Rider charged with wiretapping gets case dismissed

Some of you may remember the rider who was pulled over by an unmarked officer who pulled his gun on the rider. The rider was recording the event using a helmet-cam and was subsequently charged with wiretapping laws and faced a 16-year jail sentence.

Thankfully, a judge showed some common sense and threw the case out.

What concerns me the most is that this common sense is not being displayed by the police or the district attorney. It is almost as if the whole reason they bring such bizarre charges is simply because they're pissed and just want to show that they are in control. I think a very important part of being a law enforcement officer is not being goaded by a member of the public who is in your face. Once the arrest event is over, why throw multiple charges at them just because they pissed you off? It just makes no sense.

Thank God. That entire traffic stop was an abolute farce.

[image: View Post]kaldek, on 27 September 2010 - 07:30 PM, said:

What concerns me the most is that this common sense is not being displayed by the police or the district attorney. It is almost as if the whole reason they bring such bizarre charges is simply because they're pissed and just want to show that they are in control. I think a very important part of being a law enforcement officer is not being goaded by a member of the public who is in your face. Once the arrest event is over, why throw multiple charges at them just because they pissed you off? It just makes no sense.


You would really have to live in Maryland to understand how true this statement is. I have several friends that are retired Maryland LEO and they even hate the current attitude of the cops.

What I want to see is the cop suspended for what he did.

It was a stupid charge and it was defeated easily, stupid for the cop to pull his gun, and stupid of the district attorney to bring those idiotic charges! They lost just as they should have, the only one there with common sense was the circuit judge who has a better understanding of the right to privacy of a public official doing his job than the district attorney does! Maybe now the people of Maryland will reward him with wasting their resources by voting in a new district attorney - one who will prosecute criminals for committing actual crimes instead prosecuting a motorcyclist of exorcising his right to dissent! Since when is it a crime to video tape a cop doing his job wrong? Its not Rodney King or anything but it was a complete waste of time on the Governments part!~ The video camera was on his helmet for Jebus sake? How is that surreptitious? If you cant see the camera on his head then your blind!

[image: View Post]HispanicSlammer, on 27 September 2010 - 08:23 PM, said:

It was a stupid charge and it was defeated easily, stupid for the cop to pull his gun, and stupid of the district attorney to bring those idiotic charges! They lost just as they should have, the only one there with common sense was the circuit judge who has a better understanding of the right to privacy of a public official doing his job than the district attorney does! Maybe now the people of Maryland will reward him with wasting thier resources by voting in a new district attorney - one who will prosecute criminals for committing actual crimes instead prosecuting a motorcyclist of exorcising his right to dissent! Since when is it a crime to video tape a cop doing his job wrong? Its not Rodney King or anything but it was a complete waste of time on the Goverments part!~


This whole "district attorney" thing sounds like half of the problem. It's almost as if there needs to be someone above the DA level who has to perform official QA of the desire to bring a case forward. But I suppose in America they just leave that up to a judge, which I think is a bit stupid because it means everyone has to incur court costs just to get that far.

And the even worse part of this is that the rider probably has grounds to sue. It's almost like everyone is afraid of being sued - so they figure if they bring charges and win then there won't be a civil case against them. Like it's almost "hey he's gonna sue us anyway so let's see if we can get him behind bars to avoid that happening".

It's days like this I'm just completely baffled by America. The saving grace here is at least there is a presumption of innocence - Indonesia for example has no such thing! You go to court, you're presumed guilty and you have to prove you didn't do it!!!

[image: View Post]kaldek, on 27 September 2010 - 07:30 PM, said:

Some of you may remember the rider who was pulled over by an unmarked officer who pulled his gun on the rider. The rider was recording the event using a helmet-cam and was subsequently charged with wiretapping laws and faced a 16-year jail sentence.

Thankfully, a judge showed some common sense and threw the case out.

What concerns me the most is that this common sense is not being displayed by the police or the district attorney. It is almost as if the whole reason they bring such bizarre charges is simply because they're pissed and just want to show that they are in control. I think a very important part of being a law enforcement officer is not being goaded by a member of the public who is in your face. Once the arrest event is over, why throw multiple charges at them just because they pissed you off? It just makes no sense.



attorney Joseph I. Cassilly charged Graber, a staff sergeant in the Maryland Air National Guard and a computer systems engineer, with violating the state's wiretapping law

maybe he's in the wrong line of work

[image: View Post]spud786, on 27 September 2010 - 08:29 PM, said:

attorney Joseph I. Cassilly charged Graber, a staff sergeant in the Maryland Air National Guard and a computer systems engineer, with violating the state's wiretapping law

maybe he's in the wrong line of work


What upsets me the most is this quote from the original article:

On April 8, Graber was awakened by six officers raiding his parents' home in Abingdon, Md., where he lived with his wife and two young children. He learned later that prosecutors had obtained a grand jury indictment alleging he had violated state wiretap laws by recording the trooper without his consent.

