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The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life

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Re: The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life

#351

Post by ericecook »

doktrin wrote: post #339
code_duck wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A Facebook post out of context, heck... you could doctor the HTML using browser dev tools to make anyone appear to say anything at all on Facebook.

For those more familiar with legal proceedings : Was the defense not able to submit the IM context themselves? The conclusion seems to be that it would basically exonerate him, so why could they not disclose it? The article goes so far as to mention the context "hasn't surfaced". Why on earth not? Is this because Facebook refuses to release the IM history?

IANAL, but maybe they are denying he wrote the comments

Re: The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life

#352

Post by yourapostasy »

nopassrecover wrote: post #26

> Until that point, his only brush with the law was a temporary restraining order two years earlier. > "He started threatening me, saying that he would kill me. ... I told the school officers, [and] they started watching him really closely. He would say that he would shoot up the school." So I'll start by playing Devil's Advocate very briefly. It's interesting how facts can be shaped with different language ("his onl…

Can you please link to the indictment you saw (which the grand jury also saw and true billed)? I couldn't find it with a quick glance at the Comal County Court at Law Portal (I only found a Register of Actions).

Re: The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life

#353

Post by nopassrecover »

yourapostasy wrote: post #352
nopassrecover wrote: post #26

> Until that point, his only brush with the law was a temporary restraining order two years earlier. > "He started threatening me, saying that he would kill me. ... I told the school officers, [and] they started watching him really closely. He would say that he would shoot up the school." So I'll start by playing Devil's Advocate very briefly. It's interesting how facts can be shaped with different language ("his onl…

Can you please link to the indictment you saw (which the grand jury also saw and true billed)? I couldn't find it with a quick glance at the Comal County Court at Law Portal (I only found a Register of Actions).

I'm only referring to this article where they make that claim and a brief google of other news articles where they make the same claim. It's quite possible the journalists have all made factual errors - I can't find the indictment either but I just assumed indictments aren't usually public.

Re: The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life

#354

Post by oskarth »

mcv wrote: post #346
oskarth wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Don't make threats if you don't intend to follow up on them. Hello, Thought Police. It wasn't a threat. It was a series of tasteless jokes. The consequences aren't even remotely proportional. You know what would be proportional? Someone calling him out for being tasteless, or perhaps even unfriend him, or report the abuse to Facebook so he had to tone it down. It's scary that people think this kind of "justice" is…

> It wasn't a threat. It was a series of tasteless jokes. It's a joke that looks a lot like a threat. And threats aren't funny. The arrest was not disproportional. The corruption that happened after the arrest was of course totally crazy and wrong, but the police investigating threats is not wrong. The problem here is that they didn't really investigate it; they just tried to get him convicted by any means possible.…

By your logic, all of the following statements should lead to an arrest:

I'm gonna have to kill someone if I don't get to sleep soon.

You make me so mad I want to kill you!

If these kids don't calm down you'll have to restrain me so I don't kill one.

A: If they don't budge on this soon we'll have to consider some other options. B: What about kidnapping?

Plus a bunch of comedian, talk-show hosts and other free-spoken people. A joke is a joke; it's not an action and it's not a plan to action. It's irrelevant whether you personally find it funny or not.

If one would give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest man, I would find something in them to have him hanged. - Cardinal Richelieu

Please reconsider the consequences of what you are proposing.

Re: The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life

#355

Post by cgdangelo »

>Prosecutors say they don't have the entire thread — instead, they have three comments on a cell-phone screenshot.

There's so many things that make this situation _ridiculous_, but this takes the cake. I would have thought that in a case dealing with a few sentences, the full context of those sentences would be important.

I've been aware of this story for a while now and it always boggled my mind. But after reading this, there's some very troubling things going on that I didn't even know about.

Hope he can get out from under all this, recover, and move on with his life.

Re: The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life

#356

Post by zacinbusiness »

zacinbusiness wrote: post #13
billyjobob wrote: post #9

Wow, I didn't realise US police were that bad. After reading this I don't think I could ever feel safe enough to visit the US. Sounds like you'd have a better chance of getting justice in an African dictatorship where at least the dont-rape-me bribe would be affordable. Tourists really should be warned about this, because it's not the image the US tourist boards present to us at all.

Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia - fear these places.

And add Kansas to the list: http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2014/02/13/kansas_anti_ga...
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