Weeks before Aaron Spencer’s murder trial, the charge was dismissed after discovering that law enforcement had lost video evidence of the incident

  • LurkingLuddite@piefed.social
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    26
    ·
    15 days ago

    hmmmmmmm indeed. Pretty fucking hard to decide one way or the other without evidence, but if the accusations are correct…

    BIG “IF” on that one, from an, “innocent until proven guilty perspective”. Almost like people are forgetting the whole fucking point of, “justice”.

    • abbadon420@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      16
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      14 days ago

      Sexual assault is notoriously hard to proof. The system is set up that you need verifiable evidence. Your word against their worddoesn’t cut it, you need video or biological evidence or something. 9 out of 10 (don’tquote me on that) sexual assault cases get dismissed because of a lack of evidence.

    • BCsven@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      14 days ago

      He was already awaiting court for raping the girl. I assume a grooming dude that convinced her to see him again

      • LurkingLuddite@piefed.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        18
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        14 days ago

        Still a bit fucky to just axe the guy. Not for THIS case, but for the precedence that it sets. Cops et. al. should NEVER be able to freely murder people they think are guilty. Ever. Period.

        • prettybunnys@piefed.social
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          14 days ago

          Yeah, I agree entirely.

          I’m a pacifist.

          If I intercepted my kid being a victim of this I’d potentially mama bear their abductor to shreds

          • LurkingLuddite@piefed.social
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            14 days ago

            Yea, caught in the act is definitely quite the trigger. Though what if he’s one of those kids that look way older (rare, I know, but some of even my friends from HS looked like they were 20 as sophomores)? What if they’re actually also 13 and you’re just pissed off your daughter is doing the dirty? What if they’re not even doing the deed?

            I don’t mean to defend any weirdos, and especially not rapists (not statutory ones either), but there are a lot of situations dads will freak out about that aren’t illegal nor nefarious. Murder, even for seemingly emotionally justifiable reasons, should never just be OK.

            As anyone who’s gone to war will attest, it changes you. The people who can just do it and not be changed are … probably dangerous people anyways…

  • Aetherial@nord.pub
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    14 days ago

    Lonoke County, enjoy your new sherrif Judge Dredd. What a horror show of a political system you have when an accused murderer can secure more than half the population’s approval for a law enforcement role and an accused serial rapist and conman can secure more than half the population’s approval for the presidency.

  • ComradePenguin@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    arrow-down
    10
    ·
    edit-2
    14 days ago
    • Killing = Absolutely worst crime of all
    • Not innocent until proven guilt

    The crime he was accused of was one of the absolute worst, do not misunderstand me. If guilty he should have gotten one of the absolute harshest punishments. However the crime the dad commited was worse. I am not saying the dad should be punished harshly, it is a very understandable action. However we can not have a society in which people take justice into their own hands, and he got his “justice” by commiting the worst of all crimes. Even risking prison and leaving his 13 yo daughter without a father while growing up. His action is not commendable.

    Edit: Its not always absolute, but it is an important guide. The United Healthcare CEO is one of the complex cases. He was responsible for countless deaths and there were no way of getting justice, it was impossible through the justice system. Not saying killing is the right punishment, but it is complex sometimes. Same goes here, thats why a more lax punishment for the father is the correct, probably.

    • Test_Tickles@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      edit-2
      13 days ago

      I understand, and somewhat agree with the ideals that you are putting forth, but in this case they really don’t fit very well. The father caught the 67 yr old guy in the act of kidnapping the 13yr old daughter at 1am. So, that brings in a lot of questions that your theoretical discussion doesn’t cover.

      Of course, the entire situation gets even more fucked up as you find out things like the father was a applying to be a cop at the time. Which leads us down an entirely different rabbit hole of issues.

    • JayDee@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      13 days ago

      Strong disagree, killing is not the absolute worst crime one can commit. In my opinion: Torture is worse, destruction of life is worse, enslavement is worse, I’m sure there are others not coming to mind.

      That being said, I agree that vigilante justice often leads to people jumping the gun and killing innocent people without meaningful evidence of their guilt. I just do not agree with the premise that killing is the be-all-end-all of evil crimes.

      • ComradePenguin@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        13 days ago

        Is it due to murder lacking suffering? The worst crime is not the crime I believe should be punished hardest. This is an important distinction in my mind. Some people are probably beyond rehabilitation.

        I do believe torture should lead to harsher punishments. Depending on several factors.

        How much torture is enough to warrent it being worse than killing? What about domestic violence? The latter often being inflicting a significant amount of harm and pain on an individual over long periods.

        What about long term harm done through serious neglect?