The Justice System Is Messed Up
I saw this story yesterday and I ended up thinking about it all night. I just can't believe how messed up this is. The story is this. A 22 year old Chicago woman was arrested, spent two nights in jail and is facing a felony charge that could mean up to three years of prison time. What was her crime? She was at a movie theatre celebrating her sisters 29th birthday with a bunch of friends. They all went to see New Moon. The 22 year old had a new video camera and was recording the party. She also happened to film the first three minutes of the movie. An usher spotted her. Management was called and then the cops. The cops looked at it and were prepared to let her go when the story was explained but the theatre manager wants to press charges. Because it was a Friday night she couldn't get a bail hearing until Monday. So, she spent two nights in jail and has been charged with a felony to prevent unauthorized sale of bootleg movies that hasn't been used in Chicago in forever.
There are hundreds of bootleg copies of New Moon online. On the video is a bunch of party footage and they had been filming in the theatre and no one said they couldn't. There are people that have killed people that face less time in jail than this woman. Think about all the celebrity DUI convictions where someone could have got killed and they don't even spend a few hours in jail and this woman already spent two nights in jail and faces 3 years in prison. Really? I feel so bad for her and the district attorney there should drop all the charges. This is ridiculous.
This in a city that is so corrupt that dead people still vote and getting mugged is always a possibility if you are outdoors. Ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteHorrendous.
ReplyDeleteI hope people boycott the theater.
ReplyDeleteDon't even get me started on my hatred for the justice system.
ReplyDeleteHi Enty =]
ReplyDeleteWould you please write about the Amanda Knox trial.
Ridiculous, but what kind of moron takes a video camera into a movie theater? They have guys with night vision goggles watching out for them.
ReplyDeleteBOYCOTT!
ReplyDeleteAs for Amanda Knox...her stor(ies) don't add up..guilty! don't be fooled by her innocent American looks.IMO.
I hope she gets a good attorney.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah--I smell an UPRISING in occurrence! that's total BS and people should stand up and boycott that theater!
ReplyDeleteYou are 110% correct Enty--look at that f*ckwad Clemmons who killed the four Seattle cops! He was let off a 95-year sentence only to repeatedly do crime after crime. And they want to crowd up the jails with stupid, piddly bullsh*t like this poor gal.
Please--like she's gonna harm the theater's take off filming three minutes of a piss-poor movie that everyone can find online already?
Pathetic.
And I say we let all the GD drug sellers out of jails, too, and make room for the REAL criminals.
God, I truly hate our "justice" system sometimes...
let's talk dante stallworth (cleveland browns), who drunkenly plowed down a jaywalker w/ his bentley and got 30 days...(the rest is house arrest, a fine and settlement w/ fam, but still--HE KILLED A MAN)...well, 24 days b/c they counted time served...the nfl gave him a harsher sentence than the courts.
ReplyDeletesigh.
i hope the DA isn't a prick and drops the charges.
ridiculous
ReplyDeleteIt's ridiculous as the punishment does not fit the crime, but as .robert said, she should have known better than to bring the camera in even if she had no bad intent.
ReplyDeleteWhile I think it's ridiculous, I have to agree with .robert. Who takes a video camera into a movie theater? What kind of footage are you going to get anyway? It's dark and quiet, and unless you are trying to film the movie...it seems pretty lame to video in there.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it seems that the theater manager is taking this way too far. He needs a Valium or something.
Kinda stupid of the woman to take a camera into the theater, but stupidity isn't a crime. She doesn't appear to have been hiding the camera. And with the birthday celebration going on, you know you can't see or hear the movie worth a crap.
ReplyDeleteAnd everyone knows that the only cam versions of movies worth downloading are the ones taken by theater employees from the projection booth.
Sunnyside, have you've been seeing old gangster movies? I've lived in all different parts of the city, (I'm a Chicagoan) and believe me "mugging" might exist heavily in some cities, but most thefts here occur during home break-in's and no they are not the kind where they take hostages & enable a panic room complete with police showdown
ReplyDeleteI hope the district attorney does drop this, and I've spotted a few circulations of this story already. I can't imagine how this woman must feel, having to spend two nights in jail. This was beyond cruel. :/
Wow!! I cant even wrap my brain around her spending two nights in jail before they got her out!! They must not be connected, at all!!! Poor thing!! The theater needs to be boycotted big time!!!
ReplyDeletehaving to spend any time in jail is horrific for most people. I had a friend who got rightfully arrested for a dui and she had to spend the night in jail and she was suicidal.
