Judge to throw out 421 convictions

[angrychair]

Apparently a now former Fairfax County Virginia police officer, Jonathan Freitag, made up reasons to stop black motorists and plant drugs on them during that stop.
The last case being worked out is the release of a former DC firefighter that lost his job after his arrest and conviction on evidence Freitag planted in his car.

This just blows my mind. This asshole ruined the lives of 421 people and he just rolls on. He actually got a job as a cop in Florida but got fired 2 weeks ago once they got blowback for hiring him.

Prosecutors said Freitag was involved in 932 cases during his three years as a Fairfax cop, according to the Post. Most were low level cases, but seven were felonies. In addition to the estimated 400 convictions, 21 pending cases were tossed

(Sorry for the Yahoo link, only one I found that everyone could access)
https://news.yahoo.com/more-400-convictions-involving-suspected-040100579.html

[Luciferous]

1. Why isn't he in prison?!

[LymphocyteLover]

11. Right??? FFS!!! I'm so tired of this utter criminality by the police.

[onlyadream]

15. Excactly... WHY?? nt

[SheltieLover]

29. This!👆

[underpants]

2. Hold it. This guy is only 25 years old NOW?

He must have been planting from day one. Yikes.

[DontBelieveEastisEas]

4. He couldn't stop at 420

I think I know what he has been planting. And if we could take day one from 421 it would make more sense to the senses.

[Demovictory9]

3. he admitted that he decided the stop the african american when he saw him leaving a recording studio

The Officer further admitted that Defendant, who is African American, was seen leaving a recording studio the Officer was watching and that is why the Officer chose to stop him,” according to Descano’s motion.

Descano said according to the department’s internal investigation: “The Officer admitted to a third party to engaging in racial profiling in determining which motorists to stop and the evidence corroborated this admission.”

https://wtop.com/fairfax-county/2021/04/fairfax-county-prosecutor-seeks-prisoner-release-claims-officer-bias/

[qazplm135]

5. as a black man who lived near that area

but luckily didn't quite overlap his time there as a cop by about a year, talk about scary!!

[Dawson Leery]

6. You can thank police "unions" for him getting away with it for as long as he did.

[2naSalit]

13. +1

[uponit7771]

22. +1, police unions aren't helping

[MagickMuffin]

7. He should be serving a sentence perhaps combine all the ones from his deceit

Because he falsified records, falsified everything.

So, combine ALL the years everyone he has affected and LOCK HIM UP!

[angrychair]

8. The case of the firefighter

Is particularly heartbreaking. I mean the guy just pleaded guilty because he knew he was going to get convicted anyway and pleading out was his only way to keep his sentence down.

Hope he can get his job back with the fire department but that not sure that's something he even wants now.

Just awful.

[LymphocyteLover]

12. so many people admit to crimes for just that reason... just awful

[lame54]

23. Good idea finish out the sentences of all 421 victims

[leftieNanner]

9. My husband and his buddy

were stopped back in the 70s - long hair and all - driving his VW bug in Northern California. Not far from the Oregon border. I think they had gone camping. They were pulled over, ostensibly for a tail light infraction. Two cops. While one was talking to my husband and checking ID and insurance, the other cop went around the other side of the car and dropped a baggie of pills in through the back window.

"Well, lookee here! What have I found? Looks like you boys are in a whole lotta trouble."

And they would have been. Except for the fact that my husband's buddy's father owned a large local business. The cop looked at the buddy's drivers license, noticed his name, and asked if he was from the family that owned the company. So buddy asked for the cops' names and badge numbers. He told them that he knew that they had planted drugs on them and told them if any members of their own families worked for that business, they might be losing their jobs.

"Well, no harm done here boys. You go on your way and drive safe. Be sure to get that tail light fixed.

And my husband and his buddy are white.

[radical noodle]

18. They were long-hair hippie types

in the 70s. They were targets back then.

[leftieNanner]

20. They were

And the buddy had a BEARD!!! Shocking!

[wnylib]

30. When I was young, back in my 30s,

I went to a local tavern that was having a band contest for the weekend. I knew some of the competitors and wanted to see how they did. My husband did not go but I expected to meet up with friends.

I arrived around 6 pm and had a rum and coke and a hamburger and fries as soon as I joined my friends there. The rest of the night I drank only coke because I had to drive home. I was just there for the music and to be with friends. I left after 2 am.

As I turned a corner a block from the tavern, a cop car pulled me over. One cop said, "Did you know that you drove up over the curb when you took that corner?" I hadn't. I had an old second hand car that was long and low. If I had gone over the curb, I would have done serious damage to the exhaust system.

But I was one woman at 2 am with 2 cops. I politely said that I did not know and was surprised to hear it. The same cop leaned into my open window and said, "Whew! This car reeks of beer." I said that couldn't be possible because I don't drink beer due to an allergy.

So they ordered me to get out of the car and do a couple physical sobriety tests that I passed easily. The cop who had spoken to me first kept insisting that I didn't pass so I requested both a breathalizer and a blood test. The cop's partner finally told him to drop it and they left.

