
Originally Posted by
foxtrot
I view every aspect of this with quite a bit of suspicion. The media portrayals, the conviction, etc. I tend to believe she was Russian associated, but not significantly tied, e.g. a very little fish. I have a hard time believing she had any real agency ties at all (e.g. not actually KGB), just perhaps associated with people who did.
Conviction is a misnomer, she pled guilty, as do something like 98% of all federal defendants. Federal defendants have no choice. The conviction rate in that system for those that go to trial, coupled with the plea rate, is over 99.5%. Practically North Korea, guilty from the moment of arrest. In her case, it's even worse. Whether guilty or innocent, she would be left without a choice thanks to the public nature of the case and trial by the public, her chance of prevailing at trial is zippity-do-dah in all circumstances (even more so than regular old joes, who are still boned) thanks to social justice judges not wanting negative headlines with their name attached.
Especially in the federal system, there is no trial, no justice, no guilt or innocence, it's a factory of plea bargains you have to accept, nothing else. At any rate, we all know the NRA thing is overblown and the media is trying to jump on this for political gain. I think it's just a tragedy that the justice system cannot actually be a system of justice and the fact is, we will never know what the truth is on this one. I would have liked to see a fair and impartial trial and see the un-molested facts. But, alas, we live here.