He's out on bail.

If you're suspicious in any possible way in a small town and county, expect scrutiny from the police/detectives/ and an out of control county D.A.

Small towns / communities are not the harmless place to be for getting railroaded by Gov't. officials. Example; "The Innocent Man" by John Grisham. The true story of the late, ex-professional baseball player Ron Williamson, charged and convicted of murder and sent to death row in McAlester, OK. by out of control Gov't. officials in Ada, Oklahoma.

Wrongful prosecution is a way of life in some communities.

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That is an excellent point. A person in another nation felt frightened by someone she almost certainly will never encounter in any way and what, Interpol stepped in and took the menace off the streets?

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It might have been that book or a review of the book where someone said that people living in small town America are twice as likely of being wrongfully prosecuted. Ron's is a scary story and proof that everything has a political slant.

I'd like to see the Texas authorities send her a hot nastygram telling her to keep her nose out of OUR business. Instead, they champion her cause and charge the kid. Upside down world.

I'm really surprised at this post.

You, unlike most, will usually do some research before putting up the typical hysterical and hyped media version of any event.

I did a bit of research (about five minutes) and confirmed that he's looking at a third degree felony in Texas, however the penalty is 2-10 years. Of course, the media uses the figure of "up to 10 years" so they can make the story more unbelievable.




§ 12.34. THIRD DEGREE FELONY PUNISHMENT. (a) An
individual adjudged guilty of a felony of the third degree shall be
punished by imprisonment in the institutional division for any term
of not more than 10 years or less than 2 years.
(b) In addition to imprisonment, an individual adjudged
guilty of a felony of the third degree may be punished by a fine not
to exceed $10,000.


My guess is that the prosecutor will allow him to plead to a misdemeanor, thereby allowing minimal time (probably community service).


Please don't fall for the desire of the press to manipulate your mind. Fight it whenever you can.

^^^

And that's the problem. It was merely a bad joke and he should not be punished AT ALL for it, nor have a criminal record. How many times have we heard "dude, I'm gonna kill you?" Even that could be construed as a terroristic threat if the wrong ears heard it.

The plea-bargaining system in the US claims to benefit the accused, yet in reality it's a way for prostitutors (misspelling intentional) to use trumped-up charges to push people into pleading into slightly less trumped-up charges.

I'd support a rule that ALL felony cases have to go to trial in front of a jury. No pleas. The people doing the charging should either put up or shut up. Bet the amount of frivolous and unnecessary charges would go way down if the state actually had to prove its case. That's one of the bad aspects of the US system. Jury trial is guaranteed, but the accused are frequently bullied into waiving their rights to such.

Unfortunately, in these times, a "bad joke" is not immediately obvious to the authorities and they have to devote resources to investigate it and determine if it is truly a bad joke or is a serious threat.

Why should you and I pay for the stupidity of this idiot? The law is perfectly clear on the matter............it's a criminal offense.

You pass laws to discourage criminal behavior. If this behavior was not criminal, every idiot in American (and there are millions of them) would be free to do the same thing.

You really OK with that?

Such a rule is completely unnecessary.

If you, as the defendant, has the balls, you simply decline all offers of leniency and demand a jury trial on the original felony charge. See if the prosecutor can convince the jury.

But, nobody has the balls, because of the risk of a jury trial.

I'm willing to bet lunch that you have no balls either.

You in?

Frankly, yes. People should be allowed to joke about committing crimes, even if it's in extreme bad taste. We seem to have lost our national sense of humor.

So you really think that a system that encourages innocent people to plead guilty to a slightly lesser (but still inappropriate) charge actually serves the cause of justice as opposed to perverting it? Our incarceration rate of almost 1% is already the shame of the Western world. Anything that decreases false imprisonment would be a good thing.

If some criminals walk, I'm fine with it. We had a much higher crime rate in the 80s and early 90s, and we survived. I'm not a proponent of increased safety at the expense of justice.

The problem is the cost associated with it. The authorities have to investigate it.

If every idiot does it without consequences, it costs a fortune and diverts precious resources from serious threats/problems.

Hell, you cannot even get the police to respond to a traffic accident in NYC unless there are injuries involved. Now you want to cause the police more wasted time and effort.

Sorry, no dice.

As I told you...........you don't need to play the game that the system hands you.

If you have the balls, you turn it right onto the prosecutor.............and force him to go to trial on the original felony charge.

I see you didn't answer my offer to bet lunch as to whether YOU have the balls.

As I mentioned once before..............all hat............no cattle.

How would you know unless we were both arrested for a felony?

It's hypothetical, obviously.

If it were me, I'd seriously weigh the offer of a misdemeanor, simply because you can never tell what a jury will do. I might or might not take it.

But, you, if you have any integrity, must refuse all offers to plea based upon your statements above.

Somehow, I highly doubt that you would flatly refuse all plea bargains when your own balls are on the table.