Confidential Informants insanity

[8236]

Dunno if this story has had much coverage in the US, but here you go:

Take the case of 46-year-old John Horner, a fast-food restaurant worker who was prescribed painkillers after he lost an eye in an accident in 2000.

Three years ago he was befriended by a man called Matt (not his real name).

"We kind of clicked right off the bat. One day he came to where I worked. We were standing there talking, and I realised he was in pain," says Horner.

"He laid it out on me, 'Look dude, I can either pay my rent or go buy my prescriptions. I can't do both.' I decided Matt was a friend. I said, 'I'll help you out.'"

What Horner didn't know was that Matt was an informant working for the Osceola County Sheriff's Office in central Florida.

Over a period of several weeks, Horner provided Matt with four bottles of prescription pain pills - morphine and hydrocodone. He says he also lent him money. On the last occasion Horner handed over pills, he was arrested.

"The next thing I know I got a guy's knee in the back of my neck grinding my face into the concrete. I'm told, 'You're under arrest for trafficking.'"

For the exiting conclusion of this see here.

 

[percysunshine]

Moron. He should have just offered to pay the guys rent.

Sometimes the only way stupidity can be fixed is with a knee in the back of the neck and a face grinding.


btw, the BBC is not telling the whole story. If the guy was being offered a plea bargain where he was to testify against five other people, it was an organized illegal drug sales ring, not the portrayed "I just wanted to help a guy out" situation.

Typical BBC reporting.

 

[Katzndogz]

He just wanted to help the guy out, by selling him pain pills that had been stolen from someone else. It makes perfect sense.

 

[8236]

btw, the BBC is not telling the whole story. If the guy was being offered a plea bargain where he was to testify against five other people, it was an organized illegal drug sales ring, not the portrayed "I just wanted to help a guy out" situation.

Typical BBC reporting.

I'm surprised then, that if it was a drugs ring, he couldn't find anyone to snitch on. Isn't that the point of the story: complete over the top drug enforcement, cos at the end it says the Matt guy who got him arrested, and had a string of drugs convictions got his 5 snitches and is currently free. To me that makes the 25 years in jail for giving someone prescription drugs seems a tad excessive. (I agree his motivations might not be as altruistic as presented in the story - it's a bit vague on whether or not he was trying to make money by selling drugs - not that that matters as far as the law is concerned).

What also annoys me about these long sentences is the cost of (I'm guestimating) $500,000 to keep him locked up for all that time! I don't know much about Florida law; would it be likely he would serve the whole sentence?

 

[Truthmatters]

it seems the laws perfer this man in pain drink himslef to death to ease his pain