Rove appointee sends an ugly message to would-be Obama assassins
By David Neiwert Saturday Nov 01, 2008 5:00pm
There certainly were a lot of disturbing questions raised by Colorado U.S. attorney Troy Eid's refusal to prosecute three white-supremacist tweakers caught conspiring to assassinate Barack Obama before this year's Democratic National Convention in Denver. (Brad Jacobson and Nicole also reported on this.)
Now, as Jacobson reports at Raw Story, those questions are taking on a serious cast:
Interviews with numerous legal experts suggest that Colorado US Attorney Troy Eid misled reporters and diverged from state law when declining to prosecute any of the three men arrested in Denver for threatening to assassinate Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.
Eid, who was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2006, declined to prosecute the three men on charges of threatening to assassinate Barack Obama during his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, saying that the suspects were "just a bunch of meth heads" and their words failed to meet the legal standard for "true threat."
... But multiple legal experts interviewed by RAW STORY -- including criminal and constitutional law scholars, former Assistant US Attorneys and Denver-area defense lawyers also familiar with Colorado state law -- agreed that voluntary intoxication is not exculpatory and that such a claim, especially for a prosecutor, is unorthodox. While it may be presented in an effort to reduce a sentence after a conviction, experts say it is normally the domain of defense counsel.
"It's very unusual," says Scott Horton, a Columbia Law School professor who also writes for Harper's Magazine. "Basically, you have a US Attorney trotting out the sort of arguments that defense counsel makes on a plea for reduced sentencing."
Legal experts say that Eid's definition of true threat directly conflicts with the statue covering threats to presidential candidates, 18 U.S.C. 879, which defines the threat as "whoever knowingly and willfully threatens to kill, kidnap, or inflict bodily harm upon a major candidate for the office of President or Vice President, or a member of the immediate family of such candidate."
Be sure to read the whole thing.
There should be a congressional investigation of Eid's misfeasance in this case, because it sends a chilling message: If you're a white supremacist who wants to target Obama for assassination -- as a number of them appear to be doing -- Bush's Justice Department will give you a slap on the wrist and look the other way should you get caught.
I doubt that was what they intended, but that has been the end result.
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If they threatened John McCain you know he would be prosecuting those guys.
They would be going to gitmo...
Flood is in order. We should start a letter campaign to let them know the public is NOT happy at this obvious FREE PASS given to these people. Idiocy and drunkenness or being high on drugs does not constitute a defense.
These guys Plotted against a US Senator and a Presidential hopeful.
They need to be punished.
This isn't bad?
This lady is predicting a freaking civil war.....IF Obama loses no less, Do you think a civil war will happen if McCain loses? Unbelievable that no one reports this.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1167...
If there is proof that The Republican Crime Syndicate steals this election, civil war just might be the only recourse!
As a matter of fact, a black man in a Colorado jail threatened McCain with a fake anthrax letter -- a case in which the "real threat" component of the case is very much in doubt, since it's questionable at best whether a black man in prison could be actually capable of sending real anthrax -- and Troy Eid brought down the full hammer of the law upon the guy.
He did; a dude behind bars sent a letter with white powder to McCain. Eid threw the whole book at him in no time.
I'll find the link and post it asap.
that a Bush appointed US attorney is willing to work pro bono for the people he is charged with prosecuting.
BUT.....you just KNOW somebody is going to try to "change history" after the election....maybe Blackwater will protect Obama.
And I doubt the statute of limitations will have expired by then. I am sure a new US Attorney might just devote some time to reexamining this case and sending the message that would-be assassins will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
can this dick justify not prosecuting? They threatened a presidential candidate for crissake! Hello? The law is very clear about this.
I am so worried about Obama and his family.
by these bush standards, then if anyone
as a white skinhead should make a threat on
bush or cheney, then they should just be
ignored as lowlife drunks? right?
double standards of course in the fucking reichwingneocon
bastard bush administration.
I think that was exactly the message that he intended to send.