Someone explain why this required raiding his house? The only answer I can come up with - again - is that it was muscle flexing "you don't mess with the cops" rubbish. They could have served the guy with a freakin' subpoena or something, or calmly knocked on his door.

Maybe he does need to sue - how else do you change this endemic behaviour unless the government sees the ongoing financial pain from not changing it?

[image: View Post]kaldek, on 27 September 2010 - 08:45 PM, said:

Someone explain why this required raiding his house? The only answer I can come up with - again - is that it was muscle flexing "you don't mess with the cops" rubbish. They could have served the guy with a freakin' subpoena or something, or calmly knocked on his door.

It's because American cops watch 'COPS'... probably as a part of basic training :)

I suppose that if I was a cop in a country where just about anyone can have a gun, I'd have a different idea of how to go about such things... in Australia, a knock on the door is usually all that's needed, despite the fact that we're an uncivilised bunch of convicts :blush:

Glad to hear the charges and case were tossed, and rightfully so IMO. Overzealous cops and DAs have no place in our justice system.

Most of the aspects of this case were way over the top. Kudos to the defendent for standing his ground, and I hope the LEO and DA suffer consequences for even pursuing this idiocy.

[image: View Post]kaldek, on 27 September 2010 - 07:30 PM, said:

Once the arrest event is over, why throw multiple charges at them just because they pissed you off?
Simple. Because if you throw enough charges at someone, the hope is that they'll plead guilty to at least one lesser offense, thus ensuring a victory for the DA regardless of the actual circumstances.


Now, to make this a little relevant to motorcycling, I think this whole deal is a good reminder of how vulnerable we can be while on a bike, and how difficult it can be to prove your innocence or an LEO's negligence. I think this is especially true for motorcyclists, who many people (including some LEOs) see as a menace to society. If the rider hadn't captured the event with his helmet cam, I doubt any court would have believed his story about the officer's actions. Be careful out there and keep a good head on your shoulders when confronted.

Sure he gets case dismissed and stuck with lawyer fees.

State patrol comes up behind 4 of us riding a favorite mountain pass for sport bikes, we were going 70-75 in a 60 nothing stupid, very light traffic. Me and the guy behind pull over because he is tail gating. LEO passes us and then turns on lights to chase down other two riders. Narrow shoulder so we decide to pull off on a side road, no use riding ahead and volunteer for a ticket. No indication we had to wait there. After 20 minutes of hunting the two of us down the LEO tells us to meet our buddys waiting up the road gives all 4 of us Negligent 2 tickets claiming we averaged 70 and briefly went 85. Hired a lawyer, got reduced to 10 mph speeding.

Not much of a victory in court after the lawyer fees.

I can boil this down very easily:

Some people are great, some are dicks. Same goes for cops.

some folks are really good at their jobs......some...not so much.

I am glad that dude wasnt jailed for the letter of the law, not the spirit. The system came through in the end. (or at least a sane Judge)

[image: View Post]Bad Boy, on 28 September 2010 - 02:03 PM, said:

Sure he gets case dismissed and stuck with lawyer fees.


Not much of a victory in court after the lawyer fees.



Yep and the cops know this, they know exactly what everything costs to Fight it.

[image: View Post]The Phantom, on 28 September 2010 - 01:16 PM, said:

[


It's because American cops watch 'COPS'... probably as a part of basic training

THATS funny!!!







the door is usually all that's needed, despite the fact that we're an uncivilised bunch of convicts :blush:

[image: View Post]timmythecop, on 28 September 2010 - 04:03 PM, said:

I can boil this down very easily:

Some people are great, some are dicks. Same goes for cops.
some folks are really good at their jobs......some...not so much.
I am glad that dude wasnt jailed for the letter of the law, not the spirit. The system came through in the end. (or at least a sane Judge)


Someone over at this site already boiled it 10x ways and has great graphs basically telling us where it's more likely you'll need kneepads, lawyers, and spare cash. You may not be surprised to see some areas over-represented in the taze-for-dollars biz.

The link above has more data per county, per quarter, per job level, etc. For 2010 YTD as well.

http://www.injusticeeverywhere.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/NPMSRP_PMIM_2009.png

http://www.injusticeeverywhere.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/2009MisconductByType.png

[image: View Post]TimC, on 28 September 2010 - 01:39 PM, said:

...and how difficult it can be to prove your innocence or an LEO's negligence.
After re-reading my post above I have to admit I said it poorly, but only technically speaking. I wrongly said "prove your innocence" since we're supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. The burden is not on the defendent to prove innocence, but rather the DA to prove guilt.

