criminal justice

Saturday 20th of April 2024

2020 Presidential election The only thing worse would be not charging him. Barbara McQuade, "United States v. Donald Trump," on the failure to criminally charge Trump with conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction of an official proceeding for pressuring Pence to overturn the election due to fears about potential negative consequences for the country, such as violent protests, civil unrest, loss of life, or an acquittal, which would embolden other domestic wannabe autocrats © 2022 Kwiple.com
2020 Presidential election United States House of Representatives Reso- lution 503 instructs the Select Committee to  Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol ("Select Committee") to investi- gate the facts, circumstances, and causes of the January 6th attack and issues relating to the peaceful transfer of power. Pursuant to that directive, we have interviewed thousands of wit- nesses, reviewed over a million documents, con- ducted public hearings, and vindicated our right in court against those who have tried to keep relevant information from the Select Committee. As demonstrated in our hearings, we have assembled overwhelming evidence, including from dozens of your former appointees and staff, that you personally orchestrated and oversaw a multi-part effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election and to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power. Subpoena to Trump from the Select Committee © 2022 Kwiple.com
2020 Presidential election A Washington Post investigation found that more than a year would pass before prose- cutors and FBI agents jointly embarked on a formal probe of actions directed from the White House to try to steal the election. Even then, the FBI stopped short of identifying the former president as a focus of that investigation. The Justice Department's painstaking approach to investigating Trump can be traced to [Attorney General Merrick] Garland’s desire to turn the page from missteps, bruising attacks and allegations of partisanship in the depart- ment’s recent investigations of both Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election  and Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server. Carol D. Leonnig and Aaron C. Davis, Washington Post, June 20, 2023 © 2023 Kwiple.com
Authoritarianism The country wants the President to be “one of us” who bears the same responsibilities of citizenship that all share. But I believe that the President should be excused from some of the burdens of ordinary citizenship while serving in office. … the indictment and trial of a sitting President, moreover, would cripple the federal government, rendering it unable to function with credibility in either the international or domestic arenas. Brett Kavanauhg, arguing presidents should be above the law © 2018 Kwiple.com
Bad news David D. Smith, CEO of Sinclair Broadcast Group, avoided community service in 1996 in Baltimore for soliciting a prostitute by airing “news” segments about local drug counseling programs citation © 2017 Kwiple.com
Bad news Desiree Fairooz was convicted last week for laughing during Jefferson Beauregard Sessions' confirmation hearing – a hearing in which the attorney general said under oath that he had had no contact with Russian officials during the elections, when he actually had. citation The Guardian, May 8, 2017 © 2017 Kwiple.com
Bullshitters say Every time the radical Left Democrats, Marxists, communists, and fascists indict me, I consider it to be a great badge of honor and courage. I'm doing it for you. I’m being indicted for you. Donald "Orange Don" Trump, boss of the notorious Trump family, currently operating out of Florida, with hopes of reestablishing itself  in Washington, DC, by 2025 © 2023 Kwiple.com
By the numbers Amount awarded to Michael Brown's family in their settlement against the city of Ferguson, Mo.: $1,500,000 To a Maryland family whose dog was killed by Anne Arundel County police: $1,260,000 Harper's Index, October 2017 © 2017 Kwiple.com
By the numbers Number of U.S. states in which wrongfully convicted state prisoners aren't entitled to monetary compensation: 18 Number of U.S. states in which parents can be billed for the cost of their child's incarceration: 47 Harper's Index, June 2017 © 2017 Kwiple.com
By the numbers Of the 455 men executed for rape between 1930 and 1972, 405 were African American. The Guardian, October 8, 2017 © 2017 Kwiple.com
