From the Crime and Federalism blog:

Prosecutors to Defendant: Take Down Your Website and Move Out of Town

Mike

I get at least a couple of really kooky e-mails a week. Each time, it's some person writing to tell me that his case is the next Constitutional Right Case of the Twentieth Century. It never is.

In any event, today I receieved what I thought would be yet another kooky e-mail, with the sender writing: "Please get involved, the time is right and there needs to be someone brave enough to join me. Rosa Parks was a lightning rod, I feel the same way." Self-comparisons to civil rights heroes is almost dispositive evidence that the sender is a kook. But this time I'm not so sure...

The sender of the most-recent e-mail attached a proposed plea agreement that was purpodedly drafted by Hawaii prosecutor Marc E. Guyot. I took a look. The attached document was, as they say, very, very interesting.

In the plea agreement, the prosecutor agrees to dismiss all charges against the defendant if the defendant will, among other things, take down his website (which is critical of local police) and move out of town. No community service, no probation. Shut up and move out of town and prosecutors will kick the case.

Has anyone heard of such a proposed deal? It seems pretty bizarre to me, and does have the smell of some home cooking. Thoughts?

(The proposed plea agreement is here; the defendant's website is here.)

UPDATE: I'm slammed with work right now, but I do intend to blog more about the case. The defendant seems to be getting a raw deal. My tentative conclusion is that the police and prosecutors, tired of his being a gadfly, have charged him under very questionable circumstances. His site is well worth checking out.

May 25, 2006 | Permalink

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Comments

So, what were the charges to begin with? The plea bargain seems to amount to: don't sue us, stop criticizing us, apologize, and get out of town, but there's not one hint of anything that's a crime.

Posted by: markm | May 25, 2006 9:11:27 AM

It's a bit more - also, "waive the statute of limitations, so we can charge you if you ever come back."

According to his website, the first set of charges were impersonating a public servant and two counts of harassment, the second set were terroristic threatening in the first degree and intimidating a witness (the officer from the first incident), and the third set were DUI, open container, resisting arrest, criminal property damage, and two counts of assault in the first degree against two Kauai police officers. Apparently for the third incident he was sleeping in his truck at the side of a road when somebody, curiously identified in the dispatcher's records as "Anonymous Pinkerton", called in to state that it looked like a truck had gone off the road.

The materials he obtained from the police department cast an interesting light on the events and charges. The plea bargain suggests that the screen grabs are authentic. The defendant asks, for example, how his name could be attached to that supposedly anonymous report of a vehicle that went off the road.

Posted by: Aaron | May 25, 2006 1:24:56 PM

Aaron, you are much more sophisticated and diplomatic than I. I was literally about to answer markm's question thusly: "Basically, the charges against the guy are bullshit."

Posted by: Mike | May 25, 2006 1:58:38 PM

The defendent is my son. Yes, the charges are bullshit. Please read all the info on his site. He has gone to great lengths to present his case to anyone who will listen. I am encouraged that NOW maybe someone besides the KPD will take an active interest in his case and put some pressure on "the powers that be". Thank you for careing.
Richard N. Pinkerton

Posted by: Richard N. Pinkerton | May 25, 2006 2:15:09 PM

Even if the charges were 100% true, WTF? As if he can't blog from any other town?

Posted by: mythago | May 27, 2006 1:09:41 PM

What a story!!! I just cant believe the amount of evidence that this guy has compiled angainst the unsuspecting Kauai Cops. The internal documents, the audio files, the other essential documents to his case. I especially like Pinkertons saying of "my keyboard hits harder than your baton".

Posted by: Rolando | Jun 7, 2006 2:39:50 PM

Well, here is an update: I went in Pro Se for a Jury Trial Sept 18, 2006 and the prosecutors dropped the charges, they said they had no witnesses.(first arrest)

Then I did not sign their plea offer so they decided that my evidentiary hearing would be a bad thing for them so they indicted me three days before my scheduled preliminary hearing. I have the Grand Jury hearing on video posted on my site.

I have been purchasing many court transcripts and have uploaded them for your review.

The prosecutor tries to excuse the states witness without the jurors questioning the female officer, the jurors make the prosecutor bring her back for questioning.

There IS something we can do since the CHECKS AND BALANCES in the judiciary have failed.

Stand firm, do not let the judicial system fail you, follow my lead and expose crooked cops and prosecutors.

Posted by: Krstafer Pinkerton | Nov 12, 2006 8:07:47 PM