Comment by kemiller2002 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by kemiller2002 | Hacker News Reader

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The simple truth is, everyone breaks the law. I don't mean willingly, there are tons of laws that exist that even well versed attorneys are not aware of. You accidentally downloaded a song you didn't pay for? We'll that's a criminal wrong doing. You did it over the internet? Somehow we'll tack on a wire fraud charge while we're at it, because we're sure we can convince a grand jury to at least allow us to try you. Now you're looking at a massive fine, and say 5-10 years. Sure you don't want to help us? By the way, if you've never been on the other end of an FBI agent interrogation, it's scary. Like really scary. I had a friend once show me briefly what it's like, and I never want to come near that again.

Here's the thing about lawsuits, even if you're innocent, you're still probably ruined. It's not like on T.V., lawsuits take years, even criminal ones. If you encounter a law enforcement agent (say a prosecutor), that wants to make a career off of something you're involved in, you're screwed. At best, you'll probably be bankrupt and emotionally destroyed. Imagine this, they bring charges against you, and if you get a public intoxication, or heaven forbid a DUI, you go to jail for the next 3 years while awaiting trial and for something that you might not have even committed. Don't believe me, read a case document on conditions of release. They list off a ton of things that can send you back to jail while awaiting trial.

Here's the thing about lawsuits, even if you're innocent, you're still probably ruined.

I call that "you can beat the rap, but you can't beat the ride."

Strong anti-SLAPP legislation can help with some of that, but it's far from 100% and it's far from universal.

I don't know what country you reside, but in USA you are innocent until you are proven guilty. Prove of guilt is on the prosecution side, I don't have to prove I'm innocent. This and 5th amendment works magic against being wrongly accused; it also is indeed a deterrent to "carrier prosecutors" from trying to obtain prosecution via a good-old soviet style type of investigations: "give me a man, I give you a paragraph"

Edit: don't break the laws when you being prosecuted; and BTW: I don't drink alcohol at all. Period.

> I don't know what country you reside, but in USA you are innocent until you are proven guilty.

Yep. And you can sit in jail for a year or so while they figure that out at your trial. Of course you’ll have lost your job by then. And paid your lawyer a fortune so you’re broke. And your family is kind of screwed up over the whole thing and the hardship it caused.

But you were innocent. And that’s all that mattered.

Yep. It happens. And these are extreme cases in which system has failed. Usually you end up suying the system and state/county/whomever wronged you has to pony up millions in settlement. That's also probably the only reason the scenario you describe is very rare and not a norm.

It’s not rare, though it may not be for a year. And you can’t sue because the government did nothing wrong. You were found innocent at trial, that’s how things work. People found innocent don’t get to sue the government for wasting their time. If you can’t bail out you’re stuck waiting in jail.

Again it happens but very rarely. There will always be prosecutoral misconduct unfortunately. And yes absolutely you can sue anyone for anything. If you believe you were detained for too long you can sue the government. People do that all the time - sue for governmental neglect. You just have to have strong enough case. If you were held day too long thats nothing. A year thats a plain abuse.

Umm, kemiller2002 perfectly described the justice system of the good ole US of A. Once a prosecutor wants to get you, they stack all kinds of charges together to take your 1 year crime and make it a total of 10 years in prison, so you'll take a deal that gets you back to the original. At the Federal level, the conviction rate is 93%. Even if you are innocent, you can still be convicted.

> Edit: don't break the laws when you [sic] being prosecuted;

What? The whole point is you can't help but break a law.

OP described situation in which you are bailed then had DUI. That's my point. Don't break the laws when you are on bail.

Let me clear up. The problem isn't breaking the law with the DUI. It's violating the court order. A judge can impose any set of rules (read that right ANY), and you get tossed back in jail for doing that. Not drinking just happens to be a common one. But you say, "I'm over 21, it's legal." Now it's not, because the judge told you not to. What about accessing a computer? He can put that in there. Using a cell phone. "But that's an undue burden." Do you honestly think that matters?

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