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> The 30 year sentence was for hiding documentation [...] it wasn't just "transporting Zines"

As far as I can tell, the moving of zines (he was pulled over and had a box in his car) is what's being presented as "hiding documentation" - not something beyond that.

> being sought under a federal warrant

Timeline seems to be that a warrant was obtained after pulling him over ("Sanchez-Estrada was then arrested on state traffic offenses, and officers obtained a search warrant [...]"). Can't find a source saying there was a warrant prior to this.

> The warrant was for documentation after the protesters shot fireworks to bring out first responders from the ICE facility, and allegedly one of the group shot a responder in the neck instead of the head.

It's true that demonstrators were setting off fireworks, and it's true that Benjamin Song later shot at a police officer who had drawn his gun. But it's just the government's narrative/speculation that the intent of the fireworks was to draw out first responders to ambush, and that Sanchez-Estrada's zines were in some way documentation of this despite him not being at the protest and his wife not being the shooter.



Chilling effect on demonstrations. If you attend one were someone starts shooting you become an accomplice. And ofcourse this also leaves the door open for a "false flag" incident.


Was this a "demonstration" though? They turned up to a detention center in the middle of the night and launched an attack clearly with the intention of getting past the gate (text message exchanges show they had scoped out the operations of the gate, how long it takes to open/close, how long it remains open, etc). That's not really a "demonstration", no one outside of the facility would even see it. Demonstrations should be in public view, not in the dead of night dressed all in black and armed to the teeth in an area where the public is expressedly forbidden.


It's one of those irregular verbs. My demonstration, your freedom fighting, their act of terrorism


Yes, thank you, Bernard.


Per Wikipedia, at least at one point in time, it was supposed to be. Quote:

Prosecutors produced group chat logs showing that the participants had debated at length whether they should bring guns. The former reservist allegedly wrote that "Cops are not trained or equipped for more than one rifle, so it tends to make them back off." Other chat participants argued that a noise demonstration was low risk and the assumptions about how police would respond were "way over the top".


Ok, but isn't this textbook second amendment?

as in well organised militia’s right to bear arms? They demonstrated a level of organisation much higher level than Rittenhouse ever did.


Americans are given the right to bear arms so they can overthrow a tyrannical government. Doesn't mean the government has to sit there and take it. And it certainly doesn't mean you can shoot cops and get away with it.


The USA is a common law system, so some actions have precedence, and shape how laws are applied. (hence why the supreme court is able to have split opinions about the 14th amendment)

If you are able to use a stungun on a cop and get a pardon, then why not this? (actually pardons are usually not precedent setting, but forgive the stupid legal interpretation. )


That's really hard to swallow when the current president, who is responsible for the extreme uptick in ICE activity, pardoned 1,600 people who conspired against the federal government in favor of his agenda, but then that same government hands life-ruining prison sentences to people who weren't even present for conspiring against ICE.

Especially when the crux of this entire case was that the convicted are members of a terrorist organization - a fact that was declared at the whim of this same president.

I'm not saying that some of the people convicted don't deserve consequences for their actions, especially violence like shooting at officers. I'm not saying that this was a lawful assembly, especially given the documented intent to breach the facility and use pyrotechnics offensively. I am saying that this is an extreme escalation in action against dissent against the Republican agenda, with a highly visible inequality in enforcement against those who dissent similarly against the Democratic agenda.

If this kind of heavy-handed action was taken against everyone who challenges our government, I would still be concerned, but it is doubly concerning that some members of our society appear to have the permission to do these things, while we destroy the lives of others with different politics.


[flagged]


One obvious distinction is that Tarrio was convicted of leading & planning the Proud Boys operation on Jan 6 while this defendant was convicted of moving zines. Tarrio wasn’t at the insurrection on Jan 6 because he’d already been barred from traveling to the city…

And he got less of a sentence. I don’t think your argument equating these 2 is arguing what you think it is.


Underselling it by omission - was it intentional?

Zines related to a shootout and murder by an armed group after retrieving them from the home of one of the parties involved, discussing it on a jail call, and placing them in a third person's apartment.


