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I was falsely arrested

iwasfalselyarrested.com

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Re: I was falsely arrested

#81

Post by brazzledazzle »

golergka wrote: post #67
brazzledazzle wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that shot of the person's face is from a video of the incident that person is not him. Yes, there's lossy compression applied but that don't make someone's nose into a completely different nose. Healthy skepticism is good but the only thing worth questioning here is if that shot is in fact real–something that could only be evaluated if they released the tape. But since they're not exactly going out of their way to…

> If that shot of the person's face is from a video of the incident that person is not him. Yes, but as far as we know, it's just a picture on the internet.

Is this healthy skepticism you're displaying? I regret that I'm bringing your motivations into question but given that we know his case was dropped because witnesses recanted after seeing said photo of the surveillance video I'm not entirely sure why you're pressing this.

Re: I was falsely arrested

#82

Post by [deleted] »

coldtea wrote: post #79
justathrow2k wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, I hope I'm using this term correctly, but it seems like you're building a straw man here. I certainly never made the claim that everyone has the same experience and outlook regardless of race. However, as I mentioned in another one of my replies, making a blanket statement that 'black people have no alternative to understanding how the world really works.', reeks of racism to me. In this day and age, people are b…

> In this day and age, people are born into many diverse situations, regardless of shared racial makeup. The problem is that racists don't look into "diverse situations", just racial makeup. E.g. is there any more diverse situation compared to a poor black guy from the ghetto, than being the President? And yet, even the President is often described, from private discussions down to protest banners in racism terms --…

[deleted]

Re: I was falsely arrested

#83

Post by thaumasiotes »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #29
ncallaway wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In another comment I proposed tying a financial payout to those who have been wrongfully arrested. Such a payout would (or should) be enough of a financial burden that prosecutors get rewarded for avoiding large payouts — or punished for incurring large payouts. The fact of the matter is there is no real downside for a prosecutor right now to put away the wrong person. Prosecutors have every incentive to put away any…

I love the financial payout idea. The system is broken structurally -- it's not just a few bad people. The best answer for something like that is not to go after individuals, but make the bad behavior more expensive for all involved. At some cost, it'll work itself out.

The common point against rewards for wrongful imprisonment is that it makes it harder for the wrongfully imprisoned to get out of jail, by penalizing the government for admitting a mistake.

As things currently are, prosecutors will fight tooth and nail and illegally hide evidence just to avoid admitting the mistake, so it's unclear exactly how much harder it would make things.

Re: I was falsely arrested

#84

Post by brazzledazzle »

golergka wrote: post #59
lyschoening wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Am I missing something here? Yes. The video at the bottom is a video of the second robbery—the robbery that occurred after he was arrested and where the actual robbers got shot. It is not the video that was used to identify him. This is explained in the second paragraph on the page.

I should have make myself more clear. You see, I understand that. What I also understand is that it is the _only_ video we actually have chance to see.

And as I stated in another comment which you didn't address in your reply:

>...the only thing worth questioning here is if that shot is in fact real–something that could only be evaluated if they released the tape. But since they're not exactly going out of their way to do that I can only assume that it would be against their interests.

The police and prosecution have the latitude to release that video and could certainly do so to exonerate themselves. Releasing it is what the police should have done immediately after his case was dropped if their interest was is in catching a robber on the loose or demonstrating publicly that they did have the right man and the prosecution was dropping the ball.

Re: I was falsely arrested

#85

Post by throw_this_away »

golergka wrote: post #61
throw_this_away wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because...innocent until proven guilty. But according to the parent comment, guilty until proven innocent. The author of the story doesn't need to prove anything to you. His experience and the fact that he was ultimately released from prison should be enough.

> But according to the parent comment, guilty until proven innocent Where did I state something even remotely close to this?

You said "Everybody here in the comments seem to take the story on face value.".

You're implying that we shouldn't take the story at face value OR that the author is being dishonest about his experience.

