Quote:
Originally Posted by epitome
Perhaps completely unrelated depending on the prism used to view it, but a bit ago I was reading some commentary about how political the States Attorney Office is by nature, since it's an elected position and the winds can change any time so they make more political than practical decisions.
We need to figure out something else for this. SAO should not be politicized. Judges should not have to be elected, either. Just not sure what the solution could be. Even if bar members were the ones voting and no real campaigning was allowed, I still do not know how that wouldn't become politicized.
I get why its politicized, the justice system is actually based on opinions. This is partly due to something you crusade against often, which is there are just too many damned laws. It shouldn't be that way though.
I would have hated to have been on the OJ trial and the Zimmerman trial. I view a lot of these cases from afar -- and usually get filtered information -- and all I ever think is I'm glad its not me that has to vote on their guilt or innocence. I'd be the guy that wouldn't bend just to go home and in unclear cases like this I'd be the one causing a hung jury.
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There is a great example of how the politics of the DA's office can play into how cases are tried.
A handful of years back in Atlanta there was a case where a guy had been convicted of rape (I think) and was coming to court to get sentenced. He was going away for a long time. He was taken into a room so he could change out of his prison outfit and into a suit. While in there he overpowered the guard, shot that guard, shot a few others and shot the judge then fled the courthouse.
During his escape he carjacked a few people and eventually took a woman hostage and had her take him to her place where he held her for a few days. She eventually talked him into turning himself in.
So, this turns into a huge mess. All of the public defenders and judges in the area recuse themselves because they know the judge and others who were killed by this guy during his escape. They end up bringing in a lawyer from New York to be this guy's defense attorney. The DA himself will be the prosecutor. The indictment alone is over 900 pages long. There are hundreds of witnesses, thousands of pieces of evidence and dozens of crime scenes. When the defense attorney sees this he talks to his client, gets his okay then meets with the DA. He tells the DA that his client will plead guilty to anything he wants him to plea to so long as he gets life without parole and not the death penalty. The DA tells him he can't do that because if he doesn't go after death with this guy it will be used against him during the next election and he could lose.
So, they go to trial. The trial lasts about two years because they keep running out of money for the defense and must put things on hold. In the end the guy is found guilty of many charges, but the jury thinks he was not of sound mind when he did these things and they give him life in jail without parole instead of death.
So millions of dollars were spent and years of time were wasted all because of this guy's political career. We are seeing it again in Colorado with the guy who shot up the Batman movie. The prosecutor is playing politics and going for the death penalty so now the defense is arguing insanity.
Police want arrests because it makes them look good in the public's eye especially the chief.
The DA's office wants either guilty pleas or wins in court because it helps the DA get reelected and the prosecutors can use their conviction record to either get better jobs or if they have political aspirations.
Politicians wants harsher penalties and more jail time for criminals because it is an easy sell to the voters and makes them look tough on crime.
Private jail owners want more convictions because it puts money in their pockets.
The system has very little to do with actually seeking justice, rehabilitating criminals and trying to punish and prevent crime. It is now a system set up for various people to use for personal gain and when their personal interests gets in the way of doing what is right it makes for a messed up system.