[news] Then again., maybe he IS guilty...

[Octavious]

I know tons of people that don't lock their personal computers because they find it annoying so that doesn't surprise me.

[craterus]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,594262,00.html" target="_blank

this was on google news and it talks a bit about the the sting to get him caught on tape... pretty amazing if true

ps - reading transcripts of o'rly are just as impossible as watching his show...

[theohall]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,594262,00.html

this was on google news and it talks a bit about the the sting to get him caught on tape... pretty amazing if true

ps - reading transcripts of o'rly are just as impossible as watching his show...

Thanks for making me feel "stupider" by reading that. See, I even forgot how to use real words and properly end a sentence.

[craterus]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,594262,00.html

this was on google news and it talks a bit about the the sting to get him caught on tape... pretty amazing if true

ps - reading transcripts of o'rly are just as impossible as watching his show...

Thanks for making me feel "stupider" by reading that. See, I even forgot how to use real words and properly end a sentence.

Sorry about that theo


here is a better article... wow crimes of passion are AWESOME down south!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/0859919954 ... Vyc2xvb3Rz" target="_blank

Rage is a key element in the confession that could conceivably get van der Sloot a lighter sentence. "The confession is part of a strategy to show that the murder was not premeditated to keep the sentence to a minimum," says Luis Lamas Puccio, a well-known criminal lawyer in Lima. Indeed, detectives are furious that van der Sloot's court-appointed lawyer, Rosa Camargo, has "manipulated the case and planted the idea of a crime of passion," in the words of one detective. (See the top 25 crimes of the century.)

In Peru, a crime of passion could lead to a sentence as low as seven years, which could mean that van der Sloot walks in three or four years. Otherwise, if van der Sloot is found guilty of premeditated, first- degree murder, he could spend between 15 and 35 years in prison. (There is no death penalty in Peru.

[hepcat]

You know you've got a f'ed up justice system when the excuse, "But i was mad!" is considered a valid reason for the crime.

The more I read about this friggin' scumbag, the more I want to see him brought back to the US in a cargo drum then drawn and quartered after the Supreme Court brings back that form of punishment for one day only.

[theohall]

Hopefully, the prosecutor in Peru will try to force through the aggravated robbery charge which carries a life sentence.

[Odin]

You know you've got a f'ed up justice system when the excuse, "But i was mad!" is considered a valid reason for the crime.

The more I read about this friggin' scumbag, the more I want to see him brought back to the US in a cargo drum then drawn and quartered after the Supreme Court brings back that form of punishment for one day only.

Hopefully, the light sentence will suitably enrage some Peruvians.

[gameoverman]

I think in any reasonable criminal justice system there would be a difference in sentence for crimes of passion vs premeditated crimes.

I think it should also be the prosecutor's job to prove it's premeditated.

I think the families' best bet for justice would be taking advantage of the fact that he'll be vulnerable in a Peruvian prison. It's going to be a contest between his family and theirs- who will get paid the most, the bodyguards or the hunters?

[hepcat]

I think in any reasonable criminal justice system there would be a difference in sentence for crimes of passion vs premeditated crimes.

But what's a reasonable disparity in punishment? 3 to 4 years vs. life in the case of murder based solely on the situation in which it arises? I don't see that as even remotely just.

[Mr Bubbles]

I think in any reasonable criminal justice system there would be a difference in sentence for crimes of passion vs premeditated crimes.

I've thought about this often and honestly I don't think it's a black or white issue. I think some crimes of passion (read not premeditated) are more heinous than a premeditated attack. There was a former FBI profiler interviewed this morning and he said the FBI had always known based on their profiling of him that he was capable of killing.

[Grifman]

I think in any reasonable criminal justice system there would be a difference in sentence for crimes of passion vs premeditated crimes.

But what's a reasonable disparity in punishment? 3 to 4 years vs. life in the case of murder based solely on the situation in which it arises? I don't see that as even remotely just.

Premeditated first degree murder should be life sentence. The Peruvian sentence is ridiculous. You take someone's life from them and you still get to live as a free man at some point?!

