Will Sam Riddle walk?

[Kevgoblue]

"Riddle did receive bribe money" seems to be sufficient for a conviction. It seems pretty straightforward to me. Whether he was elected or not does not seem relevant.

The Legal Dictionary defines the act of bribery as:
The offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of something of value for the purpose of influencing the action of an official in the discharge of his or her public or legal duties.

Maybe I misinterpreted the definition, but I don't see Riddle as receiving bribe money. Especially when you look at in the context of influencing the actions of a official. Synagro gained a huge contract. Conyers gained some under the table funds. Riddle was merely the middle man used in an attempt to minimize the possiblility of this conflict of interest being publicly observed. However he did not provide the money, nor did he have the ability to unfairly award the contract.

Due to the fact that the trial is going on, obviously the government can charge him. But to watch Sam trudge in and out of the courtroom everyday while it appears the true conspirators are going to walk with lesser slaps on the wrists reeks of injustice.

[Downtown Lady]

Yours was hostile and I responded. OK Now go take a hike!

Brittz, are you f'in kidding me? My statement verbatim was: "Pulling a gun = "bad boyfriend"? Understatement of the year." and you interpret that as hostile rather than observational? Seriously, are you kidding me?

Look, you are completely entitled to your opinion which may differ from mine, but once you start throwing out random, unnecessary comments about how I'm lucky that the gun wasn't in my face, you've crossed a line.

[ejames01]

That was pretty harsh. Was it necessary?

Yours was hostile and I responded. OK Now go take a hike!

[Downtown Lady]

Maybe I misinterpreted the definition, but I don't see Riddle as receiving bribe money. Especially when you look at in the context of influencing the actions of a official. Synagro gained a huge contract. Conyers gained some under the table funds. Riddle was merely the middle man used in an attempt to minimize the possiblility of this conflict of interest being publicly observed. However he did not provide the money, nor did he have the ability to unfairly award the contract.

Fair enough, Kevgoblue. Maybe the issue then is not whether or not he received bribe money, but whether or not it is illegal to be the middle man when someone bribes an official.

[ejames01]

Unless he didn't know what the money for, he is still part of the conspiracy. This is no different than a person picking up or delivery drug money.

Fair enough, Kevgoblue. Maybe the issue then is not whether or not he received bribe money, but whether or not it is illegal to be the middle man when someone bribes an official.

[R8RBOB]

As I see it, Sam Riddle was charged because of his association with Monica Conyers and what money he received because of his association with Monica Conyers. I think it is clear that these businessmen that wanted to get loans and favors from the city did not bribe Sam Riddle. Riddle was not an elected official. He was the chief of staff and money handler for Conyers. If the trial ends in a mistrial, one of the reason that could be blamed is that the government went in too heavy with evidence that show that Conyers was the bigger crook and yet they are trying him like an elected official.

[ct_alum]

One count of the indictment is lying to the FBI - Does anybody know if any testimony was given about this? Shouldn't be a gray area, either he did or he didn't; unless the definition of lying is at issue.

[wobbly]

Hung a jury once. It wasn't easy. We started out split 50-50. After the first vote shifted it was kind of a landlslide and then it was 11-1. I could get several to agree the confession was flawed [[18 year old with the mind of a 5 year old "confessed" without counsel or parent in the room) but not to change votes.

Sam is all about plausible deniability. Geoffrey Feiger said something to the effect that Sam has made his living for twenty years letting people think he can deliver what they want, when he really cannot. There's a lot of room for reasonable doubt.

The comments on freep.com are all about "accused means guilty". It doesn't. That's why there are juries.

I admit to being skeptical about the FBI. Their history with, for example, COINTELPRO, Leonard Peltier, and Judi Bari leave me little doubt they are motivated by politics.

In the Riddle case the prosecutions obsession with MonCon, the free ride for Synagro/Carlyle, and Sam's creation of gray area all around himself could well give rise to reasonable doubt for some jurors.

[Downtown Lady]

The judge has declared a MISTRIAL.

One juror refused to even deliberate with the other jury members. Sam Riddle was quoted as saying "The justice system worked for all of us today." It didn't work for me today.


http://www.freep.com/article/2010021...orruption-case

[R8RBOB]

MISTRIAL

One juror refused to even deliberate with the other jury members. Sam Riddle was quoted as saying "The justice system worked for all of us today." It didn't work for me today.


http://www.freep.com/article/2010021...orruption-case

Mr. Riddle innocence or guilt is not my concern but what I am concerned about is the negative perceptions that will be coming forthwith. That this lone juror voted for acquittal because he was Black, that she could not understand the evidence, that Whites wanted railroaded him. This is what sucks about this case. Perhaps the government could have listened to Sam when he said there weren't enough Blacks on the jury. Not everyone Black is going to buy his snake oil.

[LodgeDodger]

The judge has declared a MISTRIAL.

One juror refused to even deliberate with the other jury members. Sam Riddle was quoted as saying "The justice system worked for all of us today." It didn't work for me today.


http://www.freep.com/article/2010021...orruption-case

Amen, Sister.

