Looks like a friend and former landlord of mine is finally going to prison with a mandatory minimum of three years for gun charges.
Sure, they raided his house and place of business for his supposed involvement in an alleged illegal money loan business they claimed he was running on the side without the proper licenses but as it turns out he was never found culpable. Although drugs were found in his place he was able to prove that it wasn't his, and although they destroyed this whole process destroyed his realty business he was slowly able to recover. Although he just propped up this roofing/ contracting business the reigns were just handed off to another friend of mine once we find out they finally got something on him.
...
I'm not going to pretend he's an angel. You don't get into this much trouble without asking for it... but still, what finally landed him in prison was completely unrelated to anything they were investigating. He's good to his friends. Just by knowing a mutual friend (old roomate of his) he gave me a great deal on a house I was renting a few years ago.... something he's also done for said friend. At the time this friend was living in a condo right on the beach with yet another person who would later become a roomate of mine, Well... because that part of the beach was a popular spot (they lived 1-3 blocks away from like.. 10 different bars) things got rowdy from time to time and cops were often called. I can't say what the details of the next part are for sure but at some point the condo next door was holding a cookout and shit got heated and people were fighting. The cops were called and even though my people had nothing to do with it they just went ahead and decided to tackle/ arrest my landlord friend just by being nearby. It happens - the cops don't know better. And besides.... at 6'5 250 lbs he's a pretty scary looking dude. The problem is that the fuckers from next door somehow pinned some tossed away handgun the cops found later on him. Well... with his former felony charges and at the time current investigations things did not bode well for him.
Well.... We thought he beat all of the charges. Several years ago. We were all excited for this new business of his and we all potentially had parts to play. I could have been working for him. With my background in drafting and engineering my job was a easy one. While 1-2 guys were making the measurements on the roof all I had to do was draw the plans based on their measurements and help in making estimations for the needed materials. It was a superfluous but like I said before, he was good to his friends.
But suddenly I just find out that some dumb charge we all thought he escaped years ago is giving him a mandatory three years. There is definitely more to the story - I personally had no idea he was still going to court for these things (he didn't like talking about it) but from what I heard he couldn't shake the gun thing and that's the reason he's behind bars. He says it's from a vendetta the county/ court/ judge/ cops/ whatever had on him. That he had indisputable proof that the gun came from someone in the other apartment - that although the condo next door was in his name he was renting it out to friends of his and that he had nothing to do with anything there except for just visiting at the wrong time.
I don't know what to think. I just can't help but the law is dicks. Who are they protecting by having these mandatory minimums for gun violations? Whatever faults he had he definitely did more for his community than he did hurt it.... I don't see how sticking him in jail is a victory for anyone.
But again... I don't know what to think. All I know about his legal issues are second hand accounts. If these are just lies and there are just big chunks of the story I'm not getting fair enough. All I know is that the law seems to be dicks :/
At least it wasnt here in ohio... As an ex con I did time with a couple of ex military who were doing 8 flat for gun related crimes... And yeah, cops are complete power hungry dicks.
Yep. The law is a son of a bitch. They place the innocent in jail and let the others free. Been falsely accused and had to deal with the crap that I was accused of, even though there was no proof of it and how obvious it was that a certain person did it. Yet I was blamed because they were fucking the guy that did it and didn't want him gone. Hell, it all sucks.
Mandatory minimum sentencing is moronic. The whole point of having judges is that the law cannot possibly account for every possible combination of circumstances, and there needs to be a human in the decision loop to check if things work out right or not. Mandatory minimums work directly against that.
And next to this, mandatory minimum sentences have been made for securing privileges of the prison industry and the sweat shops it runs which may legally break the limits of minimum wage, threatening real jobs in the process. And as long as people go on about prisoners needing to be charged for their "lodgings" and basic costs, and therefore needing to work in those sweat shops to pay off their newly allotted debts next to "paying their dues," little will change except, that the voters who support such measures will find themselves out of regular jobs because others who dared to be caught smoking a fatty or did other minimum sentence offenses can be forced to do these job for a fraction of the minimum wage. Oh, and the prisons running those sweatshops won't be costing the tax payers less either because like in every other public private partnership the profits stay with the prison owners while the costs are being handed down straight to the tax payers.
Mandatory minimum sentences are bull shit. For profit prisons (i.e. all of them these days) are an even bigger pile of bullshit, and are one of the many factors that are destroying the United States from the inside out.
Yeah, a good friend of mine was falsely accused by his underage sister (14, if I remember right) of raping her, since she was pissed off at him about something. And, although there's no proof showing he did anything, he was risking 25-life, for something he didn't do. So, he basically had to go for the plea bargain of 4 months in rehab and a few YEARS of probation, because his sister knows how to abuse the legal system.
