Pubdate: Wed, 15 Dec 1999
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 1999 The Denver Post
Contact:  1560 Broadway, Denver, CO 80202
Fax: (303) 820.1502
Website: http://www.denverpost.com/
Forum: http://www.denverpost.com/voice/voice.htm
Author: Bob Magnani
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FEEL SORRY FOR VICTIM

I don't know how the rest of Denver feels, but I was outraged at the Dec. 3
story "Prosecutor named in no-knock raid." 

The issue is whether "there was perjury in the application for a warrant." 

We are to feel sorry for the poor police (who shot the man dead in his own
bedroom after violently breaking into the wrong house) for their "monstrous
(psychological) burden" in taking an innocent man's life? Oh, please. Isn't
it the victim Ismael Mena, father of nine, we should feel sorry for? 

If any one of us had accidentally killed Mena with a car along a road, we
would be rightly prosecuted for manslaughter -- why not the police? 

When are we going to stop promoting (nay, enshrining) the idea that the
police are above the law? 

Between sloppy police work and self-serving district attorneys who always
seem to find "just cause" in police matters, it will get to the point that
no one will speak out for fear of reprisals from a police force capable of
murder with impunity. This way lies the LAPD and their image.

Bob Magnani
Evergreen
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake