LE Press Conferences

[cluciano63]

I am not understand the day delay either...all of the news breaking today, rumors flying, and if they really need the public's help, then why wait?

I guess they could have a few more people testifying tomorrow and want to have the PC when the GJ is WU (wrapped up )

But the sooner the better, if it leads to Kyron...I hate any sense of non-urgency, it drives me crazy and the poor family

 

[BeanE]

Since at the last presser, LE did exactly what they had announced they were going to do, I'm confident at this presser, they will again do exactly what they announced they are going to do:

The purpose of the press conference is to release certain case details in an effort to obtain the public's help in gathering further information in this investigation.

http://www.flashalert.net/news.html?id=1276

 

[BeanE]

I'm stumped on why LE hasn't named Terri a POI. I understand not naming her a suspect - there's the liability. But POI isn't an official term, and they don't need probable cause (enough evidence to arrest/charge someone) in order to name someone a POI.

In Gabe Johnson's case, LE named Tammi and Jack Smith both POIs. Later, they arrested and charged Tammi, and on the same day, they announced that Jack was no longer a POI. He wasn't arrested or charged.

So, not needing enough evidence to charge, and not holding the legal liability that naming someone a suspect has, why haven't they named Terri, even though she's so obviously a person of interest to them?

And do you think they will do so today? I'm thinking they just might at this point.

 

[Bipolar Express]

I dont understand it either....just like the Haleigh case....should be all kinds of POIs named there....

 

[jadejazzkayla]

as you mention.... POI is a made up term - i don't think LE will ever name anyone POI. If they ever find enough evidence to call someone a suspect - then maybe we may see that used.

 

[PoppyH]

I don't think we wil see the term used, just arrests just jump right on over to perp/s

 

[Openmyeyes]

Truthfully, they already have insinuated it very strongly with that new flyer. I don't believe that LE ever denied their interest, even while Desiree and Kaine were begging Terri to cooperate.

Its a matter of semantics.

Besides Terri & DD, what other people are being leaked? MC? The "landscaper/hitperson"?

 

[nursebeeme]

LE doesn't ever have to use the word publicly.

Obviously they are "interested" in the two though

 

[darlin gal]

Officially, "person of interest" means..well, nothing. No one has ever formally defined it — not police, not prosecutors, not journalists. The terms "accused," "allege," "arrest" and "indict" all are dealt with in the Associated Press Stylebook, but there is no listing for "person of interest." Similarly, the U.S. Attorneys' Manual — the official guide to federal criminal prosecution — uses the terms "suspect," "subject," "target" and "material witness," but "person of interest" gets no mention.

http://www.ajr.org/article.asp?id=4042

"Obviously, 'person of interest' is a number of steps from someone who has been charged," Gazlay says.
Jim Kouri, a spokesman for the National Association of Chiefs of Police, says "person of interest" often is a euphemism for "suspect."
"If it's a suspect and you say 'person of interest,' you're using the euphemism to avoid problems down the line," says Kouri, a former New York housing police officer. What problems? Police sometimes "try to maintain that the person really isn't a suspect" in order to get him to agree to questioning without Miranda warnings, Kouri says. "You don't want the guy to lawyer up."
Kouri says across the country, "it's the legal counsel telling police chiefs that they should instruct their officers and train them to use that term."

 

[believe09]

I wonder if the difference is the FBI involvement. Perhaps they do not use the term, in spite of the popularity of the concept with us civilians...

 

[STEADFAST]

I'd say putting their pictures on a flier is an even stronger statement than just saying that they're POI's. I mean, "Could you please look at these six pictures of these two women and fill out and return this form about them -- not that they are persons of interest to us."

 

[liz b.]

I think it's probable that LE has been running concurrent investigations all along. But, I do remember reading that LE has not communicated with TH since she retained Houze as her attorney.And there is surely a reason(s) for that... No, I do not think LE will name her as a POI today.

All JMO

 

[chasing.halos]

What would be the benefit of naming a POI? (I am honestly asking, not being snarky lol)

 

[BeanE]

I wonder if the difference is the FBI involvement. Perhaps they do not use the term, in spite of the popularity of the concept with us civilians...