By the numbers On any given day nearly seven million adult Americans are under supervision of the nation's criminal justice system: in prison, on probation, or on parole. Salvatore Babones, Sixteen for '16 © 2016 Kwiple.com
By the numbers Over 20% of all the world's prisoners are locked up in American prisons. In short, the land of the free is the home of the jailed. Salvatore Babones, Sixteen for '16 © 2016 Kwiple.com
Cocks of the walk say I am without a doubt the most accomplished prosecutor of the 20th Century. Without doubt. There’s no question about it. Rudy Giuliani © 2021 Kwiple.com
Cocks of the walk say Cmon gimme dat verdict Martin Shkreli, before being found guilty of conspiracy and securities fraud by jurors he said would apologise to him © 2017 Kwiple.com
Cocks of the walk say I am pleased to inform you that I have just granted a full pardon to 85 year old American patriot Sheriff Joe Arpaio. He kept Arizona safe! Donald Trump, 7:00 PM - 25 Aug 2017, displaying his eagerness to pander to his base's prejudices and enough deep-rooted contempt for judges, the rule of law, and the Constitution to act as a warning that he'll pardon any associate or family member convicted of any crime, however egregious © 2017 Kwiple.com
Cocks of the walk say I'm a lawyer who knows the criminal justice system as well as anybody in America. Rudy Giuliani © 2018 Kwiple.com
Criminal justice Actor sent to jail for not finishing sentence headline, News Sentinel [Knoxville, Tenn.], January 21, 1989 © 2016 Kwiple.com
Criminal justice Alternative to jail is working in Albany headline, Daily Gazette [Schenectady, New York], February 6, 1998 © 2016 Kwiple.com
Criminal justice Before trial begins in this case, prospective members of the jury will have the opportunity to cast their vote for president. It is in the ballot box where they are free to judge Mr. Trump based on all this and more. Donald Trump's lawyers justifying his request to prevent jurors at his upcoming trial for fraud related to Trump University from hearing evidence based on: recordings of campaign events, his tweets, his speeches, his tax returns, his charity, his beauty pageants, his casinos, his alleged sexual misconduct, his corporate bankruptcies, or the students' finances © 2016 Kwiple.com
Criminal justice The Court had two very different ideas about proportionality of punishment: one for corporations under the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause and another for people under the Eighth Amendment. The Due Process Clause, it said, did not allow a jury to punish one of the world's wealthiest companies with a punitive damages award of $145 million, which was equal to 0.29 percent of its annual revenue — barely enough to get the attention of the company's leadership. The Eighth Amendment did, however, allow California to put a thirty-seven-year-old Army veteran and father who engaged in minor shoplifting behind bars until he was at least eighty-seven. Adam Cohen, Supreme Inequality © 2021 Kwiple.com
Criminal justice Defendant's speech ends in long sentence headline, Minneapolis Tribune, February 25, 1981 © 2016 Kwiple.com
Criminal justice How about we go back to [Paul] Manafort? Breaking into his house. What is he, a drug dealer? Rudy Giuliani, on the Mueller investigation and  courtesies owed to white collar criminals, Sean Hannity interview, May 2, 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
Criminal justice In Kentucky, fully one quarter of the prisoners on death row had lawyers at trial who were later  disbarred or resigned to avoid disbarment. As one critic said, the Strickland [v. Washington ] standard, in the real world, requires the state to provide little more than “a warm body with a law degree.” Adam Cohen, Supreme Inequality © 2021 Kwiple.com
Criminal justice Queens man indicted _______________ A Queens man was indicted Thursday for allegedly making hush money payments to a porn star shortly before he was elected president of the United States in 2015. headline and lead, Queens Daily Eagle, March 30, 2023  [Trump was born in Jamaica Hospital and grew up in Jamaica Estates, a neighborhood in Queens, a borough in New York City] © 2023 Kwiple.com
Criminal justice There is also a growing body of evidence showing racial disparities in sentencing. In 2017, the U.S. Sentencing Commission found that the average federal sentence for black men was 19.1 perent longer than for white men for the same crime, even when criminal history and other factors were held constant. Adam Cohen, Supreme Inequality © 2021 Kwiple.com
Criminal justice UNITED STATES * CRIMINAL NO. OF AMERICA * v. * GRAND JURY ORIGINAL DONALD J. TRUMP, * Defendant * VIOLATIONS: * * Count 1: 18 U.S.C. § 371 * (Conspiracy to Defraud the * United States) * * Count 2: 18 U.S.C. § 1512(k) * (Conspiracy to Obstruct an * Official Proceeding) * * Count 3: 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2),2 * (Obstruction of and Attempt to * Obstruct an Official Proceeding) * * Count 4: 18 U.S.C. § 342 * (Conspiracy Against Rights) © 2023 Kwiple.com
Criminal justice Wealthy murder suspect freed on bail as man accused of welfare fraud stuck in jail California woman whose friends raised $35m for her is on house arrest as a man who can't afford $75,000 bail has two options: plead guilty or stay behind bars headline, The Guardian, April 25, 2017 [She murdered her father and children] [His bail is more than 15 times the amount of the alleged fraud; he lost his job, housing and possessions while jsiled awaiting trial] © 2017 Kwiple.com
Criminal justice While it is true that no former former US president has before been indicted on criminal charges, little else about the indictment of Donald Trump is as “unprecedented” as the headlines have so endlessly declared. If there’s one thing that American politics has established a precedent for, it's pretending that its own corruption is unprecedented. Wikipedia helpfully curates a list of 134 (by my count) federal US politicians who  have been convicted of criminal wrongdoing. Sarah Churchwell, Financial Times, April 3, 2023 © 2023 Kwiple.com
Death Mere factual innocence is no reason not to carry out a death sentence properly reached. attributred to Antonin Scalia © 2016 Kwiple.com
Kwiple dictionary yanezthetize (yə nez thə tīz), v. To authorize a white dressed in blue to kill a black. Memorializes Jeronimo Yanez, the St. Anthony, Minnesota, cop who panicked during a traffic stop, was live-streamed on Facebook from inside Philando Castile's car and caught on a police dashcam video as he shot Castile seven times, claimed he felt threatened when Castile followed his orders, lied about what he saw in court, and was acquitted of all charges. © 2017 Kwiple.com
Kwiplers say Prohibit trial evidence based on an analysis of crime-scene mixed-up DNA performed by software whose coding cannot be examined by anyone who wants to examine it, thereby denying defendants their Sixth Amendment right to question witnesses against them © 2015 Kwiple.com
Liars say I must state that you, sir, under historic scrutiny, were proven innocent. Donald Trump, to Brett Kavanaugh during Kavanuagh's swearing in ceremony at the White House, even though Kavanaugh was never on trial and if he had been and had been found “not guilty,” it would only mean he had not been proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, not that he had been proven innocent © 2018 Kwiple.com
Liars say They were incredible. When I went to the courthouse, which is also a prison in a sense, they signed me in and I'll tell you people were crying. People that work there — professionally work there — that have no problems putting in murderers and they see everybody. It's a tough, tough place. And, they were crying. They were actually crying. They said, “I'm sorry,” they’d say, “2024 sir,” and tears were pouring down. I've never seen anything like that. Donald Trump, on police and court officers' reaction to his arraignment in Manhatten on 34 felony counts © 2023 Kwiple.com
Looks Make me look sexy. Did you see the one they made of Sam Bankman-Fried? It made him look like a superstar. Donald Trump, Jr. to the courtroom sketch artist where he was appearing as a defendant in a trial along with his father and siblings © 2023 Kwiple.com
National security [Special counsel Jack] Smith’s job is straight- forward. He must … make clear to the jury that this case is about two simple things: First, a former president took documents con- taining some of our nation's most sensitive se- crets, which he was no more entitled to remove than the portraits of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin hanging on the walls of of the Oval Office. Second, when he was caught, he persistently made up excuses, lied and tried to cover up his behavior, which he continues to do. It is impossible to overstate how essential it will be for Mr. Smith to … persuade the trial jury … he committed serious criminal acts. The conse- quence of doing that would be nothing short of affirmation of the rule of law in this country. The alternative is too grim to contemplate. Norman Eisen, Andrew Weissmann, Joyce Vance. New York Times, June 9, 2023 © 2023 Kwiple.com