Then you say, "Meanwhile, the only video attached to the post is pixelated to the highest degree, and you certainly can't see facial features on it. Am I missing something here?"

A clear call for proof.

Re: I was falsely arrested

#86

Post by benbenolson »

brazzledazzle wrote: post #51
benbenolson wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're missing something, I must be missing it, too. He said that the person in the video is "lighter", and has a "hooked nose with a dent in it". I'm certain that there's another video that's not shown on the site, because there is no possible way that you could determine those details from the 20 pixels that make up the thief's face.

That video is from the other robbery where the robber was shot and killed by the clerk. The video from which the snapshot was taken hasn't been released and has only been shown to the suspect and his attorney and it was during that viewing that the attorney took the picture. hth

Oh, okay, that makes sense. Thanks for the clarification!

Re: I was falsely arrested

#87

Post by throw_this_away »

benbenolson wrote: post #71
golergka wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But according to the parent comment, guilty until proven innocent Where did I state something even remotely close to this?

Sometimes I really wonder about how some commenters on Hacker News extrapolate things like this. My guess is that someone feels badly for the wrongly accused (which is quite understandable), and wants to do anything in his/her power to defend him, like bringing down comments like yours that may reveal any wrongdoing or mistakes on the website creator's part.

Why do I need to defend the author? He hasn't done anything that needs defending...

I'm merely pointing out that the original comment is automatically assuming that the author's story is untrue. And that the comment makes a clear call for more proof.

Re: I was falsely arrested

#88

Post by xsmasher »

ncallaway wrote: post #19

The state needs to financially make whole persons who are wrongly arrested. There needs to be a standard set of damages that get paid out to someone who is in jail wrongfully. I would propose that the state owes you double the highest paid salary that you have earned in your career for the duration of your stay in prison. This is to both make a person whole for their missed earnings, and to repair the damages that ha…

I don't know the right answer, but this sets up some perverse incentives - police might be urged to be "more careful" around rich people than poor people, since wrongly arresting rich people has more penalty.

Conversely if you set a fixed dollar amount, then you incentivize poorer people to provoke a false arrest in hopes of getting a payday (similar to common insurance scams seen today.)

Re: I was falsely arrested

#89

Post by throw_this_away »

golergka wrote: post #67
brazzledazzle wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that shot of the person's face is from a video of the incident that person is not him. Yes, there's lossy compression applied but that don't make someone's nose into a completely different nose. Healthy skepticism is good but the only thing worth questioning here is if that shot is in fact real–something that could only be evaluated if they released the tape. But since they're not exactly going out of their way to…

> If that shot of the person's face is from a video of the incident that person is not him. Yes, but as far as we know, it's just a picture on the internet.

You should really examine why you automatically assume the author's account of his own lived experience is false.

Re: I was falsely arrested

#90

Post by thaumasiotes »

dragonwriter wrote: post #70
thaumasiotes wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The general prison population is subject to less post-conviction scrutiny. However, it's subject to more pre-conviction scrutiny; that is to say, the people tried for capital crimes were likely charged under a lot of pressure from the public to charge someone so as to show that Something Is Being Done. People charged with petty drug possession get more vetting before being charged.

> The general prison population is subject to less post-conviction scrutiny. However, it's subject to more pre-conviction scrutiny No, its subject to less pre-conviction scrutiny than those charged with murders; at least, from the public defenders I've talked to, PDs assigned to homicides tend to be: (1) the more experienced, skilled attorneys in the PDs office, and (2) have the lowest caseloads, and thus the most ti…

You know, I included a specific example in my earlier comment of what I was talking about.

The general prison population is subject to more pre-conviction scrutiny before it ever gets into court. People aren't charged with crimes by drawing straws from a hat -- but capital crimes are closer to that model than petty crimes are.

Your response doesn't address anything in my comment, unless you think people are assigned public defenders before being charged with a crime.

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