phil osborn wrote:
>
>
> The really shocking thing was that a high percentage of the prisoners had
> never been to trial, or even had a single hearing before a judge. Many of
> them had been incarcerated for years without receiving a single hearing.
> How had this happened? Well, they had been assigned a public defender at
> the outset. (Often, THE public defender, as many counties had ONE attorney
> to handle hundreds of "defences.") Their "attorney" waived the time limits
> - there goes the right to a speedy trial - and then refused to take their
> calls. Can you say hapless? Hopeless? Helpless?
>
> Like, who needs black helicopters, etc.???
Any computer nut ought to know the story of Kevin Mitnick, who, after
five years in prison, most of that in solitary, without a trial,
supposedly because he was America's cyber enemy number one, who
supposedly caused millions and millions of dollars in damages, wound up
getting an additional six months when he finally got a trial and was
released this past January. Guess what the actual damages the government
could actually document that he did? $4,000.00.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Jul 27 2000 - 14:09:45 MDT