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Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit

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Re: Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit

#61

Post by postflopclarity »

ikeboy wrote: post #24
ceejayoz wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have overincarceration and underincarceration simultaneously. Some who are in jail should not be. Some who aren't in jail should be. If I locked you up for a month over a meme, I'd go to jail for years.

The system needs to change so pursuing frivolous or weak charges doesn't work. We also need to reform bail, which has gone way outside of historical/constitutional norms. Turning it into an escalating back and forth of each side trying to imprison the other, is not conducive to the kind of change we need. To take a recent example, while I don't particularly like James Comey or Letitia James, I don't think they should…

> each side trying to imprison the other,

you're implying that the two sides are morally and legally equivalent, and both are just engaging in retaliatory squabbling. that is a ridiculous implication

one "side" routinely flaunts the law, steals from the public, abuses and ignores the courts, and has a complete disregard for civil rights, legal procedure, and credibility. it uses the DoJ as a personal henchman, stringing up frivolous charges targeted at political enemies.

the other "side" is trying to enforce the law.

Re: Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit

#62

Post by ceejayoz »

russdill wrote: post #50
josefritzishere wrote: post #5

A judgement isn't enough. Those behind the warrant should be in prison, and fined personally. The tax payers of Tennessee shouldn't have to foot the bill for their malfeasance.

So the taxpayers should not face accountability for who they elect?

Did this guy campaign on "I'll violate the First Amendment" or something?

What level of taxpayer due dilligence are you envisioning here?

Re: Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit

#63

Post by ikeboy »

malfist wrote: post #29
gdilla wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that is literally the way. these maga law breakers need accountability. They got off scott free for j6. we're still fighting the civil war and white fragility because they suffered no consequences the last time.

Not just scott free, but they might be getting a million dollars each from tax payers due to that asinine "settlement" from Trump suing the government.

This is another example of the kind of partisan thinking I'm criticizing.

It's nearly impossible to get paid for malicious prosecution by the federal government. Read up on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyde_Amendment_(1997)

>A 2010 investigation by USA Today "found the law has left innocent people... coping not only with ruined careers and reputations but with heavy legal costs. And it hasn't stopped federal prosecutors from committing misconduct or pursuing legally questionable cases."[5] The investigation "documented 201 cases in the years since the law's passage in which federal judges found that Justice Department prosecutors violated laws or ethics rules. Although those represent a tiny fraction of the tens of thousands of federal criminal cases filed each year, the problems were so grave that judges dismissed indictments, reversed convictions or rebuked prosecutors for misconduct. Still, USA Today found only 13 cases in which the government paid anything toward defendants' legal bills. Most people never seek compensation. Most who do end up emptyhanded."[5]

The case in OP would never have settled if it was against the federal government rather than a state. Also, the feds cap the amount paid for wrongful imprisonment at $50k/year, by statute.

We need a way to make the federal government pay out for malicious prosecution cases, just as OP got paid.

See e.g. Douglass Mackey. He posted some misleading memes on Twitter about the election, falsely claiming that people could vote by text, and got arrested and found guilty at trial until eventually the 2nd circuit said that what he did wasn't a crime. Should he be compensated? Should the prosecutor and judge in his case face their own criminal prosecutions?

Re: Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit

#64

Post by ceejayoz »

ikeboy wrote: post #63
malfist wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not just scott free, but they might be getting a million dollars each from tax payers due to that asinine "settlement" from Trump suing the government.

This is another example of the kind of partisan thinking I'm criticizing. It's nearly impossible to get paid for malicious prosecution by the federal government. Read up on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyde_Amendment_(1997) >A 2010 investigation by USA Today "found the law has left innocent people... coping not only with ruined careers and reputations but with heavy legal costs. And it hasn't stopped federal prosecu…

> It's nearly impossible to get paid for malicious prosecution by the federal government.

We'll see. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-...