>murder by an armed group

Oh yes, how could we have forgotten the crucial detail that every single person in the group had their hands on the trigger.

Wait, that's because it didn't happen.

One individual fired their weapon. (And whether that's a murder is very questionable, but let's set that aside).

Nobody else should've been facing prosecution in this case.


Following that principle, Bin Laden wouldn't be responsible for 9/11, ISIS shouldn't have been restricted or attacked in any way, and the mafia should be fully legal. That would be absurd.


Great logical thinking!

Now pray tell why Bin Laden is responsible for 9/11, but 1 billion Muslims aren't.

They're in the same "group", right?

They have "safehouses" (mosques), "radical zines" (Quran), organized leadership (imams), regular gatherings, shared goals, group chats, and so on.

Clearly the entirety of 1B Muslims "conspired" to murder people on 9/11 and should all face harsh punishment "to send a message".

That's not at all absurd, isn't it?


https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txnd.41...

I only have the .gov version, but 20-30 rounds were fired, Song was convicted as the attacker apparently and Baumann and Morris were evidently armed as well (the woods gunmen). It wasn’t the whole group but doesn’t appear to be just one individual.

They were successfully tied together by the prosecution as conspirators to the satisfaction of juries by their shared mission, chats, organization, papers, safe houses, and prior meetings among other things.


> 20-30 rounds were fired

By whom?

> Baumann and Morris were evidently armed as well

And, did they fire any of the shots at the scene?

> It wasn’t the whole group but doesn’t appear to be just one individual.

So, it was one individual beyond reasonable doubt.

The rest is pure speculation.

>They were successfully tied together by the prosecution as conspirators to the satisfaction of juries

Yes, you are saying the same thing we already know: that there was a mistrial.


Are ICE detentions legal? Is what ICE under the current administration behaving legally? The shooting an officer is the one crime, assuming the protestor wasn't shot at first. This administration has repeatedly lied about these sort of events, so I have a hard time believing the official account.


How is that relevant to my comment?


Obviously because the nature of demonstrations as you describe are predicated on a counter party that follows the law.

For example one may demonstrate to get a law changed, on the premise that they will not be shot on sight or otherwise extrajudically punished for assembling. Why would you expect entities of the state that behave illegally to engender an opposition to follow legal norms?

This is not new in America. 250 years ago the Declaration was preceded by the olive branch. To the people that founded this country, the distinction meant everything.


If you're fighting the executive branch, then legality goes out the window and any outrage about punishment becomes moot, no? Expecting the system you intended to subvert/dismantle to save you is a bit of a weird ask.


> If you're fighting the executive branch, then legality goes out the window

No it doesn’t. It’s enshrined in the constitution. The entire point of the United States is to be able to change the system. I’m struggling to imagine a worse take than this.


That must be why the American government never gets away with anything unconstitutional.


Not at all? To the American founders that would be a psychotic take that is completely at odds with the founding principles of this country.

Have you read about the Continental Congress? They thought pretty hard about these questions. They did not engage in insurrection (what would surely today be called "terrorism") against the crown lightly and without great consideration.

You should take the opportunity of the 250th anniversary to educate yourself as opposed to writing such comments. Nothing about your comment makes any sense in almost any legal context, in America or otherwise. How could something like laws of armed conflict even be comprehensible under your standard? Truly I am sad for the state of your mind that you wrote such a comment.


I'm sorry, I meant in terms of discussion, not in terms of legal proceedings. Obviously these people were formally charged in a court of law on legal grounds and I assume had their constitutional rights afforded to them.

I meant more along the lines of "30 years for hiding a zine" being a weird take. It is logically inconsistent, IMO, to both want to fight a system, and want to be afforded its privileges.


>It is logically inconsistent, IMO, to both want to fight a system, and want to be afforded its privileges.

But isn't this exactly what people do when they vote for a different government?


No, you're operating within the confines of the system when you vote to change it. Voting to change the system, in the US, is part of the system. By fighting I meant in ways outside of the system. To me its saying both "the system does not apply to me" and "the system should apply to me in a nicer way".


