Police were alerted last month about a Maine shooter's threats. 'We couldn't locate him.'

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

https://www.bangordailynews.com/2023/10/28/news/central-maine/police-
alerted-last-month-maine-shooters-threats/

Police across Maine were alerted just last month to “veiled threats” by
the U.S. Army reservist who would go on to carry out the worst mass
shooting in the state’s history, one of a string of missed red flags that
preceded the massacre.

Two local law enforcement chiefs told The Associated Press that a
statewide awareness alert was sent in mid-September to be on the lookout
for Robert Card after the firearms instructor made threats against his
base and fellow soldiers. But after stepped-up patrols of the base and a
visit to Card’s home — neither of which turned up any sign of him — they
moved on.

“We added extra patrols, we did that for about two weeks. … The guy never
showed up,” said Jack Clements, the police chief in Saco, home to the U.S.
Army Reserve base where Card trained.

Sagadahoc County Sheriff Joel Merry, whose jurisdiction includes Card’s
home in Bowdoin, said the Army Reserve tipped his department in September
to the reservist’s threats, and the sheriff sent the awareness alert to
every law enforcement agency in the state after his deputy came back
empty-handed from a welfare check to Card’s home.

“We couldn’t locate him,” Merry said, adding that he couldn’t recall if
there was any follow-up because “I don’t have any reports in front of me.”

Military officials declined to comment further about Card, specifically
whether the threats relayed to the sheriff in September were new or the
same ones Card had made during an Army reserve training exercise near West
Point, New York, in July. That’s when police say Card was committed to a
mental health facility for two weeks after acting erratically and “hearing
voices and threats to shoot up” a military base.

Authorities say the 40-year-old Card opened fire with a high-powered rifle
on a bowling alley and then a bar in Lewiston Wednesday night, killing 18
people and wounding 13 more. After an intensive two-day manhunt that put
the state on edge, Card was found dead Friday from a self-inflicted
gunshot.

Card’s case stands as a glaring example of missed red flags, with many
unanswered questions about what the military, police, mental health
professionals and relatives could have done to prevent the massacre.

While Maine does not have a red flag law, it does have a more limited ”
yellow-flag ” law that would still allow police to petition a judge to
take a person’s firearms away if a medical practitioner deems that person
to be a threat.

For his part, Saco police Chief Clements defended his department’s
response to the alert about Card, which he described as a “generic thing
that came out saying, hey, you know, we’ve had some report that this guy’s
made some veiled threats.”

Clements noted that his department gets many such alerts and that his
officers gave this one its due attention, keeping an eye on the base for
any sign of Card.

“Never came in contact with this guy, never received any phone calls from
the reserve center saying, ‘Hey, we got somebody who was causing a
problem,'” he said. “We never got anything.”

Another law enforcement agency that came in contact with Card was the New
York State Police, which on July 16 was called in West Point by commanders
of the Army Reserve’s 3rd Battalion, 304th Infantry Regiment with concerns
about Card’s erratic behavior and “threats to other members of his
military unit” during a training exercise, according to a State Police
document obtained by AP. State Police troopers took Card, a sergeant 1st
class, to the Keller Army Community Hospital at West Point for what would
be two weeks of mental health evaluation.

What New York State Police did about Card’s threats is unclear. The agency
declined to comment to the AP on the case and did not respond to a request
for reports or possible body-camera footage of their interactions with
Card.

“This is an active investigation, and the New York State Police does not
comment on active investigations, nor investigations in which we are not
the lead agency,” it said in a statement Friday before Card was found
dead. A state police spokesman refused to comment Saturday.

Jonathan Crisp, an army lawyer for two decades before starting a criminal
defense practice, said when soldiers are committed involuntarily to mental
health facilities by others in the chain of command, it is a “reportable”
event under Army regulations that triggers a requirement to alert others.
A provost marshal enters the incident into a military database that puts
the FBI on notice so it can enter the name into a background list of
people prevented from buying weapons.

The FBI did not immediately respond to queries on whether it was made
aware of Card’s threats.

“If they took him and he didn’t want to go and he refused to be admitted,
it’s a slam dunk,” Crisp said. “This should have been reported.”

But Maine Department of Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck said
in a news conference Saturday that while Card had a history of mental
illness, there was no evidence that he had ever been involuntarily
committed.

“Just because there appears to be a mental health nexus to this scenario,
the vast majority of people with mental health diagnosis will never hurt
anybody,” Sauschuck said.

Jody Madeira, an Indiana University law professor who has studied gun
laws, said police in one state can alert counterparts in another state
that someone is a danger, and the military can do the same with local
police.

She said someone dropped the ball because Card’s threats and medical
evaluation should have triggered a yellow flag seizure of his guns when he
returned home.

“He slipped through the cracks,” Madeira said. “There were warning signs.”

Story by Bernard Condon and Jim Mustian, The Associated Press. Condon and
Mustian reported from New York. AP reporter Patrick Whittle in Portland,
Maine, and news researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed.


--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.

Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.

No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.

Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.

President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.

[ELON X.]

