He is innocent until proven guilty in court. No matter what you see online that appears to be evidence it does not make him automatically guilty. This is America. You also really don't know the means in which he got this snake into the states. Maybe he found a way that he is not linked to. Without being able to prove that he was directly involved it will be hard to get a conviction on all charges because he will probably claim he was a victim of the person who sold him the snake who is now no where to be found. Have just one person on a jury that has been a victim of a scam and there goes your case.Originally Posted by Rob_D
I see your point that he might have defrauded the US and Brazil. But drug dealers defraud the US everyday. Have you ever heard of a drug dealer paying taxes? I bet most drug dealers make much more than most snake breeders yet they don't pay taxes. How many million dollar dope deals happen each day with no taxes ever paid. I think that's a bigger issue than a snake without proper paper work. Do we know if he paid the import tax on the snake and only used fake paperwork to get the snake in the US? If he declared it as a snake and paid the tax the only issue is the point of origin and fake documents. I just don't see this as the big crime against America as you seem to believe it is. But maybe I don't know all the facts, do you?
Sure the times he was stopped with his wife wearing a fake belly looks bad but are you sure it will be allowed in to the court. If he has a good lawyer he should go to work immediately trying to get it thrown out as evidence. We cant say for sure what they were going to do because we just don't know.
The prisons do not contradict my statement. Yes America has a huge drug problem and many people go to prison for drug charges. Just because you say 40% are there for drugs does not mean anything. How many of those 40% are serving long sentences for drugs on a first offense, second or even third offence? That was my point not the amount of people in prison for drugs but instead the amount of time the stay.
I come into contact with people like this past weeks winner. 28 year old with 34 arrest for dope and guess what I find him doing again, dealing dope. How many chances do people need? Why should police continually arrest the same people over and over putting their lives on the line each time for the same work they have already done before?
In the lines you quoted from me I said I didn't say drug dealers, I said turds committing major crimes against others get low to no jail time. I do think drugs are a major problem and many times get short sentences but was thinking more of major crimes like robbery, rape, and murder when I wrote that. I think anybody who murdered somebody should not be out of prison while they are still young yet I run across guys that are out of prison with not just one but a few murder charges in their criminal history. I once had a man fight me over drugs that I later found out was a prison gang hitman. He had three convictions for murder and one of those were from in prison. How many people had he killed that we don't know about? Would he have killed me if I lost the fight? Why is this person out of prison? Should he be? I don't think so.
I see it on a daily basis. Young guys out on a robbery charge that did less than a year, sometimes just a couple months. This is not because they flipped or worked as a confidential informant its just what is happening. I think less than a year for a robbery is low but you may not. At one point down here we had a judge giving drug charges a sentence of drug rehab and/or drug education classes. Sounds pretty good right? No jail, just a program or class. Im even good with this is certain cases. However he was giving this same sentences to the drug dealers and even had one drug dealer stand up in court and say he didn't use drugs and only sold them but the judge told him the sentence stood. That not right? That doesnt fix anything?
If you think this guy should be thrown under the prison, that's fine. Maybe he should and if I had all the evidence in front of me I might agree. However just from what limited information I know of his crime I don't see any reason why this could not be settled with fines and fees. Im sure the fines are rather large and will do the US much more good than paying to house him in a nice federal prison.
Plenty of people have gotten off of charges that appeared to be a slam dunk in America. You never know what twist a case might take and what the actual facts are until after the trial. I say the things I do having a different mind set than many because of my personal experience with criminals. It may not be the norm and Im only sharing my opinion. I just wanted to give you a better idea of where Im coming from.
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