LA Cop Gets Caught Pirating DVDS

[handyguy]

Tsk.

"LOS ANGELES - A suspended police captain was placed on probation and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service for selling pirated and counterfeit DVDs.

Capt. Julie D. Nelson pleaded no contest last month to possessing hundreds of the DVDs for sale after a a judge reduced the piracy charges to misdemeanors.

Friday's sentence was issued by Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert Fitzgerald, who rejected prosecutors' arguments for a tougher sentence that would include incarceration in sentencing her to three years' probation and a $1,000 fine."


Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com

[indolikaa]

200 hours of community service. For a police captain.

What a ******* joke.

[Tommyknocker]

Do you really want a police captain in the pokey? If you can't protect her during incarceration, you have to find another way.

[indolikaa]

Do you really want a police captain in the pokey? If you can't protect her during incarceration, you have to find another way.

Suits me fine.

Cops are not above the law, nor should they receive special consideration at sentencing just because they are who they are. There are ways to incarcerate civil servants without putting them at any greater risk. If there wasn't, we wouldn't have them in our prison system today.

[LabanB]

If you are employed to uphold the law, you should face tougher sentences when you wilfully break it.

Bill

[Tommyknocker]

If you are employed to uphold the law, you should face tougher sentences when you wilfully break it.

Bill

Agreed. However, she was sentenced in accordance with the laws of that state.

[Marvingj]

I don't think she was selling the DVD's, she was using them as COOKIE CUTTER!!!

[LabanB]

Hi TK,

>However, she was sentenced in accordance with the laws of that state. <

Very true but-

>after a judge reduced the piracy charges to misdemeanors<

so the sentence could have been harsher, if the charges hadn't been reduced.

Bill

[Tommyknocker]

The judge sentences on a case by case basis. He examined the evidence, and made the punishment fit the crime.

[ViRaL1]

The judge sentences on a case by case basis. He examined the evidence, and made the punishment fit the crime.

...the crime...or the criminal?

[Tommyknocker]

He has to take into account the weight of the crime versus the chances the person can be rehabilitated.

[DaveS]

the cop probably got wind of some busts and figured out how lucrative it would be ... for $.50 and alittle labor, those things sell for $10..kind of like printing $$ and not as dangerous as selling drugs...she got too close to her work...

[hhhhbk]

i feel sorry for anyone who gets caught for piracy
if your stupid enough to sell them then you bring it on yourself but there is something majorly wrong if a bit of dvd piracy can get someone jailed and then Whacko who is guilty of at the very least bribery and corruption in paying off the kids can walk away scot free

[BodaZoffa]

Suits me fine.

Cops are not above the law, nor should they receive special consideration at sentencing just because they are who they are.

Kind of like OJ & every other pro athelete....?

[Nilfennasion]

The sentences that ordinary people receive are a joke, and they know it. It doesn't matter in the case of the guy living on the corner, simply copying discs for his friends. As far as the MPAA is concerned, they should be locked up with the key thrown away. I want to see Jack Valenti do time for price gouging or violations of the Sherman Anti-Trust act.

[Tommyknocker]

Suits me fine.

Cops are not above the law, nor should they receive special consideration at sentencing just because they are who they are.

Kind of like OJ & every other pro athelete....?

Nope, OJ doesn't apply. To get leniency during sentencing, you must be convicted of a crime. Since no one actually saw him commit a murder, he was exonerated.

[Nilfennasion]

Since no one actually saw him commit a murder, he was exonerated.

It was always my opinion that the case was entirely about sensationalism. Since the defense was the better sensationalist, they won. Pure and simple.

[MOVIEGEEK]

"reduced the piracy charges to misdemeanors"...what a load of shit,if that was you or I it would be a felony.
Why was that case heard in a county court?It should of been in federal court because of copyright infringement.

[Tommyknocker]

Since no one actually saw him commit a murder, he was exonerated.

It was always my opinion that the case was entirely about sensationalism. Since the defense was the better sensationalist, they won. Pure and simple.

If that's the way you want to see it. All I saw was circumstantial evidence. I never saw an eyewitness, never heard a confession, and saw one of the biggest lying bigots wearing a badge ever paraded in front of a judge get caught in a whopper. Never charged him with perjury either, did they?

[indolikaa]

Since no one actually saw him commit a murder, he was exonerated.

It was always my opinion that the case was entirely about sensationalism. Since the defense was the better sensationalist, they won. Pure and simple.

If that's the way you want to see it. All I saw was circumstantial evidence. I never saw an eyewitness, never heard a confession, and saw one of the biggest liars wearing a badge ever paraded in front of a judge get cayght in a whopper. Never charged him with perjury either, did they?

Now now, TK. Don't confuse the facts of the matter with people's perception of reality. You'll end up having to mop the canvas again.

[Tommyknocker]

Since no one actually saw him commit a murder, he was exonerated.

It was always my opinion that the case was entirely about sensationalism. Since the defense was the better sensationalist, they won. Pure and simple.

