http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:14:03 EDT http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/01/03/003851.php#comment-728142 RUSH is my all time favorite band, I listen to them all the time. What happened here made me sick and I can't believe that these trigger happy cops did what they did. Wish I could find some way to get even. I believe everything that Justin and Alex said and I don't believe they are guilty of anything!! The cops knew that Alex was in RUSH and they just wanted to make trouble and a name for themselves. 728142@blogcritics.org Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:14:03 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/01/03/003851.php#comment-684770 it's ironic how people assume just because Alex is a rock musician, violence is part and parcel of their lifestyle. That there is stereotype. Now the federal court found that there may have been violence? That Lifeson AKA Zivojinovich has a leg to stand on? And abuse by tasering is a pattern used and approved by the state? Even on six-year-olds who are unruly? No Tom, you are no biased, nor are the people wondering if Alex deserved what he deserved. Why? Because, like else, we never wait for the end to read what had happened. This is what happened: On New Year's Eve 2003, Lifeson, his son, and his daughter-in-law were arrested at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Naples, Florida. Lifeson, after intervening in an altercation between his son and police, was accused of assaulting a sheriff's deputy in what was described as a drunken brawl. In addition to suffering a broken nose at the hands of the officers, Lifeson was tasered six times. His son was also tasered repeatedly. On April 21, 2005 a plea deal was made between Lifeson and the prosecution by which he would be spared a custodial sentence if he agreed to plead no contest to a single charge of resisting arrest without violence. The plea was offered by the prosecution after the judge in his son Justin's trial reduced the charge against Justin from resisting arrest with violence to resisting arrest without violence. The reduction was in response to a pre-trial defense motion to dismiss the charges entirely, and was made after the prosecution had presented their case, but before the defense had called any witnesses. According to Justin's file in the Felony section of the Public Records database of Collier County, Florida,[9] the judge determined that, based on the testimony of the prosecution's witnesses, including one of the police officers involved in the incident, that while the potential for violence existed, none was offered by Justin. As part of the plea agreement Lifeson and his son were each sentenced to 12 months of probation with the adjudication of that probation suspended. Upon successful completion of the probation, the matter is to be expunged from their records. In addition, they had to pay all court costs. In the fall of 2005, the court granted early dismissal from probation to both Lifeson and his son. Record sealed and no deportation order. That's at the state level. Now the federal level is pending. 684770@blogcritics.org Thu, 3 Jan 2008 12:16:02 EST