Norwegian student risks 35 years in jail in the US - made a wrong turn
 

Norwegian Lars Christopher John Gard (33) is sentenced to seven and a half years imprisonment by a court in Arizona.

http://translate.google.com/translat...d%3D1 0073343

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002601538

Making pretty big headlines in Norway these days and the story seemes a bit crazy.

It is really possible to get seven and a half years or is something fucked up with this story?

Can any americans dig into this story? Finding few US sources to this. It is possible to appeal a sentence like this?

We live in a crazy crazy world...

Interesting difference between the two countries, USA and Norway. In Norway a killer can get sentenced to 21 years in prison - In the USA someone can be sentenced to up to 35 years in prison without even killing anyone.

Who profits from this? There must be something about profiteering in there somewhere!?

Seems excessive but Smallville USA is pretty xenophobic. Those guys are all related and have nothing much to do but lay speedtraps and apparently don't like foreigners much. Getting pulled over after all that with deathrock blaring probably didn't help him much. It can be appealed of course but he'll need a good lawyer.

Sadly many jails in US are run as a business and some are actually privately owned, sometimes the stakeholders include lawyers, judges etc. Welcome to the Land of the Free..

Edit. Quick search came up with this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correct...ion_of_America the funding of course comes from state and sometimes federal budgets depending on the institution. And since they are run as a business, the incentive is to keep the jails full at capacity. Sad but true.

Damn it wanted to say same.

Wouldn't local coverage be all over it? You'd think it would at least make the local paper " Crazy Norwegian Tries to kill hundreds!" or something?

Charging him with first degree murder usually means they have a good reason for it or? No one was injured but everyone surrounded him with angry words. Very odd indeed. The street he went up wasn't close up with signs or anything.

You would think there would be some local news about it considering how public the event was but can't seem to find any US news on it. BTW is this true? http://facepunch.com/threads/1179653 he was already sentenced?

Fucking INSANE:2 cents:

The story isn't true...duh.

He was sentenced yesterday and they aired it live up here, but I also find it very strange that I can't find any US news about the story.

When I read the story they are talking about charging him for assault with a deadly weapon, not making an illegal U-turn... he drove for 6+ minutes the wrong way down streets crowded with people, and then fled when people were trying to stop him. He ran over one woman's foot and knocked down someone else.... And they are talking about 5 to 7 years, not 35. Is someone else seeing this or is it just me?


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he got 7.5 years. Fuckin bullshit!

i dont get it.. why is he getting so much time?

that article tells a story with so many complicated turns.. why exactly is he going to jail...

Well this is all over the forums now but still no US news on this which is totally bizarre. Hopefully there will be some attention to this soon because there are a gazillion question marks.

Any source to the minutes? First time I've read that. Btw, it was a toe, not a foot and he didn't knock someone down, he received a blow in the face that broke his nose.

"Under the ruling the judge said Tuesday evening that he had taken into account that no one was injured"

He was sentenced to 7.5 years but faced 35...

The court found that he had tried to hurt people on purpose when he fled. Although he claims that he tried to get away.

Under the ruling the judge said Tuesday evening that he had taken into account that no one was injured, but people were traumatized.

The source of both of those things are in the article... I would be interested to find out the actual facts of this case, not an emotion-driven article. It's tough to have an opinion without more facts

Here is the sources I was referring to:

"Now he and his mother really panic. He presses the throttle, spins around in the street and run away as fast as he can.

A woman who resides at the car, gets run over toes. Another woman who throws away, get abrasions.

Besides this, no one injured.

- The one who got the most serious injury was actually Lars farm himself, said lawyer Candelaria.

Now, calling both the mother and son, 911 emergency number

They tell where they are, a few hundred meters from where the two events took place.

Right after that, police. At least ten people.

The point that gun at the car.

Police arrested both mother and son. The links with John Christopher handcuffed to the steering wheel of the car. Since he has not been on the loose.

Now it has gone to six and a half minutes from when the two began to run against one-way streets no, according to the police log. "



Remember at this point, the article is written as if it's all taken from HIS testimony, as to what he did, and what happened. We have NO IDEA what the witnesses testified, or what the other evidence was.