Profiles in courage [T]he Department of Justice is not going to be extorted. Rod Rosenstein, Deputy Attorney General overseeing the Mueller investigations, on news that Mark Meadows, Jim Jordan and other uncommonly long-tongued kiss-asses known collectively as the Freedom Caucus are circulating an unsigned draft of articles of impeachment against him for not giving them unredacted  files from active FBI investigations into possible collusion with Russia and obstruction of justice by Trump and his associates [so they can share, and deny sharing, them with fellow Republicans and the witnesses, subjects the targets of the investigations] © 2018 Kwiple.com
Republicans say I'm not going to answer that question. a.k.a. The I-just-don't-feel-like-it privilege © 2018 Kwiple.com
Republicans say Immunize corporate executives against criminal prosecution © 2017 Kwiple.com
Republicans say Instructing federal prosecutors to seek the highest possible penalty in all  cases is change we believe in  © 2017 Kwiple.com
Republicans say Investigating anti-Trump protesters and throwing the book at them is change we believe in © 2017 Kwiple.com
Republicans say Letting Republican presidents use a presidential pardon to block the enforcement of a court order is change we believe in © 2017 Kwiple.com
Sleepers at the wheel say Deferred prosecution agreements and non-prosecution agreements deter “crime in the suites” © 2016 Kwiple.com
Sleepers at the wheel say Donald Trump would never lie under oath © 2017 Kwiple.com
Sleepers at the wheel say Money bail equals public safety © 2017 Kwiple.com
Sleepers at the wheel say Republicans would impeach Trump if he pardoned himself © 2017 Kwiple.com
Sleepers at the wheel The United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division  © 2017 Kwiple.com
Snapshot They [the victims] stood up for me. I forgive the prosecutor. He wrote a letter. And the parole board? They saw that justice happened. But I don't forgive Mike Pence, and never will. He talks all this God stuff, but he's biased. He hates Muslims, he hates gay people, and he hates minorities. He didn't want to be the first white man in Indiana to pardon an innocent black man. Mike Pence portrayed by Keith Cooper who then-Governor Pence refused to pardon after having been released because of new DNA evidence, recantations by victims and witnesses, and recommendations to do so by the prosecutor and Indiana Parole Board © 2017 Kwiple.com
Snapshot [He] is just somebody that's very respected. … I knew him only as he pertained, you know, as he was with Jeff Sessions. And, you know, look, as far as I'm concerned this is an investigation  that should have never been brought. It's an illegal investigation. … And you know, it's very interesting because when you talk about not Senate confirmed, well, Mueller's not Senate confirmed. Matthew Whitaker portrayed by Donald Trump, Nov. 14, 2018 [Attorney General Whitaker needs but lacks confirmation; Special Counsels don't need it] © 2018 Kwiple.com
State of the union A fish rots from the head down Crux of the Trump era © 2018 Kwiple.com
State of the union White-collar crime pays big time © 2017 Kwiple.com
Surely you jest This memo totally vindicates “Trump” in probe. Donald Trump, 6:40 AM - 3 Feb 2018, referring, apparently, to the character forced to submit to a colonoscopy as a public health measure in  Gibbon Ape's best-selling bodice-ripper, The Decline and Fall of the American Empire --> © 2018 Kwiple.com
Tech bros say Give cybercriminals a digital Get Out of Jail Free card © 2016 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say When you look at a pardon, the issue is less about guilt and more about what's good for the country. And I think it would be terrible for the country to have a former president in prison for years because of a documents case. So I would be inclined to favor a pardon [of Trump if he's convicted of mishandling classified documents]. Nikki Haley, after saying the DOJ's indictment of Trump for mishandling classified documents, if true, shows he was “incredibly reckless with our national security” and put “all of our military men and women in danger” © 2023 Kwiple.com
Wannabe autocrats say We cannot allow all of these people to invade our Country. When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came. Donald Trump, 8:02 AM - 24 Jun 2018, advocating suspending due process © 2018 Kwiple.com