FBI was involved in Gabe's case.

Do they maybe just not name POIs in Oregon or in that specific county as a matter of policy?

 

[BeanE]

What would be the benefit of naming a POI? (I am honestly asking, not being snarky lol)

For me, it would tell me there is no chance Kyron was taken by a stranger. That may not be how others think, but that's what it would mean to me.

I *think* it would also mean a mass exodus off the fence.

 

[jadejazzkayla]

copies from wiki:

The use of the term became widely critiqued when United States Attorney General John Ashcroft used it in a press conference when asked if Dr. Steven J. Hatfill was a suspect in the 2001 anthrax attacks case. The legal meaning of the phrase is (as of November 2004) subject to a lawsuit. It is unclear how Ashcroft's November 2004 resignation might affect the liabilities, if any, established by the suit.

Dr. Hatfill, who claims he has lost his professional reputation and employment prospects as a consequence of being publicly identified, alleges that the Justice Department and the FBI used the phrase as an excuse to implicate him personally, without commencing legal proceedings, to divert media attention from their own failure to charge a suspect for the attacks.

seems Terri has suffered a lot of what Dr. Hatfil did even without being named a person of interest.

 

[passionflower]

I have read that LE will not call you a suspect, POI until an arrest is coming because of law suits years ago being called suspects and weren't.

 

[Donjeta]

I don't think they have to. I'm pretty sure Terri has felt like a suspect from at least June 5th since her fifth interview and people "blaming her". Her father said there was a 50-50 chance that she'd be arrested which says to me that her family thinks she's a suspect. Her divorce attorney alluded to the potential upcoming criminal case as a reason to abate the divorce proceedings although she hadn't been charged for anything, which says to me that her attorney thinks she's a suspect. Other people who follow the news have figured out that LE is interested in her. Not sure what would change if she was named a suspect. It's already clear she is, IMO. I don't see the police releasing flyers begging for information about the whereabouts of non-suspects. "Hi, look at this woman. Her name is Donjeta and we do not suspect her of anything but nevertheless, please tell us if you have seen her anywhere on June 4th. Her, or her vehicle. PS. If you saw her friend, please share that too. Repeat, they are not suspects. We just don't believe their alibi."

 

[Black Frost]

It seems to have been a phrase created to enable LE to label a suspect (when dealing with the media) yet avoid comprimising the judicial process that would result from use of the official designation suspect.

In theory, it sounds like a great idea with two admirable objectives: 1. Prevention of irreparable damage to reputations of innocents whom, for any # of reasons, end up under LE's microscope, i.e. Richard Jewell or the guy (name escapes me) who succummed to a heart attack under interrogation about Elizabeth Smart. 2. Prevention of those truly responsible for crimes escaping justice because they claim they were victimized like those in #1.

The problem, however, is the way in which euphemisms, especially those that become as widely adopted as the term POI, age. Over time they lose their opacity eventually becoming widely recognized and understood as synonymous with the original term. It matters not that POI is not an official designation of LE, the media or any criminal code. Over time it has "earned" significance and, from of legal POV, can be effectively argued to be damaging (see bold text in jadejazzkayla's post). I think we can expect to it to be used less and less by the more cautious in LE. Or at least until its legal "weight" is officially determined.

To answer the OP, remember the term has no official distincion and as such advances the investigation in no way. It was created for LE's dealings with the media. The only thing it satisfies is the curiosity of onlookers. And I don't mean that offensively. I count myself among them. For outsiders who follow these cases, (again, me included) we waited to hear the term POI used by LE, when they could no longer use suspect safely. We knew what it meant. But its because of that LE can't safely use it anymore.

I guess I'd say to take comfort in the fact they haven't used it. It could help to protect the integrity of the investigation which could lead to a cleaner path to justice, whatever form it ends up taking. Which is a good thing for everybody involved.

 

[Kimster]

Please do NOT start a discussion until the presser.

The only posts allowed are those that direct us to where it can be watched live online.

THANK YOU!

(There is a pre-presser discussion going on here ------>http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=114405&page=3)