Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Cops Get a "Special Deal" When They Rape

It is amazing how blind "justice" can be. Here's a cop in San Antonio who manages to wrangle a life sentence down to one year.From a Hearst newspaper San Antonio site, here's the key bit:
A former San Antonio police officer accused of raping a transsexual prostitute while on duty was ordered Tuesday to spend a year in jail.

Attorneys for Craig Nash, 39, had asked state District Judge Lori Valenzuela for deferred adjudication probation during the brief sentencing hearing, pointing out that he otherwise had been commended for his service during his six years with the department.

Prosecutors sought the maximum one-year sentence for the official oppression charge, which is a Class A misdemeanor.

As part of a plea agreement, Nash waived an indictment last month and pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor. In exchange, prosecutors agreed not to pursue a felony charge of sexual assault by a police officer, which had a maximum sentence of life in prison.
I love the bit about "commended" for his six years of service. Yeah sure. Let me guess. He probably did this before but hid behind his badge and uniform and only got caught after six years. So much for "commendable" service. In the same category is Canadian Colonel Russell Williams who got loads of commendations and raised through the ranks despite being a serial rapist and killer. These snakes are everywhere but usually slither away when the heat gets turned up. Craig Nash will be back on the street in a year and probably ready to "step up" his life of crime from simply beating up and raping prostitutes to something more "satisfying". Thanks to the legal system for looking out for the public. I wonder... does that judge have a daughter. Is he going to be happy when her rapist gets a year in the slammer?

You can tell the "quality" of justice in Texas when you read this bit:
Nash was arrested last February after the victim — currently serving time in a male state jail facility for prostitution — reported that she had just been held captive and raped by the officer.

She had been picked up by Nash at Guadalupe and Zarzamora streets early that morning and handcuffed in the back of the patrol car, she told police. She then was then told to lie down as Nash drove to an unknown location, where she was forced to commit multiple sex acts, she reported.

DNA taken from a rape kit later linked Nash to the complainant, according to court records. The woman picked Nash out in a police lineup and GPS tracking of his patrol unit was consistent with what she said, documents state.

Two days after the officer's arrest, a second person came forward to say he had also been raped by the officer in 2008. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors won't pursue the second allegation, according to court documents.

Prosecutors opted to pursue the misdemeanor charge against Nash instead of the felony as they began looking ahead to trial and contemplating “additional issues we'd have to deal with,” said Adriana Biggs, chief of the district attorney's white-collar crimes division. She declined to elaborate.
I guess justice blind, deaf, and dumb in Texas.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

We wonder why people are angry... People all over the world are angry.. We need to wake up and really look at the way things are. People around the world are suffering due to the policies and practices of America. We need to wake up... and take care of our own and move to take care of those in other countries that we have wronged. If we don't... We will suffer.. the wrath of a world that has caught up to us. "sorry" just won't do.

RYviewpoint said...

Thomas:

While I agree that the US has caused problems for the rest of the world, the rest of the world isn't innocent. The old Soviet Union spread a lot of grief around the world. China is just now starting to put fear in all her neighbors (and has over the last 50 years attacked pretty well all of her neighbors: USSR, India, Vietnam) and sqaubbled with countries over borders & trade.

In short, the world isn't a perfect place. And there is more than enough guilt to go around. My only beef with Americans is that they (like all other big powers that throw their weight around) see themselves as "noble" and "doing good" when most of what they do is self aggrandizing.

This is even true of puny little Canada. The company I used to work with would get "foreign aid" money to build high tech stuff in third world countries. These became "prestige projects" with big ribbon cutting ceremonies. But most of these installations fell into disrepair because the locals didn't have the training & technology to maintain them. So while Canada patted itself on the back for "helping" poor countries, it was creating monstrosities: installations that made rulers feel important but had no economic value. It was all wasted money. The US does a lot of that too. My point is that most countries pretend to be better than they really are.

As for this post... it is just one in a series where I call people's attention to the fact that the police are not the paragons of virtue that a lot of people think they are. I know that policing is a hard job. And I want them to do a good job and get paid well for it. But the job attracts too many bullies and near-criminals. These people end up doing what this "much decorated" Craig Nash did: on one hand Nash did his job & did it well and got kudos for that, but at the same time he was abusing his power and hurting the vulnerable.

The only real power we have to stop abuse from those with power is to shine a light on it and shame those who abuse power. Honour the police (and firefighters and military) but at the same time, recognize that behind the uniform hide some real monsters like Canadian Colonel Russell Williams.