Please keep on trying to mold your assumptions into a logical point. So now
you're saying flour filled condoms should have been erroneously ID'ed as bomb
materials if she perhaps was wearing a head covering and looked "Arab?" And
that if that were the case, you'd criticize her for being so stupid as to cause
officials to make a mistake. Oh, and by the way, David Oh is not some tall
building fat cat lawyer. In fact, he lives more in Craig's territory than UC.
And please don't forget Wen Ho Lee, who's eyes and lawyers did not suffice to
keep him out of isolation, without bail, as a bona fide national security
threat for nothing. It was pretty apparent that his being Asian was a key piece
of evidence against him.
And did you note the equally off base comment to the blog saying the
inflexible city solicitor would not settle anytime soon? So did that person
retract?
To be on target, you have to go after the city first, really.
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [email protected]
Sent: Tue, 9 Jan 2007 10:15 PM
Subject: Re: [UC] We're Paying This Loopy Bryn Mawr Student $180,000???
She is of the Asian persuasion -- (see story below). My point is and was that
if she had looked anything like an Arab, Homeland Security would have whisked
her off to Gitmo without further ado. The issue was not so much that she might
have been carrying drugs as that she might have been carrying bomb materials.
But those hotsy-totsy princesses with the Mongolian eyefolds and expensive
lawyers who go to Bryn Mawr get special treatment. I still say she should
apologize and give back the money. "Stress bag" and "hall tea" my ass.
December 29, 2005 A Philadelphia Story posted by Dave Hoffman
This story from the Philadelphia Inquirer caught my eye. (And gave me an
opportunity to steal a picture from Dan's airline screening playset post.)
Janet Lee, a Bryn Mawr student, was on her way home from the holidays. At the
Philadelphia Int'l Airport, she was arrested because her checked bags contained
condoms full of flour, which the police mistakenly identified in two field
tests as cocaine and amphetamines. According to Lee, she and hall-mates had
created the bags as stress balls as an exam-time gag. The system held Lee in
jail for three weeks on $500,000 bail: Lee acted tough to protect herself. She
did modern-dance moves to keep limber. Inmates saw this and gossiped: "Everyone
thought I knew karate because I'm Asian." She certainly didn't discourage the
stereotype. Inmates saw the high volume of visitors and figured she was
important. Again, she did not discourage the notion. She did not tell her cell
mates that the visitors were actually volunteers from Catholic chu!
rches in Philadelphia who had taken up her cause.
The volunteers helped her hire [a lawyer, and former prosecutor, named David]
Oh. "I believed her story because things just didn't add up," Oh said. For one
thing, Oh said, the field tests were odd because they detected the presence of
not one drug but three. "People don't mix drugs like that," Oh said. First, Oh
contacted Bryn Mawr and confirmed that Lee's dorm mates had, in fact, made the
condoms together during a pre-exam session they call a "hall tea." Then, Oh
said, he called Assistant District Attorney Charles Ehrlich, who agreed to
expedite laboratory tests. Ehrlich also agreed to help seek reduced bail, Oh
said. A day after the new test came back and confirmed that the substance was
flour, Lee was released. She flew home first class. There are a few notable
things about this story. The draconian D.A.'s office (all considered) gave Lee
a huge break because of her connections - a social capital that most defendants
do not have. It is also surprising (and heartening) t!
hat Philadelphia Airport is screening luggage well enough to catch this
(potential contraband). I also wonder about the remarkably high bail set for a
college student who had no prior record that we know about, and the jail
authorities apparent decision not to put her into protective custody. On the
other hand, I'm not surprised at all at the error with the tests. I wonder if
the police department has studied the false positive rate carefully. Needless
to say, Lee has now filed a civil rights claim against the police (and probably
a claim against the city for their poor drug-testing training). Given her
story, the City should settle. But knowing the City Solicitor's inflexible
litigation strategy, I doubt they will anytime soon. Posted by Dave
Hoffman at December 29, 2005 11:20 AM Trackback Pings TrackBack URL for this
entry:
http://www.concurringopinions.com/movabletype/mt-tb.cgi/381 Comments Maybe
she was held with such a high bail because her story is so stupid. I understand
that I've been out of college for awhile, but I find it strange that college
women would put flour in condoms to make "stress balls" and then be so enamored
with them that they packed some to take home for the holidays. Would we be so
sympathetic of a different defendant held for having a homemade non-bomb in his
suitcase that looked a lot like a homemade bomb? Why do you think she should
have been put in protective custoday? Because she's a college girl? If all
defendants held in jail are presumed innocent, why would some be more presumed
than others? Posted by: Christine at December 29, 2005 01:11 PM
http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2005/12/a_philadelphia.html
On 1/9/07, [EMAIL PROTECTED] < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Well, that may well
be true, but my point was we should proceed from facts, not assumptions. And
please don't forget the really erroneous assumption was that made by the
police. As you no doubt know very well, people make lots of stupid mistakes
that trigger more stupid police mistakes, except the police are the ones with
the badges, guns and cuffs. So the question is, even if someone makes a
"stupid" mistake, do you go after her for being stupid (and doing nothing
illegal), or the cops for making a bad bust (or worse)?
If I had a choice between criticizing a civilian for being naive vs a police
department and DA for getting the facts wrong, I wouldn't go after the civilian
first.
For all you know, she is Black and that is why they didn't believe her.
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tue, 9 Jan 2007 2:47 PM
Subject: RE: [UC] We're Paying This Loopy Bryn Mawr Student $180,000???
I think the point of the complexion remark was that had she been Black she
would still be incarcerated and we would not have heard her story. And as far
as income: if the cross section of gender and income are obvious, then it is
obvious that it is something that you don't have to think about in your daily
life. As a AFAM woman I would have never taken a chance like that, that my life
might not have recovered and in addition have been rewarded for my own
stupidity. Wendy -----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL
PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2007 2:22 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Fwd: [UC] We're Paying This Loopy Bryn Mawr Student $180,000??? At
the risk of taking a Ross message seriously when it's not:
1. Your city's police lab erroneously thought flour was coke, and has yet to
explain how they messed that up, which as I understand it is why she was held
that long in custody. Maybe the police chemist was the one who was stealing
drugs from the cops.
2. She's a Bryn Mawr student from California, which really tells you nothing
about how privileged she is, at least in conventional usage.
3. How did you figure out her complexion?
Paul
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [email protected]
Sent: Tue, 9 Jan 2007 9:49 AM
Subject: Re: [UC] We're Paying This Loopy Bryn Mawr Student $180,000??? On
1/8/07, Frank <[EMAIL PROTECTED] > wrote: Remember when you had to be smart to
get into college? Well it's not just that. It's the idea of MY city
paying money we desperately need to some overprivileged Main Line floozyette
with an expensive lawyer who, had she been the wrong complexion, would now be
spending time in Gitmo for pulling a trick like that.
--
Ross Bender
http://rossbender.org Check out the new AOL. Most comprehensive set of
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http://rossbender.org
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