Unanswered Questions...

Wow. This is just... Wow.

Ex-inmate suspected of killing Colorado prisons chief mistakenly freed 4 years early

Because of a paperwork error, the suspect in last month's killing of Colorado's corrections chief was freed from prison in January -- four years earlier than authorities intended.

Judicial officials acknowledged Monday that Evan Spencer Ebel's previous felony conviction had been inaccurately recorded and his release was a mistake.

Oopsie! He attacked a prison guard and threatened to kill him and his family. He was charged with felonies for the attack, and the charges "mistakenly" were recorded as to be served concurrently with his ongoing sentence rather than consecutively. In effect, he got a freebie. He violently attacked a guard, threatened the man and his family, and didn't serve an extra moment.

Why is that, you ask? That's a very good question. They're calling it a clerical error. Except this:

Ebel's early release was just the latest twist in a case full of painful ironies. His father is friends with Hickenlooper and had testified before the Colorado Legislature about the damage solitary confinement did to his son. Clements was worried about that very issue.

(emphasis mine) certainly makes one wonder, does it not? I mean, I'm sure that the prisoner's ties to the governor of the state had nothing to do with the "error" that led to him being released some four years early, right? That same governor, mind you, who doesn't trust his state's citizens with magazines over 15-round capacity. His prison system is either corrupt or woefully inept, but g-d forbid you buy a new P-mag! I'll bet they'd make you serve THAT sentence consecutively...

Here's the guy they gave a free pass on a violent assault and terroristic threats:

Ebel spent much of his time behind bars in solitary confinement and had a long record of disciplinary violations. Records show he joined a white supremacist prison gang.

So, basically, he had 4 years added to his 8 year sentence - that's a 50% increase - and was not a model prisoner. And yet a "clerical error" - that NO ONE managed to catch, mind you, happened to chop 4 years off a 12 year sentence. Oops! I'm sure that his father's friendship with the governor had nothing to do with it, right? I'm sure that violent white supremacists are always released on "time served" with no review of their record, right?

And what happened to their "model" prisoner? He managed to get a gun and then killed the chief of CO prisons. How did he get a firearm, anyways? He's a prohibited person - he can't legally own a firearm, period. Here's a tip, folks. Even the magical "gun show loophole" they're so fond of - which the rest of us call "selling private property" - if you sell a gun to a prohibited person, you are guilty of a crime. It is incipient upon the seller to determine whether the buyer is eligible or not to own the firearm. There is no loophole. If you sell a gun to someone that shouldn't own it, you're guilty of a crime. 

So, despite all of those state and federal laws, our scumbag gets a gun pretty much the moment he steps out of prison - four years earlier than he should have, mind you. He then goes on a killing spree, and is only stopped when he gets to Texas and runs into armed opposition. Now, there's no saying that he wouldn't have done this in 2017, of course; the point is we won't know. All we know as that an "error" let out a violent, dangerous white supremacist four years sooner than he should have been on the street.

And these same people think they know how to make firearms laws...

That is all.

Another dispatch from...

(image courtesy of Robb Allen)