News-Record.com

LTE- "there were never any consequences for their actions. Maybe they should never have been charged with rape, but they definitely should not have been awarded a large cash settlement."

"Maybe"?

Even if any of the other points in the LTE were valid, a lack of understanding at this depth means no other suggestions are worth considering as they can be counted on to be just as reliably uninformed.

Or, if it's more appropriate, biased. No one should have to prove that allegations are false.

The use of the term "maybe" is bad enough, but the cash settlement bit caught my eye as well. Three innocent people were put through unimaginable hell for 13 months by a rogue DA, their families spent mega $$ defending their innocence.

Did they make a bad decision getting drunk and hiring a stripper? Yes. Did they deserve what happened to them? No. Should they be compensated for what the endured? Definitely.

"Should they be compensated for what the endured? Definitely."

While I agree they should have been compensated, that compensation should have covered any monies their families spent on their defense only. No rewards for being stupid, only pay-back for actual pay-outs. Life is full of hard lessons and life is not always fair. Those facts of life are becoming harder and harder for youth of today to learn because parents/society is constantly trying to shield kids from these facts. What they end up learning is no accountability, no personal responsibility for the decisions they make.

Joe is right, no rewards for bad, personal decisions.

College kids drinking? You're kidding me! The outrage! They should pay and pay dearly.

They should all be falsely charged, not just with rape but with kidnapping and assault; live for a year under the possibility that a lying prosecutor, in front of a sympathetic jury, could send them away for their adult lives; have to spend millions on their own defense; be subjected to "castrate" signs hanging outside their homes; have the New Black Panthers threaten their lives; be forced to uproot themselves from their institutions of higher learning and continue to face the ignorance of people like Joe Sipe of Colfax who continue to insist they're still guilty of something for which they should be punished to the extreme.

Let's arrest 80 percent of college kids right now, Joe, and torture them for their "alcohol-fueled parties". If not, they might get away with just like the Duke lacrosse kids who, as you brilliantly asserted, "never faced any consequences for their actions".

I believe there is . . . enough time after a person turns 21 to kill themselves . . . not before . . .

. . . put that in your pipe and smoke it . . .

Excellent post Prag, there was a wee bit more hell involved in these kids and their families lives than monetary output.

JPRT, some college kids do indeed put something in their pipes and smoke it.

Yvonne, I'm not sure if you heard any details on the case, but the monies aren't a reward for underage drinking. And the judicial lesson isn't really one for the defendants to learn. If I understand correctly, part of the money is/was to prevent future prosecutorial misconduct. An oracle to direct others. Or a shipwreck in shallow and dangerous waters, I suppose.

But I've thought about your point all day, and I've decided I agree with you. Nothing other than cost because lessons can be learned. And, considering how easy a defense is against corrupt officials and their resources (just ask Darryl Hunt), may you someday soon have the opportunity to prove your innocence against state, county, and city representatives for a year or two, Yvonne, with the assumption from the start that you're not.

And, with a lesson comfortably learned, may you only get the cost of your defense returned.

P.S.- Didn't we have a discussion on foreclosures in which you argued that rewards for "bad, personal decisions" were the right thing to do?