But IMO when it's your word vs. an officer's, judges will usually go with the LEO's version of events unless you have evidence and/or a 3rd party's unbiased testimony. That's why it's so important that the rider in this case got the cop on tape. Without that, who knows how this would have turned out. :dry:

And now I guess the guy is pursuing a civil suit for dollar damages. :idea3:

Too bad I didn't have a camera the day 4 of us got stopped and ticketed for 90 in a 55.
And had to pay the bogus ticket even though we were doing maybe 55-65. :computer-noworky:

[image: View Post]kaldek, on 27 September 2010 - 08:28 PM, said:

[image: View Post]HispanicSlammer, on 27 September 2010 - 08:23 PM, said:

It was a stupid charge and it was defeated easily, stupid for the cop to pull his gun, and stupid of the district attorney to bring those idiotic charges! They lost just as they should have, the only one there with common sense was the circuit judge who has a better understanding of the right to privacy of a public official doing his job than the district attorney does! Maybe now the people of Maryland will reward him with wasting thier resources by voting in a new district attorney - one who will prosecute criminals for committing actual crimes instead prosecuting a motorcyclist of exorcising his right to dissent! Since when is it a crime to video tape a cop doing his job wrong? Its not Rodney King or anything but it was a complete waste of time on the Goverments part!~


This whole "district attorney" thing sounds like half of the problem. It's almost as if there needs to be someone above the DA level who has to perform official QA of the desire to bring a case forward. But I suppose in America they just leave that up to a judge, which I think is a bit stupid because it means everyone has to incur court costs just to get that far.

And the even worse part of this is that the rider probably has grounds to sue. It's almost like everyone is afraid of being sued - so they figure if they bring charges and win then there won't be a civil case against them. Like it's almost "hey he's gonna sue us anyway so let's see if we can get him behind bars to avoid that happening".

It's days like this I'm just completely baffled by America. The saving grace here is at least there is a presumption of innocence - Indonesia for example has no such thing! You go to court, you're presumed guilty and you have to prove you didn't do it!!!


The officer clearly overreacted. However, I agree it is the district attorney's job to sort through these events and come to a rational legal conclusion. He did not. He rubber stamped the officer's actions and actually increased the damage by asserting a clearly illegal position. I hope the voters reward him for his incompetence.

In addition, it sends a terrible message to LEO whom act recklessly that they will be supported in their abusive efforts. And meanwhile, the good and fair minded professional LEO's get a black eye. Sad.

What's scary is that many DAs will be politicians at some point in their career. The lawyer/politician formula has been for the most part disastrous.

[image: View Post]Steve128, on 01 October 2010 - 09:30 AM, said:

[image: View Post]kaldek, on 27 September 2010 - 08:28 PM, said:

[image: View Post]HispanicSlammer, on 27 September 2010 - 08:23 PM, said:

It was a stupid charge and it was defeated easily, stupid for the cop to pull his gun, and stupid of the district attorney to bring those idiotic charges! They lost just as they should have, the only one there with common sense was the circuit judge who has a better understanding of the right to privacy of a public official doing his job than the district attorney does! Maybe now the people of Maryland will reward him with wasting thier resources by voting in a new district attorney - one who will prosecute criminals for committing actual crimes instead prosecuting a motorcyclist of exorcising his right to dissent! Since when is it a crime to video tape a cop doing his job wrong? Its not Rodney King or anything but it was a complete waste of time on the Goverments part!~


This whole "district attorney" thing sounds like half of the problem. It's almost as if there needs to be someone above the DA level who has to perform official QA of the desire to bring a case forward. But I suppose in America they just leave that up to a judge, which I think is a bit stupid because it means everyone has to incur court costs just to get that far.

And the even worse part of this is that the rider probably has grounds to sue. It's almost like everyone is afraid of being sued - so they figure if they bring charges and win then there won't be a civil case against them. Like it's almost "hey he's gonna sue us anyway so let's see if we can get him behind bars to avoid that happening".

It's days like this I'm just completely baffled by America. The saving grace here is at least there is a presumption of innocence - Indonesia for example has no such thing! You go to court, you're presumed guilty and you have to prove you didn't do it!!!


The officer clearly overreacted. However, I agree it is the district attorney's job to sort through these events and come to a rational legal conclusion. He did not. He rubber stamped the officer's actions and actually increased the damage by asserting a clearly illegal position. I hope the voters reward him for his incompetence.

In addition, it sends a terrible message to LEO whom act recklessly that they will be supported in their abusive efforts. And meanwhile, the good and fair minded professional LEO's get a black eye. Sad.


They will not because all the voters see is squids doing wheelies on the hiway and being chased by LEO's. This is where the 1-2% hooligans really F us.