Alec Baldwin charged with involuntary manslaughter for "Rust" shooting

Started by OttoVonBismarck, January 19, 2023, 04:45:48 PM

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Sheilbh

God forbid a defendant defends themselves <_< Seems like they're very much going to run with the "I may be a simple country chicken" strategy.
Let's bomb Russia!

HVC

Quote from: Sheilbh on February 20, 2023, 02:44:52 PMGod forbid a defendant defends themselves <_< Seems like they're very much going to run with the "I may be a simple country chicken" strategy.

First sign someone is guilty is when they try to defend themselves :P
Being lazy is bad; unless you still get what you want, then it's called "patience".
Hubris must be punished. Severely.

The Minsky Moment

The DA commentary is very odd in a criminal case; it's the sort of rhetoric that lawyers in civil cases sometimes throw around, but DAs are supposed to be above that.

If you take it at face value, the DA is saying that they are making charging decisions based on the billing rates of defense counsel.  Of course, I don't take it at face value, but given the reality the DA would have best advised to say nothing at all.
The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists.
--Joan Robinson


Jacob



Valmy

Yeah. As that chart shows virtually all DAs in the United States are elected politicians.
Quote"This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed & unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you'll be bombed."

Zmiinyi defenders: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."

HVC

Quote from: Valmy on February 20, 2023, 08:00:01 PMYeah. As that chart shows virtually all DAs in the United States are elected politicians.

Of all the weird political quirks the US has, this has to be the most nonsensical.
Being lazy is bad; unless you still get what you want, then it's called "patience".
Hubris must be punished. Severely.

Sheilbh

Quote from: HVC on February 20, 2023, 08:01:27 PMOf all the weird political quirks the US has, this has to be the most nonsensical.
I'm not sure this one sort of makes sense.

Elected judges on the other hand :bleeding:
Let's bomb Russia!

HVC

Quote from: Sheilbh on February 20, 2023, 08:03:33 PM
Quote from: HVC on February 20, 2023, 08:01:27 PMOf all the weird political quirks the US has, this has to be the most nonsensical.
I'm not sure this one sort of makes sense.

Elected judges on the other hand :bleeding:

I'm lumping all the elected judicial stuff together :D
Being lazy is bad; unless you still get what you want, then it's called "patience".
Hubris must be punished. Severely.

Admiral Yi

Judges are weirder than DAs to me.

Sheriff's are pretty weird.  They have no boss.

celedhring

Quote from: OttoVonBismarck on February 20, 2023, 02:34:28 PMThe prosecution has dropped the firearms enhancement (which was, again, almost certainly an unconstitutional ex post facto charge), and made a snide remark while doing it:

QuoteIn a statement, Heather Brewer, a spokeswoman for the district attorney, said the prosecution had dropped the firearm enhancement to "avoid further litigious distractions by Mr. Baldwin and his attorneys."

"The prosecution's priority is securing justice, not securing billable hours for big-city attorneys," Ms. Brewer said on Monday.

Note this enhancement is what carried a potential 5 year mandatory sentence, the remaining charges would be most likely 18 months (or fewer) if they obtained a conviction, major defeat for the prosecution.

If the firearms enhancement was indeed a later statute, I'm surprised the prosecutor brought it up to begin with.
I thought criminal statutes not being retroactive unless they favor the culprit was a pretty consolidated doctrine everywhere in the West (you say it would too be unconstitutional in the US).

OttoVonBismarck

There has been a prohibition on ex post facto laws in the main text of the constitution (not an amendment) since ratification in 1788/89. My guess is the initial charging decisions involved someone at the DA's office pulling up New Mexico code on a web browser and finding anything they thought could stick to Baldwin. This process probably did not include figuring out when these specific statutes were enacted as laws, and whomever did this just made the assumption it was good law for this case.

The Minsky Moment

The enhancement was changed specifically in response to the Rust episode.  How does a New Mexico prosecutor "forget" that? 
The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists.
--Joan Robinson