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Am baffled by this story in the Tribune-Herald.
http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/news...ex-assault
1) Only three years for forcibly entering a home and raping a girl? Seems light, even for a plea bargain. (Of course, she was just ASKING FOR IT by alluringly sitting inside her own house and all.)
2) He is immediately released on probation because he has been awaiting trial in jail for THREE YEARS??? The wheels of justice turn slowly. Good thing he was guilty (DNA don't lie).
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"Deputy Public Defender Michael Ebesugawa said after three years of incarceration, Mercado “consented to a plea agreement in this case despite the presence of factual and legal defenses.”
“The complainant described her attacker in detail as being older, short, with salt-and-pepper hair, a description that does not fit the 20-year-old Mercado at the time,” Ebesugawa told the judge. “In the ensuing investigation, the complainant made numerous misidentifications of her assailant, with the police and the prosecution even going so far as charging a separate individual, not Mr. Mercado, with the offense.”
Ebesugawa noted Mercado consistently has denied being the assailant. He added that among three mental health professionals appointed to determine his client’s fitness for trial, “not one … indicated that Mr. Mercado presented a danger to the public.”"
Obviously very alarming, but before we all rush to become armchair judge, jury, and executioner.
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She returned to her native country of Korea, so language barriers may have had something to do with the change in her story. If he had a strong defense his lawyer would not have allowed him to plead guilty. They always say their client was innocent, that is their job as defense attorney.
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Yes, It's speculation among us from here.
There was a terrifying old Alfred Hitchcock episode from the 1950s where a young bride left alone in a trailer while her husband works is found unconscious on the floor. When finally awakened by her alarmed husband, she dreamily and incoherently describes an assault by a 'stranger' who 'killed me'. It is a small town, so her enraged husband drives her around looking for the perpetrator. The unknown actress brilliantly depicts a woman who is passively insane, a fact that seems to escape her hopelessly-in-love husband. Driving down the street, she suddenly rouses from her stupor and points to a man walking down the sidewalk and says 'thats him!'. The husband stops the car, stalks the man into a motel, and kills him with a hammer. As they are slowly driving out of town, she rouses from her stupor again and points out another man and says 'that's him!'....
It happens.
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You can't fix Samsara.
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That's a great story, imagtek, but they have a DNA match on the guy who got probation here in Puna. He did serve three years awaiting trial, but many would say that does not match the severity of the crime.
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If determining the man's guilt of the list of original charges in a court of law was a slam dunk, the prosecutor wouldn't have offered such a plea deal. A little different than holding criminal court proceedings here on PW on the basis of a news article.
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Just another local criminal supported by the revolving door that passes for 'justice' around here.
I believe Antoine Dodson said it best when he proclaimed "Y'all need to hide yo kids, hide yo wife, and hide yo husband cause they rapin' everybody out here."
Seriously though, if you do not want a gun - you had best own a big dog!
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they rapin' everybody out here."
Seriously though, if you do not want a gun - you had best own a big dog!
I would get a dog, but now I'm afraid he or she would get raped too.
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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"Just another local criminal supported by the revolving door that passes for 'justice' around here."
I reckon restoring the days of pitchfork wielding redneck lynch mobs stands about the same chance as a reinstated royal kingdom. ...in the tangible offline world around these parts, that is.