He may be perfectly innocent, and this may all be totally bullshit charge and sentencing, but I don't know yet, and I'm not sure that you do either, at this point.


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There is an ongoing conversation on the du link Jensen posted above http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002601538 there are some people from Winslow indicating they will post the court transcripts when they become available and also some effort is starting on FB to get some US media attention on this. So far we do only have the Norwegian version of the story and the Google translator is blowing it all to bits..

Some are privately owned? An ass ton of them are and they are lobbying for laws like this to keep them full.

Setting aside whether the article is real or not; looks to be a hoax to me ... the truth is many people in the U.S. routinely get sentenced to similar amounts of time (ie. 5 - 10 years, even longer) for growing / possessing cannabis plants.

Even seemingly small-time possession of cannabis, such as a few ounces or less, can result in years of prison time depending on the jurisdiction and how the offense is charged ...

ie. possession within a 1000 feet of a school in Pennsylvania - the DA could go for extra charges, even if the individual never interacted with students, but happen to live within the 1000 foot radius of a school. Whether such charges would stick is questionable, but often the defendant has few to little resources and may take a "deal" for a year or two, which is more than some murderers get.

The U.S. is a police state - many young people have no idea how free the country once was. It's not their fault - they simply don't know different ... have been brought up in a world where surveillance, searches, and lock-downs are routine and seemingly normal.

So why didn't he call 911 when people were attacking his car? Something about the story doesn't add up.

I promise you if your wife and or kid were almost hit or were hit by this idiot you would not be worried about him doing 7 years in prison.

He did:

John calls 911. Right after this, at least 10 police officers show up with their weapons drawn. Both his mom and John is arrested. John has not been released since.

Are you kidding me? Slap him with a ticked and take away his driving licence, but 7.5 years in prison? :helpme

This ^

Also I found another Norway newspaper with proper English translation. It's not much but at least won't be all garbled by the translator

http://www.thelocal.no/page/view/car...-us-toe-squash

Wrong, he should have called 911 right away. That is if the story on that website is even accurate. Doesn't look like the most reliable news source.

Never let facts get in the way of a good story.

You have some to add or just posting trite shit again?

I'm not questioning that and I bet he is thinking the same after 7 months in solitary confinement (WTF?). Can't have been easy with an angry crowd and punched in the face though.

Arizona makes the USA look bad..

Assuming the chain of events is accurate, I seriously doubt anyone would have done it much differently. Faced with an angry mob, 70 year old mother in the car with you and you get your nose broken. Perhaps he should have stepped out and try to reason with them. Yeah right :error

Found a link to the story regarding his Uni of South Alabama expulsion. http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2001/10/12/287340.html

This guy has a serious problem with being in the wrong place at the wrong time!

Perhaps we shouldn't judge an entire state by the actions of a small community. I can equally see the natural reaction by the mob and the father, this sort of stuff happens all the time and it's why we have law and judges who should be impartial. The whole system of electing judges seems very flawed, I'm sure that variable had much to do with how this entire thing got handled after the arrest and all the way up to the verdict.

well


prisons are the biggest business in Texas. thats right. the biggest industry in texas is keeping people locked up.

i cant see any problems in americans future can you ? :1orglaugh:1orglaugh

Supposedly the judge who gave the sentence is up for re-election. Hello....

I'm really troubled by the fact that this is being silenced in the US media and now looks like someone is editing the Wiki section as well.

Current wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winslow,_Arizona

Previous entries http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?...action=history

Can you tell what's missing? Current edit was made 6 minutes after the last one wtf? :disgust

If it was the other way around ( a US folk sent to jail in Norway ) , the USA would be complaining openly and threatening sanctions .... :2 cents:

I often wonder if you actually believe the bullshit you post or if it is just your "board persona."

The latest Wiki version is is so slanted against the charges, with no cites regarding the testimony, evidence, or the court transcript, that it's just silly. This, of course, is the problem with wikipedia. You have to wait for all the facts to come out prior to trusting what's written there.



:2 cents:.

Pigshit.

the most ironic thing about his anti-American tirades is he buys real estate in Florida and like tens of thousands of other French Canadians spends the winter there annoying the locals.