I disagree if only because the clarification you make in your first two sentences doe not square with your last sentence.

Why do we read people their rights or formally charge them? If someone has committed a crime is that not in some sense "fighting [the] system"? Why would then the same apparent contradiction you highlight in your last sentence not arise?

Even in cases of extreme conflict, there is a certain base state of "rights" or "privileges" one wants to be afforded, and it is not contradictory of people to do so. See the laws of armed conflict. Even if someone is a complete psychopath and doesn't respect these laws, the law itself usually does not respond in kind.

That is the nature of the law. If the law could allow for a situation where "legality goes out the window and any outrage about punishment becomes moot" then its no longer law. The only state this exists is one of anarchy. Far more likely in some situation would be the state tries to exercise some emergency power, itself sanctioned by law. In such an extreme case the contradiction no longer applies because the "privileges" have been legally suspended. However, now society has entered a dubious state re the nature of the law itself. Alternatively, take the Codes of Hammurabi. But then the proposed contradiction also does not apply. For in an eye for an eye there are far less afforded privileges to appeal to.

A state of dubious legality was essentially the state of affairs that convinced the founders revolution was inevitable. But there was never - and is usually never - a state where "legality goes out the window". That is anarchy. Even if the founders had lost, surely they would have a right to be outraged if instead of simply being hung (as was the legal remedy for their acts at the time) the British soldiers had rioted and killed all of them and their families on sight.

There is no contradiction here. It would not be a "weird take". Frankly if some among them were also outraged at being hung, I'm not sure that is a "weird take" either. It certainly doesn't strike me as "logically inconsistent". Its not like the "privileges" of life and liberty are granted by the government after all. If you believe in the principles as the founders did, those rights are given by a power beyond that of any terrestrial government. You may be deprived of them by such an entity, but it is not something the state gave you. Therefore once again, your proposed contradiction doesn't really make sense. I guess your position boils down to "if you do wrong against someone, you should have no expectations about your treatment in return"? But I don't think this is ever actually seriously considered as an ethical position when it comes to a people and their government. At least not since divine right and the like went out of fashion. At the end of the day, one can both transgress and be entitled to outrage about how the state acts in response. I fail to see how the alternative is anything less than barbarism.


This is a very well written and thought out argument.

Thank you for putting it together.


> If someone has committed a crime is that not in some sense "fighting [the] system"?

Of course not. I'm speaking directly about intent. It's pretty obvious to me that most crime is committed without any intent regarding "the system".

> Even in cases of extreme conflict, there is a certain base state of "rights" or "privileges" one wants to be afforded, and it is not contradictory of people to do so. See the laws of armed conflict. Even if someone is a complete psychopath and doesn't respect these laws, the law itself usually does not respond in kind.

Well yeah, but again, I'm not explaining this well, I'm not saying they shouldn't expect or want due process. At issue here is "30 years is too much for X". That's not "my rights are being violated", that's "the system is being especially mean to me with respect to applying the law to me with maximum force".

I think they can expect every legal protection due and that's fine, but the outrage at getting the book thrown at them when they were trying to burn the book is what I find strange.

> But there was never - and is usually never - a state where "legality goes out the window".

My wording was really bad. I didn't mean the state shouldn't follow the law, I just meant on a logical basis the "fight the power, wait no, not that power" position becomes inconsistent IMO.


How completely dishonest to call this a demonstration. They brought guns and shot government officials. Trying to kill people you disagree with isn't demonstrating, it's terrorism.

So insane for people to defend this.


> They brought guns and shot government officials

Only Benjamin Song, convicted of attempted murder/discharging a firearm, shot the police officer. Some others didn't bring firearms, were not in any planning chat (in which no violence was planned regardless), weren't at the protest or had already left, yet still received absurdly harsh sentences - that's the chilling effect.


[flagged]


Stop conflating two different unrelated events. It is nauseating.


These events were not unrelated. It's all part of the same conspiracy.


