This was a cop sent to a men's room to troll for homosexuals. What the cop did is not is not "legally" entrapment but the basic assignment of this cop was to "get" homos.
Then there is the way that the cop acted in the interrogation room.
At legal blog watch this note was made:
***
Transcript of Sen. Craig Police Interview Released
Scary, is all I can think after reading (and hearing the audio) of the just-released transcript of Idaho Sen. Larry Craig's police interview. For those who haven't followed the story, Craig was arrested for lewd conduct in a Minneapolis airport bathroom back in June 2007 and, apparently without consulting a lawyer, plead guilty to a lesser charge of disorderly conduct earlier this month. During the police interview, Craig's tone was (in my view) entirely respectful; he didn't try to pull rank, but the officer took umbrage just the same:
I know you're not going to fight me. But that's not the point. I would respect you and I still respect you. I don't disrespect you but I'm disrespected right now and I'm not tying to act like I have all kinds of power or anything, but you're sitting here lying to a police officer.
If a police officer can treat a United States senator in this manner, imagine how many run-of-the-mill, less-educated or -savvy criminals are intimidated into pleading guilty for what they might not have done. That's one aspect of this that's scary.
Of course, what's also troubling is that Craig couldn't discern even from the interview how weak the police officer's case was and apparently didn't understand the value of calling a lawyer. Even if Craig did engage in lewd conduct, a skilled lawyer could have helped Craig understand the legal and political implications of a guilty plea. How can we expect our representatives to defend our rights when, apparently, some of them don't understand these rights themselves?
Posted by Carolyn Elefant on August 30, 2007 at 02:37 PM | Permalink
| Comments (0) http://legalblogwatch.typepad.com/
****
The fact is that this is always the way cops act when interrogating suspects so I am not sure why Elefant is surprised at this cop.
But no matter what the abuses of process were in this case, one has to say that over-all the law itself is an abuse. Vagrancy laws in the South were used to target African-Americans and occasionally other outsiders. The law that Craig was charged under is used to target homosexuals. Whether Craig "committed" the crime he is accused of or not, the question is why was the cop there in the first place? As far as I can see he was there to sus out homos and for no other reason.
As far as Craig is concerned he is a despicable hypocrite. My slogan for him is "Defend the Despicable Hypocrite!."
On 8/30/07, B. <docile_body at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Ironically, a town in Texas (a suburb of Dallas) threw
> out all the indictments against the "To Entrap a
> Predator" guys who showed up on the TV show.
>
> And speaking of "To Catch a Predator," here's Chris
> Elliott's spoof of that travesty, featured in a clip
> on Jimmy Kimmel:
>
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTV8YRkPfOE
>
>
> Yes, Chris Elliott has put on quite a bit of weight.
> But pulling up in the semi with the booty shorts is
> one of my fave things about the skit -- all to greet a
> young teenage girl who "made sweet tea!"
>
> -B.
>
>
>
>
>
> Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> "Speaking of which, what about that awful Predators
> show on NBC? The producers, working with an advocacy
> group (Perverted Justice) and the cops, lure guys via
> Internet chatrooms into meetups with what they think
> are 13-year-old girls."
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>
-- Jerry Monaco's Philosophy, Politics, Culture Weblog is Shandean Postscripts to Politics, Philosophy, and Culture http://monacojerry.livejournal.com/
His fiction, poetry, weblog is Hopeful Monsters: Fiction, Poetry, Memories http://www.livejournal.com/users/jerrymonaco/
Notes, Quotes, Images - From some of my reading and browsing http://www.livejournal.com/community/jerry_quotes/