigilante justice.

Re: Zoom court hearing postponed after accused found in same location as witness

#47

Post by kryogen1c » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 6:43 PM UTC

jaywalk wrote: post #22

dheera wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It allows more people to go and attack her, and opens the door to much more violence in the future. Now instead of 1 predator knowing where she lives there are a million. Is that good? Transcripts should redact addresses and contact information.

Your thought process is wild. I honestly cannot see where you're coming from.

you're just ignorant. this is something all famous people and public figures understand. once you hit a certain threshold for volume of people, some of them are guaranteed to be aberrant, violent, and/or unstable. it doesnt have anything to do with who you are or what you've done (although you can certainly attract more if you try) - at least 1 person has a serious problem with you.

the specifics here matter too. court cases are adversarial and high-stakes. the court-going population isnt as stable as the general population.

Re: Zoom court hearing postponed after accused found in same location as witness

#48

Post by dheera » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 6:44 PM UTC

leephillips wrote: post #44

jaywalk wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your thought process is wild. I honestly cannot see where you're coming from.

I’m baffled, myself. Everyone lives somewhere. I don’t see how knowing someone’s address creates a hazard from random people . If a lunatic wants to assault someone he can kick in a random door. In the case of someone, say, testifying against the mob or against a violent person who doesn’t already know where she lives, sure.

That just means that you're lucky to not have been at the receiving end of this.

"Lunatics" don't usually kick down random doors, in the vast majority of cases. They usually have a targeted person in mind, and they stalk that target. They may even be associated with a former perpetrator that is already behind bars. Courts posting the victim's residential address on the internet is not helpful to their safety, yet the law's biggest responsibility should be to keep innocent people safe.

Re: Zoom court hearing postponed after accused found in same location as witness

#49

Post by jdavis703 » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 6:45 PM UTC

Hackwar wrote: post #41

jdavis703 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other solution seems to be endangering the general public by opening the courts in a pandemic or to start having secret courts. Neither are particularly compelling. Far less people were assaulted in the US than died of coronavirus, and even fewer were assaulted for witness intimidation. And a secret court is obviously bad for a rules based democracy.

You can censor live events for nuisances like strong language or nudity, but you can't protect the privacy of victims? You would be absolutely astonished, how many women are intimidated/assaulted each year. The infection rates of covid pale against that.

Roughly 300,000 people were assaulted in 2019 (last year of uniform crime stats from the FBI). The annualized amount of COVID-19 death is about 400,000.

Re: Zoom court hearing postponed after accused found in same location as witness

#50

Post by Sohcahtoa82 » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 6:48 PM UTC

leephillips wrote: post #44

jaywalk wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your thought process is wild. I honestly cannot see where you're coming from.

I’m baffled, myself. Everyone lives somewhere. I don’t see how knowing someone’s address creates a hazard from random people . If a lunatic wants to assault someone he can kick in a random door. In the case of someone, say, testifying against the mob or against a violent person who doesn’t already know where she lives, sure.

You underestimate the amount of crazy living on the internet.

There are a lot of misogynistic incels that think most women claiming to be abused are lying. I could easily see one of them being crazy enough to SWAT her in retaliation.

Is it likely? Probably not. But considering we've had mass shooters who have cited their inceldom as their motive, it's certainly not outside the realm of possibility.