Nobody conspired to shoot a cop. People just happened to exert their First Amendment rights close to where it happened and got punished for speaking the wrong kind of speech.


Sure, sure. The initial attack and then the shooting were just an accident.

Come on, man. It was a conspiracy to shoot a cop. How do you not realize this?


Simple: critical thinking skills. Sorry you missed the boat on those.


They didn't shoot a cop.

A single individual did.

What you're calling for is collective punishment (a war crime in Geneva convention), and guilt by association (a perversion of justice).

Kindly, abscond and desist.


If you're part of a conspiracy, you take the blame for what other conspirators do. Take a look at felony murder statutes sometime.


Felony murder requires a felony predicate. Protesting isn't a felony.


But isn't there be a legal difference between a "conspiracy" that led to a bad situation and a "conspiracy to commit murder"?


Not if you want to eradicate any group that you don't like by planting undercover troublemakers / agent provacateurs in them!

One little trick human rights advocates don't want you to know about!

/s


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a police officer was shot in the neck by one person.

nineteen people have been criminally charged. including seven people who were not at the scene at the time of the shooting. [0]

you can have whatever subjective opinion about these prosecutions that you want. but at least try to get the underlying objective facts right.

0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Prairieland_ICE_detention...


This is an oversimplification. I am not in favor of shooting the police in the neck but I absolutely will not tolerate an hindering of peaceful first amendment expression even when it happens in proximity to violence. What are the police even protecting us from at that point?


Domestic terrorists who shoot people in the neck. Among millions of things that the government claims to protect mw from, this is one of a few things that I don't doubt I want to be protected from. There's absolutely zero free speech issues here.


One might consider ICE detention centers to be morally equivalent to concentration camps. This sounds like the federal government trying to protect a controversial agency and immigration policy under the current regime, not ordinary citizens. The man who got 30 years wasn't there and didn't fire a gun.


One might consider a lot of things. But if you are at shooting war with United States government, then when United States government puts your away, you don't get to claim it's a free speech issue. You can't sit on those two chairs at once. Either you are a Warrior of Light battling the Nazis, and then it's way beyond free speech, or it's a public discussion and then "free speech" does not include shooting people. You can't claim both. If you're "ordinary citizen", you don't get to shoot at police, or you go to jail, and everybody who helps you does too. If you're a brave revolutionary, then we have a violent revolution, and it's not about "free speech" anymore, revolution is way beyond speech.


Seven of the people jailed did not shoot the police officer or “assisted” the shooter in any form. They just happened to participate in the protest and share political affinity.

The “crime” investigation obstructed by hiding the zines is being left-wing. That has no actual relation to the shooting. That is 100% a free speech issue.


They were the part of the organized criminal group that executed the shooting and later tried to help other criminals to avoid responsibility. If you are part of the group that does the crime, everybody in the group shares the responsibility (not equally, some part of it extends to accomplices) - not only she immediate shooter, but people who helped him to do it too.

> The “crime” investigation obstructed by hiding the zines is being left-wing.

That's nonsense. There are literally tens of millions of people in the country that are left wing (including literal communists openly calling for destruction of the United States and Western civilization). As long as they don't get violent, they don't have any trouble for it - in fact, some of them even win elections (including literal communists openly calling for destruction of the United States and Western civilization). The recipe is very simple - do not shoot people. Unfortunately, for the part of the left-wing, this is somehow too hard. They think shooting people who are not left-wing is A-OK. Those people need to be stopped, and putting them in jail for a long time is a good way to stop them. Not for their speech, but for the fact that speech is not good enough for them, and they choose violence.


I have no words. You are not responding logically to what I wrote. Good luck to all americans.


Doesn't matter how they morally equivocate. The reasonable way to address this is through voting and the legal system. If you want to start shooting people, then prepare for a well-deserved, long prison sentence.


" If you want to start shooting people, then prepare for a well-deserved, long prison sentence."

* unless you're a law-enforcement officer, in which case folks like laughing_man are totally okay with you killing folks for vandalism because it upholds the legal system.


