- cross-posted to:
- news@lemmings.world
- cross-posted to:
- news@lemmings.world
String of embarrassing defeats for prosecutors as experts condemn DoJ effort to cast people as ‘violent perpetrators’
Department of Justice prosecutors across the US have suffered a string of embarrassing defeats in their aggressive pursuit of criminal cases against people accused of “assaulting” and “impeding” federal officers.
In recent months, the federal government has relentlessly prosecuted protesters, government critics, immigrants and others arrested during immigration operations, often accusing them of physically attacking officers or interfering with their duties.
But many of those cases have recently been dismissed or ended in not guilty verdicts.
In several high-profile cases, the prosecutions fell apart because they relied on statements by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers that had no supporting evidence or in some instances were proven by video footage to be blatantly false.
Somehow, I don’t think that ice or the doj feels that these defeats are all that embarrassing.
Arresting the protesters and making them go through the system, even if they are found not to be guilty, is a significant punishment in itself.
There should be repercussions for the ice agents and prosecutors when this is happening repeatedly.
Your comment just made me think about what happens to the booking data of the wrongfully accused protesters that go through the system but have charges dropped? Do they delete your mugshot and fingerprints? I doubt it. So even if you’ve had no criminal record and any charges are dropped, you’re still added to the database which I’m sure makes its way to palantir.
No ‘reapeat offense’ needed, once is enough. They were warned against such behavior when they were authorized to perform the duties of their office.
They should know better, and face consequences per instance, and summary dismissal without benefits after several offenses.