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- Sorry for the double post.
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- Thank you, thank you, thank you. Somewhere on a par with the scariness of criminals is the scariness of an American public that is increasingly prone (despite the increasing exonerations of the wrongly imprisoned, via DNA evidence) to convict someone within two seconds of a news outlet giving out the name of a person of interest, let alone the news of an arrest. I have actually read and heard people say, "Well, why would the police arrest him if he isn't guilty?" The thought of ever being arrested and tried before my so-called peers makes my blood run cold.
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While I agree with you in the absolute, I don't agree with you that any of that happened where Ray Clark is concerned. If anything the authorities were extra cautious in arresting him given what they knew, and allowed him nearly a full week of freedom after the initial crime was committed, dotting every I and crossing every T. Ray Clark has been treated with kid gloves by the cops sense day one. If you are angry with the media for latching onto the story, and the public for following it, blame that on Annie, who the public has latched onto with near obsession, and its deserved. By all accounts she was an outstanding young woman who did more in 24 years then most of us in a lifetime. If your looking for a poster child for your cause of defendants rights ( I admit a worthy cause ) my advice would be to look elsewhere, there are plenty of cases. Ray Clark is not your man, and this is not the crime to with which to illustrate your points. - Reply to this comment
- Thank you, thank you, thank you. Somewhere on a par with the scariness of criminals is the scariness of an American public that is increasingly prone (despite the increasing exonerations of the wrongly imprisoned, via DNA evidence) to convict someone within two seconds of a news outlet giving out the name of a person of interest, let alone the news of an arrest. I have actually read and heard people say, "Well, why would the police arrest him if he isn't guilty?" The thought of ever being arrested and tried before my so-called peers makes my blood run cold.
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While I agree with you in the absolute, I don't agree with you that any of that happened where Ray Clark is concerned. If anything the authorities were extra cautious in arresting him given what they knew, and allowed him nearly a full week of freedom after the initial crime was committed, dotting every I and crossing every T. Ray Clark has been treated with kid gloves by the cops sense day one. If you are angry with the media for latching onto the story, and the public for following it, blame that on Annie, who the public has latched onto with near obsession, and its deserved. By all accounts she was an outstanding young woman who did more in 24 years then most of us in a lifetime. If your looking for a poster child for your cause of defendants rights ( I admit a worthy cause ) my advice would be to look elsewhere, there are plenty of cases. Ray Clark is not your man, and this is not the crime to with which to illustrate your points. - Reply to this comment
- Thank you, thank you, thank you. Somewhere on a par with the scariness of criminals is the scariness of an American public that is increasingly prone (despite the increasing exonerations of the wrongly imprisoned, via DNA evidence) to convict someone within two seconds of a news outlet giving out the name of a person of interest, let alone the news of an arrest. I have actually read and heard people say, "Well, why would the police arrest him if he isn't guilty?" The thought of ever being arrested and tried before my so-called peers makes my blood run cold.
I don't know this particular guy, but I do know I believe in the presumption of innocence that is the basis of law in this country. And I do have ties to someone who was very nearly convicted of murder after two years of media immersion. The prosecution had, according to the media slant, built itself a tidy little hypothesis and case--including alleged witnesses--right up until the body was found many miles away from where the "witnesses" claimed the murder and dump site had been. In light of that discovery, the entire case fell apart, but you better believe that this man's life (which admittedly was not charmed to begin with) has been ruined. Not terribly long afterward, a jury took almost no time to convict another man of the murder. The main "evidence" presented in the media? His grandma thought he did it. Amazingly, few people I've talked to seem to have a problem with that.
So take my advice. If your relatives don't like you, you'd do well to steer clear of the law altogether. Or move to another country. - Reply to this comment
- I couldn't agree with you more, Mr. Cohen.
I know Ray personally... and it's sad that he will never recieve a fair trail because of the media circus that was created around him.
If he is found guilty, then he certainly deserves whatever punishment he gets.
But let's not forget that Ray too has a family that is suffering.
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I love when there is a moral equivalency drawn between Ray Clarks family and what Annie's family has gone through. As if this were some sort of no fault car accident. Oops. This was a heinous crime committed by Clark ( alleged) against Annie Le who did zero to deserve this. Clark (alleged) ended her life in the most brutal fashion, and has shown zero remorse for any of it. In fact he has done everything possible to get away with it, without any regard for Annie's family. He has treated her body like trash, cleaned up a crime scene, lied to authorities, as well as returned to the crime scene to retrieve evidence. His family had to know some, if not all of this, and again did nothing to "make up" for the situation, and instead played softball and had a loving dinner with him on the Sunday Annie was to get married and while she was stuck in a crawlspace, beaten and rotting. The Clarks have shown Zero remorse, and zero consideration for anyone but themselves. What cowards, and Clark, and whoever is covering for him, or making excuses for him are despicable. What kind of man beats and strangles a 4 foot 11, 90 lb woman? He had 100 lbs on her at least. The victim here is Annie, a young woman who could have literally contributed to our society a cure for modern diseases and by all accounts was an amazing young woman, end of story. - Reply to this comment
- I couldn't agree with you more, Mr. Cohen.
I know Ray personally... and it's sad that he will never recieve a fair trail because of the media circus that was created around him.
If he is found guilty, then he certainly deserves whatever punishment he gets.
But let's not forget that Ray too has a family that is suffering. - Reply to this comment
- Not to mention the fact that despite the calls all over the blogosphere for his immediate beheading, Mr. Clark, even if he is convicted, will not be subject to the death penalty, nor even life without parole.
In the state of Connecticut the crime of murder is a Class-A Felony and carries a maximum penalty of 25 years to life UNLESS the circumstances elevate the murder to "capital felony" under CGS-53a-54b for which life without parole or execution are applicable. Capital felony only applies to the murder of a law enforcement or corrections officer, murder by arson of a firefighter, murder for hire, murder by previouly convicted murderer or someone already serving a life sentence, murder connected with 1st degree sexual assault (forcible rape), murder connected with a kidnapping, or murder of a minor child under the age of 16.
Certainly the apparently brutal killing of a bright, talented, young, promising person touches all of us. The fact that it happened just before she was to marry is all the more heartbreaking, and anybody with the capacity for empathy certainly feels for her fiancee and her family.
That being said, this is still the United States of America, and the 5th amendment still applies.
CT - Reply to this comment
- Bacon_Enthusiast has some point. This is quite hypocritical. May I ask Mr. Cohen, with all the dynamics in play controlled, except for the suspect being hypothetically black, would you have even covered and written this commentary piece?
2. For whom is this written, the jurors or the public feeding off the mainstream media? Either you are deflecting the blame on the media consumers or insulting the capacity of the would be set of jury in this trial.
3. "the way ...the police have trampled upon Clark?s fair trial rights" - How? They were even less speedy in arresting the suspect relative to the previous Yale arrest mishaps to prevent exactly that. They have gathered strong 250 pieces of evidence before arresting Mr. Clark III. Do, pray tell, enumerate the rights upon which the police have trampled. - Reply to this comment
- Hey Bacon Enthusiast, Anti-semitic much?
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