I read the original story, and although Rove may have had something to do with this appointment, Monica Goodling's name was the one that was actually used, i.e. Eis was appointed in 2006 when Goodling was doing the hiring. Remember her? "Im cute, I really didn't mean it, I was too new at this job to know what was going on..." [flips hair] --MaryK
Not only is it typically the domain of criminal defense attorneys, but prosecutors, judges and juries tend to laugh at us when we bring up voluntary intoxication.
This whole story angers me more than I can convey in words. I see people's lives ruined over petty, ridiculous actions, many of which shouldn't even be crimes. Often just because DA's are just itching for high conviction records. Sometimes just to save face even when they KNOW they have no case.
Our system is very prosecution oriented, and the Burger, Rehnquist and Roberts Courts have made matters worse. And now, here is a criminal conspiracy to commit MURDER that they won't prosecute based on impossibility and/or voluntary intoxication?
Please. It's good old fashioned corruption --- the kind that smacks of southern white juries who refused to convict people of lynchings.
but I have a feeling that this could be some sort of trap for co-conspirators.
It's not a strong feeling, but...just sayin'...
Andy K:
How would that work exactly? I'm always willing to be persuaded.
while they're in jail on the state charges.
you dont use a presidential candidate as bait
hey...when is your next trip to los angeles
i wanna take you to the middle of compton...leave you there for a few hours, and see if any gang members come out to shoot you
come on...we gotta catch the bad guys
I'm saying that there may be other co-conspirators out there, Uncle Joe, and that the Feds are trying to leverage these guys that they caught with whatever state charges they are facing.
Just because these guys who are in jail now haven't been charged yet Federally doesn't mean they can't be, does it?
One only needs contrast the difference the way these white supremacists are being treated with all the hype over the Florida seven to know something is extremely wrong here.
FBI arrests 7 in alleged terror plot
Investigators claim men conspired to attack Sears Tower, federal building
7 Terror Suspects Were Mostly Talk
Compare and contrast, the method we all learned in high school. In this case there's a lot more to contrast than compare in the way this is being handled. These conspirators were if anything more serious in their intent and closer to their goal than the Florida seven were.
Exactly!!!
We have a lot of work to do here in America if there is ever going to be true justice!!
i hope all these hacks have their resume's ready
cuz there is gonna be a mass termination from this hack justice dept
Hacks? They are all hacks. I hope you are right though. It's almost a joke to be called the justice dept. the last 8 years
"Rove appointee"?
C&L Editing Team Strikes Out... Again...
it was rove who got these guys into the justice dept
i hear eid gives really good head
may have an infinitesimally small point. Rove only vetted and sanctioned their appointments. Technically George Bush is actually responsible for appointing this particular idiot.
I don't think he really made any point, Peter G. To fault C&L's editing (itself nothing more than bitterness over another of today's posts) assumes that C&L does not actually understand how the appointment process works. Instead, of course, calling Eid a "Rove appointee" is itself a commentary on Rove's influence. It has the same implications as calling the current executive branch the "Cheney Administration."
So, no, Jason the 15th or 10th-minus-5th or whatever made no point. He did make an ass of himself, though.
I was just being snarky with him. Although all these attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president we all know who was pulling the strings. I doubt if Bush ever heard the man's name before or after his appointment. No disrespect was intended to the editorial staff. Hence the words "infinitesimally small".
There are assertions made in the first link to FDL, which links back to this piece from the Rocky Mountain News.
The shortened version: The first nominee to the post was rejected by the DOJ, then Eid- who has ties to a former Republican governor of Colorado- was appointed.
Links are good. they save bandwidth.
Senator Wayne Allard of CO recommended a candidate to the White House. Usually the President accepts these candidates, but Bushco rejected Allard's recommendation.
a very interesting link. I'm glad ,at least, that Eid admitted to being "totally stunned".
in Casblanca, whose character was shocked at discovering the gambling operations in Rick's place?
to release the usual suspects? They were just blowing off steam no?
up-thread.