ReplyDeletethere should be a boycott of the theatre. those people are draconian. I don't think the DA will press it, if they want to keep their job.
When the movie is about to start, turn the damn phone off. How hard is that? I think everyone in a theater with the phone on should be publicly flogged. To hell with jail. Sorry, pet peeve.
ReplyDelete.robert - most people (cell phone), but it is not a good idea to record anything. However, this case is ridiculous and should be thrown out and the theater boycotted. Maybe the boycotters could throw any money they saved by not going to the movies her way to pay for her legal defense.
ReplyDeleteK, I am glad to hear Chicago is safer than the days I lived in Hyde Park. Back then, it was definitely a scary place.
ReplyDeleteHaving worked in the movie theater realm as a manager & at the corporate level for several years, I will actually defend the movie theater here. Movie studios are constantly sending spies to do counts of theaters or to see if there is anything they can hold over your head and prevent you from getting their films. It is a nasty business. By ignoring the situation, it was very possible that one of these spies could have witnessed the event and the studio could have prevented that theater from getting any of their films ever again, unless the theater was willing to pay millions as an apology. And if one studio pulls their films, usually the other ones follow. Chicago is a big market, I've worked there (though not at this theater), and the studios put a lot of spies in that market. Sometimes they are announced, but often times they are not.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds ridiculous, but the studios are bullies and what they decide to give you for films can make or break your business. So while I don't fault the theater for taking action, the whole police time and charges is absolutely ridiculous if she indeed was just taking footage of a birthday party.
k - Couldn't agree more. I've called Chicago my home for years now and most people who get in trouble are people who do stupid things. In general people are kind; except in parking/cab wars. Lol.
ReplyDeleteSunny I'm sorry you had such a poor experience in Chicago. I've always lived North but I work South. I've found that treating people you encounter with respect and minding your own business is the key.
The sad part about this is poor girl was in Cook County lock up for 2 nights. I can't even imagine. Chicago has so many problems to deal with that are more pertinent than this. This is a city where you have to be doing something fairly severe to grab a police officers attention; I've rarely seen people even pulled over for speeding.
I could understand her moaning about getting busted if they had taken her camera away before the movie started...but once those lights went out, what were her intentions? I don't care if you were drunk or high, or being egged on by the friends...at some point you have to take accountability for your own actions and stupidity.
ReplyDeleteA couple of you beat me to it - this girl could theoretically get two years but there are serial animal abusers out there who get community service at the most? Excuse me while I go scream.
ReplyDeleteThe crime may not fit the punishment, but I think she was definately trying to get away with something, got caught and is now trying to get out of it.
ReplyDelete(oh, live in Chicago, love it!)
Yeah! Our tax dollars at work locking up this horrible criminal while the "greatness" (cough gag)that is Roman P. gets house arrest.
ReplyDeleteJustice is not only blind she's obviously riding the short bus too.
Wow. She should just sexually assault another inmate and they'll probably let her out. Anything involving celebrity generally has more rights than the average woman.
ReplyDeleteRocketqueen: I find that animal abusers tend to get far harsher sentences than child abusers.
ReplyDeleteUgh...Chicago. What a hellhole, I am so not surprised by this. I was just there, and am still traumatized by the experience. To you Chicagoans, what in the HELL makes that place appealing to you? It's expensive, dirty, and windy and FREEZING. 11.5% sales tax, $10 cigarettes, overpriced and not all that good food (except Sayat Nova, that place is AWESOME)...seriously, someone explain the appeal of that place to me because I just do not get it. I bet the girl was just trying to have some fun, to forget the soul-crushing misery that is Chicago/Illinois...poor kid.
ReplyDeleteYeah, lived in Chicago for years. Taught public high school there too. I agree with @hoosierbaby who said you have to do something pretty severe--the cops are way too busy for this shit and I bet THEY'RE pissed about this too. This is a petty "lead-by-example" situation. As for bootleggers and having grown up around them, you either tape the movie in the first 5 days out or you don't bother.
ReplyDeleteshe stayed in jail due to the timing of the event not because of a sentence. if it had been business hours she would have been gone in no time. I dont fault the movie theater she was stupid to film inside. You get about 20 minutes of previews. What? she coulnt turn it off in that time.
ReplyDeleteCall Muvico this is the number for the theater. 847-447-1040 tell them how you feel about them. I did.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous (why anonymous??) - I disagree heartily and would be glad to send you many examples if I knew your real name.
ReplyDelete