New York Gang Member Faces Trial as Terrorist

[gaijindabe]

This came up a few weeks ago. As gang problems worsen - the law will come down like a ton of bricks. Crude, but effective. Looks like the Rockafeller drug laws all over again:

Morales, 22, was indicted on murder and other charges as acts of terror in May, along with 18 other members of the St. James Boys Gang, a Mexican and Mexican-American street gang.

Morales faces the most serious charge of second-degree murder as a terrorist act. A New York grand jury returned the charges against him in connection with the shooting death of 10-year-old Melanie Mendez, who died from gunshot wounds two years earlier.

Morales plans to plead innocent, said his attorney, Lewis Alperin. No date has yet been set for his trial.

Morales is the first gang member in New York to be indicted under the state's terrorism statute, which became law shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

If the charges did not include the terrorism stipulation, he would face a sentence of 25 years to life if found guilty. With the stipulation, he faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

PROMOTING TERRORISM?

At least 33 states passed laws amending criminal codes related to acts of terrorism since the Sept. 11 attacks, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Most changes focused on money laundering, cyberterrorism, agri-terrorism and supporting terrorist groups.

New York's use of the statute to prosecute gang-related crime has sparked disagreement among lawmakers who voted for the legislation....

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1896&u=/nm/20041229/us_nm/security_terrorist_dc_4&printer=1

[Hugh R]

Works for me. Doesn't infringe on my civil liberties one bit, but then again, I don't shoot and kill little girls.

[widebody911]

Yup, define everything as 'terrorism' and pretty soon you'll be able to execute people for jaywalking. Brilliant! Der Fuerher would be proud, but Stalin would be a little disappointed because they didn't just execute him on sight.

[bryanthompson]

As long as the trains run on time, right Thom?

What really is the difference between gangs and terrorists?

To get initiated in a gang you have to beat up some innocent guy, maybe kill a few random people, kill a police officer? Staying in a gang means inflicting fear and pain on innocent people, breaking the law as often as imaginable, and for what? They exist to strike fear into those of us who are contributing citizens, to break our things, steal our stuff, and kill us. They sure as hell sound like terrorists to me.

[RallyJon]

That was my biggest reservation about the Patriot Act and similar laws. Local DA's don't exercise judgement or discretion--if you give them a legal weapon, they're going to use it wherever they can, no matter if it follows the intent of the law or not.

The DA: "The obvious need for this statue is to protect society against acts of political terror," Johnson said in a statement. "However, the terror perpetrated by gangs, which all too often occurs on the streets of New York, also fits squarely within the scope of this statute."

Next, they'll use the statute to go after jaywalkers: "He just jumped out from between two parked cars. Clearly he intended to terrorize innocent motorists."

[widebody911]

Sit back and think for a minute.

What is a terrorist? It appears that the definition you're willing to accept would include peace protesters, girl scouts, or for that matter, anyone who was politically inconvenient to you. That's what is scary about all this 'anti terror' legislation.

What makes Bin Laded different from Carlo Gambino?

[red ufo]

MM said he is going to kick Mobys ass. Better lock up MM for terrorizing.

Then you got all the sports felons/drug addicts. They talk alot of smack. Lock their over paid butt up also.

Then you got all your local thugs at high shcool and college football jocs. They go around beating on all sorts of people and get a pass because they play ball. Lock up the whole team.

www.prisonplanet.com

[bryanthompson]

Good, so, then, do you support "hate crime" legislation?

[red ufo]

Lets start with abortion protestors. They scare me everytime I go there.

[red ufo]

Originally posted by bryanthompson
Good, so, then, do you support "hate crime" legislation?

Nope,

Anybody ever charged with a hate crime against a white person?

Most crimes are hate in some from when violence is involved.

[widebody911]

Originally posted by bryanthompson
Good, so, then, do you support "hate crime" legislation?

No.

[audi2.7t]

I guess any coercion of free will through threats and acts of intimidation can seen as terroristic, maybe we need a scale of terrorism ie. schoolyard bullies, activists, street gangs, union picket lines, political parties, religous parties, parking enforcement officers, IRS..... maybe we need Judge Dredd style on the spot justice... gangbangers are a prime example of the weak becoming strong through numbers, split them up and you have nothing, maybe anyone convicted of a crime to another person should be sentenced to 5 years minimum army service?, guaranteed to make them a better person or kill them. Terrorism, lets save that title for the real cowards, the ones who fly planes into buildings, bomb market places and blow up trains...

[Jeff Higgins]

If existing penalties were both strict enough and applied often enough, as opposed to being constantly plea-bargained down, we would not need additional "terrorism" or "hate crime" penalties. I can't believe this guy would only get 25 to life for killing a little girl. Even that would probably get plea bargained down to manslaughter if he were willing to rat out his homies for something they did. Let's fix that problem rather than add political hot-button additional offenses, and ones that have a way too broad range of interpretation at that.

[audi2.7t]

Originally posted by Jeff Higgins
If existing penalties were both strict enough and applied often enough, as opposed to being constantly plea-bargained down, we would not need additional "terrorism" or "hate crime" penalties. I can't believe this guy would only get 25 to life for killing a little girl. Even that would probably get plea bargained down to manslaughter if he were willing to rat out his homies for something they did. Let's fix that problem rather than add political hot-button additional offenses, and ones that have a way too broad range of interpretation at that.

Here, Here........