These guys aren't free, iirc. They're facing state charges in CO.
but compared to what they should have been charged with they're getting off with a noogie. They'll be back on the street in no time and they should be getting out after Obama's second term.
from up-thread, again, but I don't think the statute of limitations is going to run out on these guys any time soon.
Shit, these goobers could serve there time in the pokey on state charges and then be charged with the Federal crimes.
Maybe Karen can tell us if there's any statute of limitations on this sort of thing.
The ones in CO? My understanding was that they did go free...not the ones from TN. Those schmoes are facing weapons charges.
we're talking about the Colorado Klowns. Did they make bail?
and, of course, I could be wrong, they were released - no charges.
both when it first happened, and above (I read the RAW STORY piece last night):
I read that as no charges.
are still firearm and drug charges on the table. I'll see if I can track down the facts.
I'm packing...I will look for it. Thanks!
"I'm shocked--- SHOCKED, I tell you..." --MaryK
No, I intentionally named him a Rove appointee because it was Rove who got him the job and pulled strings and pushed buttons to make it happen.
It's Bush's Justice Department. You shouldn't even expect decency, much less justice.
using the excuse of staying out of politics, the bush administration has been stepping up the pace of undoing our liberties and further deregulating special interests. god, it will take at least 4 years to figure out just what the hell these thieves have done to our country.
btw, obama has, as i understand it, hundreds of legal volunteers. hopefully, they will be working this issues with eid.
Funny, several weeks ago Scott McClellen told the Obama campaign "not" to investigate the Bush administration or else they would "change his image"(paraphrase). What is that about? Why so mysterious? Is that a threat? Is the current administration involved in the Kennedy killings? That's what is being spread around. Now, this. This is a take over. We need to get very serious. Very serious.
who the gay, male prostitute, Jeff Gannon, was visiting over 200 times at the White House.
Exactly!
Remember Richard Humphreys? Probably not. He got three years in prison for making what he said was a joke about a "Burning Bush."
See here: http://wweek.com/editorial/2908/3491/
That's a truly amazing story. It appears that U.S. Attorney Michael Ridgeway in that case also is a Republican. How interesting it is that both Ridgeway and Eids are
BushRove appointees.Attorneygate rears its ugly head.
Obama wins over the KKK
Many groups step up action when they see a weak Legal System. Now this action invites others to continue or succeed. The people of Colorado aren't like that but with Eid's in charge many nuts will flock to Colorado. I watched Kennedy get shot on TV and I watched Lee Oswald get shot. Seeing a man get murdered on TV when it's real doesn't go away. We know there's hate in the US but let's hope the evil one's can be stopped this time. We lost a great President because of Politics and covert operations within our own Govenment. We learned that there was a plan to assassinate FDR by Politicians who wanted to take control of the White House as a Democrat seat as President to long. It wouldn't surprise me if the three young men weren't given a pass to continue what they planned until they completed the mission. Nothing surprises me anymore, when a Political Party wants to keep control.
I doubt that was what they intended, but that has been the end result.
I don't. The Republicans have been stirring up this spider's nest of psychopaths for months. I think they would be more than delighted to have them do something stupid.
You may not believe that that was not what they intended...but I don't.
The partisanship and "wink and a nod" politics of the Bush Justice Department is legend and completely transparent.
The Bush Justice Department has refused to enforce the law so many times, it's hard to keep count.
I was going to post pretty much the same thing.
This type of "benefit of the doubt" is completely unwarranted and misplaced here -- no matter what the "MSM" might say.
One doesn not have to be a "randy conspiracy buff" to read the Neocon tea leaves of the Bush/Cheney Administration.
The MSM has a well-honed talent for standing there with their hair on fire and telling their readers/listeners/viewers they can't smell smoke, but their saying it hardly makes it so.
David.Your comment that,"I doubt that was what they intended, but that has been the end result,"is probably not accurate.If you look at the Bush gangs eight year history of caring only about putting forth their own neo-con,unconstitutional,criminal,sadistic policies to the detriment of every American, that statement cannot stand up to their crimes.Their history also includes a penchant for covering their own ass while shredding the rule of law.
If we keep making excuses and allowances for their blatent criminality we will never be a democracy again.
