Off topic- Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis

[Rick LeHew]

.....The twitter account was childish, but in no way illegal at all anyone who has taken a basic law and ethics class can distinguish that. The fact a search warrant was granted and this guys home was raided is outrageous. Talk about unreasonable search and seizure...

Ok - I agree. Now it's time to get current with the times and change the law (PJS quote below):

A review of state law indicates the account holders of now-shuttered Twitter account @peoriamayor didn??™t break the law because the actual crime alleged, ???false personation of a public official,??? has to be done in person, not over the Internet or other electronic media, said State??™s Attorney Jerry Brady. ???At this time, no, because subsection (b) doesn??™t include the use of electronic media,??? he said.


Read more: http://www.pjstar.com/article/201404...#ixzz2zolnAg5X

[lefty]

Are you serious? I literally logged in for the first time in YEARS to tell you to read the freaking 4th amendment. I'd also love to know where you got your Law degree to judge the frivolity of law suits.

Jesus Christ, WEED!!!! WEED!!! A CRIMINAL!!! DEATH PENALTY FOR WEED!!! DRUUGSUGUUGGGS!!!!

Get a grip and go outside, kids in high school are shooting heroin, and you are worried about some guy with a parody twitter smoking weed in his own house???

Do you get up and try to strangle Steven Colbert when his show goes on?

You used profanity in this post, I'm sending in the Swat team as we speak, bend over for the cavity search.

Wow....we are a little testy today.....

I don't have a law degree but I don't need one to know there are stupid lawsuits every day.......

Did I say anything about the death penalty?

get a grip?....I'm not worried about the guy with weed...but it's still illegal

I could care less about Colbert

I didn't use profanity at all...so I don't know why it was deleted....ask the mods about that....I think I said jerk or something but it was not profanity

Glad you logged in though.....don't be a stranger.

[tornado]

Hmmmm .. a day doesn't go by showing more dangers to something everyone keeps saying is harmless...
... people believe what they want to believe...

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/marijuana-use-may-lead-to-cardiac-arrest-and-other-heart-problems/

http://www.kptv.com/story/20368360/driver-charged-with-dui-marijuana-after-deadly-crash-in-vancouver

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/18/denver-death-marijuana-edibles/7887025/

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/police-marijuana-may-have-led-murder-n84166

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pot-shop-pulls-edibles-from-shelves-following-deadly-shooting/

[Da Coach]

The auto-censor removes certain words (and replaces them with asterisks) that are used commonly as insults and put-downs on message boards, like "ldiot" (it did not get censored this time because the first letter is actually a lower case "L"). I suspect that is what was censored in lefty's post. It was nothing vulgar.

[Mikovio]

A few things...

-If a lawsuit makes the police more hesitant to go after supposed law breakers in the future, great. Sounds to me like that's just what they need.

-Ardis didn't drop the charges; the SA did. In Illinois, the victim has no say in whether charges are brought. And the county's SA isn't under the auspices of the city mayor.

-I agree marijuana can ruin lives and hurt productivity. But so does alcohol, which is arguably even worse because it kills people. So if you're going to be consistent, advocate against that too. It won't get you very far though, because there is a double standard.

-The vast vast majority of "stupid lawsuits" are thrown out. You'll find the entities pushing this movement are large corporations, insurance companies or hospitals (often at the behest of the insurance companies, which end up hoarding most of the profits for themselves instead of passing it along to the hospitals) looking to boost their bottom line by not having to pay for the consequences of their actions, often by limiting the total awards for all cases regardless of the facts. What then happens is someone who needs lifelong support for their injuries has to go on Medicaid and SS Disability so every taxpayer has to foot the bill, instead of the corporation or medical group which caused the problem. A 2006 Harvard study found that fewer than 2% of all hospitalized patients injured due to medical error causing disabilities or extended hospital stays actually sued the doctor or hospital, and even those with the most costly or severe injuries were compensated 1/3 of the time. For every 1 person that brings a case, there are 49 who are hurt and do nothing. And 1/6 those who did file and were negligently hurt received nothing. The "everybody is getting rich with lawsuits but me" myth is just that. It's meant to choke off the average American's access to the courts and make the rich richer.

[tornado]

A few things...

-If a lawsuit makes the police more hesitant to go after supposed law breakers in the future, great. Sounds to me like that's just what they need.


-I agree marijuana can ruin lives and hurt productivity. But so does alcohol, which is arguably even worse because it kills people. So if you're going to be consistent, advocate against that too. It won't get you very far though, because there is a double standard.


-The vast vast majority of "stupid lawsuits" are thrown out. ....

