Michael Slager, the North Charleston, SC. cop who was caught murdering Walter Scott on video, has filed a new motion seeking an opportunity to post bail while he awaits trial. Slager was refused bail by Circuit Judge Clifton Newman because he represents “an unreasonable danger to the community.”
After a motion they filed last week asking for his trial to begin in the spring was rejected, Slager’s lawyers cited health problems, as well as anxiety and “concern about his fate,” he’s supposedly developed as a result of conditions in jail as reasons to justify him being released on bond.
Via the PostAndCourier.com:
Signed by defense lawyer Cameron Blazer of the Savage Law Firm, the filing mentioned that Slager has been a focus of a ramped-up surveillance program at the jail. While officials insist that the effort to intercept telephone calls and mail is meant to root out threats involving the high-profile inmate, the motion called it “completely divorced from any (jail) safety concern.” Jail officers routinely listen to Slager’s personal conversations, the filing stated.
The lack of privacy has “acutely constrained” Slager’s ability to prepare for trial, Blazer wrote.
Slager also has fallen ill and lost 25 pounds, the attorneys said. Past filings noted that he has celiac disease, causing him to react negatively to gluten. He often faces the “unacceptable choice … of being either hungry or sick” because the jail cannot completely accommodate his diet, the motion stated.
So yeah, jail sucks, the food is horrible, and they spy on you while you’re there. As shocking as that is to pretty much nobody on the planet (and is in fact an issue that should be addressed), the fact that you were wearing a police uniform when you committed murder shouldn’t give you any extra consideration when complaining about that.
He does get extra consideration as an ex cop. He isn’t in general population. If he was in general population he would have a lifespan of a few days. Prison populations hate cops and rapists with a passion.
He is watched more, because they are trying to keep him from being murdered by a fellow inmate.
Jail is to insure someone will show up for trial.
Prison is punishment.
Slager has not been found guilty yet.
Collective revenge ought to be beneath libertarians.
Jail sucks. Sandra bland and 500 others died in TX jails. Mentally ill people often die of dehydration (recently in state of WA). Solitarywatch.org documents such.
But jail reform is not even on the libertarian radar
Nor the corrupt, crony bail system
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/06/bail-bond-prison-industry
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/07/sandra-bland-bail-bond-system
He’s on video shooting a man in the back, killing him. Murdering him. A man who was running away, who posed no threat to his “safety”… then planting evidence on the man he shot. Perhaps you have not seen the video? Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nrqFaSRclc
Such a person has no business being at liberty among decent people.
But the larger point is these “heroes” expect to be treated differently.
You appear to believe they ought to be, too.
If I had shot a man dead in cold blood, do you suppose my pleas to be set free on bail would be heard? That my having lost weight and having anxiety would matter in any way at all?
Why should this once-costumed goon be treated any differently?
Perhaps you will explain.
Jail reform not on the libertarian radar? No, it’s just not in your survey of libertarian materials. And what libertarians want to do isn’t tweak edges, aka reform, but structural change/replacement to the entire system.
Reform, never – abolishment, now you’re talking.
Prison costs a lot of (stolen) money, and benefits no one with the exception of those who run the new “privatized” prisons. And perhaps the occasional judge who is not averse to taking kickbacks.
Restitution to the victim is what I am looking for. And if there is no victim (or a ficticious one like ‘the people’ or ‘the state’) there is no crime.
I have an uncle and cousin who were sentenced to federal prison for their “crimes against the people of the United States”. They rebated hundreds of thousands back to life insurance policy holders at their firm. Legal in some states, a misdemeanor in ID. It turned into a federal case because theIRS came after them for deducting the rebated money as a business expense. Judge Winmill in Pocatello basically said, paraphrasing, ‘this may seem like their is no victim, but that’s not true.’ The victims here are the people of the United States because of their tax evasion.
My 70 year old uncle spent 3 months in federal prison. He asked his wife to stop visiting after a couple times because the guards beat the shit out of him during the strip searches after visits. My cousin faced similar treatment but handled it better at 40 years old.
They had to pay the IRS just under a million in restitution. The IRS has since come after them with seizures and other fines. They will stop when they have nothing left.
Where is this “collective revenge” you’re referring to in regard to Slager being held without bond? Bond is routinely denied in murder cases.