So much for the Patriot Act being used for good purposes. This proves that it is not for the purpose of keeping us safe from "terrorists", but in a constant state of fear - it was written before 9-11..........Seriously just Threatning to kill american citizens and stating any plan (regardless of the type of preparation and organization for planning such an event)stating a plan to kill US citizens should be unough to be arrested and followed if let back on the streets>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
failed to meet the legal standard for "true threat."
This coming from the same knuckleheads who made such a big deal of some black people who wanted to make contact with Al Queda, apparently to get money for boots, these people said what a credible threat these misfits were to Fort Bragg (you know the place where we keep all the weapons and people who are trained to use them in defense.
Yeah, they were a threat but someone wanted to kill a black man running for President...no real threat there, huh?
that is the most cowardly line ever typed in a post in the history of Crooks&Liars. how that could have been typed "in good conscience" is absolutely baffling. within the last week, hateful racists dragged a black man behind a truck AGAIN.
This Fed prosecutor gets a pass because
??????
why is there such a fear of calling a fucking racist a racist after that fucking racist makes a racist decision. are we suddenly afraid of howie kurtz? rush??? hannity????
I guess it's too much for some white people to believe that another white person who demonstrates racist actions should be called racist. It's obviously too much to expect. Is calling this racist piece-of-shit prosecutor a republican good enough? these days it has proven to be the same thing. calling a racist anything but a racist is what we are supposed to settle for these days, I suppose.
Well said...and fuck that. I agree with you 1000%.
it's unbelievable. it makes me want to turn into the hulk and smash some shit.
and I mean that in the best way,
:<[)
I miss your pixels...you've been absent too often, of late.
Geez, gang. Ever hear of irony? Guess I should make it clearer.
And I dunno about being white, but I will take my 20 years of crawling among the neo-Nazis, Identity believers, white supremacists, Freemen, and militias, and tracking and reporting on them, at no small risk to myself and my family, over anything most other folks have done in terms of combating white supremacists. So kindly leave the "white folks can't understand" and "cowardly" shit at home, OK?
I love what you do here. I find your posts fascinating. I've mentioned it before (don't know if you noticed, but I have). I was saying bravo to the sentiment, which I think we both share.
I am sorry if that came across poorly. I think very highly of you.
Do you have links to your stories about your experiences? I bet that would be fascinating.
Most of my experiences on the far right are recounted in In God's Country, which unfortunately isn't much online, though I recently reproduced a chapter of it at my blog here.
I never write about the, um, difficult aspects of this work because it's never a good idea to publicize them in terms of one's personal security. Though once upon a time I managed to take a semi-threat (I was placed on a list as a "race traitor") and turn it into a fund-raiser as a way of actively defusing it. It was very successful.
And I understood the sentiment, and appreciate the mea culpa, though you only were tangentially involved. Understand: I'm just not much accustomed to being accused of cowardice.
Why does this surprise anyone? This is the same George Putz misadministration which:
- Gave sweetheart deals to christian terrorists like James Kopp and Eric Rudolph, both white, while seeking the "death penalty" for John Lee Malvo (black).
- Interfered in trying to keep Terri Schiavo's corpse (white) on a respirator while allowing Sun Hudson (black) to be murdered by an HMO removing his feeding tube and respirator.
- Spent millions on firefighting in California (mostly white owned property) and rebuilding Florida (mostly white owned property) and other places after minor hurricanes while leaving New Orleans (mostly white owned property) to be drowned and ruined.
Just how many times do people have to commit crimes and war crimes before it's seen as a systematic pattern of behaviour, or even conspiratorial like organized crime is?
Or is this just another example of American blindness to admitting it has war criminals? More blind belief that the US can do no wrong? Well, it has and is doing wrong, and until that fact is addressed, the US will lack credibility in the eyes of the world. And for those who say they don't care what the world thinks, you sure as hell cared when one group told you on 9/11.
voluntary intoxication is not exculpatory
Not even for speed (which is what meth is essentially)? Meth and other amphetamines make you more aggressive and jittery, which is why places with meth problems also experience more problems with violence. Forms of speed are also what US bomber pilots and other troops are given to increase their alertness and make them more aggressive.
