Hi, Rich, of course all of us would like to see this case come to an end, and Free be free, again; but, it's oversimplifying the matter to say it's just about egos, at this point. A real crime has been alleged, and a serious injury sustained by the complainant; the defendant is being held in jail, pending trial; a motion to dismiss the charges against him has been heard, with all the evidence available which tends to exonerate him presented to the judge. The judge heard this evidence, and denied the motion to dismiss, which means he is not convinced that Free is innocent. (This is not the same as believing he is guilty, it's just reserving a judgment until the trial of the whole case. The prosecutor was quoted in the paper as saying the evidence available was not, in her opinion, at variance with the complaint made against Free, thus leaving open the possibility the judge might find Free guilty following a trial.) Free's mom, and her lawyers, have done everything they can think of to move the case along. Short of a guilty plea, and a sentence of time served (which might lead to his deportation), Free may simply have to wait for his case to come to trial before he will again be free.
Latest on the 24th of December, Free`s lawyer spoke about several things that were "not right" in the way this whole mess has been handled. There were something about connections to the local mans brother(the politician), the chief of police in Cancun and "several important people"... Hes lawyer is taking the matter to Presidente Calderon if necessary, due to the "mishaps" that have occurred. More and more journalists/reporters are voicing their opinions and giving their support to Free. This kind of stuff is far from new in Cancun, but this gets quite a bit of attention thanks to him being a foreigner and thanks to the tape that has now been shown worldwide, something that the "victims" lawyer wanted to stop. Thank God for youtube I hope this gets straightened out, not only in the case of Free getting a fairl trial IF found guilty, but also all the involved people brought to justice in case he is declared innocent. I know thats a lot to ask for being in Mexico, but one can hope, right? Whatever the outcome, these idiots working in with the case have just added even more damage to Cancun regarding its future visitors I cant wait to see the outcome of this mess. I also would LOVE to see what happens with the connections they supposedly have found between the kidnappers and the brother(the politician). Cancun (Greg Sanchez etc.) has a great opportunity to kill several birds with one stone here and show off at least one positive thing to the world media. Will he take it...? *drum roll*
1.- So, "V," how long have you lived here? Just asking. Most probably somewhere in between believing that the system is working and that it will never work is the truth to be found. 2.- Greg needs all the PR help he can get as he is guilty of or being blamed for the beach rebuild project in Cancun being suspended possibly definitively. 3.- What put me on the "Free, Free" bandwagon was the fact that, after the video was made public and the truth started coming out, the complainant was going to drop all charges and even went down to the police station to do that. Then Free would have been freed since he was in jail not only for the crime but also until he paid for any damages.Then the complainant found out that if he dropped the charges, his insurance company would sue him to recover what it had paid for his injuries, he decided NOT to drop the charges. That was the bottom line for me. 4.- As for the judge, I am not sure why that fact was not taken into consideration if presented at all. And judges don't really "hear" anything. They read. Oral trials are about to come into existence but haven't yet. 5.- International pressure is coming to bear on the case which really shouldn't happen either in our perfect world.
Jim, length of residence in Mexico is not a criteria for posting here. My knowledge of the case is based primarily on newspaper reports, as perhaps is yours. My last post was addressed exclusively to the legal process: all who've followed this case, or this thread for that matter, are aware of the political aspects which, in any system, can influence the outcome without affecting the legal issues involved. Differences exist in the law and procedure followed here when compared with common law countries- whose laws and processes many of us are more familiar with. To speak of "hearing" a motion, does not imply that oral testimony was received by the judge, merely that the judge considered the motion to drop the charges- along with whatever the defense chose to present in support of the motion. My earlier posts outlined what I expected to be considered at the hearing. Quoting me-
I did not mean to offend you or start a flame war (again) but most people will agree that time living in Mexico does have an effect on their view of the criminal justice system. And I am not sure where you got the idea that I was trying to impose a time requirement for posting. I only post here. I don't make the rules. And, yes, my primary source of information is reading the newspapers--both online and printed. I have found your information interesting and informative but don't be sensitive--this is a rough crowd sometimes. We all have our points of view and if one has a right to express his or her point of view, then we all do.
Not to be cynical, but couldn't this mean that the judge's opinion was influenced by the receipt of a bribe? If I had a dollar for every mention I've heard of someone bribing a judge in Mexico, well, I might have enough money to bribe a judge. I'm not saying a bribe was given, but I think it would be naive not to allow that it may be a factor in the judge's ruling. Greg IS guilty, imho, of not planning ahead and making sure that the financing was secured well before it was needed. The fact that financing was left to the last minute is a sign of mismanagement and poor planning. But if Greg comes to pick up the garbage and fixes the potholes I'll forgive him. :icon_razz:
There is nothing in the case that I've seen so far to suggest the legal process has been subverted in any way; that the complainant may have lied when he gave his initial statements to the police in which he alleged that Free was the aggressor aside.
Lets not forget the missing testimonies(in favor of Free) and other pieces of evidence that magically just disappeared, these also in favor of Free...
Rawkus, your objection is well taken. Quoting me: Even I don't believe that! That part of what I said was overly broad. While not "subverted" perhaps, there is evidence the legal process has been "manipulated"; at least the press seems to think so, as they've pointed to the speed with which the case was processed to get to the point of arresting Free. As for the suggestion that there might be bribes involved, while possible, I would think none have been necessary to bring the case to this juncture- political influence alone, and the complaint filed against Free by the alleged victim, being sufficient. It appears to me that what may have been the strongest legal card has been played already, in the effort to get Free released quickly and, if political action doesn't get the job done, Free will have to win his freedom at trial.
I think we all know how much of a "fair trial" Free would get in Cancun... There is soooo much crap going on with this mess. I do hope they can prove the alleged connections between the kidnappers who snatched Free`s mom and the brother of the "victim". That would put a LOT of pressure, not only on Greg but Mexico as a whole. They would have the worlds eyes on them, and would have to do it by the books. Unless they want to shoot yet another hole in the tourism-ship that is already taking in a LOT of water.... Whatever the outcome - I hope(but doubt) that these idiots tampering with evidence etc. will understand that their actions go further than just protecting a "local boy" - That their actions actually harm business worth millions and millions of dollars and and also present and future job opportunities for the locals. By the way, I havent heard a thing about the kidnappers lately... Has anyone else read/seen/heard anything?