Trump’s Total Charges Could Result In More Than 700 Years In Prison—Here's
Updated Aug 22, 2023, 03:00pm EDT

Topline

Former President Donald Trump has been indicted on 91 federal and state
charges in total after being indicted for the fourth time Monday in Fulton
County, Georgia, facing a range of felony charges that all carry potential
prison sentences that add up to a potential maximum sentence of 717.5
years in prison, though Trump is highly unlikely to face that much time.
Donald Trump

Former President Donald Trump prepares to deliver remarks at a Nevada
Republican volunteer ... [+]Getty Images
Key Facts

Manhattan – 136 Years Maximum: Trump was charged with 34 counts of
falsifying business records in the first degree in his first indictment in
Manhattan, stemming from “hush money” payments made during his 2016
campaign, which as a class “E” felony under New York law carries a maximum
four-year prison sentence for each count if convicted.

Trump could face over 100 years in prison if he were convicted of every
charge in that case, but legal experts suggest it’s unlikely he’ll face
any prison time at all in this case as a first-time offender.

PROMOTED

Classified Documents – 450 Years Maximum: Trump faces 40 federal charges
after being indicted for bringing White House documents back to Mar-A-Lago
with him and allegedly trying to obstruct the Justice Department’s
investigation into them, including 32 counts of willful retention of
national security documents, six counts related to obstruction and two
counts for scheme to conceal and making false statements.

That could result in 450 years maximum imprisonment, based on the willful
retention charges each carrying up to 10 years in prison, the obstruction
charges carrying potential 20-year penalties and the false statement
charges carrying potentially five years each.

Federal Election Investigation – 55 Years Maximum: Trump was charged with
four felony counts as part of the Justice Department’s investigation into
his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, including conspiracy to defraud
the U.S., obstruction, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and
conspiracy against rights, a 19th century law that criminalizes when two
or more people “conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate” any
Americans “in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege”
they’re afforded under the Constitution or federal law.

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Those charges could result in more than 50 years in prison if Trump were
convicted of all counts, based on maximum sentences of five years for
conspiracy to defraud, 20 years for each obstruction charge and 10 years
for conspiracy against rights.

Fulton County – 76.5 Years Maximum: Trump was indicted on 13 state charges
in Fulton County for trying to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election—part of 41
total counts brought against 19 defendants—including charges for
racketeering (known as RICO charges), solicitation of violation of oath by
a public officer, conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer,
conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree, false statements and
writings, conspiracy to commit false statements and writings, filing false
documents and conspiracy to commit filing false documents.

Trump could spend more than 70 years in prison if he were convicted on all
counts, based on maximum sentences of 20 years for racketeering, three
years for solicitation (three counts), 2.5 years for conspiracy to
impersonate a public officer, 7.5 years for forgery conspiracy (two
counts), five years for false statements (two counts), 2.5 years for
conspiracy to commit false statements (two counts), 10 years for filing
false documents and five years for conspiracy to file false documents.
Contra

While all of the crimes Trump’s been indicted for do carry possible prison
sentences, most do not carry mandatory sentences if convicted and can also
potentially be punishable by a fine. Criminal solicitation and forgery in
Georgia are the only charges against Trump in which the statutes don’t
specify it can be punishable by a fine instead.
What We Don’t Know

What Trump’s actual prison sentences will be, if he’s convicted of any of
the crimes he’s been charged with. Trump is unlikely to receive maximum
prison sentences as a first-time offender, Politico notes, and even if
he’s convicted of multiple crimes, he might be ordered to serve out his
sentences concurrently, meaning he could serve sentences for multiple
counts simultaneously rather than one after the other. Trump could also be
helped out in the documents case by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, the
judge overseeing the case who would sentence him if convicted, who Trump
appointed and has been deferential toward him in the past.
What To Watch For

Trump’s trial in Manhattan is scheduled to start on March 25, 2024,
followed by the documents case going to trial on May 20, 2024, though
those dates could be changed. No date has been set yet for Trump’s federal
indictment for trying to overturn the 2020 election, though prosecutors
have proposed a trial date of January 2. It’s also still unclear when the
Fulton County case will go to trial, and while District Attorney Fani
Willis suggested prosecutors want the trial to take place within the next
six months, that may be unlikely given the complex nature of the 19-
defendant case.
Chief Critic

Trump has strongly denied all of the charges against him in each
indictment, pleading not guilty to the first three sets of charges and
decrying the Fulton County indictment as a “witch hunt.” “These monsters,
all controlled and coordinated by the DOJ and Radical Left Lunatics, are
Criminalizing Political Speech, a total SHUTDOWN OF DEMOCRACY!” Trump
claimed on Truth Social Tuesday night. (Legal experts have disputed
Trump’s claim that his attempts to overturn the election were First
Amendment-protected speech.)
Surprising Fact

Trump being convicted and sentenced to prison would not in itself stop him
from serving as president if he were reelected in 2024—or from campaigning
for the job—though it would likely present some logistical challenges.
Legal experts cited by Politico said it’s likely any sentences from state
courts would likely be postponed until after his presidential term ends,
and while it’s less clear what would happen in the case of any federal
sentences, Trump could try to pardon himself from those charges. (It’s
still legally uncertain if he could do so.)
Key Background

Trump is the first sitting or former president to be indicted on felony
charges. His indictments were brought over the past several months
following years-long investigations by federal and local prosecutors, with
special counsel Jack Smith being appointed in November to oversee the
Justice Department’s two investigations into the former president. The
charges in Fulton County were brought Monday against 19 defendants,
alleging Trump was part of a broader criminal conspiracy to subvert the
election results. Polling suggests that Trump’s indictments have only
bolstered his standing in the Republican presidential primaries among his
GOP base, though it’s still unclear how his indictments—or by that point,
any convictions—could impact the ex-president in a general election.