Can't rail on Joe Deters this time...

[Lew]

You've all seen me comment before how upset I get with Joe Deters, a man who, a la Lan's hero Douglas MacArthur, loves to get his picture in the paper.

But in fairness, I agree with him this time around. I speak, of course, of the two college students who are facing at least 20 years for armed robbery. When I first saw the article yesterday, my immediate thought was "here we go again"- you had Joe Deters, in the Enquirer, showboating to the good white voters of Hamilton County about how he put away two more black menaces. Joe does this a lot, it's one of my biggest criticisms of him.

As I read through it, though, I'll have to concede this one to him. Apparently he was getting flak for being too hard on these fine young men. Well, when that happens, you have no choice but to fight back, which he did by displaying the photos. The media still can't seem to get it right; the stories are being framed along the lines of "two college students are going to prison for stealing tuition money."

Um......no. Stealing money is usually "theft" or "embezzlement." They're not going to prison for that, they're going to prison for armed robbery. Sorry, Enquirer, but we have laws against holding a shotgun to someone's face and demanding money.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not about to let Joe off the hook for the crap he's done in the past, but like I said, in this case, I don't blame him. And I'm very disappointed in the Enquirer's coverage. I mean, I defended a lot of thieves (or would-be thieves) and trust me, there are no modern-day Robin Hoods. You may occasionally come across the poor mother who steals food for her starving kid. But on the whole, people who steal tend to do it primarily to support their drug habit (there are those who do steal out of good ol'-fashioned greed).

And again, we're not talking theft here, we're talking armed robbery and kidnapping. And besides, it doesn't matter if they are telling the truth. As if the cost of tuition is a defense to their charge. I mean, like, get serious...

[Beachcomber]

I agree with you Lew. Deters has been a real press hound over the years when it suits his own agenda. He ignored my letters to him for over a year and when Steve Chabot contacted him about PILS his answer was that his office had already told me it had no jurisdiction, so add liar to his resume too. I thought he ran for a higher office and wasn't the prosecutor anymore? Poor excuse for a prosecutor if you ask me...

[Lew]

Well, you've touched on what is my real problem with him. He had left the prosecutor's office and was elected Ohio Treasurer. He had is eyes on being governor, but those plans sort of fell through. There were various allegations of wrong-doing out of his office (there's a shock) and, in typical politico fasion, Joe himself never got docked but a couple of his aides pled guilty. There's no public record, of course, but my suspicion is that the boys in Columbus basically went to Joe and told him if he got the hell out of town, they'd close the investigation. As such, he resigned the post, then came back to Hamilton County to "restore" dignity to the prosector's office after the fiasco with Merciless Mike.

And then I see this guy on TV talking about how his office won't put up with wrong-doing. And honestly, it would be like me going around attacking men for having balding heads.

And don't get me wrong, Joe loves being in the paper holding up pictures of two black guys to the white voters. That is the very essence of that prosecutor's office, and has been for a long, long time.

But again, I can't blame him in this instance, because the media has been somewhat sympathetic towards these two. Who knows, maybe they really were trying to get tuition money. I find that extremely hard to believe, and from a criminal law point of view, it's irrelevant as to the commission of a crime (it may be relevant for sentencing).

But I cringe every time I read a story in the paper that gives the appearance of justification for criminal acts. I'll grant you, some issues are up for debate. Euthanasia, for example. Right now it's illegal, but there are those who believe it shouldn't be and I'll concede there is a debate out there. Or marijuana; there are those (myself included) who believe it should be legal.

OK I don't think anyone in their right mind would submit that it's ok to steal money to pay one's tuition, let alone going around pointing guns at people (for ANY reason).

Apparently these two men had no prior record, apparently they were doing well in college. I'm sure it is devastating to their families. I don't doubt for second they feel remorse over their actions. These are all things that factor into sentencing.

But determining the commission of a crime is a purely-factual endeavor. And based on those photos, it doesn't seem to me like there was much factual debate in this one.

Now, as for the woman in Finneytown who dared vandalize the cars of the St. X fans....I support Joe 100% on that one, and I hope they put her in Marysville for eternity. I'm even contemplating changing my position on the death penalty in this instance....

[Becky Eliza Potter]

Joe Deters should be impoached. He is not honest. He persecuted my ex husband for drugs.