Thieving scum

[KRISSE]

Jeezes Christ!!!

[SteveR]

Old news as well. The guy is probably playing 'Pick up the soap honky!' in the showers at the State prison by now.

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2...s-vets-estate/

Hey Mr pick up that bar of soap I dropped will ya?
Oh you mean this bar of soap over hereeeeeeeeeh!!!!!!!!

[drmessimer]

Unfortunately, in order to read the complete article explaining why the charges were dropped, one must register and subscribe to the Texarkana Gazette. If any of you did subscribe and read the entire article, would you please tell us what happened? In the absence of solid information, let me pose a possible reason for the dismissal of charges.

The son and last owner, Eric Randleman, had died in January 2011, and presumably his house was standing empty. John Kelly entered the house and took the artifacts "later in the year." It is reasonable to assume that Kelly knew what he was after and knew it was in the house, which implies prior knowledge. And the delay in taking the artifacts indicates that he saw no urgency to get them. There is no indication in the news report that anything else was taken, and there is no indication that forced entry was used, although the word "ransacked" was used.

The next important point is that the police apparently knew about Kelly, but they didn't make the arrest. Instead, Kelly, together with his attorney, self-surrendered, which means that he was told the police wanted to see him and why. What this shapes up to is a scenario something like this:

Eric Randleman and John Kelly were in all probability acquainted and it's possible that they had some sort of understanding that when Eric died, Kelly could have the Sr. Randleman's effects. The fact that there is no mention of any surviving family members living in the immediate area after Eric's death suggests that, or at least, makes it a possibility. But let's assume that is the case.

So, Kelly enters the house, makes a shambles looking for what he's after, finds it, and leaves. The police enter the case "later in the year" and determine fairly quickly that John Kelly is the guy they want. Kelly makes no attempt to evade arrest, instead, accompanied by his attorney, reports to the police, self-surrenders, and is booked for burglary--a felony that requires entry with intent to steal or commit another petty or felonious crimes.

In the meantime Kelly is released on relatively low bail ($5000), and the case goes to the District Attorney who determines that there is reason to believe that Kelly had a right to the property based on a prior written, or witnessed oral, agreement. At that point the DA dismisses the case on the grounds that the issue is civil rather than criminal.

In all probability, something along those lines is what happened. DA's in the US are very reluctant to issue a criminal complaint in a case that has a strong possibility of the court ruling it a civil case rather than criminal. As to the eventual outcome of the property, that's probably going to be up to a civil court. It might be returned to any of the surviving family members, or Kelly might keep it.

But the real lesson here is, don't believe everything you read in a US news paper, or see on US TV. About the only reliable information the American media puts out is that something happened, on a certain date. After that it's all hype to sell papers. Three things make news in America, sex, violence, and scandal. Accuracy and truth are not terribly important. Dwight

[Greenhorn]

drmessimer

Please, lets not forget that in this case it's possible that an innocent man man was arrested, jailed, charged with a felony, acquitted, released, and possibly later sued in civil court. What the facts are though, this (possibly, since I'm not fimiliar with the case) innocent man is now a formerly charged felon and must disclose such on any job application for the remainder of his life. Seems like the legal system has done its job as it does in every case, made bucket-loads of cash for the lawyers and left the innocent man, bankrupt and without a future.

Moral of the story, the threshold of any door is sacred, don't cross it unless you're sure where it is you're stepping.

There are countries where after judgement is passed, the losing party flips the bill for the complainant AND defendant's legal obligations, the U.S. should subscribe. Such a system would deal away with frivolous lawsuits.

Green

[Thanatos]

"Three things make news in America, sex, violence, and scandal. Accuracy and truth are not terribly important. Dwight "

unfortunately it is no different here in Australia Dwight (The ABC maybe the exception).Commercial TV dramatisation,the truth has no relevance in compassison to ratings.

Cheers
Dave

[kylesbullets]

At least the items were found. Who has them now? Does anybody know?

[drmessimer]

Green: I could not agree with you more. The court does have the authority to erase the arrest if it's deemed "in the interests of justice." It doesn't happen often and it probably won't happen this time. "Moral of the story, the threshold of any door is sacred, don't cross it unless you're sure where it is you're stepping" is good advice, but too often people "know" where they are stepping. Years ago I read a quote attributed to Albert Einstein, which I think fits people who do what Kelly did. Einstein: "Only two things are infinite; space and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about space." Dwight

[Walkwolf]

Lol - as some wise guy once said: 'The Law is an Ass.........'

Maybe there were other circumstances here, but clearly the guy has no right
to break into someones estate and take what may or may not have been
willed, promised, or agreed until family or estate lawyers give the
go ahead - you'd think ! - I guess he figured he might as well
steal it all before someone else did.........!

[Greenhorn]

Green: I could not agree with you more. The court does have the authority to erase the arrest if it's deemed "in the interests of justice." It doesn't happen often and it probably won't happen this time. "Moral of the story, the threshold of any door is sacred, don't cross it unless you're sure where it is you're stepping" is good advice, but too often people "know" where they are stepping. Years ago I read a quote attributed to Albert Einstein, which I think fits people who do what Kelly did. Einstein: "Only two things are infinite; space and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about space." Dwight

lol, Einstein hit the nail on the head. "in the interests of justice"....only after paying an attorney to strike the record. As with juvenile records, they exist into udult life and will stay there until an attorney is hired to request the courts for their removal. Do keep in mind I'm referring to Illinois law and CA law may differ.

[drmessimer]

Steve: I have to say that you certainly have a knack for getting right to the point as you did when you wrote, "clearly the guy has no right to break into someones estate and take what may or may not have been willed, promised, or agreed until family or estate lawyers give the go ahead - you'd think ! - I guess he figured he might as well steal it all before someone else did.........!" Certainly he did not have a right to enter and he could (should) be charged with tresspassing if nothing else. But in this country the criminal courts are happy to kiss-off the "petty" stuff to the civil courts, so that a trash charge like tresspassing is dead in the water. Dwight

Kylesbullets: My guess is that the police will retain custody of the property until some court sorts it out. I think it's a miracle he had not already sold all or part of the stuff. Dwight

Green: The Illinois and California criminal justice systems are essentially the same when it comes to maintaining criminal records. In fact, I think that's true throughout the US. Actually, In my view, if Kelly's rap sheet causes him problems later in life, it's his own fault. Dwight

I hope someone buys a subscription to the Texarkana Gazette so that we can find out what actually happened. In the meantime, I'm going to do some snooping around and see what I can find. If we get lucky, we will all know. Dwight