Guatemala Judge Orders McAfee Released 139
An anonymous reader points out an AP report which says a judge in Guatemala has ordered the release of John McAfee from a detention center. "Lawyer Telesforo Guerra said the judge notified him verbally of the ruling, but added that it may take a day for formal written notification to win McAfee's release, possibly as soon as Wednesday." McAfee, on the run from Belizean police, was arrested in Guatemala several days ago after making himself known to authorities. He did so because a pair of reporters who were interviewing him posted a photo which included metadata on the photo's location. In a live broadcast on Sunday, McAfee expressed a desire to return to the U.S. "I simply would like to live comfortably day by day, fish, swim, enjoy my declining years. My long-term plan was simply to get away from Belize, think, and decide what to do."
Behold... the Power of the Internet (Score:4, Interesting)
A live, simple plea over worldwide streaming video without conventional media spin, circus or filter, and 48 hours later, he's released. That Guatemalan Judge don't want none of that.
*snap*
Re:Behold... the Power of the Internet (Score:4, Interesting)
A live, simple plea over worldwide streaming video without conventional media spin, circus or filter, and 48 hours later, he's released.
Belize has had a "mutual assistance in law enforcement" treaty with the US for twelve years. That means that McAfee can be sent back to Belize if his testimony is needed in a on-going criminal investigation.
It would be very interesting to know whether the common law rule that "evidence of flight is evidence of guilt" still holds in Belize.
And that's how you know it's a set-up (Score:3, Interesting)
If Belize thinks he killed the other man, they just have to pass the information on to the FBI
Correct. Which means his returning to the U.S. means Belize has nothing on him; they really did just want to kill him.
Remember kids, just because someone is paranoid does not mean that sometimes people are not in fact after them.
Most people believe lots of nonsensical things (Score:5, Interesting)
Most of us realize from his behavior (past and present) that he makes an obvious suspect
Anyone who has travelled in third world countries is way more prone to believe his story than not, no matter how crazy he might be otherwise. Believing that the police force is on the take and after him for not paying up is one of the most lucid and rational things he has said for some time.
Re:But the real question is (Score:4, Interesting)
Actually, a detective who had been investigating the OJ case for 30 or so years came to the conclusion that the probable killer was OJ's oldest son Jason - his son from his first marriage. I think the tile of the book was something like "OJ was innocent and I can prove it".
Allegedly, Jason had been treated for mental illness involving violence at least twice. At the time of the murders he was on probation for attacking his former boss with a knife, out of the set of chef's knives he always carried with him. He was also a friend of Nichole and spent a fair amount of time in her company - On the evening of the murders, she was supposed to be a guest at the restaurant where he was a chef.
The book documented all of his theories in detail (about 600 pages worth) and appeared pretty convincing.
The interesting part is that no one tried to rebut the contents of the book. The people you would expect to care simply ignored the book completely.
It's kind of like the original trial where the defense claimed that the LAPD was bigoted and framed people for crimes they were not guilty of. Then we had the Rampart scandal where a member of the LAPD testified that they were bigoted and framed people and planted evidence to convict the not guilty.
And most of America decided screw the evidence, he's guilty.
The EVIDENCE (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, lets recap on the evidence.
He was arrested for not having a permit. He says the policeman took his permits. He had copies, the US embassy managed to get him released. From this we know he is being targeted. On return he says one of his weapons was not returned. This is well before the shooting, he also says they took his passport, they deny that.
http://news.techeye.net/security/john-mcafee-arrested-in-belize
They must have had record of his gun permit, so why would they raid his house and confiscate guns on a weapons permit charge, if that was the case? Big problem right there, you have independent confirmation of a corruption problem.
McAfee kicks up a stink, claims its because he refused to pay a bribe to a corrupt politicians. His neighbor gets killed, also American, he says he was mistaken for McAfee. McAfee goes on the run.
So his position is consistent with a drugged up paranoid loon, but also with someone being attacked by a corrupt local politician. The one piece of independent information (the bogus raid and bogus arrest) suggests he's a victim here.
What I'd like to see at this point is the security camera footage from his neighbors house. He's from Florida living in a poor country, so there will be CCTV everywhere, and that will be a proper security system. The *absence* of that, would confirm the initial bogus-gun-permit charge to me.
Re:McAfee should be a virus killing word (Score:3, Interesting)