I am going to intrude upon our weekend bloggers to post a story on the aftermath of the arrest of Daron Dylon Wint, 47, for the savage murder of f Savvas Savopoulos, 46, his wife Amy Savopoulos, 47, their 10-year-old son, Philip, and housekeeper Veralicia Figueroa, 57 in the family’s Northwest Washington home. According to CBS News, the five people arrested with Wint in two vehicles have been released without charge. Come again? Five people are found to be traveling with a fugitive sought by a dozen different police agencies and are found to have $10,000 cash in one of the vehicles. And they are released?
According to Wint’s girlfriend, he was returning to D.C. from New York in the midst of overwhelming television and other media stories about his being the most wanted fugitive in America. Police spotted him to a Howard Johnson Express Inn in College Park, Maryland and watched as two vehicles left together from the motel parking lot. They were stopped and discovered Wint in one of the vehicles. Two other men and three women were also taken into custody. They also found the 10 grand (a suspicious finding since 40 grand had been taken from the witnesses).
Generally, an accessory after the fact includes (to use the federal standard) “whoever, knowing that an offense . . . has been committed, receives, relieves, comforts or assists the offender in order to hinder or prevent his apprehension, trial or punishment, is an accessory after the fact.”
Now, on its face, these people would seem to be conspiring to hide a fugitive or constitute accessories after the fact. Unless this was a complete coincidence and that they had no knowledge of Wint or his alleged heinous acts, there would seem ample reason to hold them. I am honestly confused. The release of the people seems odd and there must be more to this story. Perhaps some of our readers can find any explanation because if they, like most of humanity, were aware of Wint’s alleged crimes (including the murder of a 10-year-old boy), they would appear to be criminally involved, at a minimum, after the fact of the murders. If they simply taken to leave a motel at coincidentally the same moment as an alleged murderer and coincidentally drive in the same direction, they are clearly the most unlucky human beings on Earth. They could be precisely that. Either way, there should be some explanation from the police.
CBS may be wrong or there are additional facts to explain what on its face is a curious development.
So much for the presumption of innocence. I thought that was a principle???
Always depends on who is involved for this blog.
Tracking someone from DNA left on a slice of pizza in about a day, or is it more likely that his texting was picked up by the local Stingray tower?
No surprise here…..
A man whose bid to become a police officer was rejected after he scored too high on an intelligence test has lost an appeal in his federal lawsuit against the city.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld a lower court’s decision that the city did not discriminate against Robert Jordan because the same standards were applied to everyone who took the test.
“This kind of puts an official face on discrimination in America against people of a certain class,” Jordan said today from his Waterford home. “I maintain you have no more control over your basic intelligence than your eye color or your gender or anything else.”
He said he does not plan to take any further legal action.
Jordan, a 49-year-old college graduate, took the exam in 1996 and scored 33 points, the equivalent of an IQ of 125. But New London police interviewed only candidates who scored 20 to 27, on the theory that those who scored too high could get bored with police work and leave soon after undergoing costly training.
Most Cops Just Above Normal The average score nationally for police officers is 21 to 22, the equivalent of an IQ of 104, or just a little above average.
Jordan alleged his rejection from the police force was discrimination. He sued the city, saying his civil rights were violated because he was denied equal protection under the law.
But the U.S. District Court found that New London had “shown a rational basis for the policy.” In a ruling dated Aug. 23, the 2nd Circuit agreed. The court said the policy might be unwise but was a rational way to reduce job turnover.
Jordan has worked as a prison guard since he took the test.
Tyger, Thank you. Great analysis about self worth. We had a discussion here awhile back about tipping. There were a couple people alibiing about why they don’t tip. Both were people who fit the profile you described.
Nick, your grasp on reality is one of the reasons I respect you and enjoy reading your comments. In regard to helping others and feeling good about it, a person’s Value System and Self-Image are what controls that. Most selfish people do not value or respect others, or they feel that they themselves are so “important” and “right” about everything that they feel insulted and mistreated whenever someone else contradicts them or does not treat them according to how they demand to be treated. When the coffee gets cold and doesn’t quickly get refilled, or the service is bad in some other way, they give no tip and feel justified, for example. When they have a bad Self-Image, feeling unworthy or inferior to others, they look for flaws and errors in others and put them down for their perceived imperfections, thinking this makes themselves look superior by comparison. But those who respect and value others as equal (or better, “equivalent”) to themselves overall, will help others and contribute to the betterment of everyone, and feel good about themselves in the process. What matters most in Life, regardless of political philosophy or religious beliefs, is how people treat each other, and that applies the same to individuals or to groups of any size. Helpful, constructive, and beneficial acts are always better than obstructive, wasteful, and harmful behavior individually or together in large or small groups. Selfish people don’t recognize or believe this. Well-balanced and productive people do, and “doing good” makes them happy.
Prison sentences are measured in the quantitative dimension of time, AND the qualitative dimension by restricting freedoms, diminishing comforts and pleasures, and providing no opportunities for normal happiness and satisfaction. Both dimensions are required. Neither a ten-minute confinement in a cold closet nor a year being confined to a lavish resort where the individual’s every desire was satisfied would be considered punishment. Criminals being confined in horrible prison conditions are portrayed in numerous movies and TV shows to instill those images in everyone’s imaginations in hopes of preventing or deterring criminal behavior in the society. For imprisonment to improve society, incarceration doesn’t have to actually happen to someone in reality if that person can clearly imagine it happening as a result of bad behavior.
Prison sentences are indeed designated by time served. In the vernacular of inmates, you are “given time.” Your freedom is what is taken. Let’s just call this a semantic difference and move forward. Time is a wastin’.
Nick
‘self esteem’ ‘admitting’ You are off on a tangent that has nothing to do with what I said about time. The law measures punishment in time. The quality is peculiar to the individual but the quantity is the point. Perhaps those other than those who have such an intimate connection with incarceration have a valid opinion. There is no wrong here, flat ass or otherwise.
Tyger, Very good philosophical comment and questions. I always choose reality. At least my version of it. But, being pretty down to earth, I have a fairly good grasp on reality. Here’s my question. I get great joy out of helping others. So, am I selfish in helping others knowing I’ll be getting the endorphin rush? I don’t think that’s my primary motivation. But, here’s a question I’ve had for awhile. The mean, heartless, divisive, selfish people that walk this earth and troll this blog never helping people and being stingy. Do they not get the good feelings when they tip generously, help someone else, extend a kindness? I mean have they tried being good hearted and not gotten that wonderful feeling it brings?
Issac, and Nick, your discussion is very interesting to me. As I started reading Issac’s last comment, I thought, “this is a quantity or quality issue,” and was amused to see that was your conclusion.
Time is the measurement of the quantity dimension of a person’s life. Freedom, health, relationships, wealth, satisfaction of needs and desires, accomplishments, and many other things of this nature are factors of the quality of a person’s life. Two boys from upper middle-class families who are very healthy, athletes in school, graduate from college with high scores. At this point in their early twenties, the quality of their lives are roughly equal, as is the quantity for each. One becomes a police officer, but within a couple of years is shot and killed while apprehending a bank robber, who dies too. The other individual, goes into business, then out of greed, plots and murders his partner in a heinous way. He gets life in prison, and is confined for the next 50 years until he dies of a lingering cancer. How do you compare these two lives? Both have killed someone. One life is 50 years shorter than the other. But one person is a hero who lived a very good but short life. The other is a criminal who lived a long but low quality and unproductive life. The answer is likely to be a subjective evaluation based upon personal standards and morals, and which includes both dimensions.
I think there is a third dimension to life: Reality. Does a person choose to live in harmony with the real, physical world, doing things that benefit others and the environment as well as himself? Or does that person retreat into fantasy, seeking answers to the questions and stresses of life in imaginary beliefs and false reasoning. But that is a discussion for another day.
Oh, and it takes self esteem to admit when you’re wrong, and you are simply flat ass wrong on your “time” assertion. But, that’s your right.
All one can do w/ inmates is provide them w/ the opportunity to better themselves. To varying degrees, prisons do that. Federal Prisons do it well. But, the Federal Bureau of Prisons learned forced rehabilitation was counterproductive, hurting the inmates taking classes, doing training, etc. who wanted to improve themselves. The forced inmates were very disruptive. I worked for the Federal Bureau of Prisons when there was mandatory rehab. Stupid.
I’d go for another riot on O’Bummer’s doorstep, Jake.