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from the dismissed-dismissed-dismissed-echo-echo-echo dept.
The case against James Bates, an Arkansas man and Amazon Echo owner charged with first-degree murder, has been dropped by prosecutors:
Arkansas prosecutors have dropped their case against James Bates, whom they had charged with first-degree murder partly with the help of evidence collected by an Amazon Echo smart speaker. On Wednesday, a circuit court judge granted their request to have the charges of murder and tampering with evidence dismissed.
The prosecutors declared nolle prosequi, stating that the evidence could support more than one reasonable explanation.
The move marks a curious end to a still more curious case, which had revolved around the role played by a personal assistant device that's supposed to begin recording as soon as someone says its wake word — "Alexa," in this case — in its presence.
Previously: Police Seek Amazon Echo Data in Murder Case
Amazon Continues to Resist Requests for "Alexa" Audio Evidence in Arkansas Murder Case
Can Amazon Echo Help Solve a Murder? Police Will Soon Find Out.
Related: Law Enforcement Has Been Using OnStar, SiriusXM, to Eavesdrop, Track Car Locations
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday December 02 2017, @05:38AM
This this this is the greatest day day day in MasterBates life life life
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 5, Insightful) by sjames on Saturday December 02 2017, @08:37AM (3 children)
Let's not forget that the guy still spent 2 years in hell that he'll never get back. That includes loss of his job and lost custody of his son. It's good that the prosecutor did recognize that basically they had nothing, but in that context, I'm skeptical that 2 years constitutes a speedy trial. All that and he still has a year to go before the clock runs out on re-filing the charges and starting the whole thing over again.
The deceased had a BAC of 0.32 when he was found. That's about 2 drinks short of surgical anesthesia.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 02 2017, @12:56PM
So government is not doing the job it has been tasked to do?
Perhaps we should hesitate before demanding that government get even more entangled with even more parts of our lives?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bradley13 on Saturday December 02 2017, @07:27PM (1 child)
"Let's not forget that the guy still spent 2 years in hell..."
This. We must presume that he is innocent. An innocent person should not suffer these kinds of consequences, just because the government feels like dragging its feet. Who wants to bet that they were pressuring him the entire time to plead guilty to lesser charges, and kept him in jail as long as possible in hopes of finally getting a guilty plea.
Justice is supposed to be swift. If the government can't prove its case in X weeks, then charges are automatically dropped. Two years is nuts - maybe 3 months maximum. More: plea bargaining needs to be eliminated - like "lying to federal officers", it is abused too often. If the courts can't deal with all the cases properly, then maybe there are too many laws on the books.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by sjames on Sunday December 03 2017, @04:28AM
Very true. I sincerely doubt the body of evidence or their understanding of events has changed in the last year at least. I can't see much reason for a reasonable person to expect that to change in the last year. If they didn't have enough to be comfortable going to trial, they shouldn't have arrested him. Jail isn't supposed to be just in case. Nobody who would treat it that way should have the power to do so.
The sad part is that as the defense lawyer pointed out, this DA is more moderate than most.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 02 2017, @12:58PM (2 children)
"This man's life was saved by his Amazon Echo(tm)! Buy one for your home today and rest easy!"
I remember when people used to tape over their webcams. The idea of a hot mic in your house that a stranger is always listening to is something that my generation would consider a criminal offense.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by takyon on Saturday December 02 2017, @02:01PM
I'm not getting that vibe at all. Their case was apparently non-existent before they started demanding data from Amazon, which became a bit of a protracted process. Whatever data they got from the Alexa and smart water meter wasn't enough to build a good case against him. "OMG, he used a lot of water in the middle of the night! It's murder!!!"
If you had a home surveillance system or something, and it managed to provide you with an alibi against a murder charge, you would probably be relieved. That doesn't mean that people need to rig up their homes with 24/7 recording devices and microphones.
Rather than provide an airtight alibi for this man, it seems that the Alexa and water meter data "could support more than one reasonable explanation", or was otherwise entirely inconclusive. Remove Alexa from the equation and they still would have had to drop the case.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Saturday December 02 2017, @09:52PM
I remember when people used to tape over their webcams.
*Eyes move up to laptop camera*
Yup, tape still in place.