2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumAaron Schwartz incident is the reason why Scott Brown was able to serve in the US Senate for
last two years.
Martha Coakley and Carmen Ortiz were and are arrogant overzealous self righteous prosecutors that aggressively prosecuted and sought the maximum prison sentence against people who commit crimes such as shoplifting.
We need to pass a law requiring the lawyer of the target of the investigation to be present during the grand jury investigation and be allowed to impeach prosecution witnesses. We need to send former criminal defense lawyers instead of former prosecutors to the bench.
Berlum
(7,044 posts)LiberalFighter
(51,104 posts)Which probably reflects on something wrong with her. She must be defective.
bluestateguy
(44,173 posts)but she also was a babbling nincompoop of a candidate.
DonViejo
(60,536 posts)-snip-
After expressing her sympathies, U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz said in a statement that her office had behaved appropriately and had sought a far more lenient sentence:
The prosecutors recognized that there was no evidence against Mr. Swartz indicating that he committed his acts for personal financial gain, and they recognized that his conduct while a violation of the law did not warrant the severe punishments authorized by Congress and called for by the Sentencing Guidelines in appropriate cases. That is why in the discussions with his counsel about a resolution of the case this office sought an appropriate sentence that matched the alleged conduct a sentence that we would recommend to the judge of six months in a low security setting. While at the same time, his defense counsel would have been free to recommend a sentence of probation. Ultimately, any sentence imposed would have been up to the judge. At no time did this office ever seek or ever tell Mr. Swartzs attorneys that it intended to seek maximum penalties under the law.
http://www.salon.com/2013/01/17/embattled_swartz_prosecutor_breaks_silence/
backscatter712
(26,355 posts)She was threatening to have Swartz locked up for decades to coerce him into a plea bargain.
DonViejo
(60,536 posts)do you have links to some information that would help me to see how you came to this conclusion?
backscatter712
(26,355 posts)It has the text of Ortiz's latest press release, plus other info, such as earlier releases from her office that contradict that press release.
DonViejo
(60,536 posts)backscatter712
(26,355 posts)jerseyjack
(1,361 posts)Fuck her.
BlueDemKev
(3,003 posts)...are former prosecutors. Yeah, I feel that judges should have experienced being on both sides before wearing a robe.
karynnj
(59,504 posts)You could argue that the skills needed to be a good prosecutor are closer to governing than the skills of a trial lawyer. (You could say the skill of the best trial lawyers make them skillful politicians as the same ability to get juries to believe can work with voters.
John Kerry was both - and from his comments and his biography, though he was exceptionally successful at both - he speaks more of being a prosecutor and speaks of things he did then that genuinely helped people.
NPolitics1979
(613 posts)But there are two types of prosecutors.
Prosecutors who would ask for concurrent maximum sentence and Prosecutors that ask for a consecutive maximum sentence for a defendant convicted of a crime.
The latter prosecutor believes in the ends justify the means mentality, care more about giving the accused a maximum sentence-guilty or not guilty in order to convince the public that they are tough on crime.