BREAKING: Dr. Scott Warren found NOT GUILTY on all charges for providing food, water, shelter, and medical care to two undocumented men. Yet again, No More Deaths has withstood the government’s attempts to criminalize basic human compassion.
— No More Deaths (@NoMoreDeaths) November 20, 2019
This was not a mistrial. This was not a judge tossing charges. This was a jury saying that the federal prosecutors could not prove that human decency is illegal.
Open Thread
debbie
Good. I hope Trump’s head is exploding.
burnspbesq
Does anyone think DOJ or ICE will learn a lesson from this?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@burnspbesq:
GOP, ICE, DOJ: “Jury nullification!!1!”
No, I don’t think they will
Edit: A good result either way, as Omnes said
Omnes Omnibus
@burnspbesq: No, but it, nevertheless, is a good thing.
Adam L Silverman
@burnspbesq: No. And expect shenanigans from their officers in the area. Especially extra-legal shenanigans. Give this 17 tweet thread a read if you can stomach it.
Aleta
Thanks for this good news.
Cacti
Speaking of human decency, I saw that Lt. Colonel Vindman’s lawyer has demanded a retraction from Fox News for their defamatory “espionage” statements.
Godspeed, Colonel.
Aleta
@ 5.
Serious trigger warning for rape and abuse described in thread Adam linked at 5.
Roger Moore
@burnspbesq:
I’m confident they won’t learn the lesson I’d prefer they learn. I’m afraid they’ll decide this means they need to fabricate evidence against people providing humanitarian aid to border crossers or just go ahead and kill them and make up an excuse once they’re dead.
Currants
Wonderful!
geg6
Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, David. Good news affirming there is still a well of basic human decency among Americans. After all the slime on view today, I needed that. It’s crazy because I was at a regional meeting all day today, so I couldn’t keep up in real time, the peeks I took of the hearing during breaks and lunch were, although not a surprise, a terrible thing to see and hear. I am just disgusted, tired and sad. A good news story has really come along when I most needed it.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Roger Moore:
Do you really think ICE would resort to murdering American citizens providing humanitarian aid? Doesn’t this jury ruling mean anything to them? That most people don’t agree with them?
Baud
Good.
Marcopolo
In case anyone would like to send No More Deaths some financial support:
https://nomoredeaths.org/donate-money/
Roger Moore
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Yes, I do. They have destroyed containers of water humanitarians like this have left out in the desert, knowing full well that doing so may kill people crossing the desert. It’s not a long distance from that to making up excuses to kill the people leaving the water out.
Ella in New Mexico
Wow! That IS good news, very good news indeed. I guess EVERYTHING’s not completely fucked in America. :-)
Jay
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/11/supreme-court-criminalize-immigration-advocacy-sineneng-smith.amp
Jay
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
they have murdered the unarmed on both sides of the Border, raped and robbed, smuggled people and drugs, acted as enforcers for illegal employers, tortured people, arrested, incarcerated and deported American citizens,
what’s a little more or a lot more of murder when Trump has already said he would pardon them for any crime.
JWR
Oh Devin. Why won’t you please just f*ck off?
(Oops. Wrong thread.)
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Roger Moore:
I don’t disagree with you. I just can’t even begin to imagine the level of outrage, and possibly civil unrest, such an action would unleash. ICE would face even more scrutiny and anger than they are now
mrmoshpotato
Good for the good doctor and basic human decency towards fellow humans.
Roger Moore
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
I think it would unleash about as much anger as when police [Edited]
executemurder an unarmed black person. The kind of people who already hate them would see it as one more reason, and the kind of people who mindlessly support them would buy their excuses and say the victim had it coming.Jay
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
327 people shut down an ICE facility in Boston for 3 days.
in a city of roughly 700,000 people.
basically, less than 0.05% of Americans care enough to get involved.
so what outrage would ICE shooting American activists in the desert stir up, even if it was reported?
Kent
I don’t know if this thread is dead or not. But I would expect that they should have a rock-solid defense under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_Freedom_Restoration_Act which states that the “Government shall not substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability.” This is the law that, for examples, allows Hobby Lobby to violate the provisions of the Affordable Care Act by denying its employees contraception because to allow their employees access to contraception through the health plan violates the religious liberties of Hobby Lobby, Inc.
In this instance, there are compelling Christian teachings at play.
Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.—Exodus 23:9
The foreigners residing among you must be treated as native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.—Leviticus 19:34
Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers for by doing that some have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.—Hebrews 13:1-2
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Matthew 25:25-36
I would love to see some of these defendants claim a religious duty to help refugees, which is a FAR FAR more legitimate Christian teaching than denial of contraception, which is never once mentioned in the bible. That would really make the Trumpers head’s explode.
Jay
@Kent:
It’s been tried. US Courts don’t rule that way, just the other.
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.newsweek.com/illegal-feed-criminalizing-homeless-america-782861%3famp=1
Mary G
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Yes. The most evil person I have ever met was a CBP officer. By a factor of hundreds. Now they hear loud and clear from Twitler’s military pardons that even the weak leash on them is off.
brantl
David ??Booooooo?? Koch
Liberal F.B.I will stop at nothing to force their hippie agenda onto the country.