Via the NYT: Videos Challenge Accounts of Convention Unrest
For Mr. Kyne and 400 others arrested that week, video recordings provided evidence that they had not committed a crime or that the charges against them could not be proved, according to defense lawyers and prosecutors.Among them was Alexander Dunlop, who said he was arrested while going to pick up sushi.
Last week, he discovered that there were two versions of the same police tape: the one that was to be used as evidence in his trial had been edited at two spots, removing images that showed Mr. Dunlop behaving peacefully. When a volunteer film archivist found a more complete version of the tape and gave it to Mr. Dunlop’s lawyer, prosecutors immediately dropped the charges and said that a technician had cut the material by mistake.
Seven months after the convention at Madison Square Garden, criminal charges have fallen against all but a handful of people arrested that week. Of the 1,670 cases that have run their full course, 91 percent ended with the charges dismissed or with a verdict of not guilty after trial. Many were dropped without any finding of wrongdoing, but also without any serious inquiry into the circumstances of the arrests, with the Manhattan district attorney’s office agreeing that the cases should be “adjourned in contemplation of dismissal.”
So far, 162 defendants have either pleaded guilty or were convicted after trial, and videotapes that bolstered the prosecution’s case played a role in at least some of those cases, although prosecutors could not provide details.
One wonders what the police are thinking. Certainly there are times when judgment calls have to be made, but please. Not only is it stupid, generically speaking, to forget that video cameras are everywhere, it is specifically disturbing to find out that over 90% of the arrests were unnecessary.
As the story notes, snippets of video tape do not necessarily tell the whole story, but it is problematic when tape shows something substantially different from what a police office recollects.
And regardless of the tapes: arresting that many people during political protests who weren’t guilty of a crime is highly problematic in a democracy.
Cops, Testilies, and Video Tape
The New York Times has a fascinating account of police using highly-edited videotape to bolster their lies on the witness stand.
Videos Challenge Accounts of Convention Unrest (NYT rss)
Dennis Kyne put up such a fight at a political protest last …
Trackback by Outside The Beltway — Tuesday, April 12, 2024 @ 1:17 pm
Hey, Hey!!
This post made CNN’s Inside Politics today. Heard it at 4:25 eastern, I think it’s rebroadcast later…
Congrats.
Comment by Buckland — Tuesday, April 12, 2024 @ 3:25 pm
Cool! Thanks.
Comment by Steven Taylor — Tuesday, April 12, 2024 @ 3:36 pm