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| 2005/9/8-10 [Reference/Law/Court] UID:39567 Activity:low |
9/8 http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5260715,00.html I would have real trouble being an objective juror in this case. Would you be able to be a good juror? --PeterM \- YMWT read about "jury nullification". \_ I can't say that I'll be more bothered by this than any other murder case. The murder victoms had served their sentences. I don't think there is any suspicion that they've become criminals again, and, even then, that should be dealt with by the police and not some vigilante. There are other, more correct solutions if the child molesters' original sentences were too short or if law enforcement were too slow to respond to their current crimes. \_ Actually, both offenders were so-called "Level 3" sex offenders, characterized as 'those most likely to commit more crimes'. Yes, they had served their sentences, but according to the penal system, these guys were likely to do it again, and weren't 'rehabilitated'. There's a very good chance that this vigilante saved a couple of kids from being raped and/or murdered. --PM \_ You think it's appropriate for some random guy to look up convicted criminals in crimes that had no relation to him, show up at their door and shoot them? Including a 68-year-old guy whose offenses were 15 years ago? -tom \_ Appropriate? No. This vigilante is obviously guilty of something. I think I'd have a hard time convicting him of full 1st degree premeditated murder, however. --PM \_ What else would looking up a stranger's name in a database, going to their house with a gun and shooting them constitute? -tom \_ either he did it or he didn't. Maybe the circumstances may come into play during sentencing, but if he did it, he did it. \_ Why, do you know there's no Minority Report? \_ That you are likely to do something does not mean that you will do something. We punish people for what they do, not what they will likely do. And even if the child molesters were guilty of some new crime, it would be the court system's place to determine guilt and punishment, not the killer's. I would likely be open to the argument that child molesters' original sentences should have been longer and that they should not have been released from prison. But once they are released, they not be punished further for their old crimes, and they have done nothing to warrant being killed. \_ Exceptions to this are conspiracy charges and DUI. Both assume you will do something, but you have yet to actually do it. |
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| www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5260715,00.html UP Man Held in Killings Tries to Plead Guilty Wednesday September 7, 2005 2:31 AM By DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP Associated Press Writer BELLINGHAM, Wash. Police believe Michael Anthony Mullen might have targeted the men in reac tion to a notorious case in Idaho in mid-May in which two children were abducted and one was slain. Whatcom County Superior Court Commissioner David Thorn se t bail at $1 million and scheduled Mullen's arraignment - when a formal plea may be entered - for Sept. Police said Mullen, 35, called them on Monday to turn himself in and late r confessed to killing Hank Eisses and Victor Vasquez in their apartment on Aug. The hearing revealed that Mullen may have had help on the day the two men died. Setter said an unidentified woman whom he described as a witness had driven Mullen to and from the scene. Mullen may have been motivated by the case of Joseph Edward Duncan, a con victed sex offender who is accused of killings and child abductions in I daho, police said. One possible reason was the case in Idaho,'' Bellingham Police Lt. Ambrose wouldn't elaborate, and Se tter refused to discuss possible motives. Police said they believe Mullen's claim that he killed the Bellingham sex offenders because he knew details only the killer would know: the calib er of the weapon used, and that the victims were each shot once in the h ead. Mullen also said that he had planned the murders for some time and that on July 13, 2005, he had accessed the county sheriff's sex offender Web site, and from that selected at least one of the two victims,'' accordi ng to a police statement. As is typical in Washington, the sheriff's Web site lists the residences of sex offenders who are required to register with local authorities. Mullen has a criminal record but no history of violence, Ambrose said. In the Idaho case, Joseph Edward Duncan is accused of fatally beating thr ee people with a hammer in a home outside Coeur d'Alene in order to abdu ct two children for sex. He was arrested July 2 at a restaurant with one of the children, 8-year-o ld Shasta Groene. Remains of her 9-year-old brother, Dylan, were found i n a Montana forest two days later. According to police, Mullen said he mailed a letter about the Bellingham killings to several news outlets last week. The Bellingham Herald, the d aily newspaper in this college and mill town of about 71,000, reported T hursday that the letter threatened other sexual predators. Eisses, 49, and Vasquez, 68, were both classified as Level 3 sex offender s, the type considered most likely to re-offend. Their bodies were found by a roommate, also a sex offender, who said a ma n wearing a blue jumpsuit and a cap that said FBI'' came to the apartm ent, told them he was an FBI agent and said he wanted to discuss their s tatus as sex offenders. The supposed federal agent told them that one of them was on a hit list ,'' police said. The roommate said he left while the FBI impostor was still there and he f ound the bodies when he returned about four hours later. Vasquez was convicted in 1991 of molesting several relatives, according t o court documents. He was released from prison about two years ago and r emained under supervision. Eisses was sentenced to 5 years in prison in 1997 for raping a 13-year-ol d boy. He was released from supervision about two years ago, said Kit Ba il, Corrections Department field supervisor for the county. |