Languish.org

General Category => Off the Record => Topic started by: Berkut on June 25, 2021, 10:18:30 AM

Title: WHy we need to leave a lot of discretion to the courts...
Post by: Berkut on June 25, 2021, 10:18:30 AM
https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/25/europe/valerie-bacot-trial-verdict-cmd-intl/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/25/europe/valerie-bacot-trial-verdict-cmd-intl/index.html)

What an amazing story. There is a lot to comment on there, not the least of which how bad a job society does at dealing with a situation like this BEFORE it comes to shooting the asshole. Or hell, before it comes to letting the asshole marry the child he is raping.

But anyway, this is such a great example of a case where you cannot really imagine a legal structure to handle the scenario - where it would be nearly impossible to craft a law to account for the moral reality of this particular crime, while not leaving open a lot more crimes that are similarish in the facts, but not in the moral conclusion.



IMO, this is a murder where the outcome should be pretty much exactly what the prosecution is asking for - and why we need a justice system that allows for prosecutorial and judicial discretion in how cases are handled, prosecuted, and sentences administered.


Note: I am only commenting here on what happened AFTER she murdered her asshole husband, not everything that happened before that point.
Title: Re: WHy we need to leave a lot of discretion to the courts...
Post by: Habbaku on June 25, 2021, 10:23:54 AM
Someone should be responsible for being Berkut's editor.
Title: Re: WHy we need to leave a lot of discretion to the courts...
Post by: PDH on June 25, 2021, 10:26:16 AM
That 1.5 font size really saves space though.
Title: Re: WHy we need to leave a lot of discretion to the courts...
Post by: Habbaku on June 25, 2021, 10:30:00 AM
Easier to print these posts, that's for sure.
Title: Re: WHy we need to leave a lot of discretion to the courts...
Post by: The Brain on June 25, 2021, 10:41:35 AM
A center for ants??!?
Title: Re: WHy we need to leave a lot of discretion to the courts...
Post by: Valmy on June 25, 2021, 10:41:55 AM
First of all, very wise action by the prosecutor. I don't think this person is in any danger of doing this again. Exactly the right thing to do.

I am interested in hearing your thoughts on the other stuff. One would think marrying a teenager as a grown ass adult and getting her pregnant would have been a red flag to somebody.
Title: Re: WHy we need to leave a lot of discretion to the courts...
Post by: Habbaku on June 25, 2021, 10:53:19 AM
Quote from: The Brain on June 25, 2021, 10:41:35 AM
A center for ants??!?

The posts are in the computer.
Title: Re: WHy we need to leave a lot of discretion to the courts...
Post by: Berkut on June 25, 2021, 12:17:38 PM
I wonder why it does that sometimes when you paste a URL. Bizarre.
Title: Re: WHy we need to leave a lot of discretion to the courts...
Post by: grumbler on June 25, 2021, 01:36:30 PM
Quote from: Valmy on June 25, 2021, 10:41:55 AM
One would think marrying a teenager as a grown ass adult and getting her pregnant would have been a red flag to somebody.

Her mother (who was the boyfriend of the perp) saw him go to jail for raping a teen, then invited him back into her house (where she had a teenage daughter), then kicked her daughter out of the house, saw her by-then ex-boyfriend marry her daughter, and now claims that it all happened behind her back.

It was probably only pity that kept Valerie Bacot from shooting her, too: it was a pity she ran out of bullets.

If there was ever a defense of "he needed killing," this case uses it.

By the way, what a great title for Bacot's book.  Nails it in one.