From: Harvey Newstrom (mail@HarveyNewstrom.com)
Date: Sat Jun 15 2002 - 23:49:20 MDT
On Saturday, June 15, 2002, at 09:55 pm, Hal Finney wrote:
>
> In evaluating this story, it seems to me that how you see it will depend
> crucially on how you think the pipe bomb got into the trunk of that car.
> From what I see here, no one is likely ever to know.
I not only disagree with this, but I think it is a dangerous attitude to
have. We cannot convict people just because we think they are probably
guilty. We have to actually gather evidence and prove they are guilty
in a court of law.
What happened in this case is that the police arrested the man within
hours after the bomb exploded. He was a member of a radical
environmental group that was planning an anti-logging demonstration, and
they reasonably thought that he made the bomb himself and was
transporting it. However, the police arrested him first and tried to
conduct an investigation to prove he was guilty later. After weeks of
investigation, they couldn't find any evidence and finally dropped all
the charges. They then blamed the FBI for giving them faulty
information, while the FBI in turn blames the local police. Either way,
the man was arrested before any police investigation was performed and
before any evidence was gathered.
This man was never charged with a crime, and no evidence was gathered
that pointed to him. Under these circumstances, he should never have
been arrested. The question of who committed the crime (of the bomb)
has nothing to do as to the question of whether the police also
committed a different crime (of false arrest without evidence).
-- Harvey Newstrom, CISSP <www.HarveyNewstrom.com> Principal Security Consultant <www.Newstaff.com>
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