Travis Walton denies allegations... victim comments on ESPN story
Not sure if this is thread-worthy, but I found this interesting. Since there isn't another thread on Walton's statement today, I figured it might be worth posting.
As you guys probably saw, Walton denied both allegations with a written statement today. I was looking through the comments on ESPN and saw that the victim Ashley Thompson actually commented on the article, saying, "It was plead down because Tom Izzo runs East Lansing, period."
Insane that this girl had a documented concussion and nothing came of this.
I'm not a Twitter person, but if you are it might be worth passing this screencap on to the Twittersphere, maybe tagging some reporters or something.
January 30th, 2018 at 9:06 PM ^
January 30th, 2018 at 9:28 PM ^
January 30th, 2018 at 10:05 PM ^
January 31st, 2018 at 12:18 PM ^
January 30th, 2018 at 8:26 PM ^
the allegations of a wide-spread cover up by the MSU administration, it is going to be hard to believe anyone.
That's the thing with credibility. Once, you've completely lost it.....
January 30th, 2018 at 8:41 PM ^
and accepting both as true, then this was most assuredly a deal that non-athletes don't get. it was beyond a sweetheart deal and would be strong circumstantial evidence that MSU jocks were getting extremely preferential treatment.
January 30th, 2018 at 8:49 PM ^
January 30th, 2018 at 8:58 PM ^
....so much so that after your 8th arrest you get a free large latte.
/smh
January 30th, 2018 at 9:03 PM ^
yeah, its 7 times which means you are some special kind of stupid. however, its only a suspended license and the suspension came from (i think) not paying a fine as opposed to a DUI conviction or something like that. some courts would give him jail time, but there's many that wouldn't. bottom line, a very good deal but not like the one with walton.
January 30th, 2018 at 9:33 PM ^
January 30th, 2018 at 11:10 PM ^
I have seen people get 30 days for their 3rd offense of driving on suspended, trust me he got special treatment. Judges take that way more seriously that I honestly think they should.
January 31st, 2018 at 5:28 AM ^
all i'm saying is that the sentencing varies widely as noted in my original comment about that. sure, some courts would put them in the bucket. however, the bigger the country the less likely that'd happen for a misdemeanor. ingham and eaton are both big enough and have enough real crime that dudes driving suspeneded doesn't move the meter much.
January 30th, 2018 at 9:54 PM ^
At least he's not a predator that we know of, but LJ Scott is a prime example of how certain athletes feel they can buck the system.
Being pulled over without a license is going to get a normal person arrested the second time it happens, especially if you are doing more than 15 over the speed limit. Not so for LJ Scott. Apparently there is someone in his corner educating the patrol officers to where he walks away with minor fines each time.
There is no way for patrol officers #3-7 to explain how they did not bring him into the East Lansing station. On a side note, with this type of stuff going on, there's no way to tell if he wasn't pulled over for something else like drunk driving, with the citation turning to simply a suspended liscence upon discovery of who he is.
January 31st, 2018 at 5:37 AM ^
in any jurisdiction. in michigan unless there is an issue with identity i don't think i've ever seen it and if i have it, it was extraordinarily rare. the 'minor fines' you speak of are a decision by the prosecutor, not the cops, in that in EL the prosecutor reduced the matters to civil infractions and at that point the only sanction is fines, not jail
. it looks like his hometown cops/prosecutors had him plead as charged and he was fined, no more, no less. the cops file their paperwork with the prosecutor, it's up to the prosecutor (not the judge or the cops) to decide what to file. further, once in court the prosecutor has nearly unlimited discretion to resolve a matter to some other and/or lesser charge or infraction.
January 31st, 2018 at 11:19 AM ^
January 31st, 2018 at 9:07 AM ^
a suspended license. It's unlikely that he was "randomly" stopped all those times, so he was probably also breaking some other law, the least of which would probably be speeding. How many people on this board have been stopped that many times in the past four years?
January 31st, 2018 at 9:12 AM ^
Here are a couple of his stops in Ohio, where he was charged with something other than a drastically reduced offense:
In March 2016, an Ohio State Patrol trooper pulled Scott over near Ashland, Ohio for driving 87 mph in a 70 mph speed zone. He was also charged with driving without a license, a misdemeanor. Court records show he was found guilty on both counts and paid $330 in fines.
In April 2016, Scott was involved in a vehicle crash near Cleveland, Ohio. He was initially charged with leaving the scene of a crash and driving without a valid license, but court records show those charges were dismissed after Scott pleaded guilty to one count of reckless driving, a minor misdemeanor in Ohio, and paid $531.
January 31st, 2018 at 10:28 AM ^
Strong likelihood that Scott was drunk driving in two of those incidents:
The April 2016 accident, he left the scene, presumably to avoid Ohio police who would have followed normal procedures and he would have been caught with the DUI. All he could be charged with was leaving the scene and driving on the suspended license. Guessing it was a property damage accident only and no one was hurt.
The July 2016 incident is suspicious as all hell. Pulled over by MSU police (so we all know now how that will go for the athlete) and just left a party, with an open container of alcohol in the car. He passed the sobriety test.... what do you know. Please someone tell me how credible is it than anyone who left a party and drove home with drink in hand was sober. That was his first and only drink before getting behind the wheel, right? He was being responsible and planned to save the drink until he got home.
The overall impression I'm getting is that the corruption in East Lansing runs high and deep, far and wide. For that reason alone nothing will be dismantled very easily.
