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mclennan county justice


hayden_horn

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so, let's all take a moment to remember that this is the same county that arrested all those bikers and held them 

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/11/us/baylor-ex-frat-president-rape-allegation/index.html

181211095534-jacob-anderson-mugshot-medi

this douchebag drugged and raped a girl at a party. 

Quote

(CNN)Even though Jacob Walter Anderson was indicted on four counts of sexual assault, the ex-fraternity president won't spend a single day in prison.

Instead, a plea agreement allowed the former Baylor University student to plead no contest to a lesser charge of unlawful restraint.


If the 24-year-old successfully completes three years of deferred probation and pays a $400 fine, his criminal record will be wiped clean of the charge, and he won't have to register as a sex offender, CNN affiliate KWKT said.


The plea agreement between Anderson's defense team and the McLennan County, Texas, district attorney's office infuriated the victim and her attorney.


"The evidence is incredible," Vic Feazell, the woman's attorney, told KWKT. "He nearly choked her to death. He raped her violently. He left her passed out in her own vomit -- the rape exam confirmed rape."

how in the fuck does this even happen? you think this happens if this dude isn't a rich white dude?

 

Edited by hayden_horn
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There is a lot to go around here.  all of it shitty.  but I keep coming back to the female ADA telling the victim that they were going to plea it down.  At least take it to trial and let a jury decide.  If not he walks away with basically the same sentence as he has now.

 

Waco can't get out of its own way 

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12 minutes ago, Post Oak said:

There is a lot to go around here.  all of it shitty.  but I keep coming back to the female ADA telling the victim that they were going to plea it down.  At least take it to trial and let a jury decide.  If not he walks away with basically the same sentence as he has now.

 

Waco can't get out of its own way 

Yep, the victim and family should have had some say it how this was handled. I know that's not how it works but I think they should.

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For those in the know, isn't it typical practice in these cases to follow the lead of the victim even if it might be a tough case to win?   Clearly in this case the victim is pissed at the prosecution.   It's one thing if the victim didn't want to testify and somewhat forced the prosecution's hand, but sounds like that was the opposite of what happened here.  

Edited by Skipper
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This same judge, Ralph Strother, sentenced a female teacher to 10 consecutive 10 year sentences for having sex with a 14 year old boy.  She did a full 10 years, I believe.  

I am unaware of any other women in Texas doing hard time for having sex with their students, let alone 10 years.  And in the above case, there were multiple mitigating factors that the judge ignored in his sentencing.  

So accepting this plea deal seems odd for a such a righteous law and order dude.  Especially if the victim was against the plea and wanted the case to be tried in front of a jury.  

Caveat to the above: (i) I'm not saying that the women shouldn't have done time or been punished; she clearly broke the law, even if she didn't intend to break the law initially; (ii) we don't know what facts or evidence lead to the prosecution not wanting to try the case.    

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4 hours ago, Larry T. Spider said:

 

Prosecutor said there wasn’t a good case and the the victim made contradictory statements to different investigators. Pretty much said it would have been an acquittal if it went to trial. 

If it were anywhere other than Waco I might give the prosecutor the benefit of the doubt.   But if they had enough evidence to support an arrest I would still  think the prosecutor would typically follow the victims lead if they are ready and willing to testify, difficult cross be damned.

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1 hour ago, pacman said:

Seems he will be working for his real estate license soon, which could potentially place him in houses alone with women. Of course, if there was any component of sexual violence in his plea deal, he would likely have never gotten his RE license.

Yaaaaa based on what he's doing now in real estate this guy isn't on the hosting open houses path of real estate. 

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Trying to find details about this case to be able to come to an informed opinion. It's pretty hard. I did find this article.

 

https://www.kcentv.com/article/news/local/legal-expert-why-jacob-anderson-didnt-go-to-trial/500-623246474

 

Quote

Why didn't District Attorney Abel Reyna and prosecutor Hilary LaBorde take Anderson to court?

KCEN Channel 6 legal expert Liz Mitchell provided several reasons why.

1. Original claims by the accuser may have been disproved

"If they feel like they cannot prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt, or they feel like elements of the original charge are not true, they cannot in good faith try him," Mitchell said.

If Anderson's accuser made particular claims that could not be proven, it shows a lack of credibility, Mitchell said. District Attorney Abel Reyna told media that claims that the woman was drugged couldn't be proven.

"Early in this case, law enforcement believed that the victim may have been drugged and this belief has been widely disseminated in the media; however, the evidence did not support that theory," Reyna said. "This office stands by the plea offered and believes we have achieved the best result possible with the evidence at hand.”

2. The accuser's story was inconsistent

A Brady evidence notice filed Dec. 10 said the following:

"The complaining witness in this case provided a statement attributed to her by her civil attorney and filed in the papers of this cause that includes allegations inconsistent with her prior statements to civilians, police officers, and a SANE nurse given on the night of the offense."

Mitchell said inconsistent statements make cases much harder to bring to trial.

"If you have your star witness, the victim, telling one account of the facts and then you have other people coming forward saying that she made prior statements that this could have been consensual, then those are things that are going to weaken her credibility," Mitchell said.

3. The defense gets to see all evidence brought by the prosecution.

Mitchell told Channel 6 the defense does not have to share anything with the state, but the state is required to give any evidence that could lead to the exoneration of the defendant over to the defense attorneys. This means any witness the prosecution may have originally believed to be beneficial could end up helping the defense if they give an alternate version of the facts.

4. The accuser cannot force the prosecution to go forward with the trial.

Once allegations have been made, the state decides what charges to bring against the defense, regardless of the wishes of the accuser.

Mitchell told Channel 6 the district attorney cannot go to court because the public, or the accuser, implores him to do so. Likewise, he cannot decide not to prosecute a defendant because the accuser wants the charges dropped.

5. The District Attorney cannot ethically prosecute a case if evidence suggests possible innocence.

Mitchell said the state cannot press charges if its investigation uncovers evidence a person is innocent of the charges.

"If they knew that there were statements out there that this was a consensual sexual encounter, and still put this man to trial, and went forward and tried it anyway, that would be against the law," Mitchell said.

"We see this often in these cases. It's the court of public opinion. People make an initial decision about a person's guilt based on early news coverage. As this district attorney's office continued to investigate the case, there were clearly issues with the case."

 

Edited by po elvis
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On 12/13/2018 at 1:05 PM, scottsins said:

Somewhat related:

 

The newly hired first assistant DA is a piece of work.  He says, openly, that “Gideon v Wainwright is probably the worst thing that’s ever happened to the United States.  At least I won’t have to deal with him anymore in Bell County.

Pretty sure that was Gideon v Harrell, 2008.

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On 12/13/2018 at 1:09 PM, scottsins said:

Technically, you are correct, but this RARELY happens. As in, hasn’t happened in any of my cases ever.

I saw it once in a theft case. I suspect if this was brought to any judge I regularly practice in front of, there’s a good chance it doesn’t get accepted. 

Then again, the ADAs here wouldn’t make such a deal to begin with. They’re more of a kill em all let god sort em out lot. 

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8 hours ago, softlynow said:

I saw it once in a theft case. I suspect if this was brought to any judge I regularly practice in front of, there’s a good chance it doesn’t get accepted. 

Then again, the ADAs here wouldn’t make such a deal to begin with. They’re more of a kill em all let god sort em out lot. 

Interestingly enough, the most frequent rejections of plea agreement that I personally see are in various JP courts.  Tickets, man.

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