Presumably somebody at the store or watching the airport monitors saw the thief get on the accused’s flight. The airline was supposed to identify the people who got on the flight.
What this points out is the bizarro world of intrastate extraditions. They have various exceptions to the normal rules of procedure:
- It’s likely New Mexico didn’t even know what the charges were. Texas may have told them “This person is wanted in Texas for a felony” and nothing more.
- Someone held for extradition can be held in jail for up to 30 days without access to a lawyer.
Good lord - for shoplifting?
They say “felony burglary.” What the hell did the actual thief steal? An expensive bottle of booze? A leather jacket?
I’m willing to accept Tired and Cranky’s description of what was/was not allowable. But IMO it is exceptionally fucked up that our system would say that it is OK to incarcerate someone for 17 days more than 1 year after a nonviolent crime such as shoplifting. American exceptionalism, I say!
I wonder who he called (if he was given a phone call) and what tat person was doing for 17 days, trying to help him get out. The Daily Beast article refers to him having a GF.
And - at the risk of approaching victim-blaming - it strikes me as curious that he travelled out of state to a 4th of July party, that required police intervention, and - for whatever reason - the cops took his information. Sure, going to a rowdy party and getting rowdy himself did not warrant incarceration for something he didn’t do. But just caught my attention.
Dinsdale,
He just attended the party. I am not 100% convinced that he knew it was going to get rowdy.
The police then took his information and arrested him.
I am not 100% sure the rowdiness of the party is the issue. He could have been stopped in his car just as easily at a sobriety stop etc.
I am understanding from Tire_and_Cranky’s post that what the police did was 100% legal but it still stinks to me of at the very least laziness. They have a warrant but then keep him locked up because they can? I guess that is legal but does it not sound like that police district has some overcrowding/processing issues?
I’m confused. What part of the Constitution says that habeas corpus and the right to a speedy trial don’t apply in cases of interstate extradition?
Solid Info.
Yeah - I got that. And, like I said, I don’t want to get into victim blaming. You should be allowed to go to a rowdy party without this happening to you.
It has been 40 years since college that I was at a party that got broken up by police. (But I was at several then.) I sure don’t recall cops asking for the IDs of everyone at the party. Instead, they either just said to keep the noise down, or for everyone to leave. If there was a fight, THOSE people might have their IDs checked. Or obvious underagers. Or someone passed out drunk…
So it struck me that if this guy got his ID checked, then he might have been the rowdy one. Not just an innocent attendee. Of course, that does not warrant how he was treated. Just one oddity that caught my eye in a very odd set of events.
Many airports, especially large international ones with passengers from all over, are loaded with luxury shopping. The story gives no details but I assume the shoplifting charge wasn’t fridge magnets or, ‘Don’t Mess with Texas’ T shirts
According to the original article, American was the one who reported the crime in the first place. Which is even more bizarre.
He’s not complaining he was released, duh. He’s complaining he was held for 17 days AND THEN let go with no explanation. If they thought they had enough to hold him for 17-30 days, then what changed?
Under what conditions was he released? Was he cleared, or were the cops just bored with their cat-like toying with him?
What article? It doesn’t say that in the OP’s link.
The police involuntarily moved him from point A to point B (the jail) & then released him without any means to get back to point A or (a reasonable) point C; ie. home, not Hawaii. I’m assuming his phone was confiscated when he got to jail & returned when he was released. Unless he had the forethought to power it off it would be quite dead after 17 days w/o a charge & phoning a friend wouldn’t be an option.
All this for someone who didn’t do anything wrong & was arrested in error; can’t imagine they do any better for those who are legitimately arrested.
As far as I can tell , he was locked up in the New Mexico jail based solely on the Texas warrant. And my guess is that he was released after 17 days because Texas had decided not to extradite him due to the pandemic - normally someone who is being held on a fugitive warrant will be held until the wanting state picks them up. If Texas decides not to extradite hm, then New Mexico has to release him.
He wouldn’t get a trial in New Mexico for a crime that occurred in Texas. New Mexico also doesn’t look into whether the person they have in custody actually committed the crime, only whether the person is the one the warrant was issued for. The strip search is pretty much SOP for anyone entering a jail or prison for the reasons @Tired_and_Cranky mentioned - and there is really no way the New Mexico jail can guarantee that no one in custody will see someone else get punched in the face repeatedly. When he saw the judge after eight days, it was for an extradition hearing , at which point Lowe waived extradition.
American Airlines may have some blame for this , and the police and court in Dallas might , depending on what is missing from the story. But I don’t (from the story) how anyone in New Mexico did anything illegal.
There is no indication that he was rowdy at the party. He wasn’t charged with anything in New Mexico.
In the normal run of things, we want the police to be able to hold people who have outstanding arrest warrants when they flee the state that issued the warrant. The process broke down here in an absurd fashion but in the ordinary result, we don’t want Florida police to find Gabby Petito’s murderer and only be able to say to him, “that wasn’t nice. You have to return to Wyoming for trial.”
He perhaps should have been arraigned sooner (I’m actually surprised he wasn’t). Almost all jails are overfunded. Find a municipality in America that says, “we have an extra $100,000. Should we should probably make our jails nicer rather than spending it on schools or parks.”
It was a sarcastic question but the constitutional remedy under a habeus corpus petition is release from jail. His wish was granted.
It’s possible New Mexico got word from Texas that Texas was declining to pay for extradition or further detention. States basically agree with one another that they will pay when another state picks up and holds their fugitive. Texas may simply have looked at the crime and the cost to extradite him and thought, “why bother?”
I’m being sarcastic but the police probably let him use the phone when they released him. It’s not that they have to but cops are human beings too and letting him use the phone would be pretty normal.
To anyone who has the impression from my flippant replies that I don’t care about this guy’s plight, you are mistaken. The truth is, I care that we treat thousands of accused people who have been convicted of no crime equally badly every day. The moral crime isn’t what happened to this one guy, it’s that we do this to millions of people per year. This story got press because it happened to a middle class white guy who has a deep pocket to sue. This happens to poor minorities every day and they can only get press when they die in custody and sometimes not even then.
The justice system may have technically followed all procedures correctly. That’s rather different from “worked as it should have”. If somebody can be held for 30 days like this, the procedures are broken.
The original article linked to in OP’s article:
Thanks. Okay, that paints American in a much worse light. I don’t think this guy will be flying coach any more.
Or, rather, arm our cops with automatic weapons and tanks.
If a municipality that chooses to keep its jails in the condition described in the article, then a court should force that municipality to make the less barbaric choice
Sure. But does anyone have experience where it is standard practice for cops to request IDs - and run them for warrants - from party attendees who WEREN’T doing something questionable?
No - but I do have lots of experience with police deciding not to charge a fugitive from another state ( or the prosecutor dropping charges) because the fugitive is not available for extradition while local charges are pending.