January 30th, 2018 at 8:59 PM ^
Who the hell gets charged with littering??? Judge had a tough time deciding whether he was guilty of A&B or I dunno how about littering, yeah lets us go with that and say that justice was served.
January 30th, 2018 at 9:05 PM ^
and a common occurrence when there is a big disparity between what was charged and what the case was ultimately resolved for.
January 31st, 2018 at 7:07 AM ^
January 31st, 2018 at 9:24 AM ^
even for a crime, you can do what is called an 'alford plea', where the D basically agrees to enough facts for an agreed upon charge, not even saying its true, but that the court should find him guilty and s/he gets his deal becuase he thinks its in his/her best interests.
January 31st, 2018 at 9:51 AM ^
Ok. The civil infraction is a distinction between our states and resembles a city ordinance charge here. I'm familiar with Alford as a "best interest" plea but here there'd still need to be a factual basis (even though reading it into the record can be waived for a misdmeanor).
January 31st, 2018 at 9:57 AM ^
just sayin'
January 31st, 2018 at 10:59 AM ^
You got a purdy mouth?
Joking aside, that's a great scene. I don't play the banjo but my mother did.
January 31st, 2018 at 11:30 AM ^
foggy mountain breakdown, a classic;
January 30th, 2018 at 8:32 PM ^
So is the premise that Izzo was involved in botching the legal investigation of Walton's assault? Similar to how Jameis Winston "didn't rape anyone?"
January 30th, 2018 at 8:32 PM ^
January 30th, 2018 at 8:50 PM ^
This surprises you? UM's is the only fanbase in the world that sees Dontanio and Izzo for what they are. We see it because we look at every detail - what it is, how its handled, who's involved. Nobody else looks at that program like we do. All anyone else sees is the soundbite that hits the national media.
January 30th, 2018 at 10:06 PM ^
January 30th, 2018 at 10:44 PM ^
January 31st, 2018 at 11:38 AM ^
Shithouse?
January 30th, 2018 at 9:09 PM ^
The pattern is unmistakable. Many at PSU also, of course, condemned the idea of pederasty in the abstract. Here they're quietly separating the Nassar incident from their beloved Izzo and Dantonio, finding a way to vent sputtering outrage against ESPN, Jemele Hill, every woman who speaks up. They're all ugly and unfulfilled sexually, too, btw (if you read RCMB), an attitude which these clueless nimrods will never notice pretty much ratifies claims by the US Dept of Ed that a climate of "sexual antagonism" pervaded the whole freaking campus.
It'll take a DOJ investigation and the disgust of an entire world, but a few people at MSU will understand that all of this stuff connects up. The biggest strand for me (and I see others are starting to voice this): they had a second-rate university and were blind with hatred and jealousy of the one just down the road. Sports brought them national attention in a way their school could not. Athletes and coaches began to act with impunity.
January 30th, 2018 at 10:10 PM ^
January 30th, 2018 at 8:35 PM ^
January 31st, 2018 at 8:46 AM ^
kinda sounds like the shit you'd expect when the prosecutor is doing a favor for someone, like maybe a basketball coach or something
January 30th, 2018 at 8:40 PM ^
She had medical records of the assault showing she was concussed. A bouncer even corroborated the story along with other witnesses. Travis Walton and the prosecutor allege there were written statements prepared by other witnesses to contradict the victim's story.
I call bullshit. I want the people to be able to see those statements, confirm whether those people really exist, and if so, question them about what they saw or heard. No info has been released on that. I'd bet that if those statements exist that they were falsified or from teammates.
January 30th, 2018 at 8:45 PM ^
that. prosecutor's file would have that if it existed, though it is possible that the defense attorney is the one with those statements and his/her file would of course not be subject to FOIA
January 30th, 2018 at 9:37 PM ^
January 30th, 2018 at 10:25 PM ^
there isn't any cause of action for them to file. the requesting party files a FOIA suit and then the public agency has to defend its denial of disclosure. frequently they are wrong. and you get attorneys fees when they do screw up. i have successfully sued the MSP for this type of transgression and got my fees paid too.
January 31st, 2018 at 1:53 AM ^
msu literally proactively sued ESPN for a records request.
January 31st, 2018 at 5:24 AM ^
would be the only possible thing i can think of. commonly called a 'dec (pronounced like 'deck') action', it would be the school saying that a controversy has arisen and it is ripe for adjudication, meaning it is timely that the court make the call on a given issue. it wouldn't be for money, it'd be a claim that basically says:
"party X has made the following request; party Y believes there is no duty/obligation/right, etc. to comply with party X's demand; the matter is ripe for decision so that the parties will know how to proceed; therefore party Y asks this court to determine the parties rights, oblgations, duties about this issue'
January 31st, 2018 at 7:29 AM ^
January 31st, 2018 at 9:31 AM ^
interesting. the quote is: Stephens dismissed MSU's lawsuit because the state's FOIA law doesn't allow for public bodies to sue people seeking records. A counter lawsuit filed by ESPN is still pending.
so there remains no way for state to avoid that. good. i think those are called 'SLAPP' suits and the acronym stands for 'strategic lawsuits against public policy' and some states have specifc 'Anti-SLAPP' statutes that allow for serious sanctions when someone is trying to shut down clearly delineated public policy acts with pro-active litigation meant to chill the usage of those rights.
and thank you for posting that article.
January 31st, 2018 at 10:49 AM ^
Yep, you were correct in you initial assesment.
BTW, I remember "SLAPP" suits from an episode of LA Law.