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News: White House Responds - "Making a Murderer" Petitions @ 500k
ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 22,126
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if y'all haven't watched it. i highly recommend you do.
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 26,488
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Quote:
Originally posted by Roman Holiday
It really kind of irks me that minorities have been trying to get white people to see the light for years now about police corruption, and now because the posterboy is a white man, it's all over the news.
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It has nothing to do with skin color. It has everything to do with how great the quality of the documentary is.
I'm hoping this turns into a series and they focus on a minority going through the same situations next season.
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 15,128
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Quote:
Originally posted by J P O W
It has nothing to do with skin color. It has everything to do with how great the quality of the documentary is.
I'm hoping this turns into a series and they focus on a minority going through the same situations next season.
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It is a great documentary, but you can't tell me skin color doesn't play a partial role. Other wise, the unjust deaths of several minorities in the news would have garnered the same reaction, but they didn't.
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 3,228
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This is all very nice, but I don't think the President can pardon them since this isn't a federal a case and his hands are tied by the Constitution (correct me if I'm wrong).
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 8,579
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Quote:
Originally posted by Roman Holiday
It is a great documentary, but you can't tell me skin color doesn't play a partial role. Other wise, the unjust deaths of several minorities in the news would have garnered the same reaction, but they didn't.
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How many of those have some major Netflix documentary, though? I suppose you could argue Netflix chose this one on race/media ran with it on race (though the latter seems unlikely, seeing as how often we get "White cop shot black person!" news), but I'm pretty sure regular people are just offended by the overall thing rather than it being skin tone related.  Most don't know about the minority cases, so they can't get offended over something they don't know about.
Quote:
Originally posted by Kendi
This is all very nice, but I don't think the President can pardon them since this isn't a federal a case and his hands are tied by the Constitution (correct me if I'm wrong).
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I'm truly not sure, though I did consider this.
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 3/22/2012
Posts: 53,769
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The President cannot pardon him; only his state Governor can.
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 3,228
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Quote:
Originally posted by Repo
How many of those have some major Netflix documentary, though? I suppose you could argue Netflix chose this one on race/media ran with it on race (though the latter seems unlikely, seeing as how often we get "White cop shot black person!" news), but I'm pretty sure regular people are just offended by the overall thing rather than it being skin tone related. Most don't know about the minority cases, so they can't get offended over something they don't know about.
I'm truly not sure, though I did consider this. |
Well there is federal law and civil law. Avery's case was a civil law case. According to the constitution the President has a right to give pardon only to those who have committed a federal crime, which Avery did not. So the POTUS basically cannot do anything (source: I just passed a US constitution class, also this)
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 3,228
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 3/22/2012
Posts: 53,769
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Quote:
Originally posted by Kendi
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And while Scott Walker is a totally questionable person, that may be for the best (don't click the link if y'all don't want spoilers, but I'm not going to put it in tags for a nine-year-old case).
I'm not saying that I know everything about the situation, case, etc. and I've only just started watching the series, but there seems to be reasonable backlash toward the allegations of the documentary, despite the explosion of support from people who watched.
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 26,488
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The White House still has to comment on the petition now, even if the President can't pardon him. I'm sure all we will get is a "That's in the Governor's hands" but it will still be interesting to see what happens.
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 8,579
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Quote:
Originally posted by Retro
And while Scott Walker is a totally questionable person, that may be for the best (don't click the link if y'all don't want spoilers, but I'm not going to put it in tags for a nine-year-old case).
I'm not saying that I know everything about the situation, case, etc. and I've only just started watching the series, but there seems to be reasonable backlash toward the allegations of the documentary, despite the explosion of support from people who watched. |
I figured he killed Teresa, and actually tried to find more evidence about the case, but yeah. All I really saw was more evidence of police corruption. I have no doubt at ALL that they rigged things to get him arrested and that Avery didn't get a fair trial, but at the same time.... this evidence still fits into being WAY beyond a reasonable doubt, even when you throw out the coerced confession (which makes the corruption even more painful. They could easily have gotten a conviction without it  )
So basically, everyone is guilty here 
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 26,488
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The White House response
Quote:
Thank you for signing a Change.org petition on the Teresa Halbach murder case, currently featured on the "Making a Murderer" documentary series. We appreciate your interest in this case.
To best respond to your petition, we should go over what exactly presidential pardoning power entails.
The U.S. Constitution grants the power of clemency to the President:
"The President ... shall have Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States."
This clemency authority empowers the President to exercise leniency towards persons who have committed federal crimes. Under the Constitution, only federal criminal convictions, such as those adjudicated in the United States District Courts, may be pardoned by the President. In addition, the President's pardon power extends to convictions adjudicated in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and military court-martial proceedings. However, the President cannot pardon a state criminal offense.
Since Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey are both state prisoners, the President cannot pardon them. A pardon in this case would need to be issued at the state level by the appropriate authorities.
While this case is out of the Administration's purview, President Obama is committed to restoring the sense of fairness at the heart of our justice system. That's why he has granted 184 commutations total -- more than the last five presidents combined -- and has issued 66 pardons over his time in office (https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015...dents-combined).
This Administration has taken a number of important actions to reduce the federal prison population (https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics...statistics.jsp) in keeping with the President’s continuing efforts to enhance the fairness and effectiveness of the criminal justice system (https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press...justice-system) at all phases and to better address the vicious cycle of poverty, criminality and incarceration that traps too many Americans and weakens too many communities. These include:
-Signing the Fair Sentencing Act, a bill that reduced the 100-1 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine, and eliminated the mandatory minimum sentence for simple possession of crack cocaine (https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010...sentencing-act).
-The Justice Department's "Smart on Crime" initiative, in which federal prosecutors are concentrating efforts and resources on the worst offenders and avoiding triggering excessive mandatory minimums for low-level, nonviolent drug offenders (http://www.justice.gov/sites/default...t-on-crime.pdf).
-Commuting the sentences of dozens of people sentenced under outdated and unfair drug laws (https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015...-second-chance).
In 2014, President Obama also issued an Executive Order creating a Task Force on 21st Century Policing (https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014...ntury-policing) that produced a concrete blueprint for cities and towns seeking to put in place new strategies to build trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve while enhancing public safety. (The Task Force’s Final Report is available here: http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/policingtaskforce.)
And he has met with Americans across the country who are working to improve the criminal justice system, from law enforcement officials working to lower crime and incarceration rates, to former prisoners who are earning their second chance. Last summer, he became the first sitting president to visit a federal prison (https://medium.com/@WhiteHouse/behin...e8b#.dolmltkxc). And he continues to work with Congress to pass meaningful criminal justice reform that makes the system more cost-effective, fairer, and smarter, while enhancing the ability of law enforcement to keep our communities safe (https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press...justice-reform).
To view our response to the Teresa Halabach murder case on We The People, click here: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/res...ch-murder-case
Thanks again for raising your voices. We hope you'll continue to participate on the platform.
-- The We the People Team
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