Comments on: Police deliberately destroy lesbian’s military career out of spite

By: werdna

werdna — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:46:26 +0000

Candace wrote: “AFAIK, sopusal immunity doesn’t extend to refusing to inform police of the wherabouts of a spouse if directly questioned during a police investigation. That’s obstruction of justice.”

Is this correct? My understanding (and IANAL, so I may be mistaken) is that one is not required to answer any questions (other than identifying yourself) put to you by police. Obviously refusing to talk to the police may make them suspicious, but does it rise to the level of obstruction? I thought obstruction requires active effort (lying, destroying evidence, etc.), but that refusing to cooperate was entirely within our rights.

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 09:36:39 +0000

Spotted it through the window? I find that hard to believe. Start looking into whether there were any illegal searches or accessing of private information.

By: AdrianT

AdrianT — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:50:38 +0000

This is an outrage. The only way to make thugs like Steven Allender see sense is to make them realize there will be consequences for their bullying. They need to know they cannot get away with it.

A grass roots campaign to drive Allender out of his job and out of the police force is necessary, to protect GLBT people of South Dakota in future. I hope the community there might organize petitions and public protests. ‘An eye for an eye’ as they say.

By: Richard W. Fitch

Richard W. Fitch — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 02:33:22 +0000

This story seems to have a multitude of variations. One blurb I read seemed to indicate that the police were indeed inside the home with a warrant which had been issued to search for evidence of drug violations. They were searching a desk drawer when the license was found. This was a few days ago before the story was all over the place, so not sure of its validity – just saying….

By: lurker

lurker — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:38:08 +0000

Thanks, Candace, for the explanation. I was curious about that, too.

Someone on a San Francisco Chronicle blog noted that there’s a big discrepancy between how the military treats gay outings and consensual adultery. The commenter said that consensual “spouse-swapping” was common in their branch of the military and is routinely ignored, even though adultery is a criminal charge under military law.

By: Burr

Burr — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:15:56 +0000

Something smells of enormous BS here.. I really doubt it was right there in the window for them to read so easily.

They should be hounding this prick in the media until he resigns in disgrace. It’s only fair after all.

By: WMDKitty

WMDKitty — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:30:44 +0000

“Apparently, window-peeping IS legal behavior for the police?”

Oh, but if J. Average Citizen were window-peeping, he’d be arrested for it….

Damn. Lousy. Cops.

By: Fred in the UK

Fred in the UK — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:28:59 +0000

Thanks to Timothy and Soren456 for your replies. I was about to argue with soren456, pointing out that DADT (10 U.S.C. § 654)is a law and that the civilian police would not be in a position to determine whether Newsome was or was not in actual breach of it. However in searching for evidence to support my argument I read the actual text of DADT. I was most interested to read that it only states the nature of some of regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of Defence. Newsome could only ever be in breach of those regulations not DADT itself.

I stand both corrected and better informed.

By: soren456

soren456 — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:21:35 +0000

@Fred in the UK:

Since no law was broken, the police would have no “duty” to report what they saw in their window peeping; without doubt, they chose to report it simply to cause trouble.

To claim otherwise is disingenuous at best. And cowardly. And, I suspect, racist in the bargain.

Apparently, window-peeping IS legal behavior for the police?

I’d love to read otherwise, but doubt that I will.

By: Grant

Grant — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:53:23 +0000

Thanks for giving this coverage. I’ve seen it on other sites as well. I hope it goes mainstream. It’s just outrageous – the actions of the police department here. Bigots.

And here my partner and I were considering a trip to see Mt. Rushmore this summer (Rapid City is the closest airport/majore town).

Strike that one from the list…