A Texas Republican city council candidate is facing felony child pornography charges after being arrested just hours before the elections.
Brad Benson, a candidate for Place #4 on the city council of Granbury, located just southwest of Fort Worth, was arrested on November 6. “I can confirm he was arrested by the District Attorney’s Office yesterday and charged with two felony child pornography charges, he should have a bond set today,” Hood County Sheriff Roger Deeds told Newsweek.
The Republican Party of Hood County (RPHC) withdrew its support for Benson after more details about the charges emerged.
I feel like doing it immediately prior to the election is an undesirable choice, regardless of how solid the evidence is. Either arrest his ass well beforehand or give it another day.
At least wait until polls close.
Arrest him when you’re ready to do the trial. Elections are not a “get out of being prosecuted free” deal. Why would they be? Why wouldn’t everyone who does a crime run for office, if they were?
He’s not being tried right away - that’s not how arrest works. And all concerns for impropriety and presumed innocence can be satisfied by waiting eight friggin’ hours.
Or, again, busting his ass a month prior.
What if you don’t have the evidence a month prior? And why should the voters not know, if they have the evidence to prosecute eight hours beforehand?
On what basis does an election affect arrest timing? Why should it have any more bearing on when the arrest happens than the number of moles on his ass?
… to prevent impropriety or the appearance of impropriety. Because the accused are supposed to enjoy a presumption of innocence, and law enforcement swinging elections is bad, actually.
There’s a reason the FBI and DOJ have specific rules against this sort of timing, and I don’t need to remind you how things went when they broke them.
Not prosecuting someone, when you have evidence, is also interference. The issue with the FBI announcement was that it was an announcement of an investigation, not an arrest of someone they were ready to prosecute.
“Not prosecuting someone” for eight additional hours is not justice denied. Fuck’s sake.
Just shout from the rooftops you don’t care about the presumption of innocence.