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Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect

By TChris, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Mon Aug 01, 2005 at 06:15:39 PM EST
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by TChris

A New Mexico police sergeant charged with executing the man who killed his partner entered a guilty plea today to voluntary manslaughter. He faces a sentence of one to seven years. In exchange for his guilty plea, the sergeant will not face federal charges.

[Billy] Anders shot Earl Flippen Dec. 18 after Flippen wounded him and killed his partner, Deputy Robert Hedman. The pair had responded to a home where they later learned Flippen killed his pregnant girlfriend.

Prosecutors alleged Flippen had already been wounded and was handcuffed when he was fatally shot.

Some will suggest that Flippen deserved his fate, but District Attorney Scot Key explains why he prosecuted an apparent revenge killing:

"Even though it places our office and me personally in a position of distress in the community, part of our job is if we don't police the police, who does?" Key said.

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    Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect | 37 comments (37 topical)
    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#1)
    by Rational on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:49 PM EST
    If someone abuses his power he should suffer the maximium penalty. If a citizen killed a cop who murdered his/her brother they would feel the full weight of the "law" upon them. So why is it different when the murderer is aggreviating the crime by using his governmental authority, office, to justify a crime. If anyone deserves to be fried this guy is it.

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#2)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:49 PM EST
    While the death penalty has been proven to not be a deterrent to most murderers, law enforcement officers who commit murder would certainly be deterred if they knew they would die. Instead, they, in the most egregious of circumstances (can you say diallo?), know they will walk or serve minimum time. rational, I'm with you.

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:49 PM EST
    If a prosecutor I'd prosecute the cop. If a juror I'd convict. If a judge, I'd give him a sentence of probation. What he did was wrong. On the other hand, most of us could empathize with him under the circumstances where he has been wounded and his partner killed by a mass murderer,

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:49 PM EST
    Sounds like justice was achieved on all fronts; it's a testament to a system that generally seems to work pretty effectively. Side note: it's 'sergeant', not 'sargeant'. I've never been impressed with TChris' thinking skills, but I can excuse that deficiency due to the propaganda law students get in lieu of logic training at most modern colleges. Of course his training in writing probably suffered the same fate, but consistent spelling errors, in the electronic era of the spell-checker...hmmm.

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#5)
    by roy on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:49 PM EST
    grad student, Rule #1 in Elements of Style (emphasis in original):
    Form the possive singular of nouns by adding 's. Follow this rule whatever the final consonant. Thus write, Charles's friend Burns's poems the witch's malice
    There are exceptions, none of which apply to TChris's name.

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#6)
    by Rational on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:50 PM EST
    !) sorry my finger slipped on the title so ignore previous post. 2) how can any one say justice was done when a scum bucket murdered an individual while and subverted the what little confidence that any one might have in so called "law" enforcement at the same time. 3) If someone is entrusted with legal authority to use force they must be held to a higher standard. To sympathize with this garbage is unacceptable. If this "sympathy" is to justify murder then I go back to my orifinal example. If the victim has a brother and he executes this scum for murdering his brother doesn't he deserve the same amount of sympathy? I don't think the legal establishment would agree. Unfortunally in our increasingly militaristic state murder by uniformed thugs is worthy of sympathy and forgiveness but when the victims of the uniformed murderers try to defend themselves the entire weight of the injustice system comes down upon them. If it is a capital offense to kill a uniformed officer so should it be that it is a capital offense for a uniformed officer when they commit murder.

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#7)
    by roy on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:50 PM EST
    Of course, I undermined my point by misspelling "possessive" as "possive", but oh well.

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:50 PM EST
    Roy, (1) I'm not convinced that TChris is a singular entity, given the multiplicity of contradictions in his (their?) positions. And for a plural, my construction is correct. (2) Your Elements of Style text misspelled "possessive". :) Cheers.

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:50 PM EST
    rational, I didn't suggest that the revenge murder was justified. Rather, I think the bad guy got his desserts, the cop got his desserts, and everyone acknowledges that the revenge killing was a bad move. It's good that the prosecutor didn't let it go. It's also good that the mitigating circumstances of the situation were taken into account in the sentencing. Kapiche?

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#10)
    by DawesFred60 on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:50 PM EST
    Come on people this kind of thing has been happening for many years now nothing new when a cop kills someone he or her isn't happy with...love it,lovr it, and you are next in the third world dance.

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#11)
    by roy on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:50 PM EST
    I'm not convinced that TChris is a singular entity, given the multiplicity of contradictions in his (their?) positions.
    If TChris is more than one person, then "TChris" is still singular because it names the collection. If your "TChris'" is plural, you mismatched your subject and pronoun by later using "his".
    (2) Your Elements of Style text misspelled "possessive".
    This post was very carefully proofread. I spent more time ensuring its correctness than TL will spend on its inevitable deletion as off-topic.

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:50 PM EST
    ...not if his (it's? their?) name is actually "TChri" and "TChris" is the plural... roy, if you're ever in southern ontario, you and I must meet at a bar over copious quantities of beer. I'll buy.

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#13)
    by jen on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:50 PM EST
    If you two are finished playing Connan the Gramarian can we go back to our regularly scheduled freeforall?

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#14)
    by peacrevol on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:50 PM EST
    Thank you Jen, that was kinda getting a little out of control. Holy crap. Anyways, police officers should be held to a higher standard when they put on the badge and gun. I contend that had this been just a regular citizen in street clothes, it would have been a murder charge as opposed to voluntary manslaughter. He was handcuffed. They had him arrested. If the system works, as is stated by our grammatically correct friend grad student, then you would think the officers of the law would have enough faith in the system to allow it to work the way it is supposed to. (sry, ended that sentence in a preposition. i hope nobody pokes my eyes out for that.)

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#15)
    by peacrevol on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:50 PM EST
    Also, as a sidenote and second point, the police are a part of the system. when one of them kills a suspect that has already been caught, the system is flawed, no matter what happens to the cop after the fact. I must also note, however, that the officer was shot and if the suspect were fighting him then he was right in shooting him. I dont know, but that doesnt seem to be the case here.

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#16)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:50 PM EST
    “To sympathize with this garbage is unacceptable. If this "sympathy" is to justify murder then I go back to my orifinal example. If the victim has a brother and he executes this scum for murdering his brother doesn't he deserve the same amount of sympathy?”
    Well, I suppose it depends on the circumstances of the first murder, that is the murder of the police officer. If the police officer was murdered while trying to prevent a crime or otherwise was murdered as a direct result of the suspect’s commission of a crime, then the answer is no; the brother deserves no ‘sympathy’. Perhaps most everyone here, save maybe grad and myself, believes that justice can only be served through the official channels of the state. A notion that often manifests itself in a phrase that has always bothered me; ’paid their debt to society’. When a remote crime is committed I am not the beneficiary of some debt incurred by the criminal. Rather, there are victims, say the friends and family of this officer, as well as the officer himself, who have incurred a deficit because of the unjust actions of the criminal. These are the folks the criminal must ‘pay their debt’. Anyway, assuming the murder of the officer was unjust, the execution of the criminal was just. If one of my close friends or family were murdered in an unjust way I would get my justice however possible, through the state or not.

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#17)
    by peacrevol on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:50 PM EST
    PW, The difference between this and if you had killed someone who killed a member of your family is that this officer exhibited an extreme misuse of power. He is an officer of the law, and is supposed to uphold the law. Killing someone who is already in handcuffs is definately not upholding any law. Vigilanty justice, though understandable, is not altogether excusable in this case. If voluntary manslaughter is the conviction that would have been passed down to any citizen, then that's the right one. If the cop got a break because of his badge, that's not right.

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#18)
    by nolo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:50 PM EST
    Actually, I'm not quite done with policing grammar around here. grad student, it's "capisce." If you're going to sling italian idioms about, get them right.

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:50 PM EST
    "the police are a part of the system. when one of them kills a suspect that has already been caught, the system is flawed"
    Since the system is composed of imperfect human beings, it will never be perfect. That's an inescapable constraint of both society as a whole (which is why we need police) and of the police force itself. However a system can be functional without being perfect. In the case of the police, this is attempted by having oversight of police activity and holding police officers accountable for their actions. Although it sounds like the individual police officer in this case acted wrongly, the system caught that error and punished him accordingly....so the system worked, at least in this case. Jen, it was late, and I was overdosed on Oreo cookies... nolo - actually that's a spelling rather than a grammatical error, but I stand corrected. That's what I get for trying to speak Italian tongue-in-cheek. Pigwiggle: Actually I agree with the term 'debt to society'. When a man commits a crime he not only harms his victims, but society as a whole since he has harmed society's stability. He has set a bad example, necessitated police action, disturbed the public's sense of safety, etc. This is why 'victimless' crimes like drug abuse, self-endangerment, adult incest, etc. can be prosecuted. When one member of society goes rogue he harms the whole society in the same way that one organ going rogue in the body harms the whole body. And one final point: obviously if the officer in this case killed the suspect in defence of himself or another then he didn't do anything wrong. But he pleaded guilty, so I don't think that's what happened.

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#20)
    by peacrevol on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:50 PM EST
    Actually I agree with the term 'debt to society'. When a man commits a crime he not only harms his victims, but society as a whole since he has harmed society's stability. He has set a bad example, necessitated police action, disturbed the public's sense of safety, etc. This is why 'victimless' crimes like drug abuse, self-endangerment, adult incest, etc. can be prosecuted. When one member of society goes rogue he harms the whole society in the same way that one organ going rogue in the body harms the whole body.
    Right and the same applies to the cop in this case. But if you give a lesser sentence to the officer, you are telling the next guy that "it's wrong, but not all that wrong. If you do it we'll give you a slap on the wrist." Police should be held to a higher standard than ordinary citizens. This case along with all of the other police brutality cases, for many of which there was no consequence at all for the officer(s) who committed the brutality, leads me to believe that the system does not work. Every time I hear of an officer showing a misuse of power, it strengthens my belief that the system is flawed, especially when they get away with it or get a slap on the wrist. Perhaps in this case that was an appropriate conviction. If an ordinary citizen would have gotten the same ruling by the same judge and jury for the same crime, then I think it was the right conviction. Impossible to measure, easy to speculate. I hope it was right.

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#21)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:50 PM EST
    Try this fool, and if convicted, toss him in with the general prison population. If treatment like that is good enough for a non-violent teenaged drug possesor, it's just as good for this power-tripping idiot.

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#22)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:50 PM EST
    If anything, cops should be held to a higher and tougher standard than civilians because of the power they weild to do good or harm. This guy should fry.
    if you're ever in southern ontario...
    What's the deal with the wingnut canucks crawling all over this site, eh??

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#23)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:50 PM EST
    A couple notes on my last post... I am not sure I spelled "weild" correctly...nor do I give a damn. And Blaghdaddy I didn't mean any offense by the term "canuck". Well...actually I did, but not directed at you since you're not a wingnut. That is all.

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#24)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:50 PM EST
    he should fry. no ifs ands or buts... it seems the only reason that he isn't being persecuted is due to the fact that is a cop. and the public's thirst for vengance aginst those who 'lawless' is always neatralizes any situation. sick sad world.

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#25)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:50 PM EST
    it's wield.

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#26)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:50 PM EST
    What's the deal with the wingnut canucks crawling all over this site, eh??
    It's because we know the effect of leftist politics from personal experience. If the U.S. were so foolish as to elect the Democrats to the Congress, Senate, and Presidency for 30 years straight with only one small 8-year break then you'd have a larger version of today's Canada. Socialized medicine with lineups so long that people actually die waiting for care, an ineffectual military whose helicopters don't fly and subs don't sail without spontaneously bursting into flames, a government stranglehold on free speech, and unemployment of at least 7%. Oh, and it would take the IRS 4 months to process your tax returns, which would be very small. Take it from us Canucks....vote Republican. (Blaghdaddy would probably recommend otherwise, but I think his main motive is to indulge in jingoism. Touting ourselves as the most tolerant and virtuous people in the world is very popular up here; it salves consciences and alleviates the need to address our own problems)

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#27)
    by roy on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:50 PM EST
    grad student,
    roy, if you're ever in southern ontario, you and I must meet at a bar over copious quantities of beer. I'll buy.
    Likewise, if you find yourself in central Texas. That's the big state at the bottom. And should "Canuck" be capitalized?

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#28)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:50 PM EST
    Just remember what ol' Joe Strummer said: "Murder is a crime, unless it was done by a police man. Or an aristocrat(and I would go so far as to put Republican in place for aristocrat nowadays). I'm sure there a few grammatical errors, but grad student can keep their knowledge and opinions of how to run our country, the U.S. of A,to his/her self. Don't care to hear from a Canadian Doofus, much less the Doofuses we have inhabiting the Republican party.

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#29)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:50 PM EST
    Hey, Roy and Grad Student, why don't we just make the threads name "Canuck and Loser Texan Congratulate one another for being boring wet blankets". Roy, ready for the almighty Sooners to kick the hell out of all of your worthless states football teams this coming season?

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#30)
    by peacrevol on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:51 PM EST
    Hey, Roy and Grad Student, why don't we just make the threads name "Canuck and Loser Texan Congratulate one another for being boring wet blankets". Roy, ready for the almighty Sooners to kick the hell out of all of your worthless states football teams this coming season?
    Just the kind of classless nonsense I would expect out of a boomer.

