Nightlife Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha
posted by on March 8 at 12:13 PM
From this morning’s Seattle Times:
The first case to go to trial in last fall’s controversial sting operation of Seattle nightclubs came back with a quick verdict: not guilty….The sting, which targeted 15 clubs in Belltown, Pioneer Square and the University District over a two-week period in August, culminated in a sweep of workplace arrests on a busy Saturday night in September.
DeLeon was among 15 bartenders and bouncers arrested and had the distinction of spending the most time—more than two nights—in King County Jail. A dozen other employees, most of whom were not working that night, were also charged criminally. In most cases, the charges were serving alcohol to minors or intoxicated patrons—administrative offenses usually handled by the state Liquor Control Board….
DeLeon’s attorney, Matthew Leyba, of Associated Counsel for the Accused, said he filed three unsuccessful motions to get the case dismissed, and trial began Wednesday. The jury deliberated for no more than 20 minutes before returning a verdict Thursday, he said.
Click through to the story if you want to listen to Tom Carr attempt to defend his over-the-top, politically-motivated prosecution of this poor bartender. Pathetic.
I Love the Slog. Where else will you find a headline like this and a story like this? NOWHERE I say! Slog makes me laugh like a hyena! And I must say that I also love looking at those retro high school photos in the classmates.com ads! Reminds me of my big hair days! Rock on!
from this morning's news comment thread:
here's a quote from that article:
"We have a very high burden" of proof, [City Attorney Tom Carr] said. "We occasionally lose them. It doesn't mean we were wrong."
i'm not sure where to begin with that "it doesn't mean we were wrong" bit. yes, yes it does. you were wrong. you took this guy to trial, and it took a jury 20 minutes to say you were wrong.
elenchos responds:
Oh, I'm sure Tom Carr says the same thing when he convicts somebody. "It doesn't mean they did it. We occasionally win them."
Those crazy, wacky juries and their adorable little way of picking a verdict. You never know what they'll do next, but you gotta love 'em.
Does anyone else get the impression that, however you feel about nightclubs, nightclub regulations, and Tom Carr, that Tom Carr is a pretty lousy city attorney?
Anti-ad: Classmates.com sucks donkey dick. Nobody cool goes there. None of your classmates whom you actually would like to see again have signed up. They're ethically in the same boat as Russian herbal viagra salesmen. Just don't.
A 20-minute NG verdict is a real slap in the face. When all this is finished, the Stranger should compile the full cost to the public - of the sting, the prosecutions, convening the juries, the time for the judges to hear motions, etc. - it will surely be in the millions - and stack it up against what we got for it: nothing.
Fnarf, last I checked Classmates has 3 times the number of people sending them money as Obama does.
20 minutes for a ng does seems preeeeeetty cut and dry (liquor bust, dry, heh)though i am getting most of my legal experience from shark these days.
so.
Mike of Renton: all of them knobs. Not the people you want to reconnect with.
Spec. Chad D. Groepper
Hometown: Kingsley, Iowa, U.S.
Age: 21 years old
Died: February 17, 2008 in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Unit: Army, 2nd Battalion 23rd Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Incident: Killed when enemy forces attacked his dismounted patrol in Diyala Province using small arms fire.
When will Carr get fired? Even the Mayor's office hates this sucky attorney. He's like that really geeky kid in high school who gets a little power and tries to take revenge on all the other kids. Poor Tommy. Thank god there are courts to balance his obsessions.
Tom Carr is a bummer. He is not too bright, explodes easily and does the bidding of the Mayor and cops ... juries understand the set up when they hear one and trumped up charges. They also WORK for a living, and really don't like rogue cops out to mess with working class non-criminal folks.
His Magnifico Carr needs a well connected young black gay primary opponent. Might solve a lot of city legal issues - old guard vs. the new future.
Several inter actions - both very negative - and I am just plan citizen squeaky clean asking a question or two.
Gosh, how dare we ask questions of some God like person called the City Attorney. Bummer all around.
Dan - the title is just so cool ..... should be a Tom Carr special.
He is a dolt.
The cops and mayor are just as much to blame for this fiasco. But Carr should have never brought this to trial.
Sub - skilled attorneys are a danger to all.
@9: Carr is an elected official...so he'll get fired when a good candidate runs against him and wins. He's up for re-election in 2009...and let's hope we have a viable candidate by then.
Bill Sherman?
#12
Bill is a looser .... acts like a two day old pancake in his campaigns.
Something wrong with a young telegenic black gay man or woman who then is groomed to be advanced in public office?
Add strong connection to ACLU ...
And pro medical mj ...
Sherman tried to pretend that the prosecuting attorney is a partisan race, when in fact, the public didn't ever buy that line in that race.
How many Dem. votes did Maleng get in his long career? Hundreds and hundreds of thousands.
Bill sounded funny as hell with his own theory of why he should win -- "Me, see, the Democrat." - He really has no political skills. Went down in flames.
Remember Jamie creamed him, too, smiling Eagle Scout fag ... In every debate in that race Bill Sherman brought up his kids, almost an assertion of manly "sure fire family guy" virility that he felt would push against Jamie - didn't. It just wasted valuable time to convince the audience about something. More flames to reward Bills maladroit campaigning.
If there's anything a busy UW student can do to help in the search for a good candidate to replace Carr, I would like to know about it. My intent was to post a comment on how we need to replace this tool and should start trying to recruit someone good for the job, but other commenters beat me to that.
I'm also hoping that the Stranger will do a feature story on what this sting has cost the public. I hope they'll also cover what this special mayor's nightclub gestapo that these arrests were supposed to justify would have cost in terms of the number of regular uniformed cops you could put on the street for that amount.
Adam @!2...I tossed Bill's name out there just because he's an attorney who has shown a desire for public office. (I actually felt Satterberg would be better in the KC prosecutor race.)
But I'm curious about:
"Something wrong with a young telegenic black gay man or woman who then is groomed to be advanced in public office?
Add strong connection to ACLU ...
And pro medical mj ..."
Like, got name or two? There's tons of attorneys in town that would be better than Carr. The problem is getting them elected.
No names at this point, but will work on it.
I am well connected to several council members, will pass Dump Carr concept around.
Glad to hear, indeed, my misgivings about Carr are shared out there.
Nobody cool goes there.
Quoth WNYX' Dave Foley: "God you're an idiot."
Nothing says "We were wrong" like having your ass handed to you by a jury in less than 20 minutes.
Well, that, and maybe a lawsuit for false imprionment and malicious prosecution.....
I hereby nominate Dominic Holden to the position of City Attorney. He probably doesn't want it, nor do I know if he has a law degree. But what the hell, its a perfect match.
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