Conrad Murray guilty of Michael Jackson manslaughter

[Herr-Berbunch]

Fair enough.

Darn you and your judicial system, with your varying degrees of things!

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Herr-Berbunch

Darn you and your judicial system, with your varying degrees of things!

"Your honor, my client said he would beat his victim within an inch of his life. Unfortunately the victim is from Europe, and only speaks metric. Therefore, your honor, the victim brought this upon himself, and my client can hardly be held responsible for a simply misunderstanding due to language."

[Herr-Berbunch]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

"Your honor, my client said he would beat his victim within an inch of his life. Unfortunately the victim is from Europe, and only speaks metric. Therefore, your honor, the victim brought this upon himself, and my client can hardly be held responsible for a simply misunderstanding due to language."

Not all Europe! (Calm down STEED!) Britain invented Yards, Feet, and Inches, along with many other measurements.

If you go back to Tudor times, that story would have been 'within three barlycorns...'

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Herr-Berbunch

Britain invented Yards, Feet, and Inches, along with many other measurements.

I know, but doesn't Britain consider herself to not be a part of Europe?

[Herr-Berbunch]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

I know, but doesn't Britain consider herself to not be a part of Europe?

When it suits, obviously. We want to be able to do our duty-free runs to the continent to pick up cheaply all the high-taxed items like beers and spirits, but we don't really pretend to be best buddies. I don't think the current economic crises has helped, after all why should we be expected, with our pounds and pence, to help bail out a country or two hundreds of miles away that use the euro? And the recent rejection of the idea of a referendum on our future in Europe has left a distaste in all mouths.

Personally, I think we should be in European Markets (like it used to be), but only when the fiscal cavity that is the European Parliament gets it's accounts sorted, oh and due-diligence on all members new and old - kicking out the financial black holes. /Rant

Edit: now sat back waiting for either Tribesman or Skybird to pick fault with the above.

[Buddahaid]

He should be forced to share a cell with Lindsey Lohan. He'd kill himself.

[August]

Originally Posted by Herr-Berbunch

...but only when the fiscal cavity that is the European Parliament gets it's accounts sorted, oh and due-diligence on all members new and old - kicking out the financial black holes. /Rant

You mean when the Europeans stop acting like Europeans?

[vienna]

Frau Kaleun said:

News this morning was that he was not released on bail pending sentencing as the judge denied that request. He was taken directly to jail from the courtroom (did not pass Go, did not collect $200). They are also saying he was put on 24 hour "medical watch" overnight, which sounds like a nice way of saying "suicide watch" but I'm not sure.

He is not on suicide watch; he was placed in a county jail medical services building due to a lack of space in the regular facilities for holding prisoners who may face danger from the regular jail population. Apparently, quite a few violent felons are Michael Jackson fans. (I always thought his music was criminal.)...

The interesting action is the denial of bail. I heard the live broadcast of the judge giving his reasoning for denying bail. He cited the following criteria:

1. Nature of the crime for which he was convicted

2. Possible danger to the community at large

3. Previous criminal record

4. Possible filght risk


The judge stated the nature of the crime, involuntary manslaughter, was a "homicide crime" (a phrase he repeated quite often) and was therefore very serious -- Bail Denied;

The judge then noted that since this was a "homicide crime", Murray present a possible danger to the public -- Bail Denied;

The judge noted Murray had no known criminal record, however -- Bail Denied;

Finally, the judge cited Murray as a possible flight risk due to his ties to people in other states -- Bail Denied.

If you listened to the way the judge gave his decision, it seemed he was playing to the press, almost as if he was trying very hard to show how tough a judge he is on crime and criminals. I don't know; maybe he's up for a higher bench and this was his campaign speech. The media here in Los Angeles have seriously questioned the validity of the judge's reasoning in light of the bail practices normally followed in the local courts. The repeated characterization of this being a "homicide crime", the stretch to make Murray out to be a danger to the public (I'm certainly glad he won't jump me on the way home and give a lethal dose of Propofol), the disregard for his lack of a criminal record, and ignoring the alternatives available to reduce the risk of flight (e.g., GPS monitoring, etc.) point more to an effort to appease someone or to complete some agenda. Perhaps there was fear of some sort of public outbreak if bail was given. A very large, noisy crowd of Jackson supporters (or, better, fanatics) had assembled outside the courthouse and the authorities may have thought there would be the seeds of another riot like the 1992 Rodney King trial if either the verdict was "not Guilty" or if Murray was granted bail. Los Angeles is a city that has become "riot-shy" since 1992...

The bottom line is Murray has been denied bail for a crime that normally in similar situations would be routinely granted while more violent felony defendants with criminal records and more obvious ties to other countries, much less other states, and who would pose a much, much greater danger to the public are free on bail...