Discussion: Jury: Ex-Sheriff Clarke Didn't Violate Man's Free Speech With Harassing Post

I was a plaintiff’s attorney for 20 years. I despise Clarke and what he did was very, very wrong. But I find it hard to defend bringing a lawsuit where the damages are that the guy was detained for 15 minutes. Sometimes you just have to suck it up.

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I didn’t get the free speech thing. It was a blatant abuse of power, but I don’t know how that proceeds to legal recourse. Well at least he’s out of MCSD.

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I entirely get the free speech thing. The plaintiff’s complaint is that he looked at the sheriff/generalissimo sideways and men with guns arrived to take him into custody. Followed by a series of not-very veiled public threats. Pretty clearly designed to discourage the plaintiff and anyone else from saying or doing anything that might offend the sheriff.

I can see that a civil suit might not be the right venue for pursuing this, but the violation is pretty clear. (I would say it’s criminal misuse of the powers of office – whatever the official name of that family of crimes is – but of course you’re not going to get anyone to investigate a sheriff.)

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This decision not to hold this evil bastard accountable will have consequences. Clarke will go out in the future and just up his intimidation of others with no, next time it might have physical violence.

Where do they get these jurors? They seem tailor-made to each case. Bad decision!

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Clarke can be described as a Oreo!

Oreo
Self explanatory, Black on the outside, white on the inside. A black guy that acts white.

Like you, I try cases. And I suspect that the guy just did not convince the jurors that what happened to him was important enough to take up their time for the trial. From the report, I might have agreed with them.

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In 2018? Nah.

Where are your papers? I know you’re just shopping for groceries, I can see that. I’ll ask again, where are your papers?

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Speaking of free speech!

I thought the murder threat was more of a problem. If someone made a threat like that to Clarke the local SWAT team would appear in their bedroom within minutes.

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If that person was a Muslim from Iraq, here on a tourist visa, he’d be in for years of hell, misery, legal bills, incarceration and deportation at the end of it all, if he was lucky.

The hat is all wrong. The crown needs to be reshaped to compliment his face, the brim is way too wide for his body, and the color is about a hundred years too late. Get thee to a habberdasher, and quit being a creep along the way.

What I’m wondering is why there was apparently no false arrest claim.

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From the news coverage at the time, I’m under the impression that it was one of those “non-arrest arrest” things where the men with badges and guns ask you to come with them but don’t say the magic words or actually physically prevent you from leaving the place they’re detaining you. You’re “free to go” at any time as long as you’re willing to take the risk that the non-arrest detention might turn into an official arrest and end up with you at the police station after having resisted and been subdued (which multiple officers will be willing to swear to).

The whole detention by intimidation thing is another abuse that I blame Scalia and his cronies for. (I wonder whether purgatory would be worse than hell, knowing that you could get out if only you stopped being a complete assh*le, and also knowing that you were never going to do that.)

Are you serious?

What are you supposed to do then? How many people did Clarke sic his thugs on when they “disrespected his authority”?

The free speech issue is questionable, the but the illegal seizure is unconscionable! It is a complete abuse of power and exactly the reason why Trump loves people like Clarke and Arpaio

Yes, I’m serious.

I agree 100% that it’s unconscionable. But not every wrong requires a legal remedy. You know what he’s supposed to do then? Suck it up and keep on trucking.

An example. Last Spring my daughter and dachshund were out playing in the neighborhood and the wiener dog got excited and nipped one of her friends on the ankle. Her parents called animal control who came out. Turns out his shots were 3 months out of date. I got a ticket, got him the shots the next week and missed the court date. I thought it was just a ticket.

3 months later a Sheriff showed up on my back doorstep with a warrant for my arrest. The ticket was for $1,300 (!!) including ‘medical expenses’ for the girl. I called my father to father me down to the local jail and pay the fee once I was booked. However, they wouldn’t take the money. They said that we had to track down the family and give the money to them and have the father sign a notarized affidavit. My father went down to my neighborhood and the family had moved a month earlier.

Anyways…I had to sit in jail for two days until he tracked them down. I was in jail for 36 hours because the court wouldn’t take the bond money. You know what? That was messed up. It’s wrong that they didn’t take the bond money. It’s not our job to track the family down. But am I going to sue the county for 36 hours? Nah…

2-3 days? Maybe. But there’s some things you just have to take in stride and. keep on trucking.

Was the jury given ALL details ? ( P.s , it is now MR CLARKE ) .