[craterus]

slightly off topic - i mentioned before that i vaguely remember a 60 minutes episode(from the 70's or 80's?) that described the ease at which someone could kill their wife in south america - I thought it was based more on rage than napoleonic code

from wiki

Countries that allow husbands to kill only their wives in flagrante delicto (based upon the Napoleonic code) include:

* In two Latin American countries, similar laws were struck down over the past two decades: according to human rights lawyer Julie Mertus "in Brazil, until 1991 wife killings were considered to be noncriminal 'honor killings'; in just one year, nearly eight hundred husbands killed their wives. Similarly, in Colombia, until 1980, a husband legally could kill his wife for committing adultery."[63]

apparently passion is still given heavy weight down there

[Isgrimnur]

I guess it's all that fiery Latin blood.

[gameoverman]

I was on a jury here in California, a murder case.

The guy was looking at 15 years, minus time served/good behavior/etc for 2nd degree, less for manslaughter, and life w/possible parole for 1st degree(no special circumstance).

So, yeah, you could kill someone in the US as well as Peru and be out in a few years. It depends on what you get convicted of doing.

I'm not sure I understand what people are getting at. Is it that if you do something and someone dies as a result- it's murder and means life in prison for you?

So if you shove someone in an argument and they fall and die as a result, what you've done is the same level of crime as a serial killer who premeditates his murders?

[hepcat]

I was on a jury here in California, a murder case.

The guy was looking at 15 years, minus time served/good behavior/etc for 2nd degree, less for manslaughter, and life w/possible parole for 1st degree(no special circumstance).

So, yeah, you could kill someone in the US as well as Peru and be out in a few years. It depends on what you get convicted of doing.

I'm not sure I understand what people are getting at. Is it that if you do something and someone dies as a result- it's murder and means life in prison for you?

So if you shove someone in an argument and they fall and die as a result, what you've done is the same level of crime as a serial killer who premeditates his murders?

no, but if you call me a doo doo head and I then proceed to pummel you with a brick until your skull collapses into your neck, then I would expect a harsher sentence than 42 minutes in a minimum security prison.

What you described was accidental death (i.e. murder without the intent to murder) arising from a physical act that wasn't intended to kill. Crimes of passions resulting in murder, I suspect, are usually not restrained responses to anger. Flores was choked and beaten to death. She didn't slip and hit her head.

[Rip]

Authorities discovered human remains behind a house in Aruba, a grisly find that may finally crack the mystery surrounding a young woman’s disappearance 12 years ago.

The remains, discovered following a renewed 18-month probe, are being tested to see if they’re a DNA match with Natalee Holloway, the Alabama teenager who went missing while on a graduation trip in 2005, her father, Dave Holloway, and investigator T.J. Ward revealed on “Today” on Wednesday.

“I know there’s a possibility this could be someone else, and I’m just trying to wait and see,” Holloway said. “It would finally be the end.”

The dad said the investigation led them to an informant known as “Gabriel,” who lived with a friend of van der Sloot, and eventually, to the remains.

“[He] had information that took us to a spot where remains were found. And we took those remains and had those remains tested,” Holloway said. “We’ve chased a lot of leads and this one is by far the most credible lead I’ve seen in the last 12 years.”

The DNA tests will take several months.

http://nypost.com/2017/08/16/natalee-ho ... -in-aruba/

[gameoverman]

I guess the checks stop coming in so Gabriel was no longer under an NDA.

[Moliere]

"The DNA tests will take several months."

According to CSI these are done in a few hours. What are they hiding?!

[Jeff V]

"The DNA tests will take several months."

According to CSI these are done in a few hours. What are they hiding?!

I suppose they need to test everyone who was on Aruba at the time to vet the results beyond a reasonable doubt. Remember, there was DNA evidence at the OJ crime scene, and because the results indicated there could actually be another person on the planet with a DNA match (it was like 1 in 3 billion) was apparently enough to invalidate the result in the eyes of the jury.

The live ones are no problem. Exhuming those who are dead is gonna take awhile.

[Scuzz]

"The DNA tests will take several months."

According to CSI these are done in a few hours. What are they hiding?!

I suppose they need to test everyone who was on Aruba at the time to vet the results beyond a reasonable doubt. Remember, there was DNA evidence at the OJ crime scene, and because the results indicated there could actually be another person on the planet with a DNA match (it was like 1 in 3 billion) was apparently enough to invalidate the result in the eyes of the jury.

The live ones are no problem. Exhuming those who are dead is gonna take awhile.