Depends on what they did. Definitely the guy who shot Ashli Babbitt should have been charged.


Unless you're an ICE agent. Then it's okay to execute citizens who are exercising their Constitutional rights.

There is an inherent tension here in wanting the rule of law and peaceful democracy to prevail instead of political violence. But the reality is that doesn't always happen. Slavery wasn't ended with a vote, neither was the rule of King George over the colonies. Civil Rights weren't granted to black folks without a lot of civil disobedience and violent responses by the local authorities.

Hopefully the next administration will abolish ICE and will seriously reform immigration policies peacefully for the benefit of migrants and citizens alike.

This isn't to defend shooting at a police officer, but the framing by the administration and the right is this was the result of a dangerous left-wing terrorist organization, not a response to lawless actions by ICE spurred on by the administration, and how it's hurting people being ripped away from their lives because officials like Stephen Miller hate non-white immigrants.

And again, it was one person who did the shooting, not the dude who got 30 years for moving some written material.


>Unless you're an ICE agent. Then it's okay to execute citizens who are exercising their Constitutional rights.

I have yet to see anybody assert this, and I have yet to see it happen.


> Domestic terrorists who shoot people in the neck

Are we talking about those domestic terrorists who call themselves ICE?


Unless one is a right wing protestor like Kyle Rittenhouse.


Still dont see how people could have watched the videos and not seen a clear self defense angle.


There was never an argument that the 30 second clip shows self defense.

The problem is that Kyle drove out of his way with a non-defensive firearm, with a clear intent to put himself in that situation so he could murder someone.

Let's say I want to experience killing someone without consequences. I leave a nice bike completely unlocked in the bad part of town and hide in the shadows, then when someone tries to steal it, I axe them in the back of the head. I'm clearly a criminal guilty of first degree murder, not a victim of theft.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure how much nuance the American legislative system has for cases like those. Let alone when exposed to the biases our executive/judicial systems have when executing them.


Where was this clear intent demonstrated? There was no evidence of them acting agressive or baiting people.

- There was photo evidence that he spent the morning cleaning grafitti of a shool in Kenosha.

- Multiple independent journalists testified they were calm and walking around calling "Medic! Does anyone need medical help?" or helping put out fires

- Independet protestors tesitfed that Rittenhouse helped them bandage injured

Regarding the bike, that would be murder. If you walked with your fancy bike and put yourself between it an a theif who attacked you for it, the answer would depend by state. Some let you stand your ground, some you have to flee until you are cornered.

It is still valid self defense if you choose walk your bike through the neighborhood knowing with certiany you will be attacked. If you are legally allowed to be there, the fault is still with the attacker.


he drove to a town he worked in that's not out of the way. 2 of the 3 who attacked him drove similar distances or further and one of them had an illegal fire arm, were they all putting themselves in a situation to murder someone?


The evidence presented at trial was that they spent the morning before the protest in Kenosha cleaning grafitti off a local school.


Who are you referring to? For clarification it was Rittenhouse who cleaned graffiti, not any of the victims, which seems to support the grandparents argument.


rittenhouse


It may have been self defense in the moment, but he also went out there looking for trouble and found it.


If it was illegal to go somewhere "lookin for trouble" I think that you would see a whole lot of people arrested from certain groups that you likely wouldn't want to be in prison.


I already made the self-defense concession. I'm just hoping for a "he's not a hero" concession from your side.


Counter protesting people who are destroying a community seems like a perfectly laudable goal to me.

He certainly wasn't expecting to have to shoot someone, but that's the case for most examples of self defense.


That is a far cry from murder and someone shouldnt carry a gun unless they are willing to use it.

Inversely, someone shouldnt attack someone unless they accept the chance of death or harm.


I didn't say it was murder, I made the concession about self-defense, didn't I?

A nice concession from you might be to admit that kids on your side maybe shouldn't attend protests with intention to do harm.

That's basically where right and left don't see eye to eye on this.


Yeah I agree people should not go to protests with the objective to harm or destroy.

