Friday, February 17, 2017

How North Carolina's Justice System Failed Walter "Wes" Scott

KThe system failed Walter "Wes" Scott  and in doing so failed all of us.


Walter "Wes" Scott"
You should read Mark Washburn's commentary on Wes Scott which is here.

This memory of "The Paper Man" is well worth a read as well.

Roger Best was a violent habitual felon who should never had been on the streets of Charlotte. Here's why.




From the local paper 

The suspect is charged with murder, attempted armed robbery and possession of a firearm by a felon. Police said he was shot during the encounter with Scott and is being treated for gunshot wounds at Carolinas Medical Center. 
Once released, officials said Best will be transferred to the custody of the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Department.
The scenario of how shots were exchanged between the two men has not been released by police. Investigators say Best was wounded in the exchange and was seeking help that morning when he flagged down officers on West Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard near South Tryon Street.
Scott was a South Carolina State Constable who carried a gun as he delivered newspapers to hotels, shops and stores in the uptown area. He had delivered newspapers in the city for more than 30 years and worked as a contractor for a company that delivered The Charlotte Observer.
Mecklenburg County Jail records show Best has been jailed five previous times in the city for crimes including possession of a stolen vehicle, felony larceny, felony larceny of a motor vehicle, breaking into a motor vehicle, and removing an electronic monitoring device. His most recent arrest was Jan. 30 for misdemeanor larceny.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article133055179.html#storylink=cpy

The local paper fails go into much detail when it comes to how Roger Best came to the point in his life where he decided to try armed robbery of a newspaper carrier in the dark early morning hours in Uptown Charlotte.

By all accounts Best was a thug since the day he was born.

His first arrest as on adult came on April 3, 2011, at age 17. The charge Felony Breaking and Entering.

On August 18, 2011 the judge bought into the idea that Best is a good boy and just needs a second chance. His sentence of 5 years is suspended in lieu of probation.

But by February 29, 2012 his probation is revoked and he is ordered to serve 10 months in prison.

Best is released from prison after only serving only 5 months of the 8 to 10 month sentence on July 26, 2012.

A month later on August 31, 2012 Best is arrested again, and there's little surprise the charge is again breaking and entering.

While awaiting trial and out of pre trail release he was arrested again on September 12, 2012.

At this point Best is denied bail and is remanded to custody until his March 7, 2013 court hearing. Best later enters a guilty plea and is convicted on both charges though consolidation for sentencing, along with the additional charge of HABITUAL BREAKING AND ENTERING. Best is given a sentence of one to four years. He begins serving his sentence on March 9, 2013.

Roger Best remained in prison from March 2013 until January 22, 2015 when he is released from prison. As a condition of parole among obtaining a job, remaining drug free and reporting to his Parole Officer as requests he must wear an ankle monitor. He had served only 23 months of a possible 60 month sentence.

On January 24, 2015, Best hits the streets only to resume his crime spree until he is arrested on March 2, 2015.


Roger T. Best March 2, 2015

The charge, Parole Violation, he spends the next week in jail and is released on March 9, 2015.

              

Upon release Best again cuts off his ankle monitor and continues his life of crime. After four months violating the conditions of his parole he is picked up and charged with removing his ankle bracelet on July 16, 2015.


Roger T. Best July 16, 2015
Its not hard to imagine that without the monitoring device Best spends his freedom robbing people and breaking into homes and automobiles at random.

He spends 72 hours in jail and is again released to resume his wave of violence.

On July 24, 2015 Best is picked up again.



Roger T. Best July 24, 2015
Again the charge is violation of his terms of parole. But it was just a formality, so back out the doors he goes. Back on parole

On December 3, 2015 he's arrested while driving a stolen car.


Roger T. Best December 3, 2015
He remains in jail for a week and on On December 11, 2015 new charges are added. This time there's another effort to make the charges stick.

Roger T. Best December 11, 2015
Best is charged with; felony larceny, larceny of a motor vehicle, possession of a stolen motor vehicle, breaking and entering of a motor vehicle and misdemeanor larceny.

The charges are eventually dropped but he is returned to prison to serve out the remainder of his March 7, 2013 sentence.

Roger Best is again paroled from state prison on December 2, 2016. 




