OT: Curtis Flowers out on bond

[Phil Wenneck.sixpack]

Congratulations. Over the past month you've made this board completely unbearable. Nice work.

 

[paindonthurt_]

I agree here but this works both ways. Until one side admits that we won’t ever move forward.

 

[L4Dawg]

Your insurance company doesn’t require a police report?

It does. They all do. That post was sheer ignorance.

 

[Daddy Rabbit Dawg]

I 100% don't trust law enforcement...black or white.

 

[Go Budaw]

he did it and everyone in town knows it. lawyers struck the jurors least likely to help their cases - happens every day

we havent heard the last from flowers

Ah, the old “everyone knows he done it!” judgment from the locals. If we were a society that utilized a Salem witch trial instead of an actual constitution and Bill of Rights, that might mean something.

I’ll sum this up as simply as I can. There are only two possible outcomes from the murders. Flowers committed them, or he didn’t. If he did, the DA has 17ed up on a practically criminal level by not being able to obtain a lawful conviction through a fair trial in spite of being given SIX opportunities to do so. If he didn’t commit them, the DA has 17ed up on a criminal level by perpetrating a 23 year long circle jerk fueled by racism and/or general incompetence that has simultaneously allowed the real killer of 4 people to roam free for going on 3 decades now. No matter what, there’s no scenario where Doug Evans comes out of this as anything short of a complete clown show, disgrace to his profession, and potentially a criminally negligent DA. And that is the rub....IT DOESN’T EVEN MATTER IF FLOWERS DID IT.

Just ask yourself, how bad do you have to be at your job to render whether or not someone actually killed 4 people to be a completely irrelevant footnote of your overall professional performance in a given case?

 

[The Situation]

That isnt even close to true. People in town are split.

Is it split along racial lines?

 

[mcdawg22]

“The evidence was there yet very little allowed to be presented due to “legal” problems.”
What evidence is this? Not flaming, I’m generally curious because I’d like to form an unbiased “liberal” opinion.

 

[mcdawg22]

The other thing I’ll say is if Flowers is guilty. There still is another guilty man out there roaming around. I don’t think one person with no criminal history kills 4 people with five shots in that close proximity.

 

[PineGroveBully]

Well said!

 

[horshack.sixpack]

I agree here but this works both ways. Until one side admits that we won’t ever move forward.

And that's a key problem with the issue. There is no "side". There are some white folks scattered around with limited cognitive abilities that still hold onto racism from the past. Most of who I deal with do not. Unfortunately, I've become aware that there are some legitimate racists places still left in this country. The ones that I know about just happen to be in MS, because that is where I live. We don't have a monopoly on small-minded people and the kind of people that harbor those trash opinions are remarkably unaware of how in the wrong they are, and long for some perceived past times that were only peaceful if you were on the right side of the color line. These kinds of folks are not gonna take over the world and they are slowly dying off, just not fast enough for some tastes...

 

[maroonmadman]

The DA and local law enforcement have both royally screwed up this case. At the outset there wasn’t proper attention paid to the crime scene. This is the fault of small town cops not having enough experience or training in how to handle a crime scene.

The DA has also botched the case in his desire to get a conviction. He did his best to “load” the jury with folks who would be more likely to return a guilty verdict - i.e. white males - this is the reason one conviction was thrown out.

I’ve known the DA for quite some time. He used to work in my late Dads law firm. Didn’t particularly care for him then. Don’t like him now. Always thought he was more concerned with how things look as opposed to reality.

Being incarcerated for this length of time with no conviction is a crime in itself.

 

[paindonthurt_]

There are some black folks around who are limited and racist.

https://www.facebook.com/204720826215062/posts/2804396332914152?vh=e&d=n&sfns=mo

 

[woozman]

.the police don't do anything but take a statement

Unfortunately this is 100% correct. A couple years ago there was a rash of car burglaries in our neighborhood one night. It was my fault because I left my doors unlocked, but they stole my Costas and an iPhone from my car.

I used the find my phone app and the phone showed up in a neighborhood about 10-miles away. I called the Sheriff’s office and they told me it was my responsibility to go knock on the door and ask for my phone back. I thought the guy was joking at first, but he wasn’t. He said he could send a car to park on the street while I went and if the people refused to give it back there was nothing they could do. Luckily it was an older phone that I just used to stream podcasts while I was driving because I wasn’t knocking on some thugs door over it.

Still blows me away - you’d think that they would use the info I provided to make an arrest or something.....