I am currently reading Vincent Bugliosi's book about the OJ trial. Bugliosi was the guy who tried Manson. The book torches the prosecution (and Judge Ito) for their incompetency in that trial. Much of it is based on the prosecutions poor handling of the DNA testimony.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

The OJ trial was the first time most people had heard of DNA testing, so it's not too surprising that the judge and members of the prosecutor team weren't overly familiar with it. But I'm not sure if better handling of the DNA evidence would have made much of a difference; in the ESPN documentary of the trial, one of the jurors states straight up that she wasn't going to convict OJ no matter the evidence as payback for Rodney King.

[McNutt]

I've often wondered if a judge has any recourse about a juror standing alone because of something unrelated to a case. I've been on a criminal jury once in my life and by the time we had agreed 11-1 that the person was guilty (he was) there was that one Henry Fonda who wouldn't vote guilty because of some dumb reason that had nothing to do with the trial. I was foreman and told him that it didn't matter because we only needed 10. In your face!

[Scuzz]

The OJ trial was the first time most people had heard of DNA testing, so it's not too surprising that the judge and members of the prosecutor team weren't overly familiar with it. But I'm not sure if better handling of the DNA evidence would have made much of a difference; in the ESPN documentary of the trial, one of the jurors states straight up that she wasn't going to convict OJ no matter the evidence as payback for Rodney King.

The prosecution spent 8 days presenting DNA evidence. And yet they failed to introduce evidence to account for discrepancies that the defense would use to claim that the DNA evidence was "contaminated". OJ was proven to have been mathmatically a certainty to have been the murderer (something like the odds jeff uses above).

And DNA wasn't that new. It was common and there were standards and protocols. It was just poorly handled by the prosecution.

The prosecution didn't even use the doctor who performed the actual autopsy, they used his boss, which opened up arguments about what they were trying to hide from the jury.

Bugliosi writes that the prosecution was totally incompetent in the trial. Pre-trial testing had shown that potential black jurors hated Marcia Clark. They ran at least three panels to test that out and all three hated her, but they still used her.

I will grant that Bugliosi states early on in his book that with the jury used probably the best the DA could hope for was a hung jury. But, he blames the County DA (Garcetti) for holding the trial downtown instead of in Malibu where it should have been held and he blames the prosecutors for not using their pre-emptory challenges. They still had a dozen left and settled for this jury.

[Kasey Chang]

FWIW, Podcast "Real Crime Profiles" by Jim Clemente and Laura Richards (both real ex-profilers) do have a couple episodes on OJ Simpson, in reaction to the dramatization/documentary.

[KDH]

with regards to Halloway and Van der sloot ...

What happened to the two brothers that were with Van der Sloot that night? .. I haven't seen them mentioned on the news in many years, and they are just as involved as Van der Sloot

there was a taped audio recording of one of the brothers saying something like .. "she wanted it bad" .. when, in fact, she probably didn't want it

as the Goo-Goo Dolls once said .. Dizzy up the girl

[Ralph-Wiggum]

DNA wasn't new during the OJ trial but that trial was probably the first time many people (including the jury) had heard of DNA being used for murder trials. I'm sure there was way more skepticism about the fullproof nature of DNA evidence back then than there is now. But my main point was that no matter the evidence, the jury they settled on was unlikely to convict for a whole host of reasons that had little to do with the trial itself.

[Isgrimnur]

CBS

In the series "The Disappearance of Natalee Holloway," John Christopher Ludwick made headlines when he claimed he helped Joran van der Sloot dispose of the missing teen's body. Ludwick, 32, of Port Charlotte, Florida, was stabbed to death Tuesday as he tried to kidnap a woman from her vehicle, North Port police said.

Ludwick was roommates with the woman at one point and wanted a romantic relationship with her, but she didn't want one with him, North Port police spokesperson Joshua Taylor said.

"He essentially ambushed her getting out of her car, going into her home," Taylor said.

The woman was able to wrestle a knife from Ludwick, then stabbed him in the abdomen, police said.

"He then fled the area on foot," police said in a statement. "He was found nearby suffering from the stab wounds. After being transported by air, he was pronounced dead at a local hospital."

[Isgrimnur]

And a wiki follow-up on van der Sloot:

On 11 January 2012, Van der Sloot pleaded guilty to the "qualified murder" and simple robbery of Flores.[8] He was convicted and sentenced to 28 years imprisonment for the murder on 13 January, and, he must pay $75,000 to the Flores family. Hours after learning of the sentence, Van der Sloot was transferred to a maximum security prison, Piedras Gordas, located north of Lima. He is currently expected to be released on 10 June 2038.