If that's the way you want to see it. All I saw was circumstantial evidence. I never saw an eyewitness, never heard a confession, and saw one of the biggest liars wearing a badge ever paraded in front of a judge get cayght in a whopper. Never charged him with perjury either, did they?

Now now, TK. Don't confuse the facts of the matter with people's perception of reality. You'll end up having to mop the canvas again.

Fair enough. Where was the eyewitness, all the evidence I saw coulf only at best put him at the scene of the crime. Furman testified on the stand he never uses racial slurs, but his interviewer has him on tape using it 48 times.

[Tommyknocker]

"reduced the piracy charges to misdemeanors"...what a load of shit,if that was you or I it would be a felony.
Why was that case heard in a county court?It should of been in federal court because of copyright infringement.

There is no reason she still cannot be charged with copyright infringement. It's just the case won't be tried in a county courthouse. It would be tried in a federal court by federal court officers, and county prosecutors could only sit on the sidelines and watch.

[letgoofmyears]

I think that if she weren't who she was, but was say, somebody not connected to the PD at all, then the penalty would be much more severe.

If little Johnny gets busted selling Finding Nemo to his fellow fourth graders, and he and/or his parents get picked up for it, do you think the same judge would be as lenient on them? I'm referring, of course, to the parents, but if the judge wanted to be a real prick he could technically send little Johnny to juvie for awhile, just to teach him a lesson.

Maybe his attorney could point to this case, as an example of "fair and just punishment". Think it would work?

[Nilfennasion]

Regarding the OJ case, I wasn't saying that OJ was freed simply because of sensationalism. What happened, in my opinion, was that the prosecution sensationalised their case to the nth degree, and were left wanting when it came time to back up some of their claims. The bigoted witness notwithstanding, I didn't see much that convinced me OJ did anything. Sure, they waved photos of the dead victims around for weeks, but all that did was desensitise me. Hence my statement that the defense did the whole sensationalism game much better than the prosecution.

As far as the policewoman case goes, I think that unless the MPAA takes her to federal court, this could open up a whole can of worms. As letgoofmyears puts it so well, every defense lawyer in the country will be asking why there is a different law for a policewoman compared to everyone else who has been convicted so far. If we were a more daring bunch, I'd try rounding some of us up to deliberately get caught pirating stuff so we can say exactly that.

[Tommyknocker]

Regarding the OJ case, I wasn't saying that OJ was freed simply because of sensationalism. What happened, in my opinion, was that the prosecution sensationalised their case to the nth degree, and were left wanting when it came time to back up some of their claims. The bigoted witness notwithstanding, I didn't see much that convinced me OJ did anything. Sure, they waved photos of the dead victims around for weeks, but all that did was desensitise me. Hence my statement that the defense did the whole sensationalism game much better than the prosecution.

As far as the policewoman case goes, I think that unless the MPAA takes her to federal court, this could open up a whole can of worms. As letgoofmyears puts it so well, every defense lawyer in the country will be asking why there is a different law for a policewoman compared to everyone else who has been convicted so far. If we were a more daring bunch, I'd try rounding some of us up to deliberately get caught pirating stuff so we can say exactly that.

The problem here, is that most of us are against piracy. I think a common bond between us is we should be able to make a single archival copy of any licensed data we purchased. I know it opens up the legal debate about what is copyright infringement, and what is not. I am only saying it how most of us feel, since we always had this impled right with VHS, why should DVDs be different?

[iooi]

Hi TK,

>However, she was sentenced in accordance with the laws of that state. <

Very true but-

>after a judge reduced the piracy charges to misdemeanors<

so the sentence could have been harsher, if the charges hadn't been reduced.

Bill

Maybe he was one of her customers......

[Tommyknocker]

Hi TK,

>However, she was sentenced in accordance with the laws of that state. <

Very true but-

>after a judge reduced the piracy charges to misdemeanors<

so the sentence could have been harsher, if the charges hadn't been reduced.

Bill

Maybe he was one of her customers......

Objection! Assuming facts not in evidence. There may have been other extenuatin circumstances.

[LabanB]

Over-ruled!

Harsher penalities for more serious charges are not an assumption, they are a fact1

>There may have been other extenuatin circumstances<

This IS an assumption as there may NOT have been.

Bill

[LabanB]

Hi TK,

Sorry I missed that yours was a reply to another comment :-0

Bill

[crjackson]

As a retired police officer, I would love to offer another take (not defend the Capt.) but damn, ya'll are too ready to ambush with flame throwers. I won't touch this one... I will only say that tommyknocker is the most level headed I've read so far. As a burned out tired cop, I feel sorry for no one, and don't have much compasion left in me, but please keep in mind one thing. If you weren't there, you only know what the news wants to make it all sound like, not usually what happend. You also don't know all the reasons the D.A. did or did not take actions. You are only speculating, guessing, assuming, and judging. You have a greater chance of hitting the lotto than making a correct call unless you are a part of the incident/trial.