Yeah... this isn't nearly as bad, but where I live, the cops are pretty terrible. They are notorious for goading people to fight them so they can beat them up under the guise of "self defense". And, if the fight doesn't go their way, they gang-beat the person who's "resisting arrest". Their favourite targets are drunks that they take to the drunk tank, piss off, then smack 'em around.
My uncle was almost given the "special treatment" at an arena event that didn't allow photography. They were trying to kick him out of the arena for having a camera (which he didn't have), while 2 or 3 officers were watching on the sidelines, waiting with baited breath for him to come out. Fortunately, the issue was resolved by him telling off the people and say "If you think I have a camera, prove it." and, luckily for the cops, nobody could. My uncle has a black belt in Karate, which he earned by fighting off a group attack by 2 other black belts for about 1-3 minutes.
Manditory minimums are bullcrap. There's so much set up in America to feed the prison industry... some states even guarantee a return of investment on running prisons by guaranteeing a minimum inmate count per year. No wonder then we have the most prisoners per capital and some of the worst recidivism rates in the world. I know not all the facts are clear here, but I don't consider you wrong for thinking this situation is a load of crap.
The law as is now doesn't exist to do anything but make a profit for the Prison-Industrial Complex, the precinct, and to serve the interests of the ruling powers.
They don't give a fuck about people, cops are nothing more then state sanctioned Psychopaths, trained attack dogs.
Was the gun one that's illegal in the area you're in for whatever reason (filed serial number, standard capacity magazine, etc) or was he convicted of using the gun to threaten someone he didn't?
In my personal experience... Yes, the law is kinda dicks. I feel bad saying it because I know there are good people out there in the police department, but I've been forced to interact with the local division several times, and... Well, I haven't been shown one shred of respect. We seem to be just a bunch of livestock to them. We're their job, not people.
Example. They tell me they have some paperwork to drop off with me. I say fine, but I have work tomorrow so not after 10pm. Sure enough, pounding on my door well after midnght, waking me up and dragging me out of bed just so he can hand me some stupid form (which turned out to be completely unnecessary in the end anyway).
Or there's the time I got pulled over for "stunt driving" because my tires squeaked a bit coming out of my driveway...
I didn't know your landlord so I can't really comment, but I'm sympathetic...
I am not on good terms with the law after too many court battles over the stupidest of things. I don't have a hard copy record, but I figure that they'll keep holding each past thing against me every time... The law ain't fair, and not knowing the details even in your situation, I can't be sure, but I still side against it. Maybe my views are all perspective, since I see crimes being committed every day in downtown, but the cop still decides to nitpick on whatever I do, but I try to know my rights, and not try to force them down other's throats (like the open carry people) while maintaining my use of them when applicable. We are complicated, as people, and thusly attempt to complicate things further in an attempt to uncomplicate things.
I've heard plenty of horror stories regarding the law, but I managed to have a good run-in. Sorta... It wasn't under the best circumstances (regarding suicide stuffs) yet they were still friendly. I know the law around here tend not to be too friendly to a certain "stereotype" of people, if you could say, because of all the crap that happens around here. That still doesn't excuse them for acting like asshats when it's uncalled for.
"He says it's from a vendetta the county/ court/ judge/ cops"
That sounds about right. This is why you pay attention to politics and such. Because the law is a tool just like a knife. Give a knife to a chef and he might cook something or other. Now, you give that same knife to Jack the Ripper you can probably guess what he will do it.
If anything he need to get the names of the cops and the judge and sue them personally. If he has proof.
Where do you live where just the mere act of owning a gun is a 3 year minimum sentence? It's not like he had it on him! In fact, in certain states you are allowed to walk around with guns.
So yes if you had priors and the cops just decide a stolen/ unregisterred firearms is yours, without the ability to prove it isn't it's a mandatory 3 year sentence.
Having known people who have been railroaded by the police, and served years of time they did not deserve, I can say this.
When people were partying in the ravine next to our ranch, and up to no good (Nobody is allowed to be there for safety reasons) on the 4th of July of this year, my mother called the cops.
They were there in less than ten minutes, six SUVs of police officers showed up, after talking with us for a few minutes, two left, and four took two hours of constant searching for people who might be there.
They were very courteous, very polite, and they did more than was I would have said would be required of our police force.
I was very impressed by their candor, and appreciative of their respect for their uniform.
