Thinking Out Loud

Thinking over the Dave R ordeal makes several thoughts go through my mind.

Why was such a serious allegation handled by the HCSO rather then the BCA or another county as is usually the case?

The conflicts of interest are numerous:

-The employee was investigated by the employer's detectives.
-Evidence gathered by the employer's crime lab.
-The accused and accuser were both incarcerated by the employer.
-The employer used the same county attorney's office they have a regular working relationship with.
-The case tried in the same courts they have a regular working relationship with.

I could go on and on but in my mind there is no way in hell this could be impartial.


How did the HCSO handle this? After Dave was out for four months cooperating 100% with a very embarrassing investigation including seizing things from his apartment, his truck and taking his DNA they decide to arrest him, bring him in to be booked on his own shift and by his own squad. They could have just given him his charge papers and told him to appear in court the next day, but no, they wanted a dog and pony show. For the record none of his DNA matched anything or was found on anything and none of the things taken in their search warrant were used in the trial. Nothing.

Ask yourself: Would this have happened in any other law enforcement agency? Would this have happened to a cop?

Now this case appears headed for a retrial. Why? The prosecution couldn't even prove their case the first time. How much more tax payer money must be spent on a 4th degree CSC investigation? An accusation of mutual sexual contact made by a felon 8 or 9 months after the alleged incident with no witnesses or physical proof whatsoever! Just the word of a felon who told 4 different versions of the story. So far they've paid Dave for 14 months not to be at work, spent more taxpayer money on a losing trial and are willing to spend more to do it all again.

How would I like to have seen this done? Let's look across the river. When a Ramsey County jailer was caught red handed in a child solicitation sting Sheriff Fletcher had him booked at the Dakota County jail and the investigation was handled by others. He didn't want one of their own booked into the jail that employed him. Even Sheriff McGowan had the good sense to have the BCA handle Jenkins accusations.

I don't believe for one minute Dave did the things they have accused him of and I'm fucking mad at the way the entire matter was and is being handled. I think things would have been handled totally different if he were licensed and if they didn't think he was gay.

One last thing to keep in mind. Dave has not been found guilty of anything. Dave has the full backing of Teamsters Local 320, the full backing of Team Legal and my full backing until they can prove, prove in a court of law beyond a reasonable doubt that he is guilty.