I would take issue with all three of these statements...

We have FAR more to fear from the lawbreakers than we do from the lawkeepers - I want actions that make it harder for lawbreakers to get away with what they are doing not actions that hinder law enforcement.

Both marijuana and alcohol can be destructive and I would speak equally against BOTH so there is NO double standard. I would have no problem with outlawing alcohol but I seem to recall that was tried and it was impossible to enforce.
If we are going to then allow marijuana using alcohol and an example then tax the heck out of it like they do to booze & tobacco - and reduce the taxes on the rest of us who are tired of paying for the damages intoxicated and self destructive people cause.

Lastly - no the vast majority of lawsuits are not thrown out - they end with negotiated settlements, how do you think Jay Janssen paid for that $25 million mini-skyscraper in Peoria?

[Mikovio]

I would take issue with all three of these statements...

We have FAR more to fear from the lawbreakers than we do from the lawkeepers - I want actions that make it harder for lawbreakers to get away with what they are doing not actions that hinder law enforcement.

Both marijuana and alcohol can be destructive and I would speak equally against BOTH so there is NO double standard. I would have no problem with outlawing alcohol but I seem to recall that was tried and it was impossible to enforce.
If we are going to then allow marijuana using alcohol and an example then tax the heck out of it like they do to booze & tobacco - and reduce the taxes on the rest of us who are tired of paying for the damages intoxicated and self destructive people cause.

Lastly - no the vast majority of lawsuits are not thrown out - they end with negotiated settlements, how do you think Jay Janssen paid for that $25 million mini-skyscraper in Peoria?

I'm not saying we shouldn't be aggressively pursuing people we have probable cause to believe have broken the law, but it's absolutely important to use discretion and keep proportionality in mind. What sense does it make to send 7 officers with guns strapped to their chests to ransack a house because of a parody Twitter account with 50 followers (which had already been deactivated), and arrest the residents at their jobs? That's a violation of peoples' 4th Amendment rights and a waste of city resources. Yes, the charges will be dropped, but it sounds like one guy might lose his job over this. Their reputations have been tarnished. There's probably plenty of property damage to their house. I know Ardis and Brady and don't question their character but my God, this thing should've been dropped when the account was shut down. And someone should've read the law more closely to see it doesn't apply to the internet. We're a national laughingstock. Some restraint in the future is all I'm asking.

I wasn't referring to you re a double standard, just society as a whole. I just think we need to decide if we want these vices or not, instead of choosing which ones to outlaw buffet style because one is more ingrained in our culture.

As for Janssen, I said the stupid lawsuits are thrown out. He didn't build the Janssen law center with frivolous law suits. He has a big operation with workers comp, car accidents, product liability and med mal. (And actually, I believe he got millions when his son tragically passed.) His most recent big win was $13M in 2012 for a 19 y/o worker in Pekin whose leg was caught in a machine-- his femur exploded-- because a safety lever malfunctioned. The manufacturer refused to settle at any point. The big product liability lawsuits these days involve the Stryker metal hip implants, which rub against each other, release metal ions into the bloodstream and cause metal poisoning. These aren't "stupid" lawsuits and I doubt anyone complaining about them would want to trade places with the plaintiffs. You can complain about lawyers, but these corporations and insurance companies don't pay out of the kindness of their hearts. I think some tort reform proposals are fine, like the requirement to have an MD screen med mal cases. But on the whole, it's not the frivolous suits the corporations are afraid of-- it's the meritorious ones. That's why most of their proposals involve caps on damages, and not barriers to entry or filing. You being a doctor and me being a lawyer, we probably come at this from different perspectives, which is fine.

[lefty]

. The big product liability lawsuits these days involve the Stryker metal hip implants, which rub against each other, release metal ions into the bloodstream and cause metal poisoning. These aren't "stupid" lawsuits and I doubt anyone complaining about them would want to trade places with the plaintiffs.[/quote]


I had the recalled DePuy hip implant installed 5 years ago...so far it seems ok...I wouldn't want to do it again though

[Mikovio]

I understand not everyone has symptoms. I'd be sure to at least periodically check for FDA releases and recalls and consult with your ortho, and be careful not to sign away your rights if you agree to a replacement. I've read a few filed complaints and from what I gather the company dragged its feet with the recall which came 3 years after introducing the product after tens of thousands of complaints. Apparently they used a loophole in regulations to avoid having to seek FDA approval before putting the device on the market. It's very troubling.

