SF Cops Arrest Public Defender for Refusing to Let Them Interrogate Her Client Without Counsel

Posted by Zenphamy 9 years, 3 months ago to Government
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Another Bill of Rights Amendment gets trashed. So how many do we really have left?


All Comments

  • Posted by jimjamesjames 9 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I carry a one-page precis (wow, haven't used that word since the eighth grade) of each, Glik v Cunniffe and Title 42 USC Sec 1983 in my truck for reading material for LEOs when and if.

    I also provided copies of each to our County Attorney (in Wyoming) when I learned about them. Many times, law enforcement is working on the same premise as our good friend, Jon Gruber, playing on the ignorance and stupidity of the public.
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  • Posted by strugatsky 9 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    In this respect, no more than we have been historicaly. Machiavelli advised the Prince to employ expendable paramilitary thugs to protect the State. To limit one's disappointment level, we need to always remember that the State's thugs work for State, not the citizens. They only use the citizens' money.
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  • Posted by Rocky_Road 9 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I submit that there is no love lost between the police and the public defenders in any jurisdiction...they are at opposite odds with each other.

    Too often good police work goes down the legal tubes, when a public defender pulls some BS technicality out of his/her butt....


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  • Posted by Herb7734 9 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I don't know about that. I have a cousin living in SF and while I enjoyed the city, the sights and the restaurants, political-wise and otherwise the place was a complete looney bin. They are so way out there that I can actually believe that a cop would think he could get away with cuffing a public defender.
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  • Posted by strugatsky 9 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Don't they need to pronounce the words "under arrest" before an arrest becomes a fact? And the Miranda rights somewhere in there? Oh, scratch that - what rights? Since when do slaves and servants have rights? Privileges, perhaps, especially for the privileged, but rights? No, we have none.
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  • Posted by strugatsky 9 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    A typical psychological profile of a cop is someone with very little abilities and low drive, while being risk averse. Having a gun and the protection of the State (and the Brotherhood) is a quick way of achieving the power that their lack of ability prevents them from gaining otherwise. A typical cop has the same profile as a criminal, except that the criminal is willing to take risks.
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  • Posted by LetsShrug 9 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Some people just have to make sure everybody else in the room (hallway) knows exactly who is in charge! And will abuse the hell out of their "authority", and everyone else, to prove a point. Power monger.
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  • Posted by 9 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Or they're just arrogant beyond belief. I can't imagine any cop with sense thinking he could get away with this on a public defender in SF.
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  • Posted by 9 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I like the smash-smashy. That cop had some arrogance. I tell you, make them wear clown outfits with the big floppy shoes and the red rubber nose.
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  • Posted by NealS 9 years, 3 months ago
    I can't even comment on what I just saw, I'd be furious. There has to be a lot more to it than in the video and article presented. Would they have arrested me too had I asked them to stop? I'm glad I wasn't there. I'm more curious as to how this whole thing progresses.
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  • Posted by Esceptico 9 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Ah, the law. But what happens when the law says you have a right to do something you know if you do it you face serious retaliation and you elect not to endure it? Then, de jure you have rights but de facto you don’t. For example, the Texas disabled female school teacher who has been in the news who was twice dragged out of her car for no reason by the Border Patrol. She is making noise. Most won’t.
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  • Posted by jimjamesjames 9 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Though there appears to be no issue about video taping the incident, know that Glik v Cunniffe, settles that question: (Wikipedia) "The court first addressed the question of whether Glik's First Amendment rights had been violated. It noted that "we have previously recognized that the videotaping of public officials is an exercise of First Amendment liberties" and held that Glik had a constitutional right to videotape a public official in a public place."
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  • Posted by jimjamesjames 9 years, 3 months ago
    Title 42 U.S.C. Section 1983

    Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officer’s judicial capacity ...

    This means the INDIVIDUAL, not the agency he works for.
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  • Posted by Esceptico 9 years, 3 months ago
    A "pen camera" is cheap. I always carry mine for just this reason.
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  • Posted by $ jlc 9 years, 3 months ago
    I am glad that this happened and that it is being seen in video and news. The best way to reinforce a legal right is to have someone step their tiny tiny toe over the line...and then smash toe with hammer.

    Jan, smashy-smashy
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  • Posted by $ jlc 9 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I did not know this.

    In this case I have resisted arrest. Huh.

    Jan
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  • Posted by Herb7734 9 years, 3 months ago
    Either they are ignorant of the law, which I doubt, or they wanted to teach Tillotson a lesson. Either way they were dead wrong and will inevitably show up in a negative way.
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  • Posted by $ TomB666 9 years, 3 months ago
    If people wonder why cops are being disrespected, they should just watch this video. The abusive tactics police use bring it on to themselves. Makes me think everyone should be armed with a camera as well as a gun.
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