Conley bus manslaughter dropped
Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn't. Mark Twain
They exist everywhere. You have them in your class, your family, your office, you could even be one of these people. The ones that hear a story and then take it onwards to tell someone else. 'Water cooler talk' is what it could be known as. You hear that Ted is sleeping with Jane in accountanting even though Ted is married to Susan. You tell the story that they were seen in a bar after hours talking and all of a sudden you think Ted and Jane are horrible people (or great people, depending on your own moral thoughts on cheating in a marriage), Susan is the helpless little housewife at home being spat upon and all gets filed away in memory as that. Then you do some digging and hear that perhaps Ted and Jane are not having an affair but were together that night ni the bar planning Susan's (who is Jane's best friend) surprise birthday party; or perhaps you learn that Ted and Jane are not sleeping together but Ted just found out that day that Susan is sleeping with Bill at her office and Ted needed a friend to talk to, that just happened to be Jane. Then, all of a sudden you have to do research, find out what happened to the story and you label those that told the story to you first as unreliable and rumour mongers, and you may get labelled as unreliable and rumour mongering as well by those that listened to your story and spread it around as fact. In the end, what is the truth of the scenario? no one really knows except Ted and Jane that night, and if it was a wrongful act, neither is going to tell the truth to the world, but leave it as the 'facts' tell it.
That, I think, is what happened a little over a year ago in the case of the Conley bus attack in Edmonton in 2006. I remember hearing about it on the news, how the teens 'swarmed' the poor man, beat him to death on the bus, and that people were telling newspapers about the brutality of it all. I remember listening to the news reports and taking sides with the co-workers saying how youths these days are becoming more and more uncontrollable and perhaps the justice system should take away the Youth Justice Act (or whatever they are calling it these days) and treat the little scum bags for the creatins that they are.
Now we get the news from the preliminary hearings that the witnesses of the attack did not actually see the attack because their view was blocked. The 'poor victim' had twice the legal driving limit of alcohol in his blood stream. The 'victim' struck first and the boys defended themselves with the just amount of force dictated by law and that the man's death was an unfortuneate accident caused by a freak and rare injury.
While we can not refute the actual medical reports as to what the injury was and all, this whole incident has suddenly brought the newspapers and reports of eye witnesses under question as to what is really an eye witness account. I have read a few reports that state that eye witness testimony of people recognition is wrong about 50% of the time (http://www.truthinjustice.org/lawstory.htm). This is not due to people being mean, nasty and lying, but simply because they are trying too hard to be a good citizen. Which makes me now wonder about what really happened that day. Can we really believe anything the news papers say or report? which is better, to have total and complete censorship of the news papers in reporting what happened (not reporting a case until all the facts have been accepted by a court of law, checked and double checked and then run through a board that will check these facts for accuracy and then decide whether the public needs to know), or to have a news paper able to report the events as they happen, as the people on the street talk, to the world (sort of like the gossip at the water cooler going "didja hear? Ted and Jane were seen at the bar last night after hours. Check back in 2 hours for more developments on this story"), or should it just be left up to the peoples common sense for the newspaper to run what they want, when they want to and hope that the people of the world reading the papers can sort out the gossip (the gossip of "ted and Jane might be having an affair" from the fact "Ted and Jane are having an affair. Here is sworn testimony, blood samples, video tapes of them having sex, photos of them having sex as well as the wife walking in and catching them kissing").
Either which way, can justice ever be really had in a world where we are limited by bad memories, bendable minds to society demands and expectations? Should we look at it from the angle that one drunken man on a bus was accidentally killed by four youths defending themselves, or should we look at it from the angle of a drunken man on a bus was beaten to death by 4 young thugs who will likely realize that they can not get away with murder and will try again in the future? Too bad humans don't come with 'instant replay' or a photographic memory that we can plug into a court camera and show what we saw without prejudice or memory degradation.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070511/conley_charges_070511/20070511?hub=Canada
Manslaughter charges dropped in transit bus death
Fri. May. 11 2007
Canadian Press
EDMONTON -- Four young men hugged weeping friends and family after Crown prosecutors dismissed manslaughter charges against them in the death of a man on an Edmonton transit bus after a fight over heavy metal music.
The victim's father said the decision means he will now never know how his son died.
Steve Conley wanted a trial to proceed, if only to hear testimony from the four youths.
"The four of them were probably the best witnesses to what happened," he said Friday from Apsley, Ont. "I would have liked to have seen this go to trial. Then the best witnesses would have been questioned.
"I am really clueless as to the exact facts of what happened."
The four youths -- one was 16 and three were 17 at the time of the killing -- were charged in the March 2006 death of Stefan Conley, 35, originally from Cookshire, Que.
Initial reports from witnesses, widely reported in newspapers and broadcast outlets, suggested that Conley was swarmed, kicked and stomped by four rowdy teens after he told them to settle down. The beating was said to have continued after Conley fell.
