New at Reason
From our May issue, Radley Balko travels to Church Point, Louisiana and sees how police harassment, jailhouse snitches, and a runaway war on drugs imprisoned an innocent family.
Comments to "New at Reason":
Guy Montag | April 14, 2008, 12:08pm | #
If he does not stop causing trouble at the TJ memorial he will really find out what police harassment is!J sub D | April 14, 2008, 12:34pm | #
Please allow me, once again, to thank you Radley for your diligent efforts in exposing prosecutorial incompetence and criminal(?) misconduct.I'm going to go throw up in disgust now.
Barry | April 14, 2008, 12:46pm | #
I'm from Louisiana, and I can tell you that the "War On Drugs" has corrupted law enforcement there; in the town my parents live in, (about 40 mi. from New Orleans) the sheriff threatened to plant weed on the newly-elected mayor, before said-sheriff was caught running guns he probably got from drug-busts.Stories like Jena 6 are milked for drama by the Mainstream media, but it's stories like this that are much more common; thanks for covering it!
Elemenope | April 14, 2008, 12:48pm | #
What I really wanna know is if one of the loyal H&R readers is moved to take up arms and plug a few crummy D.A.s (as daily does seem more and more likely) whether Radley would be brought up on incitement charges.J sub D | April 14, 2008, 12:59pm | #
LMNOP,No. Reporting facts does not constitute incitement to violence.
Yet.
Guy Montag | April 14, 2008, 1:08pm | #
No. Reporting facts does not constitute incitement to violence.And it won't get you a job at ABC News, The New Republic, The New York Times (unless you are Bill Kristol) or a lot of other places too.
libertarianjim | April 14, 2008, 1:59pm | #
Was it Jefferson who said, "I believe that Liberty from time to time must be refreshed with the blood of patriots and tyrants"? Or something like that.Would Bill Kristol be considered at tyrant?
Guy Montag | April 14, 2008, 2:09pm | #
Would Bill Kristol be considered at tyrant?No. Well, maybe to the meekest of shadow fearing webheads, or some of the writers and editors of his magazine.
Notamina | April 14, 2008, 4:13pm | #
I find it difficult to believe that Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett Grayson would knowingly seek out a conviction on these people. He, and his superior, based on his statement, still think the Columbs are guilty of drug trafficking. They are clearly delusional and therefore, I suggest, that they both be removed from office due to severe mental incapacity.R C Dean | April 14, 2008, 6:21pm | #
They are clearly delusional and therefore, I suggest, that they both be removed from office due to severe mental incapacity.And people scoff at Berlusconi's call for regular mental evaluations of prosecutors.
"If you haven't done anything wrong, what do you have to worry about?"
Shit! Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit! The fact that the 'legal' system finally worked -- the Colombs have their lives back, with prejudice (literally and legally!) -- hardly imbues one with hope for a fine-tuned 'justice' system. Someone's head needs to role on this one -- and DA Washington and/or assistant DA Grayson seem front-and-center.
Michael | April 15, 2008, 4:32pm | #
I'm pretty sure if Radley Balko ever decided to turn his attention to the "War on Sexual Predators," he'd find an equal number of egregious prosecutorial misconduct cases.However, I have to wonder if those cases would meet with as much sympathy, since drugs are cool.
Radley Balko | April 15, 2008, 9:43pm | #
Michael,You haven't been reading this site long, have you?
"Snitches"... has been a very popular strategy with the Feds...thats an old NAZI/Stalinist tactic,isn't it?
Angry African | April 16, 2008, 9:53am | #
Man, man, man. I have been in the US for 18 months. Before that the UK for 4 years, but I am a South African working on sustainability and African investment. I have been crying about the lack of good media out here in the US. I found it. Thanks for this piece. It reminds us what the media can be if they really want to be...bookworm333 | April 16, 2008, 8:58pm | #
I was extremely disappointed in Mr Balko's article. What a disappointment! As a member of this family, this article presented false statements and inaccuracies. I think Mr Balko needs to check out Webster's and look up the definitions of "racist" as well as "prejudice", there are vast differences between the two. This only proves to me that crooked journalists are no better than crooked cops and prosecutors. Report the TRUTH, don't FABRICATE it!Dave2 | April 18, 2008, 1:17am | #
bookworm333,As a member of what family? The Colombs? The Bookworm family?
What are you talking about?
Ozark_Sunshine | April 18, 2008, 5:32pm | #
Time to bring in the feds and clean up law enforcement in this area. Also time for a lawsuit to drain the town dry of funds for allowing these racists to do this to these people. Make every person who turned a blind eye pay their taxes to reimburse the Colombs for what was done by their town to them.