That's Our C.O. -- Cont'd

C.O. slipping his wife the tongue
Police Chief Perjurer, slipping his wife the tongue after being acquitted (KHOU-11 photo)

You think you've seen everything from Mayor Pothole's Administration....

And then his beleaguered and clueless police chief comes out lamenting the fact that prosecutors try to win their cases:

Criminal defendants in Texas are at the mercy of prosecutors in an unfair system that emphasizes winning rather than justice, Houston Police Chief C.O. Bradford said Monday.

"Trial by ambush -- that is a Texas criminal justice problem," the embattled chief said.

[snip]

The chief also extended his support for changes to help balance a justice system that works in favor of prosecutors. He described the attitude in the district attorney's office as, "What can I do to win? Win, win, win."

Bradford used his prosecution on charges of aggravated perjury, which a judge threw out in January, as evidence of some of the problems in the system. The chief had been indicted on a charge that he had intentionally lied under oath about whether he had called a subordinate an obscenity.

Rare is the occasion (many can attest!) that anything political or legal leaves me speechless. Only now, hours after reading this, have I been able to write about it.

It's just astonishing to me that the Chief of Police in a major city is criticizing the adversarial criminal court system, or the fact that prosecutors try to win their cases!

Here, C.O. Let's take this one step at a time.

A D V E R S A R I A L

You arrest the bad guys.

The prosecutors try to put the bad guys in jail.

If you do your job right (i.e. if your crime lab isn't a goddamn national disgrace) , it makes their job much easier.

The bad guys have attorneys who argue THEIR side.

The prosecutors have to convince a JURY that the bad guys really ARE the bad guys, within a complex set of rules involving EVIDENCE and PROCEDURE.

Technicalities (i.e. botched crime lab work) are grounds for dismissal of evidence, which can lead to dismissal of CHARGES, thereby negating police work (and wasting taxpayer dollars). Furthermore, the bad guys can only be charged with the crime once (DOUBLE JEOPARDY). All of these things work to protect the bad guys while allowing the public interest to be served.

At the end of the process, our system is such that we believe JUSTICE has been served. Even in the case of police chiefs who (allegedly) perjure themselves and are later acquitted.

I cannot wait for Mayor Sanchez's first act of office, which will be to fire your retarded ass.

[Posted at 20:42 CST on 06/24/03] [Link]