Anyone in law enforcement..re: City Cops SF Blue... (1 Viewer)

[todd s]

I watched a couple of episodes. And have to ask...Do people arrested ever go trial? Three differents arrests:

-One guy beats another guy unconscience and nearly dead. The cops make a witness drive down the street with them to identify a possible suspect. She says its definitely him. They then say the DA dropped the case.

-Another guy gets pulled over and they find a giant container of weed. And the charges were dismissed.

-A guy is busted with speed and possible credit card theft. Charges dismissed.

Can someone tell me why they would do this? I can understand the dude with the speed. Since it was a small amount. But, the others. Does charges dismissed mean they are free or that they possibly could have pleaded to a lesser charge??

Thanks!

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Standard disclaimer: I am not in law enforcement or a lawyer - and I didn't even see the show under discussion. But hey, why should a little thing like that stop me from making a guess or voicing an opinion?

1) Because there wasn't a line up, some judge throws the eyewitness ID out. Or the witness is scared and refuses to testify.

2) It wasn't the guy's car, he has a half-way convincing story about not knowing what was in the container. Or he quietly made a deal to inform on other druggies in exchange for getting the charges dropped.

If they say charges dismissed, it usually means charges dismissed. If they pleaded down the show would probably note it.

For any or all of these cases: Some kind of procedural error by the arresting officers (failure to issue Miranda warning, continuing to interrogate a suspect after s/he asks for a lawyer) - or allegation of such error that the D.A. thinks is too hard to disprove. Prosecutors finding witnesses unpersuasive or fearing jurors will, or worrying that the evidence isn't strong enough to make a solid case.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Jeff Gordon]

PLEASE stop it with the Miranda Warnings stuff. That is such a small part of any arrest that TV has blown into a huge deal. Miranda is not a factor unless there is custodial interrogation. In many of these smaller cases, the Police don't even bother interrogating a suspect.

Why are so many cases dismissed? Because DA's are overwhelmed and Judges, for the most part, think everything is "no big deal".

In Mass, it's not surprising to see people with 2 or 3 offenses of possession of drugs having their charges dismissed.

The Police do the best they can, but are second guessed by people with months to mull a decision that an Officer had to make in less than a second.