Comments on: Regulations are regulations

By: Doug Martin

Doug Martin — Fri, 25 Jun 2004 22:16:18 +0000

I just saw the program on Primetime about Kenzi. I think she was railroaded by the F.B.I. because they wanted to look good to the Korean government.
I know what that is like. I too was accused of a crime I didn’t commit. But because of the “victims” age, none of her past could be admitted in court. It turns out that I am the seventh person she did this to. I served three and a half years in prison, and will be ostrisized for the rest of my life.
I could not afford an attorney so I had a public defender who just kept telling me to take a deal.
Anyway,enough about me.I believe Kenzi is innocent. Good luck.

By: Brendon Carr

Brendon Carr — Mon, 08 Dec 2003 05:10:31 +0000

Not every murder gets solved; life is not like television where handsome detectives have everything wrapped up by the end of the hour. We don’t believe or contend there was any coverup at all (we can leave that to the Hankyoreh and anti-military NGOs). The evidence points to the possibility that a G.I. committed the crime but the investigation did not produce leads that could be followed.

And again, the Korean trial court did not simply acquit our client on a technicality. As I quoted from the appellate judge, even if the court could accept the confession, it still doesn’t match the other evidence including witness statements.

By: usinkorea

usinkorea — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 00:42:32 +0000

I guess the Snider people are getting their money’s worth.

My opinion on the subject will amount to absolutely nothing in relation to Snider. I’m sure she will return to the US (at some point) and live out a reasonably comfortable life — guessing again since I have no clue what she was like before this case.

But since opinions are like bums….I have one….and my guess is she’ll have a nightmare or two from time to time about kicking the teeth from the mouth of a girl she called friend for at least part of the time.

If I am to buy the “other person” story or the GI story — since I believe her family said this was a military coverup — somebody would have had to follow them to her hotel (unless they gave the information to somebody, which was never reported at least from what I read) and they would have had to wait for Snider to leave once she “helped the girl” who was murdered in the shower. Then he/she would have had to wait for 10 minutes or more for Snider to come back “to check on” the victim and for Snider to leave again, before he/she went in and beat the victim to death.

So forgive me if I have trouble dismissing the FBI confessions out of hand.

I’m also pretty sure the FBI didn’t decide to go for a confession out of thin air. Or, coming from you S&S comment, are you advocating the GI murder coverup theory?

By the way, I’m not a soldier.

And again, I’m sure Snider won’t lose a second of sleep because I guess she’s a murderer…

By: Gerry Bevers

Gerry Bevers — Sat, 06 Dec 2003 23:28:52 +0000

Interesting comments, Brandon, but since your law firm is representing the defendant, we have to assume that your comments are somewhat bias.

Yes, innocent people have been sent to prison, but there are also a lot of murderers who have gone free.

If there is a profile of innocent people who confess to crimes they did not commit, I have a feeling that Kenzi would not fit that profile.

By the way, what excuse did Kenzi give for her confession to the FBI?

By: usinkorea

usinkorea — Sat, 06 Dec 2003 19:45:42 +0000

Having confessed a couple of times to having killed another human being, Snider should feel grateful for just paying a fine.

Of course, not being omniscient, maybe she didn’t do it. But when you confess to the FBI, the chanes she’s a murdering liar are pretty good.

By: Brendon Carr

Brendon Carr — Sat, 06 Dec 2003 08:19:40 +0000

Not all people who are convicted of crimes are guilty; DNA evidence is freeing a surprising number of convicted murderers and rapists including some who had in fact confessed to the crime. Similarly, not all confessions, whether given voluntarily, coerced, or otherwise elicited by interrogators, are necessarily true. There is a large body of research which supports this fact, and common sense tells us that there must be a wide variety of circumstances in which false confessions can result. But it’s not just common sense — check out the Innocence Project’s page on false confessions at http://innocenceproject.org/ca.....ssions.php(.)

This is why a humane justice system should examine ALL evidence, and not just rubber-stamp a confession, to ensure that people aren’t buffaloed into a prison sentence. Justice REQUIRES that the confession actually match the circumstances of the crime.

Since two Korean trial courts, each comprised of no fewer than three trained and experienced jurists, have determined — both at the initial trial stage and at the appeals-court stage — that even in the case that Kenzi’s confession would be admissible under Korean law (it’s not), there would STILL be worrying discrepancies between Kenzi’s confession and the physical evidence and statements of other witnesses that cast reasonable doubt on the veracity of her confession, why not withhold your condemnation? Or have you had a better view of the evidence from reading news coverage in Stars and Stripes?