[tornado]

Miko - if people pound on your door, they are in horrible pain and demand that you do something for them...
then you spend decades and $billions to develop a device that helps almost all of them. You give them all ample warning that nobody knows the future so something could go wrong - but they are in such bad pain they are willing to take the risk.
Then 10 years later you sue the he** out of them because a tiny fraction developed unforseen problems that were not due to negligence.

But - it's the way of the world...

[AZ BU Fan]

Mayor Ardis Haiku

And I thought this was just a sports blog! :-)

Doper insults Jim
Ardis unleashes swat team
Should have just said stop

If Ardis had just gone public and humiliated the guy publically
and then championed the cause of civility and proper use of twitter,
he would have been a hero, but noooooooooooooooooo



Jimbo, next time just call the guy out and challenge him to a duel next to City Hall with light sabers...

[tornado]

Here's an article that's marginally related....regarding the state & federal court systems and how often cases actually go to trial or go to a jury...

Facts cited...

- only 2% of cases in the FEDERAL court systems ever go to trial
- only 4% of cases in the STATE court systems ever go to trial
- plea bargaining makes up the largest part of the other 96-98% with summary judgement & dismissals making up the rest..
-Becasue of this, "many innocent people to take a deal .. “People accused of crimes are
often offered five years by prosecutors or face 20 to 30 years if they go to trial."

https://news.usc.edu/61662/why-innocent-people-plead-guilty/

That addresses the questions we have seen asking "why would anyone who is innocent plead guilty?" in regards to certain players....

[Da Coach]

If anyone is interested in more information about this topic, the PJ Star has a long expose' article written after they were able to obtain Peoria city emails through a Freedom of Information Act request. It is truly amazing how many people were involved, and how much time was spent by city officials in chasing down this parody Twitter account, executing search warrants, and carrying out the search. And also, how the facts appear to differ from the earlier statements made by Mayor Ardia and others.

http://www.pjstar.com/article/20140510/NEWS/140509006

There definitely appear to be some very strange irregularities, such as the absence of a case number assigned to the twitter case, until after the raid, and then when a police report was filed afterward, it only mentioned the arrest of the guy (not the twitter user) who had the marijuana, and totally omits the entire twitter case that had involved weeks of investigation, 3 warrants, and numerous communications between those involved.
"The report Hughes wrote about Elliott??™s arrest on April 15 did not mention the Twitter investigation."

So it gives the appearance that all involved wanted to cover the whole thing up, report it as a drug bust, and hope the whole twitter vendetta went unnoticed.
The emails also seem to cast doubt on Mayor Ardis claim that he merely filed a complaint, and everything else followed without his involvement (3 different search warrants, the police search of the twitter user's house, and the arrest). Instead, there were numerous emails back and forth between Ardis and Police Chief Settingsgard, Peoria County State's Attorney Jerry Brady, and others involved.
Some of Ardis's emails to Police Chief Settingsgard-
Ardis demanded prosecution of the crime, then revealed his erroneous belief that the creator of @peoriamayor lived with a Journal Star reporter.
???It??™s not a joke & it??™s not funny. I want this Prosecuted because what they did was WRONG,??? Ardis wrote at 9:32 p.m.
At 9:45 p.m., Ardis asked the chief: ???What PJS reporter lives with this guy????

Then after the raid, the city was "flooded" by "additional media inquiries" about the case and more emails show extensive communication between those involved to conspire how to spin the facts to the media-
Ardis and Settingsgaard strategized on how ??” or whether ??” to respond. They settled on the premise the tweets were criminal because they were too obscene for mainstream media outlets to publish.
???Tell them you couldn??™t print what he wrote in the paper or say it in TV because it was so crude,??? Ardis told Settingsgaard just before noon April 17.
The chief responded minutes later: ???I like that. For anyone in the media who would like to say that we should not prosecute this, I challenge them to print or cite what was written there word for word. It was patently offensive.???
At 2:19 p.m. April 18, Settingsgaard broke the news that the @peoriamayor mission that had drawn international scorn may have been based on a misinterpretation of statute. The subject line of the email was ???Twitter problem.???
???Det Feehan is going to review with Brady on Monday but there may be an internet exception to the impersonating statute,??? Settingsgaard wrote to Ardis and Urich. ???If it is exempt, everyone missed it from the investigators to the SAO and the judges.???

[tornado]

I would suspect most within the police dept. were unwilling dupes since the judges and city officials kinda forced the police to act..
they were probably embarrassed to have to do so.

[tornado]

I am sure it's completely unrelated but the Chief of Police of Peoria suddenly and unexpectedly quits.

http://www.pjstar.com/article/20140520/NEWS/140529909/1994/NEWS?rssfeed=true