That first sentence should be, "Especially for speed." Sorry. Sleepy.
And of course if they were animal rights activists, environmentalists, or merely people with dark skin, they'd be put in jail for years for far less than conspiring to assassinate a presidential candidate. Reminds me of the Reagan years.
Remember how the US government took photos of Americans protesting peacefully in other countries (especially England, where the British did it for them? And how the US government revoked the passports of those they could identify? That was the precursor of the "no fly list", not 9/11.
These cock roaches might want to leave the country after the election.
Either that, or get themselves a good lawyer.
Is that Obama gets assassinated, but even more that it happens before the election or before he takes office....the cities are torched in massive riots, and Bush gets to declare Martial Law and cancel the election in the interests of "national security", thus setting up the First American Dictatorship. Why d'ya think there are all those concentration camps in the US? http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardtrut...
Doesn't it matter that these people (yes, I use the term loosely) had made deliberate, concrete actions in a plan to kill not only Senator Obama but also another hundred-three people?
And then I think about the man who was arrested for saying quietly and relatively respectfully to Cheney that he found his politics despicable.
Is there some kind of recall or impeachment proceeding that could be initiated against this slime Eid?
redundant. A result is final. XXOO, Underemployed writer.
don't have to wait nor should we wait until after the election to flex our new political muscle, this has to be pursued and proscuted now. The renaissance begins now. This is blatant. Since Barrack is directly involved he may choose to not prosecute; however, that does not exclude or excuse others from taking up the gauntlet.
I still am not sure that Jose Padilla did anything except to have a conversation with the wrong person. He may not have been a good person but did he deserve torture?
Now we have this case. Troy Eid had much more evidence to work with and he tossed it aside. Why is that? I hope that those with knowledge really examine the mentality of this administration and the people who worked within its system. There was a warped sensibility that just never saw reality as important.
I think people are seeing through it and God I hope Obama is elected.
I rebuke all of Rove and company's evil words and deeds in the name and blood of Jesus and send it back to the pit of hell where it belongs ! I plead the blood of Jesus for Barack, his family, his campaign, and his presidency daily !
No weapon forged against you [ Barack Obama] will prevail, and you [ Barack Obama] will refute every tongue that accuses you [ Barack Obama] . This is the heritage of the servants [ Barack Obama] of the LORD, and this is their [ Barack Obama] vindication from me," declares the LORD. - Isaiah 54:17
" I [ God ] will send my terror ahead of you [ Barack Obama] and throw into confusion every nation you [ Barack Obama] encounter. I [ God ] will make all your [ Barack Obama] enemies turn their backs and run." - Exodus 23:27
They will fight against you [ Barack Obama] but will not overcome you, for I [God ] am with you [ Barack Obama] and will rescue you," declares the LORD. - Jeremiah 1:19
The Lord will rescue me [ Barack Obama] from every evil attack and will bring me [ Barack Obama] safely to his heavenly kingdom. - 2 Timothy 4:18
11 For he will command his angels concerning you [ Barack Obama] to guard you [ Barack Obama ] in all your ways; 12 they will lift you [ Barack Obama ] up in their hands, so that you [ Barack Obama ] will not strike your [his] foot against a stone. 13 You [ Barack Obama ] will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you [ Barack Obama ] will trample the great lion and the serpent. - Psalm 91:11-13
I have given you [ Barack Obama ] authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you [ Barack Obama ]. - Luke 10:19
It's time for the American people to get it right and NOT vote for McCain-Palin, instead vote for change. It's time for this country to turn the page and seek a new and better future for ourselves and our children.It's time for REAL change in Washington, it's time to elect Barack Obama for president !
Obama-Biden are the wiser and stronger team to solve the crucial challenges we have in this nation and abroad !
Amen.
If the assassins worked for Troy Eid it wouldn't be in his best interests for them to testify on a witness stand.
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