Striking back at malicious prosecution

[Loren Pechtel]

Texas woman charged with murder in 2022 abortion sues prosecutors for $1m

Lizelle Gonzalez says she suffered harm from two nights in jail and being identified as a murder suspect before charges were dropped

www.theguardian.com

She's suing because they arrested her on murder charges (arrest records are public) for an abortion. Nope, that's not what the law says at all. Good, but I can't imagine this will actually work.

 

[Bomb#20]

A million dollars? Good grief! A legal system that goes for that is pathetic. The appropriate penalty for what the DA did is life imprisonment. Anybody who deliberately tries to get a false conviction should face whatever punishment he tried to inflict on his victim. The failure of his crime wasn't his choice so why should he get credit for its failure?

 

[Loren Pechtel]

A million dollars? Good grief! A legal system that goes for that is pathetic. The appropriate penalty for what the DA did is life imprisonment. Anybody who deliberately tries to get a false conviction should face whatever punishment he tried to inflict on his victim. The failure of his crime wasn't his choice so why should he get credit for its failure?

I think he knew he couldn't get a conviction. This was a case of the process being the punishment. I have no problem with $1M as punishment--but it should be him, not his office.

 

[Patooka]

Maybe not have a public servant's role be up for election? There is a difference between public servants and politicians you know.

 

[Toni]

I don’t disagree that the prosecutor’s office/governmental body responsible should be fined and the person who was so maliciously charged should receive a good settlement that should include total expungement of charges, etc. and in every way possible, her privacy should be restored and protected, in addition to financial remuneration. I know: fairy tales, right?

But what we do not know is how much freedom the prosecutor had to file those charges. They may have been ordered to do so. And this could well have been a deliberate test case to expose how unconstitutional such a law was.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

A million dollars? Good grief!

What is your going rate for illegal detention of yourself for a couple of days by the State?

 

[Toni]

A million dollars? Good grief! A legal system that goes for that is pathetic. The appropriate penalty for what the DA did is life imprisonment. Anybody who deliberately tries to get a false conviction should face whatever punishment he tried to inflict on his victim. The failure of his crime wasn't his choice so why should he get credit for its failure?

I think he knew he couldn't get a conviction. This was a case of the process being the punishment. I have no problem with $1M as punishment--but it should be him, not his office.

Or a case of using this particular case to demonstrate just how egregiously wrong and malicious and misplaced the law was in the first place.

 

[Bomb#20]

A million dollars? Good grief!

What is your going rate for illegal detention of yourself for a couple of days by the State?

Just for illegal detention? I'd think a short jail term and firing and disbarment and economic loss plus pain and suffering plus treble damages would be adequate. The life sentence I proposed wasn't for the illegal detention; it was for trying to get the woman illegally convicted and illegally sent up for murder. When somebody commits attempted murder we don't punish him only for the assault and battery he committed successfully.

 

[southernhybrid]

A friend of mine spent the weekend in jail for an unpaid traffic fine hat was actually paid. The police came to his house at 2 AM and took him to prison. Considering he is Black, I guess he's lucky the cops didn't beat him up. One of his kids actually answered the door. His wife had to wait until Monday to take the proof to the courthouse to show that the ticket had been paid.

I have a friend who's son in law was a prosecutor at the time. He's a very kind, considerate man who didn't like what happened. He reviewed all of the information with me and said, my friend might be able to sue and get a settlement but it may not be that easy to win. I encouraged him to try but he and his wife din't want to go through any more stress, so that was that. The poor guy sat in prison all weekend over a traffic ticket that had already been paid. I think both of these cases are outrageous. In fact, I think it's outrageous that anyone should spend time in jail over a traffic ticket. I think I mentioned this in the lounge when it happened. Good luck to this woman, but does anyone think her chances are good, considering it happened in Texas? Our so called system of justice is fucked up. Trump gets away with anything, but poor people end up sitting in jail for days for shit that they didn't do or they shouldn't have been charged with to begin with.

 

[hurtinbuckaroo]

A million dollars? Good grief! A legal system that goes for that is pathetic. The appropriate penalty for what the DA did is life imprisonment. Anybody who deliberately tries to get a false conviction should face whatever punishment he tried to inflict on his victim. The failure of his crime wasn't his choice so why should he get credit for its failure?

I think he knew he couldn't get a conviction. This was a case of the process being the punishment. I have no problem with $1M as punishment--but it should be him, not his office.

Or a case of using this particular case to demonstrate just how egregiously wrong and malicious and misplaced the law was in the first place.

I’ve never heard of a case being brought for that reason where the accused wasn’t a willing participant.

 

[Toni]

A million dollars? Good grief! A legal system that goes for that is pathetic. The appropriate penalty for what the DA did is life imprisonment. Anybody who deliberately tries to get a false conviction should face whatever punishment he tried to inflict on his victim. The failure of his crime wasn't his choice so why should he get credit for its failure?

I think he knew he couldn't get a conviction. This was a case of the process being the punishment. I have no problem with $1M as punishment--but it should be him, not his office.

Or a case of using this particular case to demonstrate just how egregiously wrong and malicious and misplaced the law was in the first place.

I’ve never heard of a case being brought for that reason where the accused wasn’t a willing participant.

That’s something I thought of as well. I’m also certain that there are elements in this that have not and probably will never be made public. Nothing but sympathy for the woman involved.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

A million dollars? Good grief!

What is your going rate for illegal detention of yourself for a couple of days by the State?

Just for illegal detention? I'd think a short jail term and firing and disbarment and economic loss plus pain and suffering plus treble damages would be adequate. The life sentence I proposed wasn't for the illegal detention; it was for trying to get the woman illegally convicted and illegally sent up for murder. When somebody commits attempted murder we don't punish him only for the assault and battery he committed successfully.

Yeah, I have long said that the penalty for perjury etc should be that the person doing it should receive whatever punishment the victim would have received had they been convicted. Like with any criminal case it would be proof beyond a reasonable doubt (the mere fact that someone's allegation didn't result in a conviction would not be proof they were lying) but this particular one is quite clear. The law does not call it murder and she's not the one committing the offense anyway. He had to know the facts did not support the charges, he should be facing whatever penalty she would have faced for murder. Punitive arrests/charges would become very dangerous for those engaging in them. Unless they are apprehended in the act you get the facts straight first, then arrest.