I dont think that is really the major party dividing line tho. I dont think most of the right thinks they went there with intention to harm, but to "defend".

I also think many people on the "left" take issue with someone putting themselved in a situation that could require lethal self defense, particularly over property.


If someone on the left killed right wing protestors that person would not be treated like a celebrity. The reason why not is simply that violence isn't celebrated on the left like it is on the right.

With the exception of Luigi and I think that's more generational than left vs right.


In the interest of shedding light, not fire - I dont think the right view the deceased as protesters. They view them as attempted murderers and people destorying their community. I think this is fundamental and explains a lot.

I think if you reversed the roles, you would get much the same reaction.

Lets say you get some militia marching in the street, lighting cars on fire, vandalizing schools and businesses. Then one of the marchers chases down a counter protesters saying "im going to kill you", corners them, but gets blasted.

I think there would be a lot of rallying around the shooter if people wanted to try them for murder. People would say they were just taking out the trash and the deceased FAFO'ed.


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He traveled across state lines to attend a protest with a gun he didn't personally own.

If that was self defense, so was this case.


> He traveled across state lines

Why would you think this is even relevant? He lived close to the border, and stayed within the same metro area.

> attend a protest with a gun he didn't personally own

This was not illegal.

> If that was self defense, so was this case

So were the judge and jury just corrupt? Did you watch the videos of him being threatened and attacked, including by someone (Grosskreutz), who also had a gun?


*Murderer


He was tried by a jury of your peers though and found not guilty. I'm assuming these guys got a federal jury


I guess you don't believe in the concept of innocent until proven guilty?


One can believe in this concept and believe a decision (or the law) was wrong.


One can also let themselves be misled by the media for political reasons.

If you actually watched the trial and reviewed the publicly available evidence, and still think the jury made the wrong decision, then I agree, you have a right to that opinion.

However, if you only believed he is guilty because your favorite media figures told you this, then I would say you don't actually believe that a person is innocent until proven guilty.


Chilling effect on insurrections.


If you lie with dogs, you're going to get fleas. :shrug:


Being aware that he was moving the zines to obstruct a federal felony investigation is surely relevant. Intent is an important aspect of crime.


> Being aware that he was moving the zines to obstruct a federal felony investigation is surely relevant. Intent is an important aspect of crime.

A sentence of 30 years in prison for obstructing an investigation is excessive, especially when compared to the "base offense level" of Involuntary Manslaughter (section 2A1.4 found here[0]) being between 12 and 22, roughly translating to between 10 and 51 months in prison[1] (assuming no prior felony convictions).

Not 360 months, which is the length of this sentence.

0 - https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/guidelines-manu...

1 - https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/guidelines-manu...


Shouldn't the punishment for obstruction, in many cases, be higher than the base offense to prevent that as a default strategy to beat the base offense? Granted, not that much higher, but there is some logic to it being a greater offense.


I don’t think so. If you get a 30 year sentence for transporting zines what stops you from just shooting anyone that comes after you? Multiple lifetimes in jail are irrelevant.


> Shouldn't the punishment for obstruction, in many cases, be higher than the base offense to prevent that as a default strategy to beat the base offense?

If I am interpreting this question correctly, it assumes the same person whom commits an offense being investigated also obstructs investigation into same. These would be two different offenses and are charged as such AFAIK.

For the situation where one party obstructs an investigation, but is not a party to what is being investigated, then the premise of "a default strategy to beat the base offense" is inapplicable.


Honestly, no? I think in general failing to prosecute a crime is much less of a problem than committing a crime. Committing a crime has real first order effects (in case the law is sensible), failing to prosecute may only have secondary effects like encouraging the person to commit new crimes (or encouraging others that may become aware of possibility of obstruction). To me it would make sense to link the obstruction to the sentence of the crime (wilful obstruction of many severe crime may deserve more sanctions than of lesser crimes).


> A sentence of 30 years in prison for obstructing an investigation is excessive

Being excessive is the point. It's to deter others from trying to copy their actions.


