680news says Byron Sonne acquitted of explosive charges.

[Christopher Browne]

On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 4:14 PM, Peter King <peter.king-H217xnMUJC0sA/PxXw9srA at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 11:55:52AM -0700, Tyler Aviss wrote:
>
>>    Name dragged through the mud
>>    Wife charged, ended in divorce
>>    Lost his house
>>
>>    Sad that somebody who is not guilty can still pay such a price.
>
> That is, of course, one of the ways in which "justice" is done... the net
> effect is to deter others from even *appearing* to break the law (since
> Sonne has not been found guilty of breaking any law after all), and thus
> as a means of social control... Welcome to the justice system nowadays.
>
> Even if he were to recover money in damages (and like others I'm doubtful
> since wrongful arrest requires proof of malicious intent), that wouldn't
> bring back his wife. Nor does money make up for the trauma of losing your
> house, being divorced, and so on. Of course, given that he's gone through
> all that, it would be better if he were given money / restitution / etc.,
> but it isn't likely.
>
> Sad indeed.

Well, I'm not sure that this represents a "fix" that I'd particularly
want to see.

To add a burden to the police that they'll have to budget for
"reparations" any time they find a plausible perpetrator that mightn't
turn out to be guilty seems troublesome.  That may encourage them to
not pursue cases, and that doesn't sound like a particularly wonderful
outcome.

Part of how I view this case is that Byron "poked a stick" at those
that are (fairly properly) tasked as 'wolves,' and that the outcome
involved a certain amount of "toothy reaction" shouldn't come as any
surprise.

The unrelenting nature of the response seems unfair, though it is also
fairly unsurprising, as there are government folk keen on justifying a
project on which they spent a boatload of money.

I suppose it should be rather embarrassing that they didn't get
charges to stick.  That is not of terribly practical use for Byron in
rebuilding things after his losses.
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