"The initial reaction that was played out in the media was one of a person on an ETS bus being swarmed and killed," prosecutor Bart Rosborough said outside court Friday.
"I think it was actually very educative for the public to see that once the full evidence came out, a very different story was told."
The original story collapsed during a preliminary hearing, which was held in public at the request of the defence.
Under cross-examination, the witnesses acknowledged they didn't actually see any kicking or stomping because their view was blocked.
Others testified Conley interrupted a conversation among the four youths about the rock band Metallica and insulted their taste in heavy-metal music. Court heard Conley and the teens then traded jibes.
A 16-year-old girl testified that Conley, who was five-foot-11 and weighed 198 pounds, crossed the aisle and punched one of the boys. The youths fought back, but one passenger told court they stopped punching Conley as soon as he let go of their friend.
The fight lasted about 10 seconds. Between five and 10 punches were thrown.
A medical examiner testified that Conley, who had a blood alcohol level twice the legal driving limit, died from a rare injury -- a pinhole tear in a tiny artery at the base of his brain, the result of a blow to the face or chin. He died within minutes of receiving it.
Conley's father also criticized early reporting on the case, saying it cost him the chance to see his son's body.
"Is anybody in the media going to stand up and say we reported a story without the facts?" he asked.
He said he decided to have his son cremated, based on telephone conversations he had with reporters during his trip west, who told him Stefan had been savagely beaten and kicked to death.
"We made the decision that we would prefer to remember him the way we remembered him from the last time we saw him, as opposed to some bloody, brutalized mess."
Conley never saw his son's body. When he read the coroner's report, he learned that his son had only a few cuts and bruises on his face.
"It's really changing my opinion of what I read in the media."
The case initially provoked widespread public outrage.
Security was tight at the youths' bail hearing and included a metal detector. Outside court, one person claimed to have a petition with 20,000 names on it opposing bail.
Rosborough acknowledged there was a chance of more public anger over Friday's dismissals.
"The system is often complex and sometimes difficult for the general public to understand, but the system has at its heart the principle that everyone is innocent until their guilt has been proven," he said.
"Our hope is also that the community responds, not by further blame, but rather by learning from this incident that violence is not an appropriate way to settle a dispute."
Edmonton police also drew fire for their handling of the encounter. Chief Mike Boyd admitted his officers failed to act quickly enough when they received information about the fight.
Conley, who has one other son and two stepdaughters, said the experience has left him feeling "kind of empty.
"All I can really do is move on with my life."
They exist everywhere. You have them in your class, your family, your office, you could even be one of these people. The ones that hear a story and then take it onwards to tell someone else. 'Water cooler talk' is what it could be known as. You hear that Ted is sleeping with Jane in accountanting even though Ted is married to Susan. You tell the story that they were seen in a bar after hours talking and all of a sudden you think Ted and Jane are horrible people (or great people, depending on your own moral thoughts on cheating in a marriage), Susan is the helpless little housewife at home being spat upon and all gets filed away in memory as that. Then you do some digging and hear that perhaps Ted and Jane are not having an affair but were together that night ni the bar planning Susan's (who is Jane's best friend) surprise birthday party; or perhaps you learn that Ted and Jane are not sleeping together but Ted just found out that day that Susan is sleeping with Bill at her office and Ted needed a friend to talk to, that just happened to be Jane. Then, all of a sudden you have to do research, find out what happened to the story and you label those that told the story to you first as unreliable and rumour mongers, and you may get labelled as unreliable and rumour mongering as well by those that listened to your story and spread it around as fact. In the end, what is the truth of the scenario? no one really knows except Ted and Jane that night, and if it was a wrongful act, neither is going to tell the truth to the world, but leave it as the 'facts' tell it.
That, I think, is what happened a little over a year ago in the case of the Conley bus attack in Edmonton in 2006. I remember hearing about it on the news, how the teens 'swarmed' the poor man, beat him to death on the bus, and that people were telling newspapers about the brutality of it all. I remember listening to the news reports and taking sides with the co-workers saying how youths these days are becoming more and more uncontrollable and perhaps the justice system should take away the Youth Justice Act (or whatever they are calling it these days) and treat the little scum bags for the creatins that they are.
Now we get the news from the preliminary hearings that the witnesses of the attack did not actually see the attack because their view was blocked. The 'poor victim' had twice the legal driving limit of alcohol in his blood stream. The 'victim' struck first and the boys defended themselves with the just amount of force dictated by law and that the man's death was an unfortuneate accident caused by a freak and rare injury.
