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Oregonian taking a lot of heat from readers for this one. What do you think?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by zachpm, Jun 8, 2017.

  1. jr/shotglass

    jr/shotglass Well-Known Member

    ... and has since held that he made the admission only to prevent a longer jail term. Sorry, there are just too many extenuating factors for me to play judge and jury on this one.
     
  2. PCLoadLetter

    PCLoadLetter Well-Known Member

    I get that. I'm pretty comfortable siding with the actual judge and the guilty plea. I don't actually see many extenuating factors on this one.
     
  3. micropolitan guy

    micropolitan guy Well-Known Member

    I'd say a custody battle, where the accusing party (the mom) didn't bring up the accusations until she lost custody after a lengthy process, is certainly an extenuating circumstance.

    Be that as it may, if you side with the legal system on the front end, you must also side with the legal system on the back end. He has served his punishment, to the complete satisfaction of the state of Washington. His record has been expunged. He no longer is required to report to the authorities.

    He has graduated from college. He has not had a whiff of any trouble in more than seven years. There is no reason, if he is good enough to play pro baseball, that he should be denied the chance, if you believe in the juvenile justice system. Whatever pound of flesh that was supposed to be extracted has been.

    BTW, juveniles in the state of Washington cannot be convicted of felonies. You'd think that at least one reporter would get it right, but they continue to repeat the Oregonian's original mistake.
     
  4. jr/shotglass

    jr/shotglass Well-Known Member

    But that's the gist of the social-media age. And I honestly don't mean to call anyone out with this ... it's just fact.

    You can make the rules up as you go. You can back the front end and dismiss the back end. It's your opinion. You can say people who are only accused of something are guilty as sin. It's your prerogative.

    The accusations and judgments we make today are easier to make because 1) the media has become more opinionated and partisan than ever in our nation's history, leading the public to black-and-white judgment; and, 2) because we can do it electronically and often anonymously. And you can simply ignore any backlash to your opinion if you choose.
     
  5. dirtybird

    dirtybird Well-Known Member

    The practicalities of the legal system often seem to elude some folks.

    (Not to say he did or didn’t do it. But a guilty plea, despite its name, is as much a compromise as anything else)
     
  6. dirtybird

    dirtybird Well-Known Member

    But there’s also something special with this particular subject. Several folks here have boldly declared they’d risk freedom, safety and burn net worth to avoid the stigma. Folks who’ve done unconscionable things to others get chance after chance in sports, but this, along with a few political statements, are the lines that are strongly drawn.
     
  7. Vombatus

    Vombatus Well-Known Member

    THIS. Come on Baltimore! We’ve already had Ray Lewis. Let’s get a pitcher and screw KC.
     
  8. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    I've covered enough court-cases involving messy family situations and child custody that really make you wonder. It also seems like the family put a ton of pressure on Heimlich to serve their interests rather than his. Microman is pretty dead on though.
    But as we know - MLB is a business, they'll hire some people if the benefit outweighs the risk and cut them loose when it doesn't.
     
  9. PCLoadLetter

    PCLoadLetter Well-Known Member

    Dude, spare me this.

    Yes, there are multiple reasons why people plead guilty. The most common is that they're guilty. If the best we can do as an argument for his innocence is a polygraph that found that he didn't molest any other family members not counting the niece... that's not terribly compelling.

    For the record, I'm totally fine with him having a chance to play professional baseball. I'm also fine with individual teams deciding they don't want to sign a confessed child molester.
     
  10. dirtybird

    dirtybird Well-Known Member

    Nah, no sparing.

    As I said, I don’t profess to argue his innocence. But I’ll poke back at that pled=guilty thing always.

    When this subject comes up, we discount folks’ sense of self preservation. Kid was offered a deal. No jail, records mostly sealed and in five years this goes away if you keep your nose clean. Or his family could risk him getting put away for a year as a child molester (guessing the proceedings would never be public, but don’t know). Why in the fuck would someone do that?
     
  11. PCLoadLetter

    PCLoadLetter Well-Known Member

    Why would someone do that? Because the alternative is a written confession and guilty plea to molesting a six year old.

    I am well aware that innocent people reach plea deals. I am also the parent of one former 15-year old and one future 15 year old. If they were falsely accused of, say, burglary, I may well believe they should take a deal if it will eventually be wiped from their record. But child molestation? Very, very hard to see a scenario where I advise my child to falsely confess to molesting a little kid.

    And again: I don't see any compelling reason to believe he is innocent. If people are going to cite a polygraph test that specifically avoided asking about the niece, my sense is he has very little to stand on.
     
  12. dirtybird

    dirtybird Well-Known Member

    It’s interesting because this charge clearly is something different. And not for the tangible reason, but the stigma. As I understand it, and I’m not 100 percent clear, his name wasn’t attached to it in a public way until the snafu with the move. But the assumption is, if that document exists, even deeply sheltered, it simply cannot stand.

    So we take the alternative: putting a 15-year-old in danger. If you go to trial, there’s a chance he’ll lose. And if he loses, he’s incarcerated with a child molestation charge. That’s, well that’s not a safe spot to be in. I’m not a parent. Maybe when I become one, 100 percent preventing jail will be less important than the chance the plea gets public. I’m doubtful, but on that front, I suppose we’ll disagree.
     
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