Sometimes Things Aren’t Always As They Seem

This story hasn't received a lot of internet coverage, and what coverage there has been seems to be somewhat slanted. The general consensus seems to be that this man is an out of control, loose cannon, that should be locked up for an extended period of time. Knowing that the CIA operatives and private contractors working in the Middle East have a dangerous thankless job, and they generally go unnoticed unless they mess up somehow. I also know that the job these brave unknown warriors do, often with no public recognition whatsoever, serves to keep America safe from muslim terrorists far more than any will ever know. Because of this, I feel that Raymond Davis deserves at the least the benefit of the doubt in the incident described below. Thus far I do not see him getting this. He may be guilty, he may be innocent. I will not judge him, and others should not either.

On Saturday morning, October 1, 2011, Raymond Davis was arrested by Douglas County, Colorado Sheriff’s Deputies, and charged with third degree assault and disorderly conduct – both charges are misdemeanors. Davis posted a bond of $1,750 and was released. Davis, as many will remember, is a former member of the U.S. Special Forces and employee of Blackwater, who was arrested in January 2011 while in Pakistan after he shot to Pakistani men who attempted to rob him. After three months in Pakistani custody, Davis was released and he returned to his home in Highland Park, Colorado.

CIA Contractor Raymond Davis in custody in Pakistan - Jan 2011

According to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, the incident which occurred last Saturday began when Davis and another man began arguing with a third man about a parking space and the confrontation became physical. (Source). The alleged victim, Jeff Maes, told a news reporter, “he [Davis] literally parked his car behind me and started shouting at me and I says, ‘You need to relax.’ And he got out of the car. When I got hit, I hit my back straight on the concrete and then, I don’t know, I must’ve got up. I looked, he’s standing there and I got up to defend myself and started again.” (Source) According to Douglas County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Glenn Peitzmeier, Maes refused medical treatment at the scene. (Source) Up until this point, it seemed to be pretty much a piece of non-news, and then things changed.

After being told that it was in fact Raymond Davis with whom he had been fighting, Jeff Maes changed his mind about needing medical attention, and he went to Skyridge Medical Center for an examination. Maes said, “Well, actually I was there for six hours and they took some e-rays and cat scans and said that I have an injury to my back.” Later news reports have stated that the injury was a fractured vertebrae. During his interview with a News7 reporter, Maes stated that he had not been knocked out. Later news reports state that Maes is now claiming that he was knocked out for “about 30 seconds.” That these new revelations are coming forth after Maes was told by a Sheriff’s Deputy that he had been fighting with Raymond Davis is in itself curious and raises in my mind the validity of Maes’ later statements.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office has also stated that in accordance with their protocols, they were required to report this incident to the Colorado Department of Safety, which they did. Whether they reported it directly to the Department of Safety Executive Director (James Davis, who was appointed by Democrat Governor Hickenlooper in January 2011) or not is unknown. What is known, however, is that not long after reporting the incident the District Attorney’s office decided to amend the original charges, making them more serious.

As Davis stood in court prepared to make a guilty plea to the two misdemeanors he was being charged with, Senior Deputy District Attorney Rich Orman asked that Davis’s guilty plea not be accepted as he anticipated and upgrade of the charges to better reflect the seriousness of the crime. And upgraded they were. Davis is now being charged with second-degree assault which is a felony rather than a misdemeanor, as well as disorderly conduct and a violent crime count. The “violent crime count” is not an independent charge, bit a modification of the second-degree assault charge which in turn modifies any potential sentence received for the assault. Assault in the second-degree with a crime of violence designation carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in the Colorado Department of Corrections, and a possible maximum sentence of sixteen years in prison, with a mandatory parole period of three years.

Five to sixteen years in prison for a simple fight? This makes no sense to me whatsoever. 

Granted, Davis could be called a proficient fighter, and even lethal if the situation called for it. After all, he is a former special forces member. But where is the complete story here? Thus far all we have heard is Maes’s account of the incident. And what about the unknown third man initially reported as being with Davis, and who initially confronted Maes along with Davis? Who is he? Where is he? Am I to believe that Maes did absolutely nothing to contribute to the fight? Even though he did say that he got up to defend himself – and by doing so admitted that he contributed to the fight. I cannot help thinking that there is much more here than meets the eye (or than is being reported by the media).

A look at the 18^th Judicial District Attorney may also shed some light on the amended charges being leveled against Raymond Davis. 18^th Judicial District Attorney Carol Chambers (known as the “hanging prosecutor”) is well known among Colorado attorney’s as being a “win at all costs” prosecutor. She makes no apologies for spurring her assistant D.A.’s on to win each and every case they prosecute and offering monetary bonuses in excess of $1,000 for a 70% success rate (felony convictions only, plea bargains and mistrials do not count), thus opening the door to possible unethical manipulations in the prosecution of those cases. (Source)

District Attorney Carol "Win-at-All-Costs" Chambers

A former jury foreman who served during one of Chambers trials has said of her and her office “In the DA’s office’s agenda to prosecute so overzealously, it seems that the facts of a case aren’t really an objective.” Other Colorado attorney’s have called Chambers “bloodthirsty” and accused her of abusing the state’s habitual offender statute. Colorado defense attorney David Lane says, “I think she's more interested in serving political ends than in the ends of justice.” (Source) Perhaps this explains Chambers’ decision to charge a 10 year old boy with felony arson because he and a friend accidentally started a fire. (Source)

Allegations of prosecutorial misconduct on Chambers part are equally well known. She has been accused of illegally funding her prosecution of a high-profile murder case; she withheld evidence that may have acquitted a convicted killer (Source); and in perhaps the most egregious example concerns a rape case where Chambers ignored DNA evidence that did not match the DNA of the mentally disabled man she was charging. Chambers insisted that regardless of evidence all but proving the man’s innocence, he was guilty. She was convinced of the man’s guilt because the presence of another man’s DNA in the panties of an eight year old little girl could not possibly absolve the defendant because eight year old girls are basically little sluts, and the DNA could have come from anywhere. (Source)

 Although District Attorney Carol Chambers presents herself as a “law and order” prosecutor, her attitude of “truth, facts, and evidence be damned” shows her to be someone who is fundamentally dishonest, self-serving, and clearly working her hardest to feather her political nest. Perhaps this is why she has decided to amend Raymond Davis’s charges. He is a high-profile individual and who better to seek headlines with.

With all of the unanswered questions (what did Maes do – if anything – to spark the fight? Did Maes truly injure his back during the fight – or did it happen at a different time? Why did Maes refuse medical treatment at the scene – but later seek it out after being told who Davis was? Why were the charges amended after it was discovered just who Davis was? And who and where is the mysterious “third man”?), as well as Davis’s “trial by media” (one should read the comments left after the online reports of the incident) combined with the “conviction regardless of evidence” mentality of District Attorney Carol Chambers – it appears that Davis hasn’t a snowballs chance for justice. 

Does DA Chambers simply want to complete what the Pakistani’s tried to do?