While we can not refute the actual medical reports as to what the injury was and all, this whole incident has suddenly brought the newspapers and reports of eye witnesses under question as to what is really an eye witness account. I have read a few reports that state that eye witness testimony of people recognition is wrong about 50% of the time (http://www.truthinjustice.org/lawstory.htm). This is not due to people being mean, nasty and lying, but simply because they are trying too hard to be a good citizen. Which makes me now wonder about what really happened that day. Can we really believe anything the news papers say or report? which is better, to have total and complete censorship of the news papers in reporting what happened (not reporting a case until all the facts have been accepted by a court of law, checked and double checked and then run through a board that will check these facts for accuracy and then decide whether the public needs to know), or to have a news paper able to report the events as they happen, as the people on the street talk, to the world (sort of like the gossip at the water cooler going "didja hear? Ted and Jane were seen at the bar last night after hours. Check back in 2 hours for more developments on this story"), or should it just be left up to the peoples common sense for the newspaper to run what they want, when they want to and hope that the people of the world reading the papers can sort out the gossip (the gossip of "ted and Jane might be having an affair" from the fact "Ted and Jane are having an affair. Here is sworn testimony, blood samples, video tapes of them having sex, photos of them having sex as well as the wife walking in and catching them kissing").
Either which way, can justice ever be really had in a world where we are limited by bad memories, bendable minds to society demands and expectations? Should we look at it from the angle that one drunken man on a bus was accidentally killed by four youths defending themselves, or should we look at it from the angle of a drunken man on a bus was beaten to death by 4 young thugs who will likely realize that they can not get away with murder and will try again in the future? Too bad humans don't come with 'instant replay' or a photographic memory that we can plug into a court camera and show what we saw without prejudice or memory degradation.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070511/conley_charges_070511/20070511?hub=Canada
Manslaughter charges dropped in transit bus death
Fri. May. 11 2007
Canadian Press
EDMONTON -- Four young men hugged weeping friends and family after Crown prosecutors dismissed manslaughter charges against them in the death of a man on an Edmonton transit bus after a fight over heavy metal music.
The victim's father said the decision means he will now never know how his son died.
Steve Conley wanted a trial to proceed, if only to hear testimony from the four youths.
"The four of them were probably the best witnesses to what happened," he said Friday from Apsley, Ont. "I would have liked to have seen this go to trial. Then the best witnesses would have been questioned.
"I am really clueless as to the exact facts of what happened."
The four youths -- one was 16 and three were 17 at the time of the killing -- were charged in the March 2006 death of Stefan Conley, 35, originally from Cookshire, Que.
Initial reports from witnesses, widely reported in newspapers and broadcast outlets, suggested that Conley was swarmed, kicked and stomped by four rowdy teens after he told them to settle down. The beating was said to have continued after Conley fell.
"The initial reaction that was played out in the media was one of a person on an ETS bus being swarmed and killed," prosecutor Bart Rosborough said outside court Friday.
"I think it was actually very educative for the public to see that once the full evidence came out, a very different story was told."
The original story collapsed during a preliminary hearing, which was held in public at the request of the defence.
Under cross-examination, the witnesses acknowledged they didn't actually see any kicking or stomping because their view was blocked.
Others testified Conley interrupted a conversation among the four youths about the rock band Metallica and insulted their taste in heavy-metal music. Court heard Conley and the teens then traded jibes.
A 16-year-old girl testified that Conley, who was five-foot-11 and weighed 198 pounds, crossed the aisle and punched one of the boys. The youths fought back, but one passenger told court they stopped punching Conley as soon as he let go of their friend.
The fight lasted about 10 seconds. Between five and 10 punches were thrown.
A medical examiner testified that Conley, who had a blood alcohol level twice the legal driving limit, died from a rare injury -- a pinhole tear in a tiny artery at the base of his brain, the result of a blow to the face or chin. He died within minutes of receiving it.
Conley's father also criticized early reporting on the case, saying it cost him the chance to see his son's body.
"Is anybody in the media going to stand up and say we reported a story without the facts?" he asked.
He said he decided to have his son cremated, based on telephone conversations he had with reporters during his trip west, who told him Stefan had been savagely beaten and kicked to death.
"We made the decision that we would prefer to remember him the way we remembered him from the last time we saw him, as opposed to some bloody, brutalized mess."
Conley never saw his son's body. When he read the coroner's report, he learned that his son had only a few cuts and bruises on his face.
"It's really changing my opinion of what I read in the media."
The case initially provoked widespread public outrage.
Security was tight at the youths' bail hearing and included a metal detector. Outside court, one person claimed to have a petition with 20,000 names on it opposing bail.
Rosborough acknowledged there was a chance of more public anger over Friday's dismissals.
"The system is often complex and sometimes difficult for the general public to understand, but the system has at its heart the principle that everyone is innocent until their guilt has been proven," he said.
"Our hope is also that the community responds, not by further blame, but rather by learning from this incident that violence is not an appropriate way to settle a dispute."
Edmonton police also drew fire for their handling of the encounter. Chief Mike Boyd admitted his officers failed to act quickly enough when they received information about the fight.
Conley, who has one other son and two stepdaughters, said the experience has left him feeling "kind of empty.
"All I can really do is move on with my life."
posted by Capt_Canuck at 9:29 PM
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