They had been watching the tavern to pick someone to stop, certain that they would catch someone over the alcohol limit after an evening out and did not want to give up.

I am white and I was nervous over their lies. Would have been much worse if I were Black.

[gratuitous]

10. Why aren't the Fairfax police upset about this?

How much harder do dirty cops like young Freitag (he's 25!) make their jobs? I keep hearing how tough a job being a cop is, but it seems the cops make their jobs harder all by themselves. And they don't seem to mind it.

[2naSalit]

14. Addiction to profits rendered from their practices.

They will carry on until we make them stop.

[Politicub]

16. There needs to be a national police registry. And some kind of enforcement mechanism for

keeping the bad cops out of the system.

It's not that hard to figure out who the bad cops are, ffs. It's just that they keep getting protected by their union and moved around.

Maybe if it were treated as more of a profession instead of a job that takes about just anyone, we would have a more responsible police force.

Ha - I'm dreaming. I know. If things change, it's going to be in small pockets and in some cities. And probably not in the cities that need it most.

[crickets]

17. Agreed! nt

[BumRushDaShow]

19. Note too that it's usually not just the cops

but the D.A.s/prosecutors too. That's why here in Philly we threw the whole system out and put in a D.A. to clean it out. The FOP and the removed corrupt prosecutors are now whining about increases in "the crime rate".

This is what is meant by a racist criminal justice SYSTEM. It's the cops, the prosecutors, and in many cases, the judges. Then they can prance around claiming to be "tough on crime" yet the "crime" actually never goes down in the way it should. The "system" just makes it harder for the children growing up with that "system" because now their falsely-accused and imprisoned parent is unable to raise and mentor them, thus perpetuating a revolving door, generation after generation, of a demographic that is in and out of the (often) private prisons (PIC), uneducated, unemployable, lost.

[uponit7771]

24. +1, "and in many cases, the judges" ... Makes me think of Ferguson

[BumRushDaShow]

25. The judges thing was sickening here in PA with respect to a juvenile offender mill

Pa. Judge Sentenced To 28 Years In Massive Juvenile Justice Bribery Scandal

August 11, 2011 11:29 AM ET

Eyder Peralta


A Pennsylvania judge was sentenced to 28 years in prison in connection to a bribery scandal that roiled the state's juvenile justice system. Former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella Jr. was convicted of taking $1 million in bribes from developers of juvenile detention centers. The judge then presided over cases that would send juveniles to those same centers. The case came to be known as "kids-for-cash."

The AP adds:

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court tossed about 4,000 convictions issued by Ciavarella between 2003 and 2008, saying he violated the constitutional rights of the juveniles, including the right to legal counsel and the right to intelligently enter a plea.

Ciavarella, 61, was tried and convicted of racketeering charges earlier this year. His attorneys had asked for a "reasonable" sentence in court papers, saying, in effect, that he's already been punished enough.

"The media attention to this matter has exceeded coverage given to many and almost all capital murders, and despite protestation, he will forever be unjustly branded as the 'Kids for Cash' judge," their sentencing memo said.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2011/08/11/139536686/pa-judge-sentenced-to-28-years-in-massive-juvenile-justice-bribery-scandal

[uponit7771]

28. WOW !!!

[Laha]

21. Shouldn't he get charged with possession?

For every time that he did that, he would have needed to be carrying an illicit substance. That's potentially up to 421 counts of felony possession, and he's the one who admitted the evidence.

[ZERTErYNOthe]

26. This asshole ruined the lives of 421 people

This asshole ruined the lives of 421 people

That we know of. Probably many more.

[DontBelieveEastisEas]

35. Many Many More I imagine. Let us count the types

Sad, but true. And think of the pain this gives you and I. I feel a dent in the force.


932 cases, I can imagine that this cost fortune and debit for almost all of them.

What about their spouses, and children? Many lives not "ruined", but still a seminal moment.
Imagine your girlfriend left you. You didn't have money for car insurance(due to bail and whatnot) and so you were forced to pay a $1,000 for the fine and towing bill, when you got caught. Then caught again. Or you lost your car, at the tow yard. Lost your job.

Parents?
Spouses
Children
The Victim

And then the mistrust that builds in the general perception.
Others, doing the same types of Jobs as the bad guy, are shadowed.

Suddenly a child is in a less happy family. Or without a parent due to the continuance of the collateral damage.

[live love laugh]

27. This is only the tip of the iceberg. The devastating effects

to each of these individuals and their families are far reaching—even generational going forward for some.

[bucolic_frolic]

31. I remain convinced

that people in their jobs and careers engage in behavior that they perceive to be good for their careers and wallets.

"Find more crooks, protect the donuts and pensions."

[BobTheSubgenius]

32. Frietag is 25?!??!!

He got on this at an early age, so he almost certainly joined the police force with this pattern in mind. He'd better do some time...and that firefighter had better be compensated!!!

[rdking647]

33. as far as im concerned add up all the time served from the thrown out convitions

and lock the cop up for the same amount of time

[CanonRay]

34. And which other Fairfax cop taught him to do this?

A 22 year old rookie doesn't go off on his own and pull this shit.