I don't disagree, but our justice system is absolutely rife with unequal sentences. That doesn't make it right, but it doesn't mean we should go crazy over an individual instance of it when the whole system should somehow be overhauled.


> I don't disagree, but our justice system is absolutely rife with unequal sentences. That doesn't make it right, but it doesn't mean we should go crazy over an individual instance of it ...

  Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.[0]
0 - https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/martin_luther_king_jr_122...


Again, I don't disagree, I'm just stating it should be a broader discussion. When you pick and choose individual cases (especially political ones...) people lose the forest for the trees.


I disagree. Time and time again, it's been shown that people are more moved by a single emotional instance, not the broader statistics. Not everyone has a mind for numbers or scale. What can actually inspire change in them if not a single representation of the problem? Classically, effective rhetoric needed pathos in addition to logos. There is no problem in zooming in on this one instance (especially if it's effective in fixing the larger problem).


As an example, a lot of times when women have a bad experience with a doctor they blame it on misogyny. As a male, I've had a ton of bad experiences with doctors. I've known men (more than one!) that have died because doctors ignored their pain. My dad almost died because he had something that's more common in women.

So, when a woman has a bad experience with a doctor it could be misogyny. It's probably not, though, and if all we ever do is look into doctor's supposed misogyny then we aren't dealing with the root issue.


What broader discussion could there be than the King quote provided?

In it, there is no "pick and choose individual cases".


> our justice system

Lucky you. You have a "justice" system. We all got legal system or some sort of kangaroo systems in our corner of the world.


Intent is important but it’s not sufficient. Intent to obstruct isn’t enough. You have to actually intend to do something that would count as obstruction. It’s not illegal for me to make a sandwich even if I sincerely believe that making this sandwich will obstruct a felony investigation.


I have not enough imagination to come up with a scenario where making a sandwich would create concern that it might obstruct an investigation. But obstruction is defined by intent and outcome, not the exact means. Abstractions like this are common and necessary in law. So, in your example you'd still be guilty.


Make and leave a sandwich on your counter in case the investigators are similar to the ones who busted up Afroman's house, and you hope that being satiated will make them less diligent.

This actually seems like a halfway good analogy to this case. You're intending to obstruct the investigators, but only if they engage in their own illegality - stealing your sandwich or prosecuting based on political speech.


The "and outcome" is my point. It has to actually be something that could be a problem. Similar to how it's not attempted murder to cast a magic spell intending to kill someone with it, no matter how sincerely you believe in the magic.


Okay but in this case, the act, if successful, would have the outcome that it prevents recovery of critical evidence in a homicide, so yes that would count as obstruction. It didn't, of course, because the plan was foiled, but that's not relevant.

(With that said, I agree that 30 years is excessive, even under the heuristic that it should be a greater penalty than the crime it supported.)


Is that actually true? Were the zines critical evidence in a homicide?


> Intent is an important aspect of crime.

Intent ia required aspect of most crimes.

When it’s missing, the charged crime usually includes recklessness.


In what way could that possibly have obstructed that investigation?


? He moved them because his wife asked him to, because his wife didn't want the police to find them, because they spoke to her motive. So it would have obstructed the investigation by making it harder to prove her motive.

Like how is this complicated? Somebody commits a crime and then calls you and says "Hey can you hide X so the cops don't find it?" Always a crime to hide X in these circumstances.


Did he know that was why though? Did she state it's so that the cops don't find it? Or did she say can you move that box of zines into the shed?


The link above literally says:

> Conspiracy to Conceal Documents (Count 12) and other objects that would implicate Maricela Rueda in the riot and shooting at the Prairieland facility.

> Defendants convicted: Sanchez Estrada and Maricela Rueda

Obviously prosecutors always present things in the worst possible way for defendants, but I think the GP poster's point is pretty valid:

> Being aware that he was moving the zines to obstruct a federal felony investigation is surely relevant. Intent is an important aspect of crime.


> Obviously prosecutors always present things in the worst possible way for defendants ...

True, that is their job.

Problem is, it is the judge's job to determine appropriate punishment for the crime once it is proven the defendant is responsible for same.

30 years (360 months) for a first time offender is roughly equivalent to Second Degree Murder (see section 2A1.2 here[0]). Even assuming the defendant has 13 or more felony convictions, this sentence would be roughly equivalent to Child Exploitation Enterprises (see section 2G2.6 here[0]).

The calculation of sentence length is based on the 2025 guidelines published here[1].

0 - https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/guidelines-manu...

1 - https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/guidelines-manu...


That sentence very likely won't hold up on appeal as it's obviously very very excessive and non-standard. That said, I don't believe the commenters above were defending the sentencing. They were debating whether it was a legitimate charge and whether the article explained it fairly.


> That sentence very likely won't hold up on appeal as it's obviously very very excessive and non-standard.

Probably. But put yourself in the defendant's shoes when the sentence was handed down. And then imagine what comfort is had by someone saying it "likely won't hold up on appeal".

> That said, I don't believe the commenters above were defending the sentencing. They were debating whether it was a legitimate charge and whether the article explained it fairly.

Agreed. I do not think the commenters were defending the sentencing and perhaps not considering it. What I sought to provide was recognizing the punishment must fit the crime.


Yeah, but I think the question is whether his actions did in fact obstruct justice. Both are relevant.


I don't know that i agree. If you intend to commit a crime but due to circumstances beyond your knowladge your actions did not amount to the crime even though you intended them to, i think that is still a crime.


The question is whether there exists a nexus between the supposedly obstructing behavior and the judicial proceeding. It doesn't even matter about the intent, if there was no nexus. Can the act of having moved these materials actually impeded the course of Justice?


>your actions didn't amount to a crime

>it is still a crime

Pardon me, but effin what?

Ah yes. There's a word for it.

You're literally calling for prosecuting thoughtcrimes.

Good job, making Orwell proud.


If you take an action in the real world it is no longer a thought crime.


>think of a crime

>take an action in the real world (not a crime)

>it's a crime

You're not make it any better, you're just repeating your desire to prosecute thoughtcrimes.

"Your honor, he wanted the President dead and he breathed! That's an action in the real world! Off with his head!"

By your logic putting a pin in a voodoo doll is a crime.

I implore you, abscond and perish promptly with such twisted cognizance of justice.


To be clear, by action i mean an action the person believes would result in the crime in question occuring.

> your desire

I don't think it's my desire. I'm pretty sure i'm just describing how our legal system actually works.

And if you think this is bad, go look up the requirements for a conspiracy charge which are even less than this.


Yes but, again for clarification, for the specific infraction that is obstruction of justice there has to have been some possibility that the action taken or intended could have or did actually obstruct justice. There government must prove "a nexus between the defendant’s conduct and a particular official proceeding before a judge or court of the United States".


Yes fair point, although i think in this case that would be pretty trivial to prove.


>To be clear, by action i mean an action the person believes would result in the crime in question occuring.

....like putting a needle in a voodoo doll, fully believing it will result in the death of a person it represents.

>I'm pretty sure i'm just describing how our legal system actually works.

FIY, I just intentionally put a needle through your voodoo doll, fully believing it will result in your untimely death.

You might want to report me for attempted murder, and find out the defense between how our legal system actually works, and how you wish it worked.

If you're still reading this, I'm willing to repeat the above real world action of stabbing your voodoo doll as many times as it is necessary for it to work, in the presence of witnesses.

You're welcome.

>And if you think this is bad

This is not just bad, it's insane.

I'm not going to switch to another subject (conspiracy charges).


> Being aware that he was moving the zines to obstruct a federal felony investigation is surely relevant. Intent is an important aspect of crime.

...maybe to the so-called Department of Justice, but not in any moral sense.


The federal felony investigation was for a protest where one asshole shot a gun, and the others, who didn't, got 70 years in prison. There is no world where this isn't completely fucking insane. There is no need to whitewash this.

(Meanwhile, the Jan 6 insurrectionists, who were a credible threat to the peaceful transfer of power - the foundation of democracy - were all pardoned. By the guy who sent them there.)




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