Yeah. I know how it can be. A few years back, my sister was being beaten up by a boyfriend of hers while two police officers stood idly by and watched things happening. I took steps to make sure that it stopped Nothing violent mind you; I'm 6'3" 300lbs and...well, rather scary looking, much like your friend. The punk pulled a knife on me, I defended myself and he wound up with a broken arm after trying to stab me several times; the cops? They just stood there and watched. Next thing I know after he was unconscious I get tackled into a broken bottle, glass pieces all cut up my chest and I'm cuffed and about to be charged with assault. Though they followed procedure and asked him once he came to whether he wanted to press charges. He said yes, and I said that I'd counter charge with attempted murder and pointed to the knife that I'd knocked from his hand. He dropped the charges right then and there because I had witnesses. I was -extremely- lucky there and got uncuffed and went home with a 'stern warning' . But yeah...we live in a world where the police do whatever they can to make themselves feel that their jobs are justified regardless of whether its right or not; they take easy prey and basically go after those that they know cannot fight off their 'justice'. The law are absolute dicks, not -all- police are bad, but for a vast majority regardless of state or province; there is a lot of corruption and subversion of justice/law to be had. D: I hope that this guy can appeal what's going on and win. If not? I hope that they at least give him his own cell in minimum security.
It happens unfortunately more than we know. Tsam's friend here is just stuck on the wrong side of things. Though unfortunately its the way things are in the US right now; pretty much the same for Canada, where I'm from.
Oh god that's awful. I don't hate the police and hell, one of the friends mentioned here (the non landlord, non roomate one) went on to become a cop himself.... but in situations like that it's fucking terrible. It's your word against theirs and if they choose to abuse their authority without any withnesses or proof you're just going to be victimized without any legal way of defending yourself and it just seems so dire that these lowlives can go on these powertrips ruining the reputation of the police within their own communities.
The part about getting tacked into a broken bottle though made me wince though. I had to get 3 layers of stitches on my left leg because of that... ugh. I'm just glad all of my run-ins with the police where non-violent, I don't know how I would take being the victim twice in a situation that merits police intervention.
Yeah, it wasn't really fun sitting there at 3am picking broken glass out of my chest. I was just lucky I had my riding jacket on or my arms would have been shredded too. I'm also very lucky that I had witnesses and that counter-claim of attempted murder on my side otherwise I'd probably still be in the clink. I just hope that your friend can appeal what's happened and that things end up working out in his favour/he can hire a good lawyer etc... I don't dislike the police as a whole as I said before. I know there are good officers out there, I just haven't run into many personally. But as a majority you are right, its their word and interpretation of 'the law' against you. Joe-Blow nuffin. And it really sucks in that regard. Again, best wishes for your friend.
I know this is messed up but if you're a pretty young woman you can pretty much cry your way out of anything. It's all biased stupid bullshit. The only time I've ever had an issue with the cops was when I was with a man, and they usually targeted him anyway. One time I was going double the speed limit in a school zone (unaware of this) and when the cop pulled me over he ended up escorting me to where I needed to go...no ticket. I'm not complaining about my situation, but it just shows they profile the hell out of people and if you don't fit a certain type they will come after you.
More an more I get the feeling, that we should sue the courts worldwide for false advertising. Especially those that have a statue of Iustitia (Lady Justice) somewhere in or on their building. The laws they habe to follow have less and less to do with justice, as well as some of their decisions. So, having the symbol of justice in or on the building is simply false advertising. Please remove all those statues and depictions or follow what you stand for.
And don't anyone tell me that they are just doing their jobs with the laws that the goverment made. We've heard that excuse before.
Pretty much the best advice I can give when it comes to dealing with the police in America is to try and stay as far away from them as you possibly can. If for some reason you are forced to rely on law enforcement, make sure you can back up everything you say; gather multiple witnesses, and generally cover all your bases. And know your rights, because they will assume that you don't, and they will abuse this assumption.
Would you happen to know if there was anything suspicious about the gun? Like serial numbers missing, illegal modifications, or maybe it wasan outlawed gun? (certain models of guns are illegal) Did he have a license if you need one in your local area?
He must have pissed off some someone connected, otherwise i doubt cops would be ridin his tail all the time, maybe he is in the way of some politician? who knows... my only advice is law is abused lately a lot so to awoid being crushed i suggest findin some connections ... at least thats how i get anyone off my tail if i cant deal with them purrrsonally
Sorry to hear about your friend/landlord. Not sure what else to say other than that, since he's obviously already had his day in court and they decided to lock him away anyway.
Not to reduce a human being to a cause, but three years behind bars is a pretty cruel punishment for any kind of nonviolent offense. Prison hardens people, and when they get out nobody wants to give them a job or a second chance anymore and more often than not they wind up back in jail in a few years because employers and landlords won't allow them to reintegrate into the community and be "normal" again...
Hope the best for your friend. Next 3-10 years are gonna be hard for him like I can't even imagine. Hope there's a light at the end of the tunnel for him.
I will be the one guy to play devil advocate and say this: if this guy were not your friend, if it were some random guy you read about, would you believe this is a string of unfortunate circunstances where he get off the hook by the nails? "illegal busines: cleared; illegal substanced: from another guy; gun: throwed there by another person" etc. I bet you would think "well, this guy must be guilty of something" That said, the law is frequently a dick and under the strickt letter of the law we All are guilty of something. Am not accusing the guy, please have that in mind. wish he be innocent of any serious charges and that he get out of troubles