> See e.g. Douglass Mackey. He posted some misleading memes on Twitter about the election, falsely claiming that people could vote by text, and got arrested and found guilty at trial until eventually the 2nd circuit said that what he did wasn't a crime. Should he be compensated? Should the prosecutor and judge in his case face their own criminal prosecutions?

"falsely claiming" is a pretty big distinction between these cases, yes?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglass_Mackey says he got off, in part, because no one provably fell for his trick, not that the behavior was legal.

Re: Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit

#65

Post by trollbridge »

quickthrowman wrote: post #60
bko wrote: post #51

Reminds me of Douglass Mackey, who was convicted for sharing deceptive memes before the 2016 election that falsely told Clinton supporters they could vote by text message. He was sentenced to 7 months in federal prison in 2023.

There’s a large difference between tampering with an election by spreading misinformation (illegal) and posting a picture that expresses an opinion (free speech)

Well, his conviction was eventually overturned on appeal.

Re: Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit

#66

Post by Filligree »

ceejayoz wrote: post #14
lotsofpulp wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you live through the stress of a legal case with unknown legal costs and unknown incarceration time for that amount of money?

No. I'm just saying said amount seems fair from the monetary side of this case's specifics. (And let's face it, the outcome here was guaranteed, and the inevitable settlement was always gonna include attorney fees or be done pro-bono.)

The outcome wasn't guaranteed; that's the scary part. If Trump had decided to take a hand then it could have been drawn out for months at a minimum.

Re: Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit

#67

Post by lokar »

Arubis wrote: post #54
contubernio wrote: post #28

The sheriff that arrested him should face criminal charges for misuse of authority. That he doesn't reflects a structural weakness in US law. In most European legal systems a law enforcement officer overstepping his legal authority would face criminal charges for it.

In a sane, fair, and (crucially) long-term stable system, persons given privilege and authority over others are subject to a higher standard for their own behavior. The long-running US trend of the inverse (additional legal protections for positions of authority) is incredibly destructive. This is a moral and values judgment, yes, but it's not just that -- it communicates to the population at large that they should f…

The death penalty should be reserved for people who violate a position of public trust and authority.

Re: Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit

#68

Post by pibaker »

arein3 wrote: post #19

Thank god 1st amendment works. But it should not get paid from taxpayer money, instea the offending officer ahould pay it

In a democracy the populace should in fact bear the consequence of their own government's actions.

Try electing more sensible politicians and put more checks and balances into work to stop this from happening again if you don't want your tax money wasted on this.

Re: Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit

#69

Post by cvoss »

arein3 wrote: post #19

Thank god 1st amendment works. But it should not get paid from taxpayer money, instea the offending officer ahould pay it

No, I think the government paying is right. It wasn't just the offending officer acting alone that led to the gross mistreatment of this man. The officer was working within the context of a system of local government that ought to have righted the wrong on its own. But the man had to appeal to the federal government to get it righted. The fact that the system lacked enough accountability to avoid or fix this wrong shows that more than just the one officer is the problem.

Thus, the appropriate remedy should put pressure on the conduct of the whole local government, whose use of tax-payer funds is accountable to the electorate. Punishing just the one officer by depleting his private resources won't move toward systemic reform.

And finally, on the principle of the matter, the officer can't and doesn't jail people on his own power and private authority as a citizen. He does so on the power and authority of the government that grants him his office. His actions as a private citizen did not harm the man. His public actions as an agent of the government harmed the man. In other words, the government did wrong, through the officer.

Re: Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit

#70

Post by amanaplanacanal »

malfist wrote: post #29
gdilla wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that is literally the way. these maga law breakers need accountability. They got off scott free for j6. we're still fighting the civil war and white fragility because they suffered no consequences the last time.

Not just scott free, but they might be getting a million dollars each from tax payers due to that asinine "settlement" from Trump suing the government.

Was there an actual judge in this case? If so, that judge should never have approved this settlement. Of all the horrifying things this administration has done, this one is near the top of the list.
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