Think the government must convict you of a crime before it can punish you for it? Think again.

"Most Americans probably believe that the government must first convict you of a crime before it can impose a sentence on you for that crime. This is incorrect: When federal prosecutors throw a bunch of charges at someone but the jury convicts on only some of those charges, a federal judge can still sentence the defendant on the charges for which he was acquitted. In fact, the judge can even consider crimes for which the defendant has never been charged."

"Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Jones v. U.S., a case that would have addressed the issue. The National Law Journal summarizes the facts:

[A] District of Columbia jury found Antwuan Ball, Desmond Thurston and Joseph Jones guilty in 2007 of selling between two and 11 grams of cocaine, relatively small amounts. They were acquitted on racketeering and other charges that they were part of an extensive narcotics conspiracy.

Yet, when U.S. District Judge Richard Roberts sentenced the three, he said he “saw clear evidence of a drug conspiracy,” and sentenced Ball, Thurston and Jones to 18, 16 and 15 years in prison, respectively — four times higher than the highest sentences given for others who sold similar amounts of cocaine, according to filings with the Supreme Court.

There have been other cases like this, including at least two in which federal judges sentenced defendants for murders for which they were never even charged, never mind convicted. So not only can a judge sentence a defendant for crimes for which a jury acquitted, he can sentence a defendant for crimes for which prosecutors didn’t have enough evidence to charge."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/10/20/think-the-government-must-convict-you-of-a-crime-before-it-can-punish-you-for-it-think-again/


Cases where judges sentence people based on their own interpretations of the events,rather than the findings of jury are clearly a violation of rights,and unconstitutional as well.
This kind of shit has to stop. The problem is it will never stop as long as most of the population remains clueless about the evil done on a daily basis by team .gov.
Most people find out just how fucked our “justice” system is when they,or a family member is charged by overzealous prosecutors who have obtained grand jury indictments based on trumped up charges.
The charges read as if the accused is Atilla the Hun,or Genghis Khan, or Sherman on his march through Georgia-burning everything on his way to Atlanta.
The cops write up reports that are pure fiction,prosecutor looks at reports and assumes the person is a huge threat to society,and writes up charges that are so far removed from the truth that what the grand jury gets is not even remotely close to what happened.
The grand jury hears the police and prosecutor’s version of events,and assumes that the cops and prosecutors are telling the truth-how else would the grand jury have indicted this person?

What usually happens next is prosecutor and defendant’s  court appointed attorney-or public defender-otherwise known as the public pretender-tell the defendant that the best thing they can do is plead guilty to the lowest level felony of the multiple felony charges the police and prosecutors dreamed up in their works of fiction.
The defendants family usually believes the defendant must have done something illegal to cause the grand jury to indict him or her on all these charges-so the defendant pleads guilty.
The only way to make this bullshit stop is for every person accused of a crime-any crime-to demand their right to a trial by jury, as the 6th amendment guarantees.

“In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.”

To make this bullshit stop,as I said,everyone needs to demand a trail by jury.

Doing so would shut down the court system,and team .gov would be forced to stop with the games,and only charge people with actual crimes,not all this administrative law bullshit used to enhance charges.
Team .gov regularly charges people for violating obscure federal laws and regulations,everyone commits at least three felonies day-according to current federal laws-what this means is that team .gov can at any time they choose-indict anyone they choose for some obscure bullshit and send them-(YOU !)- to prison.
This bullshit is so far removed from being constitutional that at least half of federal laws and regulations must be abolished. It’s likely way more than half-but half would be a good start…