Brothers Free After 8 Years Without Trial (La... let me guess their color)

[wakeme2008]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Waiting-for-Trial.html

April 19, 2005
Brothers Free After 8 Years Without Trial
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 6:35 p.m. ET

PLAQUEMINE, La. (AP) -- Two brothers jailed for more than eight years without a trial were ordered released after a murder case that went nowhere because of a succession of postponements, changes in attorneys, and motions denied or never ruled on.

Percy Dyer and James Thomas had been awaiting trial in the slaying of a Baton Rouge man whose bound body was found next to his burning car.

A state appeals court ruled last month that prosecutors waited too long to try the case, and Judge William Dupont signed an order Monday throwing out the second-degree murder charges.
...

more at link

[rinsd]

1. Apparently there were four initially charged...

...and the two brothers also escaped with one of them being at large for 1 year.

Weird case.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/033005/sub_suspect001.shtml

[merh]

2. No, guess their social class

poor people don't get adequate legal representation. Their color may well be a factor, but I would venture to guess not as big a factor as their ability to afford an attorney.

[wakeme2008]

3. So true too

:(

[merh]

4. I know all too well, having worked in a "jail" for 4 years as the

paralegal for the inmates. My job was to try to help them maintain their guaranteed access to the courts. We had one guy in jail, locked up in a "detention center" for 23 months without ever being indicted. He couldn't afford bond or an attorney to get his bond lowered. He wasn't from the area. The charge was burglary, by the time I found him, he had served the majority of a maximum sentence for his offense, and it was a first time offense. If he had proper counsel, he probably would have received probation.

He almost lost his mind. There was one that did, he just babbled in the corner of the "day room".

I know all to well and it breaks my heart to this day to know that is how we treat our fellow citizens. The human landfills are the jails. Throw them away -- out of sight, out of mind, out of trouble! :cry:

[tinanator]

5. thems the dregs

some here prefer summary executions.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3501022&mesg_id=3501559

[merh]

6. For those types, I think they should have to spend one weekend

in jail -- just one weekend as an innocent person. They would change their tunes, it ain't no cake walk and it's ain't because the color orange is not a becoming color! :mad: