November 11, 2007

When does snitch become government agent? : Local News : Knoxville News Sentinel

The simpler idea is to make all drug dealers official government agents. We already gave arms dealing official government officials as well as bathroom sex seeking officials, so why not?

When does snitch become government agent? : Local News : Knoxville News Sentinel: "The alleged kingpin of a massive mail-order illegal drug network has prompted the creation of a legal landmark of a test that he flunked. In what appears to be the first ruling of its kind in the federal court region known as the 6th Circuit - of which Tennessee is a part - U.S. District Magistrate Judge Bruce Guyton has crafted a test to determine just when jailhouse snitches become government agents. The ruling, issued Friday, comes in the case of Vicente Corona, an illegal immigrant with alleged ties to a violent Mexican drug cartel and accused of heading up a large-scale drug conspiracy that funneled tons of pot and cocaine from California via mail-delivery services to a host of states, including Tennessee. Corona, through defense attorney Steve Johnson, tried to block federal prosecutors from using against Corona incriminating statements he allegedly made to fellow inmates in the Blount County Jail. Johnson argued that the half-dozen inmates prepared to testify against Corona had struck deals with the U.S. Attorney's Office that included promises of sentencing breaks for any snitch work they might do. That, Johnson contended, made them government agents bound by the same rules as legitimate law enforcers."

No comments: