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Court: Man convicted of Roxbury gun rampage had no right to go on field trip with jury to the scene

A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that Charkeem Hyatt will have to finish his 12-to-15-year sentence for shooting four people outside the old Packy Connors in 2009.

The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled Hyatt's constitutional rights to due process and his presumption of innocence were not violated when a judge refused to let him tag along with the jury when they visited the area around Packy Connors on Blue Hill Avenue during his 2012 trial on charges he opened fire as people exited the Blue Hill Avenue bar at closing time after a fight outside the bar. The jury agreed with Suffolk County prosecutors and convicted him.

As the Massachusetts Appeals Court and a federal district court had earlier ruled, the federal appeals court said that a jury "view" of the scene did not deprive Hyatt of any rights because no legal arguments or testimony took place there and his lawyer still had the right to contest in court anything jurors might have seen at the scene.

Because of that, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Patrick Brady, the court said, did nothing wrong in ruling that Hyatt could not attend the view because of security concerns related to the trial of somebody charged with serious crimes.

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Comments

Our criminal justice system is such a joke, where billions of dollars are wasted on bullshit appeals. We need to learn from the Japanese, they know how to deal with criminals.

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...or, you just put the accused in handcuffs and bring them to the scene. What security concern makes that a problem? That this is some sort of Hannibal Lecter that has to straightjacketed, strapped down, and covered with a hockey mask so they don't mastermind their escape?

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Maybe it wasn't that the judge was scared that he'd escape or bite people or whatever but that some of the people related to his victims might try to take revenge on him. Protecting him from an attack would take a lot of resources.

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Problem is, he was already tried and convicted, but he's trying to walk on a bullshit technicality. "Your honor, my client though he heard "please open up, not police, open up! That was an illegal search, please strike the bloody chainsaw and all those body parts from evidence!"

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The legal system worked: He's still behind bars.

Astounding as it may seem, though, there are people whose rights are violated. It's appeal systems like this that make it possible to get out from under those sentences and keeps prosecutors honest. This guy is what we have to put up with to ensure that everybody's rights are upheld (and again, he's still sitting in prison tonight).

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Thank you for a calm, reasonable reminder that a constitution that doesn't protect dirt bags doesn't protect you and me.

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You meant to say "does protect dirtbags." I suppose there's some comfort in knowing that we too can be protected if we decide to become dirtbags. As far as "justice system worked this time" goes, there's at least 10 stories about criminals beating charges on a minor technicality that would be laughed out of court anywhere else in the civilized world for every story about a conviction being upheld.

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Can you link me up with those ten stories?

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If someone shot me, I'd expect them to spend at least 10 years in prison, not a day less, and hopefully 20 or more. Multiply that by 4 (no volume discounts), and we get 40-80+ years.

You shoot 4 people, and you should never be inflicted upon society again.

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