                    


On December 2, 2016 within hours of his release, Best is arrested, again charged with removing his monitoring device.


Roger T. Best December 2, 2016

Best is released once again on December 5, 2016.

On January 12, 2017 Roger Best is arrested again

Roger T. Best January 12, 2017
The charge is misdemeanor larceny. He remains behind bars until January 30, 2017.

Best is out awaiting a March 3, 2017 court date on the January 12, 2017 misdemeanor larceny charge. When he shoots and kills Walter "Wes" Scott. 

                   

Cedar's Take:

As taxpayers we pay vast amounts of money so that we, our children, our parents, our friends, employees, neighbors, and family members are protected from thugs like Roger Best.

It is absurd that career thugs like Roger Best are given repeated free passes when it is so crystal clear there is no chance of reform. 

In Mr. Best's case it was obvious that he had no intent to conform to society's norm or obey the law. His path through life for whatever reason was a continuing escalation of crime and violence.

We have a criminal justice system that is said to be broken according to former president of the United States because it unfairly treats African Americans. I say it is broken because it allows pond scum like Roger Best to live outside the walls of confinement despite his refusal to conform to basic human standards, that it is indeed broken, but not in its mistreatment of African Americans but in its refusal to accept that some criminals are beyond redemption.

That sadly the only answer for those like Roger Best is lethal injection.




11 comments:

Anonymous said...

These type of people are Ms Genderfer Roberts type: Dem voters with no respect for the law. The District Atty offices has some skin in this game too. Our city is becoming more violent by the day, and the justice system is sitting on the sideline.
Want to guess what the taxpayer portion on Mr Best's hospital bill will be??

Anonymous said...

Thank District Attorney Andrew Murray and his policies which mostly dismiss charges. If not dismissed, they are mostly plea-bargained to almost nothing. See Bill McGuinty's report about a repeat offender criminal caught in the act on camera--and they declined to prosecute (until McGuinty/Channel 36 called around and demonstrated they are willing to expose this). Unfortunately, the local "news" stations who do this type of reporting rarely report bigger issues than a stolen package because it would take a few minutes longer.

The others to thank are a bunch of really bad judges in Mecklenburg County who refuse to put criminals in jail. Before that, thank a bunch of officers who won't bother to charge someone with crimes unless forced.
The exceptions to these people are there--good judges and officers and DA's, but the root of the problem is bad leadership. And lack of dealing in reality. And total lack of accountability at all levels. People in this town lie about crime.
We'll see if Putney does what Monroe did in terms of instructions for the CIAA tournament and charging crimes.

Condolences to this kind, hard-working man's family.

Horrible attack by a known criminal enabled by judges, lawyers, and others.

Anonymous said...

The DA office has failed us. The Command Staff at CMPD is failing its people too. Morale is tanking, ferguson effect is happening here where officers do bare minimum and crime is on rise. CMPD leaders keep the puppet show going.

Anonymous said...

Anon: February 17 @ 9:08. Couldn't have said it better myself. CMPD is a fucking joke.

Anonymous said...

Same story over and over again.

I'll bet his juvenile record is just as bad.

Ought to be public record, if you commit a crime under 16 fine keep it under wraps but the first conviction as an adult it all become public.

Anonymous said...

CMPD is lucky that murder suspect approached them, or he might have never been caught.
I saw that stupid shit video that Rob Dance did at the barber shop. How about less haircuts, and more officers on the streets? That entire academy looks like a circus-whore house led by the lying Major.

Anonymous said...

Cedar you should post the Rob Dance video.

Anonymous said...

Public lynchings are the only cure for this type of problem....

Anonymous said...

But as one City Council member stated years ago about the scumbag who murdered two CMPD officers off of Milton Road: "Where did we fail this young man?" What a frickin joke!! His PARENTS failed him, period. I an so f&*%$#^ tired of society I want to puke!

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Anonymous said...

This man had a rough life. From being adopted to being homeless, these comments are stupid this guy was not by himself. I've known him for 10 years and it was always mostly around the wrong crowd. When your parents aren't there for you and have to fend for yourself, its not much to do. He is a good friend and he has bad influences around him which led him to be put in bad situations. I'm sorry for the poor man's family but he actually has a good heart. He had people around him more likely check those cameras