Comedian *does not* sing a ranchy, lewd song in front of a class of children...

[insertNameHere]

It is really sad he had to opt for a plea deal because he was to afraid to get tried by a jury of the lynch-mob, I definitely would have tried to get a change of venue. I really don't see how what he did was technically a crime, you have footage of someone committing an actual crime and with a good lawyer they get off on some technicality. It is bullshit that some laws are extremely vague and can be misinterpreted into grounds for a case.

Even without having to register as a sex offender and moving to the middle of nowhere, I don't see how it is possible to avoid being 500ft from someone under 17. Sure, ban him for performing at schools ever again. but to say he has to avoid all children like he is some evil criminal mastermind. It was a prank, the reaction is overkill.

edit:
And I forgot to point out, oral sex is also technically illegal in MI, I really think they need to work on there laws

[DrFaroohk]

I just don't see what he did that could even be remotely considered illegal except for maybe "use the video of kids without permission"....you can't call it child porn if no one is naked or having sex. it can't be lewd misconduct i no human was actually present to see the raunchy song, and it seems the disclaimer he had in his video would cover anyone else who might have inadvertantly clicked on the video...

[Dreamstalker]

It seems like all someone has to do is scream "zomg kiddie porn!!111" about anything that they have a suspicion about and someone else gets screwed.

Tasteless? Maybe, depending on your sense of humor.
Amusing? Probably.
Criminal? No.
Was it even child porn? NO. I'm deeply puzzled as to how a prosecutor got that to stick.
Inciting others to go out and commit child rape? I don't think so.

CP seems to be such a hot-button issue that logic goes out the window (take the sex offender registry as an example; there are probably people on there who did nothing more than take a leak in the woods and a kid saw).

It is really sad he had to opt for a plea deal because he was to afraid to get tried by a jury of the lynch-mob

In my cybercrime class we read about a case where a substitute teacher was found guilty of child endangerment because of porn popups that had infected a computer that she never even touched (student went to an infected website and the school hadn't renewed their filtering/antimalware software).

Even though she did the right thing and shut the computer down/went to the administration, everyone thought that she put the virus on the machine. Even the jury, thanks to incredibly lazy investigation and an incompetent defense lawyer. All they saw or heard was "porn popups!" and sentenced her to 40 years in jail.

[kibbles]

What a waste and stupid use of the legal system!! All those parents are idiots and how they are even smart enough to raise children is beyond me.

I think the parents and those who brought forth these charges should be sued for all their worth.

[Rageaholic]

In my cybercrime class we read about a case where a substitute teacher was found guilty of child endangerment because of porn popups that had infected a computer that she never even touched (student went to an infected website and the school hadn't renewed their filtering/antimalware software).

Even though she did the right thing and shut the computer down/went to the administration, everyone thought that she put the virus on the machine. Even the jury, thanks to incredibly lazy investigation and an incompetent defense lawyer. All they saw or heard was "porn popups!" and sentenced her to 40 years in jail.

Oh my god that's even stupider.

We need to stop wasting jail space on victimless crimes.

[Andara Bledin]

Even though she did the right thing and shut the computer down/went to the administration, everyone thought that she put the virus on the machine. Even the jury, thanks to incredibly lazy investigation and an incompetent defense lawyer. All they saw or heard was "porn popups!" and sentenced her to 40 years in jail.

It was proven that the IT guy for the school knew about the infected computer, did nothing about it and committed perjury when he testified against her. He never even got slapped with a fine or suspended or any type of punishment at all. Thankfully, she got out on appeal when they figured out that it was a travesty of justice, but not until she'd already spent 4 or 6 years in jail. >_<

^-.-^

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

What we have here is a pretty simple case. It's not mentioned that the prosecutor had a kid in that class.

And this is not a conflict of interest because.....?

I ask this not knowing a whole lot about the legal system.

[insertNameHere]

Oh my god that's even stupider.

We need to stop wasting jail space on victimless crimes.

Even scarier is they probably will never consider her for early release because she is so "dangerous". But the guy who murdered several of my family members when I was being born/ little kid was supposed to do AT LEAST 32years out of the 46ish he was given before he could even be considered for parole, could be let out to help with overcrowding. They waited a whole 14 years before trying to parole him, because of good behavior, it was his first offense and he doesn't get to see his family much. Luckily, he hasn't gotten out but it is a fucking insult that they are even considered it. Sure he was a model citizen before he went nuts, from what I have been told Ill even concede the death of the cousin who was busting his car up with a baseball bat. But the cousin who has just pulled in the driveway getting .30-06 to the back of the head, I guess another cousin was on the porch, and had the aunt who was on the phone with 911 not turned to see what was going on, they pretty sure she would have been a kill shot too. Along, with one round left for the cousin that was involved in the basketball game that set it all in motion.

Our justice system is so horrible flawed that real criminals eventually learn the system from experience and actually deserving their jail time but learn how to use the loop holes to get out of shit they were guilty of, or get a good lawyer, look at OJ Simpson.

[DrFaroohk]

^ What he said. This whole thing is messed up and I don't understand how the dumbest people get into positions to control it. This kid gets to spend 2 months in jail but lots of legitimate sex offenders get to go free. Social services will take your kids away for minor, stupid offenses but they seem to leave the real abusive parents alone. I pick up the local paper and every day the "heroic" police have done yet another fantastic job busting a local pot head, but darnit, those heroin dealers just keep getting away.

Why is everything so backwards? Why can't intelligent people be in charge and straighten shit out. Hell, I aint THAT smart but I'd be a better at most of these authority type jobs than the people currently doing them, simply because I possess the wonderful gift of common sense.

[Eisa]

^Yeah, exactly. I've read so many stories now about people who should have been taken away from their parents. Where the police would even actually come...and do jack shit. Or tell the parent "hey try not to beat your kid up anymore, ok?" Yeah, of course, that's gonna work. Or you know, get the child even MORE hurt because the police came. Or how I remember reading about this poor teenager who ran 7 miles in freezing rain to get away from her abusive father...the police came, chastised her, gave her the choice of going back or juvie...and she picked juvie. And yet there were no beds, so she got sent back to her dad...while the cop told her that HE would spank her/get her in a lot of trouble if he was her father. It's fucking ridiculous. Or you know, if they even get arrested, they get a slap on the wrist. Oh, you raped that 5-year-old for years? Eh, she was probably asking for it. Less than 2 years for you.

And then there's shit like this and that poor teacher who get slammed in jail for doing jack shit.

It's like they deliberately TRY to only do the petty shit or make up crimes so they don't have to deal with the genuine awfulness.

[DrFaroohk]

It's like they deliberately TRY to only do the petty shit or make up crimes so they don't have to deal with the genuine awfulness.

EXACTLY. This is the problem I run into with almost every type of authority. When I was a little kid, I got grounded when my brother got spoken to firmly for a more serious offense. In school, I got detention for minor offenses when other kids got mild warnings. I run into financial hardship and fall a few weeks behind in my child support - BAM my license gets taken and I'm faced with severe legal action. Other people in the community are YEARS behind, literally 5 figures in the hole, and they get...THE ANGRY LETTERS. I make a slight error in judgement and make an off color remark at work, I'm FIRED. The guy next to me, caught stealing, he gets a FIRM WARNING. For the sixth time.

It even happens on message boards. One guy will jokingly say "Hey wassup my niggaz" and get banned, while someone else might make an entire post about how whites are the master race, and he'll get promoted to mod for sparking such an intense debate.

Or a guy gets caught holding a knife to a kid's throat saying "SUCK MY DICK OR DIE!" and he gets probation. This kid who made a funny video that looked like he was singing dirty songs to children - threatened with 20 years in prison to strongarm a guilty plea. All so the so called "authority" doesn't have to do any real work.

[Dreamstalker]

^^ Exactly. When faced with something that requires actual thought, a lot of people will take whatever option is quickest for them regardless of what it does to someone else.

The concept of trial by jury nowadays scares me. I was called for jury duty once (I think the defendant wound up pleading out so they didn't need us) and a lot of the people there looked like they really didn't want anything to do with it. I could see jurors blindly agreeing with a 'hot-button' point just to save time.

[insertNameHere]

Coming from a family of cops the saying goes. Juries are made up of twelve people too stupid to get out of Jury duty, do you really want to bet your life on them getting a clue?

[Dreamstalker]

My grandfather (cop/state trooper/secret service agent) told me pretty much the same thing. If the jury pool could be limited to those who have at least a basic understanding of the process and legal system things might go smoother (mom's told me I'm too smart to be on a modern jury).

Civic duty? Yeah.
Do a lot of people that are picked care about anything other than getting back to work/school? Probably not.

[insertNameHere]

Lets see a few places actually give you your normal rate of pay while doing jury duty. Considering my employer doesn't and the "pay" that is given for doing your civic duty barely is enough for gas and parking, I'm screwed if I need to miss work. Like it was mentioned you have a bunch of people who want to get on with their lives and most likely already determined there decision before any evidence is presented.

The comedian made a very grave error by removing the video with only a thousand views had he left it up, it might have went viral and people could have seen what the big deal was and been like REALLY? .... Kind of like in south park where the whole nation freaks out because "family guy is going to show Muhammad".... he gets shown, and they all go "wait that was it???"