More breaking news in re the 1/14/12 Ogden Shootings matter. As we mentioned in an earlier WCF article, "[a]fter over a month of watching the Weber County Prosecutors' Office spill out a steady stream of innuendo and other "evidence" which tends to taint the local jury pool and incriminate Defendant Stewart, "Get this"... County prosecutor Dee Smith suddenly moves for a "gag order."
In this context, the Standard-Examiner reports that Weber County prosecutors are still aggressively pressing this issue in Judge Hyde's Second District Court:
One savvy Standard-Examiner reader lodges this comment in the S-E comments section (caution folks, the language gets a mite "salty." Readers who object to common "street vernacular" are forewarned to avert their eyes from this point downward):
The water has already been tainted, pissed in, and had a dead cat stewing in it for quite some time.All-in all, we believe the above comment pretty much gets it right. Putting the lid on any further public statements in this matter could be tantamoint to "shutting the barn door after the livestock have already escaped," don'tcha think?
Remember "terrorist", "bomb", "and every threat, press conference, and parading of alleged evidence/hearsay?
Lapsed has it correct. The fix is in. The prosecutor wants only THEIR public prejudicial statements to stand.
Don't get us wrong on this. We're not choosing sides; but we would like to see Stewart get a fair trial this matter, even in the wake of the torrent of highly prejudicial information which flowed out of the Weber County Attorney's Office in the initial weeks following this tragic incident.
As we've consistently opined from the earliest days of this story, "our view here at Weber County Forum? If the Weber County Attorney is intent to release information regarding this case, they should release ALL of it, or alternatively, nothing at all." Unfortunately at this late juncture, it seems to us that we're now well past the point of no return, and it's a wee bit late in the game to apply the latter of those two earlier-available alternatives.
It'll definitely be interesting to see how Stewart's defense team formally responds to this, now that the damage has already been done.
That's it for now.
Don't let the cat get your tongues, O Gentle Ones.
8 comments:
They will need to try this case in a different venue.
It's only tainting the potential jury pool if the defense makes their concerns public.
Sorry to disagree with you, BR. But now that this dipshit Dee Smith, who had absolutely NO, zero, zilch criminal law experience before he was elected to the County Attorney slot during the last election, is seriously scrwein up in re this case.
Dee Smith is dumber than a brick aparently
No doutt about it, Carolyn Saam Bennion, how will it be possible for Matthew Stewart to get a fair trial In Ogden, or anywhere else in fascist Amerika?
Dee Smith was not concerned the impacf his statements/press conferences might have on a trial. I am still curious as why the ounty attorney asked to seal the search warrants. How much time prior to any trial will the defense get to review the warrants? Does anyone have any estimate as to when the state ccrime lab will release their analysis of the evidence collected at the scene?
This whole thing makes me sick!! What a bunch of self evolved idiots! I feel sorry for Matthew Stewart...
The gag order is merely a CYA move on the part of Smith, et al. I suspect that if/when even part of the truth about the cock-up (and the pre-cursing and subsequent cock-ups) gets out, there will be some heat in a variety of places in officialdom.
I don't think it has much (if anything) to do with trial, per se. The longer it goes without sunlight, the more they can: 1) rely on the news cycle/public attention span to lessen the gravitas; 2) arrange soft landings for those involved; and 3) just bury some of the stinkier parts of the mess.
I assert that justice is not a prime motivator on the parts of the county attorney and the law enforcement agencies involved. I think it's a pure CYA scramble right now and that the gag order is stalling tactic to buy some more A C-ing time.
I hope I'm wrong.
...self evolved...
That's a new phrase for me. Inter-generational-auto incest? The sweet synthesis of Lamarck and Darwin?
I do like the phrase, but its implications are pretty brutal.
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