Annoying governmental theater

In Reno this week:

The family of murder victim Charla Mack took the court-sponsored opportunity to display their grief publicly while scolding a stone-cold sociopath for slicing their loved one to pieces.

A basic reason for laws, in this country at least, is to waylay revenge. Everybody is equal before the Law, and convicted killers are sentenced according to that Law.

I’m all for victim’s rights, but letting Charla’s grieving family have the spotlight, at taxpayer expense, to demonstrate their love and devotion, is over the line. Yes, the judge and jury need to keep the victim in mind. Yes, the prosecutors have to convince the jury that a living, breathing human being was harmed, and that the killer must be punished.

If the judge, lawyers for and against, jury and everybody else does their job, justice will be served. But putting the egos of the victim’s family on parade accomplishes nothing … Charla’s still dead. Her family still grieves. The public spotlight is soaked in tears.

Funerals are for the living. Trials are for Justice, not showboating. Charla's family isn't the first on the public stage and it won't be the last. But it should be the last.

In the Middle East, they know how to publicly grieve. U.S. Protestant and Catholic funeral rites are bloodless in comparison, which I'm sure stifles much emotion. However, when mourners vent, they should do it on their own time, not on taxpayer-funded court time.

ooo ooo ooo

In the wake of another probable murder, Northern Nevada citizens and foundations this week pledged or forked over $165,000 to the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office to fund the DNA laboratory, which has a huge backlog of tests.

Somewhere in the backlog, maybe, is evidence that will lead the cops to the scumsucker who abducted college student Brianna Denison on Jan. 20.

This is how we fund law enforcement now?

The government should budget adequate money to cover the work the Sheriff’s Office is expected to do.

Sheriff Mike Haley said the office was hit with an unfunded mandate to take DNA samples from sex offenders … about 350 a month.

How about a ballot initiative forbidding unfunded mandates? You make a law, you pay for it. At every level of government.

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