Brickbat: Better Late Than Never

In England, a woman accused Samson Makele of raping her and preventing her from leaving his apartment. She says she was able to escape only when he fell asleep. He said the sex was consensual. For 18 months, his lawyers tried to get access to his phone, but police refused. They finally got the phone days before the trial and found photos of him and the woman snuggling in bed, naked and smiling. Prosecutors dropped the case after seeing the photos.
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As a Hit & Run commenter, I'm disappointing that this story undermines my "immigrants are savage rapists" stereotype, but pleased that it reinforces my "women are lying whores" stereotype. So I guess it's a wash?
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"The 35-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons"
It would be an injustice if people knew who filed a false report.
I was just about to post the same quote. That is just stunning.
Sure, the police conspiring to ensure that an innocent man goes to jail is the big story, but a false accusation of a felony by the only eyewitness and supposed victim is pretty important too.
Surely the era of shaming rape victims is in the past by now, isn't it? I mean, we are in the age of posting your own sex tape to get famous and mirror selfies and #metoo women complaining that their date pointed to his crotch while they were making out so that blowjob she gave him was totally sexual assault. Surely the public isn't primed to shame a rape victim any more, right?
Did you not read the dude's story? He fell asleep. If he's that lazy he's probably on public assistance.
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"Goddammit, Carl, what have I told you about 'napping' on the cadavers?"
If you can't do that, what's the point of being an undertaker?
Why do you think Carl has to be told repeatedly?
Pumping corpses with highly toxic fluid?
But enough about your love life.
exactly!
The rest of that article is an important read, particularly if you are a Brit. Most of the article is about the overall state of prosecutorial misconduct and lack of disclosure, and it is pretty bad.
They go on to list case after case where exculpatory evidence was withheld from the defense.
But they are being really, really generous to law enforcement, declining to question motives or the perverse incentives of the adversarial system:
Overall, this is a must read, much more important than a toss-off brickbat article. I hope they continue investigating and publish follow-up articles.
On the sidebar they do follow up... and the police have remove one detective involved in multiple cases from investigative duties.
And they aren't just holding up a perfunctory sacrificial lamb, they recognize that they have a systemic problem and are looking to make reforms. So that is refreshing to see.
It isn't news that the laws are shitty in Britain.
There is a cool Netflix show that leverages on the expectation that a kid who kills a serial killer in self defense would get manslaughter. And the cop wants to wait a few days in the hopes the kid (victim) commits a crime after he turns 18.
All in all a pretty gruesome scenario. And yes, it's fiction but it illustrates a huge cultural divide between the US and Britain.
Which show would that be?
'The End of the F***ing World'
Its pretty good.
Or was it that new face swapping software Reason wrote about???
Love contracts are the way to go fellas. Otherwise, you're a rapist.
Still rape. You were coercive.
Damn, there must be a shortage of cops in England and they're having to import cops from New York if they're going with the old "budget cuts are to blame for the lack of training" excuse. No, you need to quit hiring evil bastards because normal people don't need training on not hiding exculpatory evidence in order to send innocent people to prison, hiding exculpatory evidence in order to send innocent people to prison is pretty good evidence that what you got there is an evil bastard.
normal people don't need training on not hiding exculpatory evidence in order to send innocent people to prison
You must not know many normal people. (Generally a great compliment, but alas, we seem to have found the one instance in which it is not virtue but vice).
hiding exculpatory evidence
Seems like something that should have some sort of repercussions, no?
Rope or logchipper, take your pick.
Is there a reliable diagnostic test for evil bastardy?
No, which is why I presume every cop to be an evil bastard until proven otherwise.
Bitches be crazy. I said it.
So I assume that the vicious, lying, life ruining, bat-shit crazy bitch's name will be reported in the press when she is arrested for perjury, lying to police, wasting public resources, etc. and sentenced to life in prison?
Time for false accusations of any crime to carry the same sentence as the initial accusation.
Same deal with perjury; not a crime with it's own sentencing guidelines, but with the same penalty as the base charge.
Lie about theft, go to jail for a few years, lie about murder, die in prison.
The way that would actually work in real life is that an innocent murder suspect would get life in prison for embellishing his alibi.
No, no. The State must crush wrongdoers as cruelly and thoroughly as possible so as to emotionally satisfy whichever uninvolved bystander has the strongest feelings about it.
"If I regret it, then it's rape."
Retroactive rape.
Radioactive rape?
He'll probably end up being prosecuted for "revenge porn".
18 months trying to get access to his own phone photos?
What, no cloud backup to access from a 'real' computer?
Or was the FBI helping our British cousins?