About the perp in that Tulsa cop-killing
Please read this on the history of David Ware, the man charged with murdering police officer Craig Johnson in Tulsa back in June. It is quite edifying.
As you read it, note that the killer probably has been an alcoholic and habitual drug user (perhaps addict, perhaps not) and in trouble since his teen years. I have no idea what interventions were tried for his substance problems, but it doesn’t seem as though they worked. Perhaps he is a sociopath.
At any rate, he made good on his earlier promise to kill Johnson. The other officer he tried to kill was only six weeks on the job, so there was no history there.
I watched the video of the shooting yesterday- Ware sounded and acted like he was 16 years old the entire time. Indeed, he reminded me strongly of a kid I knew in high school who used to whine about everything.
Arrested development.
Once the needle goes in it never comes out.
From the story, “Can they actually put that case on in front of a judge or jury and have a reasonable expectation of conviction?” [D.A.] Kunzweiler told the Tulsa World on Tuesday.
“Seven of those cases involved allegations of felony offenses” but were they prosecuted?
What the H is this sort of attitude by a prosecutor? A “reasonable expectation” of winning their case? Kind of reminds me of Gen. Colin Powell, who was unwilling to engage in combat unless his victory was certain.
We need warriors, not weenies or wimps.
Prosecute, prosecute!
If a crime was done and you have the suspect, prosecute. The jury will decide. Get it?
You cannot go to the trouble, Kunzweiler? Taxpayers are paying you to do just that, prosecute!
That Ware was in such kind, gentle hands for so long caused the murder years later.
Cicero:
One thing you are forgetting is how much money they have and how many lawyers. They cannot prosecute every case; they must pick and choose. They are limited. It is a waste of time, money, energy, and resources to prosecute a case which is weak. Prosecutors must always decide what to prosecute based on a number of factors, and of course one is the importance of the case. Another is the strength of the case and the probable outcome. It’s a cost/benefit ratio as with everything else.
Now, it’s possible this guy is a wimp about prosecution. I don’t know, though, and I can’t assume it.
Reminds me of a doctor I once knew, who refused to operate on my arm because he decided there was only a 75% chance of a 75% improvement. I was in agony, and it sounded like good odds to me. But not good enough to him, and he didn’t want me to ruin his statistics. So this happens in medicine, of course.
Fortunately, I later had an operation (from a doctor on the west coast) that was very successful. He was willing to take the risk. Did I get 100% relief? No. But I’m actually about 90% better or so, and very happy about that.
My point is that this sort of cost/benefit analysis happens in every situation in which there are not unlimited resources and people.
I watched most of those videos you linked to a day or two ago, the whole series of cops who got in bad trouble being patient with suspects resisting arrest. Two things stood out: the endless whininess, and the urge to tell each new group of cops “Shoot him–quick before he leans back into the car.”
Neo: the solution is to increase DA budgets.
Kind of like your arm problem solution: find another surgeon who is willing–willing– to operate. On another coast. Regardless of outcome, it won’t hurt the surgeon! Like a DA who is willing to prosecute- he won’t be voted out for low conviction rates.
As we see in many cities, Leftist DAs are elected because of commitments not to prosecute. Are their office budgets cut? Nah. Cutting police funds instead.
In neither medicine nor criminal prosecution can an outcome be predicted with even relative certainty. The doc who gave you the 75% figure was perhaps citing a literature report. The outcome will be either good or not. For one person, it’s a coin toss.
Finding relief increased your cost of care! (or your insuror’s) Like more funding for a DA office!
In Ward’s case, seven allegations of felonies and not one prosecution over X years? C’mon!
Cicero:
I’m certainly not advocating for leftist DAs!
But the budgets will never be increased to the point where every crime will be prosecuted, even those cases that are almost certain to be lost. This country has purposely made it difficult to prove crimes, because we do not want innocent people convicted. And no city has unlimited funds. The problem is particularly acute in poorer cities, and in leftist cities in which they don’t seem at all eager to get tough on crime even when the DA isn’t a leftist Soros-backed tool.
The doctor who would not operate on me, by the way, was the head of arm surgery at Mass General, and he was the only person in New England who supposedly knew much of anything about the condition I had. He was citing his own statistics for his own surgeries – he had done hundreds and hundreds (or more) over the years, whereas the other doctors had mostly done few or none. That’s why I went to him.
It took me five years (this was pre-internet) to find a doctor who was another expert on the subject (that was in Colorado) and was willing to operate. His statistics were better, or perhaps he was just a better surgeon. He certainly was a nicer person. But in those years I suffered tremendously, and I also incurred enormous expense traveling around the country and going to quite a few doctors who supposedly knew something but could not help me. What ended up happening was that the Colorado doctor advised me that he would operate on me if I wanted but that I might be a candidate for a different surgery, which I might want to explore (he didn’t do that second surgery). That second surgery is what I ended up having, in California, and it took me four more years to get there – a total of nine years of enormous pain and disability, right in the prime of life.
Terrible experience, lengthy and expensive experience, with a good outcome. It took me several years to recover from the surgery, by the way. You may recall my post about this. It is here.
From neo’s linked article;
“Public court records reveal that in the 14 years before Ware’s arrest in the June 29 fatal shooting of Johnson, who was 45, and the shooting of Tulsa Police Officer Aurash Zarkeshan, 26, Ware was charged by Tulsa County prosecutors in 10 other cases.
“Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent”. Adam Smith
In a sane world, 7 days would pass between Ware’s arrest, trial, conviction, sentence and death. Ware unilaterally denied Johnson and Zarkeshan’s inalienable right to life. In doing so, he voluntarily forfeited his own claim to a right to life. Society should honor his choice.
Neo-
I recall your post.
As to Mass General, I have had to prevent malpractice on relatives and relatives of relatives there. It’s not the institution, it is the doc, as you know. Plus, I have seen seriously deficient care there: how about treating MS by a Harvard neurologist at MGH for ten years and no MRI? Standard is for MRI every 6 to 12 months. Cost control!
I recall my son calling me that his father-in-law was going into MGH the next day to have his fore-foot amputated because of bad circulation with a non-healing big toe ulcer. I asked whether hyperbaric oxygen had been tried. Answer: what’s that? Had never been mentioned. Told him they must insist on that before any cutting, without mentioning the advice came from the (shudder!) Deep South. So, that was done, ulcer healed, and he walked on that foot for another 10 years before dying of heart failure.
As to the 75% surgeon, he could cite a figure like that only if he’d written a paper on his own results, based on the case volume you describe. So he was grading himself!
Cicero:
Yes, he wrote about his own results. Unfortunately, he was the only person in New England that supposedly knew anything about what I had. So my alternatives all involved travel. Most of them weren’t too much better, although they were a lot nicer. Colorado was the breakthrough.