"The Law Is A Ass..."

[PoliticalChic]

Suspect allowed to view child porn in Wash. jail

The materials normally would be contraband, but in this case its evidence




The Associated Press

TACOMA, Wash. — A legal loophole is allowing a Washington state man accused of child sex crimes to view child pornography in jail.

Weldon Marc Gilbert is acting as his own lawyer in the case, and that means he's entitled to review the evidence.

The evidence in the case includes more than 100 videos seized from Gilbert's Lake Tapps home after his 2007 arrest. Authorities say some of the footage was shot by Gilbert.

"Make no mistake — I don't like it," Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor told KOMO-TV. "But it is not my choice whether to do it or not to do it. There's no question that I don't like it. There's no question that this makes me grind my teeth."

The materials normally would be contraband at the Pierce County Jail, but restricting Gilbert's access to the videos could result in a mistrial, the station reported Wednesday.

"We don't want to do it, but we have to follow the law," Pierce County prosecutor Mark Lindquist said. "The fix here is to change the law."

Suspect allowed to view child porn in Wash. jail

 

[High_Gravity]

What the hell? how is this man "allowed" to watch any kind of porn, nevermind child porn, in prison? man our department of corrections is totally fucked.

 

[Steerpike]

The alternative would be to let the State decide if, when, and to what extent someone accused of a crime can access the evidence to be brought against them at trial. That would be a lot worse, imo.

 

[PixieStix]

I guess it will be ok, if it is what he really believes, maybe it is a religious view.........sacrcasm off

 

[High_Gravity]

He's sitting in cell watching child porn for his "defense" in a trial, what a fucking joke, so if I'm defending myself from a cocaine trafficing charge I get to keep the cocaine in my cell because its evidence right?

 

[PoliticalChic]

The alternative would be to let the State decide if, when, and to what extent someone accused of a crime can access the evidence to be brought against them at trial. That would be a lot worse, imo.

"...access the evidence..."

So, how about providing the parts of the body of the child that Levi Aron slaughtered, you know....so he could better prepare his defense....

 

[Steerpike]

The alternative would be to let the State decide if, when, and to what extent someone accused of a crime can access the evidence to be brought against them at trial. That would be a lot worse, imo.

"...access the evidence..."

So, how about providing the parts of the body of the child that Levi Aron slaughtered, you know....so he could better prepare his defense....

Those aren't going to be introduced into evidence.

 

[whitehall]

It's got nothing to do with the law. It's a slick move by a pervert who is representing himself in court. Sh-t happens. Visualize serial killer Ted Bundy cross-examining Police Officers on the witness stand. It happened and Bundy ended up on the hot seat after all.

 

[FuelRod]

An ass and it's time for decency and common sense to rise up and take control of this country.

 

[Steerpike]

He's sitting in cell watching child porn for his "defense" in a trial, what a fucking joke, so if I'm defending myself from a cocaine trafficing charge I get to keep the cocaine in my cell because its evidence right?

No, he's in a room with an investigator. You wouldn't be able to take the drugs to your cell, but if you needed to access the drugs for some reason relating to your defense (e.g. to test them or something) then yeah, you'd be able to do that.

I think the police are right. Better to let him review the tapes and then get a life conviction than to say no and have him claim later that the State prevented him from defending himself at trial.

 

[High_Gravity]

He's sitting in cell watching child porn for his "defense" in a trial, what a fucking joke, so if I'm defending myself from a cocaine trafficing charge I get to keep the cocaine in my cell because its evidence right?

No, he's in a room with an investigator. You wouldn't be able to take the drugs to your cell, but if you needed to access the drugs for some reason relating to your defense (e.g. to test them or something) then yeah, you'd be able to do that.

I think the police are right. Better to let him review the tapes and then get a life conviction than to say no and have him claim later that the State prevented him from defending himself at trial.

This dude is jerking off in his cell to child porn, thats all there is to it, hes not going to get a very long sentence for kiddie porn anyways.

 

[Steerpike]

This dude is jerking off in his cell to child porn, thats all there is to it, hes not going to get a very long sentence for kiddie porn anyways.

He'll be doing that, regardless (though he doesn't actually have the porn with him in private, according to the article).

Article says he could get life, but I don't think that's likely. Hopefully he'll get at least the 25 years.

 

[PoliticalChic]

The alternative would be to let the State decide if, when, and to what extent someone accused of a crime can access the evidence to be brought against them at trial. That would be a lot worse, imo.

"...access the evidence..."

So, how about providing the parts of the body of the child that Levi Aron slaughtered, you know....so he could better prepare his defense....

Those aren't going to be introduced into evidence.

It seems that you don't realize the corner you've painted yourself into....
...if the perp were left-handed, and wanted to show the wounds were made by a right-handed dude, you'd be down with the body parts being provided??

 

[PoliticalChic]

An ass and it's time for decency and common sense to rise up and take control of this country.

" a ass...."

Don't cheat Dickens out of his due.

 

[Steerpike]

It seems that you don't realize the corner you've painted yourself into....
...if the perp were left-handed, and wanted to show the wounds were made by a right-handed dude, you'd be down with the body parts being provided??

I'd give him pictures of them and allow him to have his own medical experts (if he has any) examine the bodies. No reason to provide him with the body parts.

 

[imbalance]

Please tell me he has to mingle with the jail's general population and that they're fully aware of what's going on with his "evidence"...

 

[Steerpike]

Please tell me he has to mingle with the jail's general population and that they're fully aware of what's going on with his "evidence"...

Yeah, that would probably be a nice, quick resolution to the whole issue.

 

[editec]

Suspect allowed to view child porn in Wash. jail

The materials normally would be contraband, but in this case its evidence




The Associated Press

TACOMA, Wash. — A legal loophole is allowing a Washington state man accused of child sex crimes to view child pornography in jail.

Weldon Marc Gilbert is acting as his own lawyer in the case, and that means he's entitled to review the evidence.

The evidence in the case includes more than 100 videos seized from Gilbert's Lake Tapps home after his 2007 arrest. Authorities say some of the footage was shot by Gilbert.

"Make no mistake — I don't like it," Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor told KOMO-TV. "But it is not my choice whether to do it or not to do it. There's no question that I don't like it. There's no question that this makes me grind my teeth."

The materials normally would be contraband at the Pierce County Jail, but restricting Gilbert's access to the videos could result in a mistrial, the station reported Wednesday.

"We don't want to do it, but we have to follow the law," Pierce County prosecutor Mark Lindquist said. "The fix here is to change the law."

Suspect allowed to view child porn in Wash. jail

Oh my god... that's hilarious.

Sick? Sure

Sickening? Sure that too.

But ya gotta admit that it's amazingly funny, too, right?

The guy's in jail for porn and the authorities have no choice but to allow him to continue to enjoy his porn in the pretrail and trail period?

 

[Baruch Menachem]

I believe Oregon has a slightly different take on this. You can have a licensed practitioner review the evidence for you, but you are not allowed access to the evidence yourself. I think this is a chain of control issue.

I do know that there are constitutional issues the State has to follow in allowing a defendant a fair trial. In this case I think they should keep the materials from him, and have some sort of licensed professional review the materials for any evidentiary materials in the tapes. In other words, he should give a list of information requested and have the professional look for it. He should't be allowed to have his jollies off the evidence. I would be like giving a drug dealer a chance to smoke the crack he was arrested with.

 

[High_Gravity]

Please tell me he has to mingle with the jail's general population and that they're fully aware of what's going on with his "evidence"...

I'm pretty sure this guy is in PC.