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#31)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:51 PM EST
    Grad-
    “When one member of society goes rogue he harms the whole society in the same way that one organ going rogue in the body harms the whole body.”
    I’m afraid you’ve been marinating in that stout Canadian liberal brine too long. Society is a byproduct of a mass of individuals, simply an artifact. It has no rights for your rogue individual to harm or standing to be made whole by a payment of debt. Individuals are unique in that they have rights; rights are not conferred by society, but rather are inherent.
    “This is why 'victimless' crimes like drug abuse, self-endangerment, adult incest, etc. can be prosecuted.”
    No, simply the force of a majority allows for the prosecution of victimless ‘crime’. Again, since society has no rights or standing victimless crime is an absurdity. A real crime results when one or more individuals have violated the rights of another individual. I consider the prosecution of so-called victimless ‘crime’ to be unjust and a crime itself.

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#32)
    by jen on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:51 PM EST
    grad student: I completely understand the Oreo thing! I love oreos, and could eat an entire package at one sitting. We all *feel* like doing things like that... pigging out, swearing, hitting some jerk on the road, going to the top of the grocery store with a shotgun (aka: PMS) but we don't do them. If we do we get into deep kimche (sp?) or overweight. We might be able to understand what that cop felt like doing. But he DID it, and that is harder to understand.

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#33)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:51 PM EST
    Pigwiggle, "rights are not conferred by society, but rather are inherent." Thus far we agree. Society is the organic whole composed of individuals. People don't live in a vacuum; the actions of each person affect the lives of all those around them, thus affecting the whole society. Therefore an act that harms one member of society harms all members of society. A debt is owed not to some abstract entity, but rather to all the members in said society. Of course, a larger and more immediate debt is owed to the immediate victims of the crime. Both debts must be paid in order that justice be achieved. I commend you for your warning concerning our liberal times and the distortion inherent in our outlook, but this viewpoint is actually taken from the thinking of Aristotle, particularly the Ethics and the Politics. Aristotle was neither Canadian nor American and lived in AD 300 so I think we may safely conclude that while he was susceptible to his own society's errors, those errors are unlikely to be the same ones clouding our outlook in North America today. Jen: "We might be able to understand what that cop felt like doing. But he DID it, and that is harder to understand." I'm not saying that his action was justified because of his anger. I completely agree that one's inclinations do not determine right and wrong. (although I should point out that leftism says the opposite..."if it feels good, do it") I would suggest, however, that seeing one's partner killed by a man who just murdered his girlfriend and unborn child is quite an emotional experience. Most individuals, even policemen, would react irrationally under those circumstances. This does not justify the vengeance killing, but it does mitigate it to a crime of passion.

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#34)
    by Rational on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:51 PM EST
    "I would suggest, however, that seeing one's partner killed by a man who just murdered his girlfriend and unborn child is quite an emotional experience. Most individuals, even policemen, would react irrationally under those circumstances. This does not justify the vengeance killing, but it does mitigate it to a crime of passion." The fact that this thug was wearing a badge and issued a weapon by the government and operating as a government knee capper precludes any sympathy or mercy. He accepted greater responsibility for greater power. His failure to live up to his committments is just an example of the slime that the police have become. Fry him He committed murder and subverted the trust in the government to justify his crime. he is a murderer. No sympathy. No understanding. Fry him or accept that we are living in a militaristic state that allows uniformed agewnts to freely commit murder. Justice is irrelevent power is all that matters.

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#35)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:51 PM EST
    ...I mean 300 BC of course. Must be those Oreos again.

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#36)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:51 PM EST
    "I’m afraid you’ve been marinating in that stout Canadian liberal brine too long." Apparently PW has never read 'grad student''s posts before. Did this cop suddenly shoot the criminal while suffering temporary insanity? No, the cop (read 'perp') waited until the criminal was handcuffed, shot and brain damaged. That's not involuntary, that is premeditated. The cop stood up in court and admitted to all the facts. The lengths some people will go to to justify murder, torture and lying about WMDs just boggles the mind.

    Re: Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect (none / 0) (#37)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:52 PM EST
    I really don't understand the justification for the murder of a handcuffed prisoner. I do sympathize with the arresting officer over the loss of his partner, but it shouldn't be used for some type of mitigating circumstance to allow the officer to get off without feeling the full force of the legal system working against him. But people in this country will justify just about any action anymore done by a police officer, soldier, or any other profession that is supposedly above reproach. Sad times for our country. Peacrevol, funny comment. Too bad Texans are unable to beat the Sooners, sure would go a long way in making your comment more than the ranting of a LOSER.

    Guilty Plea in Shooting of Handcuffed Suspect | 37 comments (37 topical)