Comment by sowbug

Comment by sowbug 5 days ago

In the US, the 8th Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, which courts have interpreted again and again as requiring that punishment be proportionate to the conduct. Weems v. United States (1910), for example, struck down a 15-year hard-labor sentence for a man who engaged in criminal fraud.

Do you think Alex Pretti or Renee Good deserved 15 years of hard labor for disobeying ICE? How about just five years? Because what actually happened was they were executed on the spot.

There is no FAFO exception in the US Constitution.

sejje 5 days ago

Cruel and unusual punishment is about sentencing, after a trial. These folks didn't go through a trial.

No, I don't think either person deserved fifteen years of hard labor, or five years.

What actually happened is not that they were executed on the spot, no.

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lovich 5 days ago

Oh, just spontaneously died then? You know if you play the video backwards it shows ICE applying lifesaving bullet removal techniques on Mr. Pretti and Mrs. Good

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- sejje 4 days ago
  
  If I die in a car crash, you don't get to say the car executed me.
  Words mean things.
  
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  lovich 4 days ago
  
  You are correct, and in this case he was executed.
  Shot in the back and then mag dumped for good measure by government agents.
  If you want to argue that he wasn’t executed by those agents but was instead murdered, I’d suppose you might have a point.
  
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sowbug 5 days ago

It's not a particularly strong argument that these agents didn't violate the 8th amendment because they violated the 6th amendment right to trial.

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- sejje 4 days ago
  
  You mean "you're right, saying the victim was cruelly and unusually punished isn't a good argument here."
  You've just presented a new argument.
  Many, many people are killed by LEO each year; how many are considered 6th amendment violations? (None. LEO is not out there "administering judgement", they are responding to deadly-force encounters, guns, etc)
  
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