[bartock]

Mr. Riddle innocence or guilt is not my concern but what I am concerned about is the negative perceptions that will be coming forthwith. That this lone juror voted for acquittal because he was Black, that she could not understand the evidence, that Whites wanted railroaded him. This is what sucks about this case. Perhaps the government could have listened to Sam when he said there weren't enough Blacks on the jury. Not everyone Black is going to buy his snake oil.

It really is a bad situation from that standpoint, because I think ultimately Sam will either take a deal, be retried and convicted, or be convicted for the Southfield stuff. After hearing of the hung jury, I was hoping the lone juror wasn't the black one, and I was REALLY hoping the reasoning wouldn't be based solely on race. Add into it her apparent indifference to the process, and it's just a festering ground for what will likely be a lot of misguided, emotional responses on all sides. It was interesting to see Sam somewhat contrite about the whole thing on the courthouse steps. He's smart, and probably knows that in a way this is bad all around.

[Buy American]

More race card bull$hit! The City will never heal and overcome these past years of corruption, raping, and pillaging until people look at facts and not race. Riddle would be very wise to cop a plea when the next trial begins...and I certainly hope there will be another trial.

[Danny]

Will Riddle walk? YES due to RACE CARDS! That proves that rich folks and politicians can't go jail but poor and middle income families do.

That is American justice system GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT! for the White collar crimes.

INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY for the petty crimes.

[R8RBOB]

More race card bull$hit! The City will never heal and overcome these past years of corruption, raping, and pillaging until people look at facts and not race. Riddle would be very wise to cop a plea when the next trial begins...and I certainly hope there will be another trial.

Technically, it was not race card bull$hit. The "race card" could only be pulled by Riddle had the jury unanimously voted for conviction and Riddle would have claimed that he was convicted because he had 11 non-Blacks on his jury. That would be pulling the "race card." What we had here today is some good ole' jury nullification by one perhaps due to racial preference.

[Kevgoblue]

Anyone heard how long John Clark got sentenced?

John Clark? Oh yeah. Ken Cockrel's former chief of staff that got popped on FBI surveilance a year or so ago.

[daddeeo]

You could see this one coming a mile away.

[Detroitej72]

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/22579636/detail.html

Sam said on his Twitter that one juror is in his corner. Since part the charges involve bribery, the Feds may want to check her bank account and see if she has been paid a large sum of money recently.

[Detroitej72]

Technically, it was not race card bull$hit.

It has been reported that the juror said the rest of the jury were out to hang a black man. Sounds like she pulled the race card.

[Buy American]

"Gandhi of Lake Orion said the holdout juror accused other jurors of being racist and at one point the juror sarcastically said, "Let's hang the black man."

Technically, it was race card bullshit.

[R8RBOB]

"Gandhi of Lake Orion said the holdout juror accused other jurors of being racist and at one point the juror sarcastically said, "Let's hang the black man."

Technically, it was race card bullshit.

It has been reported that the juror said the rest of the jury were out to hang a black man. Sounds like she pulled the race card.

Guys, guys....the race card concept was coined to describe a situation when

a) A Black man or woman is denied employement because of their race
b) A Black man or woman is charged with a crime based on their race
c) A Black man or woman is denied things such as a loan because of their race

In other words, the race card is used when said Black is denied something and uses their race as the reason why they didn't get it.

Going back to the juror, what does she get if Sam Riddle walks or better yet what does she not get if Sam Riddle walks?

[unclefrank]

Detroit will never move forword until all this race BS is put behind it. A crook is a crook.

[Ravine]

Yeah, a crook is a crook, but they have differing job titles.

The real crook is Monica Conyers, and we got her. Riddle was Conyers' Bag Man; if we needed him, in order to get her, then I would be more interested in getting him.

But, we already got her, so as far as I'm concerned, Riddle is Small Potatoes, and we can boil him, fry him, bake him or... just throw him back in the bag, because Job #1 is done.

[Just Amazed]

It really is a bad situation from that standpoint, because I think ultimately Sam will either take a deal, be retried and convicted, or be convicted for the Southfield stuff. After hearing of the hung jury, I was hoping the lone juror wasn't the black one, and I was REALLY hoping the reasoning wouldn't be based solely on race. Add into it her apparent indifference to the process, and it's just a festering ground for what will likely be a lot of misguided, emotional responses on all sides. It was interesting to see Sam somewhat contrite about the whole thing on the courthouse steps. He's smart, and probably knows that in a way this is bad all around.

Great observations from both, I am very irate that this juror based her entire process on a racial issue. Just curious but I wonder if the court will be looking any further into how blatant this juror was in regards to her obvious attitude regarding a black being prosecuted?

[jt1]

More race card bull$hit! The City will never heal and overcome these past years of corruption, raping, and pillaging until people look at facts and not race. Riddle would be very wise to cop a plea when the next trial begins...and I certainly hope there will be another trial.

So 1 person being foolish on the jury represents the city?
Convenient that you ignore the fact that the 11 other jurors wanted to convict.

This is a situation of one juror, not the entire city. Of course I would expect no less from you: Ignore the 11 so you can claim the 1 represents the city.