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Champ D'application Du Patriot Act

Chitah

Par Chitah,
dans Europe et international

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Chitah

Chitah

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A la limite, je peux comprendre que le Patriot Act soit invoqué dans ce cas. Admettons.

Patriot Act used to quell laser pointer terror

By Ashlee Vance in Chicago

Published Thursday 6th January 2005 00:51 GMT

A New Jersey miracle man has been charged under the Patriot Act for allegedly shining a laser into two pilots' eyes.

David Banach could face up to 25 years in prison and a $500,000 fine for disrupting the operator of a mass transportation vehicle - a charge covered under the controversial Patriot Act - and lying to the FBI. Authorities claim that Banach, 38, admitted to shining a laser at a jet plane and at a helicopter flying over his home. The jet pilots were momentarily blinded by the green laser light, according to state officials. Their Cessna Citation flying at 3,000 feet had six passengers.

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Earlier this week, the FBI dismissed the idea that a string of "laser in the cockpit" incidents were part of a terrorist plot to bother pilots. The Feds, however, have now applied the long arm of the Patriot Act - invented after the Sept. 11 attacks - to Banach's supposed crime.

"We are not saying this is a grand terrorist incident," U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie told the New York Post. "We have to send a clear message to the public - no matter what the intent was."

Banach says he was simply playing with his daughter, showing off the new laser bought for his job as a fiber optic cable tester. His lawyer Gina Mendola Longarzo said the state is using Banach as a "sacrificial lamb."

"I don't think the Patriot Act was enacted to cover this kind of unintentional conduct," she told the Post.

Beyond the possible misuse of the Patriot Act, there are other issues here. After reading our laser story earlier in the week, a number of Register readers questioned the odds of anyone on the ground being able to shine a laser into the eye of a pilot. Banach is supposed to have hit the jet three times with his laser, managing to strike the pilots' pupils at least once. That's quite an amazing feat.

Maybe the FBI should really be looking for Cyclops. The X-MEN are headquartered in New York after all.

Elsewhere, gang members are also being charged under the Patriot Act. Don't plenty of laws already exist for sentencing thugs and murderers? ®

Mais en ce qui concerne ceci, je suis déjà moins sûr:

New York gang member faces trial as terrorist

29 Dec 2004 13:45:34 GMT

Source: Reuters

By Maria Castro

NEW YORK, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Every time Lourdes Morales watches the TV news and sees a story on terrorism, she weeps.

Family members have stopped trying to console her, but they, too, cannot understand why Edgar Morales, the family's youngest son, will see the new year arrive in prison where he is waiting to be tried as a terrorist.

"They are comparing my son to (Osama) bin Laden … and all those people who used bombs and killed thousands of people at random," said Morales.

"They are making him look as if he was this cold-hearted person, and he is not like that."

Morales, 22, was indicted on murder and other charges as acts of terror in May, along with 18 other members of the St. James Boys Gang, a Mexican and Mexican-American street gang.

Morales faces the most serious charge of second-degree murder as a terrorist act. A New York grand jury returned the charges against him in connection with the shooting death of 10-year-old Melanie Mendez, who died from gunshot wounds two years earlier.

Morales plans to plead innocent, said his attorney, Lewis Alperin. No date has yet been set for his trial.

Morales is the first gang member in New York to be indicted under the state's terrorism statute, which became law shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

If the charges did not include the terrorism stipulation, he would face a sentence of 25 years to life if found guilty. With the stipulation, he faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

PROMOTING TERRORISM?

At least 33 states passed laws amending criminal codes related to acts of terrorism since the Sept. 11 attacks, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Most changes focused on money laundering, cyberterrorism, agri-terrorism and supporting terrorist groups.

New York's use of the statute to prosecute gang-related crime has sparked disagreement among lawmakers who voted for the legislation.

A spokeswoman for state Sen. Michael Balboni, who sponsored the bill, said he does not mind that prosecutors have decided gang violence is a form of domestic terrorism and are using the statute to prosecute Morales.

"Gangs are a forum to promote terrorism," said Balboni spokeswoman Lisa Angerame. "Therefore, the anti-terrorism statue would be applicable against them, even if the original intent for this law was not exactly to prosecute them."

Others say the law is not being used as intended.

"It is not that I want to defend gangs," said state Rep. Jeffrey Dinowitz. "But it should never be justifiable to use laws with purposes other than their original intent.

"We already have the appropriate laws to prosecute gang members for their crimes," he added.

The anti-terror law passed overwhelmingly in the New York Senate 53-1.

Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson, who brought the charges against Morales, said the terrorism stipulation was justified.

"The obvious need for this statue is to protect society against acts of political terror," Johnson said in a statement. "However, the terror perpetrated by gangs, which all too often occurs on the streets of New York, also fits squarely within the scope of this statute."

The 70-count indictment said the gang members conspired to "intimidate or coerce a civilian population."

It included a long list of crimes cited as evidence they terrorized a city neighborhood, including allegations they harassed and robbed customers of a local restaurant, fired guns into a crowded park, shot a teenager in the face and slashed someone's throat.

Some residents say the law is being abused.

"We cannot compare gang violence with big scale terrorist attacks," said resident Miriam Medina.

Local store manager Lidia Chavez added: "Gang violence and terrorism are two different things."

But Eve Santana, owner of a bridal shop, said while maybe not on the scale of bin Laden, "of course they are terrorists."

"They do terrorize neighborhoods. Innocent bystanders die … and they have to pay."

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Antoninov

Antoninov

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Alors, qu'en pensez-vous?

Même pour le premier cas on peut être très critique.

Je t'invite à lire l'article suivant (paru il y a deux jours donc juste avant l'arrestation), qui mentionne notamment qu'il y a eu des centaines d'incidents de ce type ces dix dernières années. Sans évidemment jamais aucune victime.

The laser-wielding terrorists are coming! Not since the Dread Syrian Wedding Musicians went to the bathroom has such idiotic hysteria gripped America.

Le remue-ménage fait autour de cet incident est symptomatique de l'atmosphère paranoïaque qui règne, ou en tout cas du discours incitateur tenu par les autorités. Sans doute les deux se répondent.

Quant à l'utilisation du Patriot Act, cela n'aurait aucune importance si ce n'était qu'une loi qui appelle terroriste n'importe quel criminel, mais ce qui est inquiétant ce sont les pouvoirs illimités immédiatement octroyés aux forces de l'ordre qui le désigne comme criminel, ainsi que les peines de prisons prévues dans ces cas-là.

Enfin, concernant ce pauvre type pris dans l'engrenage: je viens de lire qu'il a fait cette bêtise alors qu'il chipotait avec un téléscope et son pointeur dans son jardin avec son gosse. Alors évidemment en voyant débarquer les fédéraux du homeland security qui l'accusaient de terrorisme, qu'a-t-il dit aux fédéraux: c'est mon gosse qui a joué avec le pointeur! C'est pas très honnête mais tout à fait compréhensible, non? Il a du se dire que ça passerait facilement pourn ue bêtise d'enfant. Quand i la été démasqué (je ne sais pas comment), il s'est vu ajouter le crime de Mensonge avec un grand M…. Le type est mal barre.

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gem

gem

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Je rêve!!

Grâce au Patriot Act, il devrait être possible d'attaquer l'Etat en justice!!!

Là je crois que tu rêves… Et je n'ose imaginer le traitement qu'ils te ferait subir si il te prennait la fantaisie d'essayer.

Le so called "Patriot" Act est une horreur stupide, j'espère que les américains arriveront à s'en débarrasser malgré son nom tout novlanguien.

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