Bottom line: Neither ignorance nor innocent intent are stay-out-of-jail cards for ordinary folks.
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Let’s connect two articles from last week.
The first is a legal opinion from The Hill:
It’s relatively short and direct – well worth reading.
The essence of the legally supported conclusion:
In letting Hillary off-the-hook, Comey revived two old, tenuous legal defenses: “ignorance of the law” and “no direct evidence of criminal intent”.
Every kid is taught that ignorance of the law isn’t an excuse, right?
And, courts have regularly dismissed the need for prosecutors to prove “willfulness”.
If you did it, you did it
Old adage: Do the crime, do the time (or pay the fine).
But, since Comey’s leniency rested on ignorance and willfulness (“no direct evidence of criminal intent”), those defenses are making a comeback.
Here’s a specific case …..
Since Baltimore has been in the news, here’s a flashback from the you can’t make this stuff up file …
There’s a notorious gang – the Black Guerrilla Family (BGF) — that is, one could say, well represented in the Baltimore prison population.
Well, court documents have been filed in a massive racketeering case accusing 13 female corrections officers of colluding with the BGF — seven male inmates and several outside gang members.
Colluding may be a gross understatement.
Corrections officers allegedly smuggled contraband such as cellphones, drugs, and weapons to BGFers, and turned a blind eye on the BGF leaders running the outside gang from prison.
You know, garden variety collusion between guards and prisoners.
But, it turns out that several of the guards are also accused of being literally “in bed” with the BGF inmates.
Four of the officers became pregnant with prison gang leader Tavon White’s baby.
One of them got pregnant twice.
Say, what?
The web of relationships got sufficiently complicated that the Baltimore Sun developed an extraordinary infographic.
Don’t squint, below I’ll walk you through it and give you the link.
OK, here’s a key to the info graphic …
On balance, I’m ok with speed cams as long as their tolerances are reasonable … say 7 MPH over the speed limit.
According to WTOP, DC is implementing zero tolerance on more than a dozen speed cams being installed around the District.
Here’s the rub.
They primarily target areas with posted speed limits of 25 mph.
If you’re snapped driving 1 mph to 10 mph above the limit, there’s a $50 fine.
Doing 11 mph to 15 mph over results in a $100 ticket.
The price increases in 5 mph increments, up to $300 for driving in excess of 26 mph above the posted limit.
As a public service, here’s a partial map of the cam locations.
From the you can’t make this stuff up file …
There’s a notorious gang – the Black Guerrilla Family (BGF) — that is, one could say, well represent in the Baltimore prison population.
Well, court documents have been filed in a massive racketeering case accusing 13 female corrections officers of colluding with the BGF — seven male inmates and several outside gang members.
Colluding may be a gross understatement.
Corrections officers allegedly smuggled contraband such as cellphones, drugs, and weapons to BGFers, and turned a blind eye on the BGF leaders running the outside gang from prison.
You know, garden variety collusion between guards and prisoners.
But, it turns out that several of the guards are also accused of being literally “in bed” with the BGF inmates.
Four of the officers became pregnant with prison gang leader Tavon White’s baby.
One of them got pregnant twice.
Say, what?
The web of relationships got sufficiently complicated that the Baltimore Sun developed an extraordinary infographic.
Don’t squint, below I’ll walk you through it and give you the link.
OK, here’s a key to the info graphic …
The Homa Files 