From: Evan Brown (rebrown@ucsd.edu)
Date: Thu Feb 03 2000 - 01:38:17 MST
Tempting though this is, I'd hate to be on the wrong end of it. Being
incarcerated based on evidence gained from an illegal search seems an
injustice whether the offending officers are reprimanded or not. What I
_would_ like to see is this concept applied to more court-oriented
technicalities, improper filings, paperwork, etc. I would place the
violation of suspects' rights on a higher level than a mere
technicality, as technicality denotes a small snafu in the workings of
the justice system, whereas the violation of rights I would characterize
as more of an actual abuse of the system.
Of course, this gives rise to some pretty ugly ambiguities. Is
improperly handled DNA evidence a technicality or an abuse? If we're
really very oh-so-sure it's uncontaminated, but the possibility still
remains, what now? (Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you are instructed
to consider the follow evidence as only sort of admissible.) Perhaps
Greg could speak to the question of whether there could be a clear
delineation between technicality and abuse?
Another idea: though improperly obtained evidence wouldn't be
admissible, perhaps it could be accepted as the basis of further
investigation, search warrants and the like. Not that this doesn't give
rise to a host of new and exciting problems.
The price of freedom is eternal confusion.
-Evan-
----- Original Message -----
From: Harvey Newstrom <newstrom@newstaffinc.com>
To: <extropians@extropy.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2000 7:44 PM
Subject: Re: A modest proposal (eas Re: Outlawing drug speech - EEK!)
> I had a similar idea about cops who violated suspects' rights.
Instead of
> letting the suspect go free on a technicality, I propose that we go
ahead
> and prosecute the suspect in a court of law. Then we also prosecute
the cop
> for violating the suspects' rights. Two different crimes, and two
different
> trials. One alleged crime does not influence the judgement of the
other.
> --
> Harvey Newstrom <http://harveynewstrom.com>
> Certified Consultant, Legal Hacker, Engineer, Research Scientist,
Author.
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