 

[Go Budaw]

Unfortunately this is 100% correct. A couple years ago there was a rash of car burglaries in our neighborhood one night. It was my fault because I left my doors unlocked, but they stole my Costas and an iPhone from my car.

I used the find my phone app and the phone showed up in a neighborhood about 10-miles away. I called the Sheriff’s office and they told me it was my responsibility to go knock on the door and ask for my phone back. I thought the guy was joking at first, but he wasn’t. He said he could send a car to park on the street while I went and if the people refused to give it back there was nothing they could do. Luckily it was an older phone that I just used to stream podcasts while I was driving because I wasn’t knocking on some thugs door over it.

Still blows me away - you’d think that they would use the info I provided to make an arrest or something.....

Damn. That’s pretty ******.

 

[Daddy Rabbit Dawg]

Same thing happened to me. Cops are useless about 99% of the time.

 

[RocketDawg]

Unfortunately this is 100% correct. A couple years ago there was a rash of car burglaries in our neighborhood one night. It was my fault because I left my doors unlocked, but they stole my Costas and an iPhone from my car.

I used the find my phone app and the phone showed up in a neighborhood about 10-miles away. I called the Sheriff’s office and they told me it was my responsibility to go knock on the door and ask for my phone back. I thought the guy was joking at first, but he wasn’t. He said he could send a car to park on the street while I went and if the people refused to give it back there was nothing they could do. Luckily it was an older phone that I just used to stream podcasts while I was driving because I wasn’t knocking on some thugs door over it.

Still blows me away - you’d think that they would use the info I provided to make an arrest or something.....

Yeah, that really was strange. Maybe it was because there was no real "proof" (like video) that your car had been broken into.

Here's a case where the police did in fact do something: A friend of mine bought some party supplies last week in Costco, and walked over to get a box to put the things in. He keeps his bills and cards in a money clip instead of a wallet, and he absent-mindedly laid the money clip on the checkout stand to get the boxes, just a few feet away. The guy in line behind him picked up his money clip and left. To make a long story short, the police were called, watched the video, knew who the guy was because he'd had to use his Costco card, and arrested him. My friend got his money back, but didn't press charges even though the poice encouraged him to. Apparently the guy was insistent that he'd done nothing wrong. In this case, there was hard video evidence of the crime.

 

[ezsoil]

Your insurance company doesn’t require a police report?

there is no requirement to have a police report...that is a common misconception...they may "ask" for one...But it isn't a contractual requirement...the insurance company will do their own investigation...having a self serving "statement of occurrence" depending on the state, the language may be different but most standard forms only require a duty to mitigate and to assist in the investigation.

 

[mount lefroy]

Is it split along racial lines?

Not really. I'm sure there are a fair amount of people of each race who believe he did/didn't do the crime. The larger split is in whether the trials were fair.

 

[ezsoil]

It does. They all do. That post was sheer ignorance.

Sheer ignorance? ..perhaps you should read your policy.....in most States insurance matters are considered civil matters and do not require law enforcement. .Most law enforcement jurisdictions do not have the manpower to come out and investigate every break in. There is a difference between "asking" and requiring...

 

[Bcash2]

If anyone wants another good crime/murder/trial doc...

...with a much more pleasing outcome, there is a good 2 part doc on HBO called “Who Killed Garrett Phillips?” It shows in real time the asshattery, incompetence and straight up bias/racism/willingness to cover for their own of a small town NY police department.

 

[DowntownFrazier]

I listened to the podcast, and yes... "In the Dark" has an agenda. I'd like to hear the prosecution's side of it. I don't know if Flowers is guilty or innocent, but I know Doug Evans has done some really shady things to stack the deck (ie: the jailhouse snitches).

 

[Go Budaw]

Yeah, that really was strange. Maybe it was because there was no real "proof" (like video) that your car had been broken into. .

No proof? He had documented evidence via GPS that his phone was at some strange address. I’d say that’s pretty good proof. And I bet if the cops did 2 seconds of research on who owned the house, there’s a good chance it would turn up being someone with at least some rap sheet (not that it matters).

If you want a glimpse to the real American police culture, start watching The Wire on HBO Now. Everyone’s MO is to do as little as possible, not pursue valid leads until they are forced to do so, pawn off real police work on other groups / divisions whenever possible, etc. The syndicated hero cop dramas like your CSI’s where you have the cliche scenes of the feds showing up to a local crime scene with the “FBI, we’ll take it from here” routine followed by heated arguments where the protagonists insist on working their case is pure fantasy. In real life, it’s the exact opposite that happens way more often than not.