“We are raising funds to support a critical legal defense in the fight against unchecked corporate power and a system that continues to favor the few over everyone else. This case isn’t just about one individual—it’s about challenging a status quo that protects the interest of the powerful at the expense of justice and fairness,” read one of the fundraising pages that was quickly removed by GoFundMe.

  • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    He had a masters in Computer Science from University of Pennsylvania (Ivy League, founded before the USA), graduated a private high school as valedictorian, and prosecutors are claiming he was carrying $10,000 in cash when he was arrested.

    Tech was a magical gold mine to this kid, but rich parents didn’t hurt either.

    • stetech@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      I thought it was Engineering, not CompSci? (Not that it really changes anything about the point)

    • Drusas@fedia.io
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      4 days ago

      You don’t know that. His grandfather was wealthy. He’s one of, IIRC, 37 grandchildren. That doesn’t mean he is wealthy. Yes, much more privileged than most of us, but that doesn’t mean he was rolling in cash. Even if he was, so what? He was still fighting against an unjust system.

      And he disputed in court that that cash was his–notably, while not disputing that the gun was his. I’ll trust an average person over a cop trying to get a big win any day. They plant plenty of false evidence.

      • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        $10,000 would be a weird thing to plant, nobody would have questioned Cocaine. That’s more money than most people his age have ever had in savings total.

        • Drusas@fedia.io
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          4 days ago

          It’s not that weird if you think about it. They could be trying to portray him as a flight risk since he also had his passport.

          • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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            4 days ago

            He already fled the state where the crime took place, seems like portraying him as a flight risk would have been easy. Are we arguing the passport was also planted?

            • Drusas@fedia.io
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              4 days ago

              No, and that’s not how assessing flight risk works. I’m not saying that he necessarily isn’t a flight risk. He did have his passport on him. It just sounds like there is the possibility that law enforcement added extra “evidence” so that they could be sure he wouldn’t be let out on bail.

              • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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                4 days ago

                If money was the only difference between flight risk and not then fundamentally the concept of Bail wouldn’t make any sense.

                EDIT: It also doesn’t make sense for other reasons, but thats besides the point.