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PaperclipPerfector  5d ago (text post)   20008 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 20, 2025

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Court opinion with possible culture-war implications:

  • Morales-Torres and Rivera drive to Almodovar's house in Morales-Torres's truck, and do not return. Worried, Morales-Torres's romantic partner drives by Almodovar's house, sees Almodovar with bloodstains on his shirt and Morales-Torres's truck still in the driveway, and calls 911. Several hours later, Morales-Torres's truck is found elsewhere, on fire and with Morales-Torres's and Rivera's bullet-riddled corpses inside it. Almodovar is charged with two murders.

  • Almodovar claims that he only defended himself from an attempt by Morales-Torres and Rivera to rob him of 20 k$ of drug money, and he had a cousin (who later died while committing a robbery) burn the corpses because he thought no one would believe the self-defense story. But the jury disbelieves the self-defense story and convicts Almodovar on both counts.

  • Almodovar appeals, arguing that there was insufficient evidence for the jury to find the "specific intent to kill" that a conviction of murder requires. But the appeals panel affirms.

    Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, as we must, we find that the jury rationally concluded Almodovar's account was false. Almodovar's argument relies on the fact that his testimony was mostly unrebutted. Of course, that is largely because Almodovar covered up the crime. That this case involves a claim of self-defense does not detract from the principle that circumstantial evidence is sufficient to meet the Commonwealth's burden, and Almodovar's argument fails to account for the inferences that may be drawn from his testimony that he covered up the crime. It is well-established that efforts to conceal wrongdoing may be considered as circumstantial evidence of guilt. [Citing a 1988 decision of the state supreme court:]

    Evidence of [the defendant]'s disposal of the body supplied important proof relative to whether she acted with malice. Human experience teaches that persons who commit justifiable homicides, without malice, do not ordinarily feel compelled to destroy the victim's body. Rather, it is those who harbor a guilty conscience, believing their acts not to have been justified, who are most likely to conceal evidence of their deeds.

    Thus, even setting aside the implausibility of Almodovar's testimony of how the shootings unfolded, we conclude that his post-shooting actions are more than sufficient circumstantial evidence establishing that the victims were not the aggressors. Indeed, his concealment and destruction made it impossible to test, for example, the firearm destroyed in the fire. Moreover, the pathologist could not fully test the bodies for evidence like gunshot residue or conduct a complete autopsy. Accordingly, the circumstantial evidence readily supports the jury's finding that Almodovar specifically intended to kill both men.

But is the state supreme court's pronouncement of "the wicked flee when no man pursueth" truly applicable in the modern age? According to a recent poll, in 2023 confidence in the police was only 49 percent among whites and a pitiful 31 percent among nonwhites in the US. Those numbers recovered to 54 percent and 44 percent (respectively) in 2024, but even that is a bit lower than one might expect. Should a defendant's distrust of the police be held against him in court?

This is an incredible non-sequitor. The people that the defendant had to fear weren’t the police, but rather the jury. Bring stats on opinions on a jury of one’s peers if you please, but the police themselves were not a danger to this man. And if you distrust juries, then suggest alternatives. Note that the final alternative is relying on justice through violence itself.

This argument fails on the basis of basic logic and on the basis of simple second-order consequences. I’m not remotely compelled by it, and surprised to see it here. Is this some kind of psyop to make the phenomenon of the underclass distrusting the police seem even less compelling? I see you’ve succeeded in getting people downthread talking about it. Otherwise, I’m just baffled.

The people that the defendant had to fear weren’t the police, but rather the jury.

Trust in juries is 58 percent. But the jury doesn't matter if the police destroy or hide exculpatory evidence, or the prosecutor or the judge doesn't let you present exculpatory arguments. (I'm not suggesting that such fears are reasonable.)

According to other surveys, trust in the state courts is 63 percent, but trust in the judiciary as a whole is 35 percent. So I guess the numbers are all over the place.

These numbers are "skewed" for this question in that they are not directly asking why people dont have faith in the juries or judges or prosecutors or courts in general.

As someone who interacts with the system on a regular basis, the correct answer to "why don't people trust XXX part of the court system" is not because they are or know a convicted felon who is innocent, instead it is because they think criminals are going to go free. Those that think criminals will go free, are, of course, correct. Most cases end up dismissed or plead to minimal conditions because trials are a huge pain to actually put on.

Take something as simple as a misdemeanor DUI case where you are the victim who's care was hit by a drunk driver. On day 1, you get hit. On day 30(ish) you go to court and there is a continuance. You file your civil claims. The defendant's team doesn't cooperate based on vague assertions of 5th amendment stuff in the civil case. Plus he's prolly got no money anyways. On day 60(ish) you again go to criminal court. Nothing happens again. People tell you to stop coming until trial. Then, all the sudden 22 months later you get a letter in the mail telling you to go to court at 9 AM on a wednesday for trial. If you are astounding, you come. The defense weasels out of the trial and gets a new date. Now you have lost 3 days of work and the case is still going. Repeat until you or the police officer doesnt show up and the case is dismissed.

Now you have heard a summary of the average DUI victim's experience with criminal courts.

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