Gah. The very first thing I see when I open my eyes this morning is his mug on CNN. I thought I was having a nightmare.
ElvisL1ves, no, the border patrol did not have enough evidence to detain him. Your outrage is misplaced. A smart person would realize his/her error, and concede the fight. Be smart.
Perhaps asking the Canadian guard across the street “Hey, you hosers got anything on this whackjob while he’s still on your side?” might have provided an answer to that. Or, if that would have taken a while, a detainment on suspicion (yes, they’re time-limited, but not to 2 hours, and reasonable cause certainly existed) might have been useful.
So your outrage comes not from the fact that he wasn’t detained (longer than he was), but from the fact that there is no way for the Canadian and U.S. governments to share warrant information to find out if people are escaping the law by crossing the border?
Could you at least quote something, anything actually that would support that? Something like a local by-law, sate law, federal criminal law, immigration law with respect to American citizens.
You must have something other than a hand waving argument.
He hadn’t crossed the border yet. He was still in Canada’s jurisdiction. Canadian law enforcement never had the opportunity to act on him, though, never knowing he was even there. What official sharing of warrant information was needed?
Are you through being snide yet, or do you actually have something to contribute?
Grey, The Maine AG’s discussion of reasonable suspicion.
Quickie view of US federal law. Certainly Canada has something similar? The guy was, after all, in Canada after committing a murder in Canada and failing to appear in court in Canada, right up until the moment US guards let him through. The legal beagles are welcome to take more time and find better links. Enjoy yourself.
Re-read the article like it’s a clue-by-four upside the head. At the time of the crossing there were no outstanding warrants. Bodies were found a day later. He was due in court that day, so a warrant for that would be hours away at best, more likely a couple of days. A red/rust stained chainsaw is not probably cause for anything. Stop being a nimrod and admit you overreacted.
Fine then. Go fuck yourself.
'Tis only a **Wall **of Fame, according to the AP article linked to in the OP.
Still, what a weird bit of info to put in the article, eh?
Jesus you are obtuse. NO, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT EVIDENCE EXISTS WHICH IS WHY I DON"T PASS JUDGEMENT ON IT’S QUALITY! And the issue isn’t whether evidence exists are not. It has to do with you expecting a strict interpretation of the law in a case where it meets your political ends and another case where you expect an officer to say “Yea well the law is important, but come on!” You’re a hypocrite like most wingnuts. Best save what little mental energy your two-volt brain can produce for a battle that is only slightly less stupid. I know you can come up with one.
Good Christ man, this is ElvisL1ves you’re talking to. You’ve got a better chance of convincing a marmoset to breath water.
Is that a challenge, Weirddave? Will you supply the marmosets? Is there a time frame (evolution can do wonderful things). Let’s lay out the rules.
From your first reference
In our case the border guards have a chain saw, knife and some brass knuckles. It’s the sole crossing for the area, he’s a citizen and he has no outstanding warrants at the time they detain him. In short they have no grounds to keep him. Yet they hold him for 2 hors. Are you seriously suggesting they keep him until something comes through? How long would you wait? A day? Two maybe, or perhaps a week?
The guy crosses the border at Calais on the 25th of April
The guy is due in Canadian court on the 25th of April
The bodies were found on the 26th of April at 3 PM
As to your second reference, I’m not sure how INS deals with illegal aliens has much bearing on this case.
I love irony.
Me too. It makes my sandwiches more crunchy.
what?
You forgot two “homemade” swords and a can of pepper spray. As an aggregate, (considering that all of these items were in the same bag and that the man carried nothing else,) this is pretty suspicious. When he was arrested two days later, he was wearing bloodstained clothing – and it seems likely that this was in his possession (or perhaps on his person) when he crossed the border.
Hell, Peter Lorre would probably concede that Mr. Despres was a little over the top in his telegraphing of “I am a homicidal maniac!”
If the answers he gave the border guards were anything like the answers he gave the judge, they may have had cause to turn him over to the mental health authorities – “What’s your destination?” “I work for NASA. I’m going to Kansas to brief some Marines.” Okay, buddy.
And I forgot the hatchet.
And we both missed the bullet proof vest. :smack:
According to the article, he did lie to the border guards – he said he was in the (U.S.) military.
It’s like something out of First Blood.
Well I’ve check the Main Criminal code “Dangerous weapons” (i.e. 17-2 2) Any device designed as a weapon and capable of producing death or serious bodily injury; ) apparently these can be confiscated by law enforcement, but I’m not sure how that applies to Federal Border Guards. Let’s say they need to operate the same way. So they take his sword, knuckles and machete but leave him his knife, chain saw and hatchet since they have no reason to deprive him of viable tools.
As for his claim of being in the military, well does the INS check? Can they?
It seems likely that they would have access to a database that could confirm it – but even if they don’t, it’s well within their ability to ask to see some corroborating ID.
No, they took all of his sharp things away, including his chainsaw.
They had reason to. He fairly had “I am a violent offender” tattooed on his face. It was prudent to disarm him. They had reason to keep him in custody longer, too – in order to find out what the hell was up with him. When you’ve got a guy sitting there, wearing a flak jacket, carrying a bloody chainsaw and a bag of weapons, it’s pretty clear that he isn’t out for a casual stroll.
He had some hard questions coming to him, and he doesn’t seem like the sort of person who is extraordinarily persuasive.
I know it’s not quite the same, since I don’t have duel citizenship, but I’ve been detained at the border for much longer than two hours over much less than being a swastika-sporting freak carrying around an arsenal-in-a-sack, spattered with blood.
If you don’t even know if any exists, isn’t that a more significant problem than its theoretical quality?
Welcome to George Bush’s America, everyone.
Grey, I was trying to point you to Canadian law and procedures, which would seem to apply to someone who hadn’t entered the US yet, wouldn’t it?
Well, we do still have a couple of posters claiming, rather vociferously at that, that he might well have just been hunting. Sure, you need a bullet-proof vest for that - that seems like a reasonable precaution to me. So do the chainsaw, sword, and brass knuckles; those moose can be vicious.
That’s why I keep a vial of mutated anthrax. For duck hunting.