Somali Pirate’s Father Invents Time Machine
I get lied to for a living, so stories like this (about the surviving Somali pirate) don’t surprise me much:
The courtroom was briefly closed yesterday while the pirate’s age was debated. The defense claimed he was 15; prosecutors said he was over 18.
The feds said Muse had given conflicting information about his age – telling Navy officials and an NYPD detective he was anywhere between 15 and 26.
The judge called Muse’s father in Somalia and he said his son was his first-born and was born in November 1993, making him just 15.
Under questioning, though, the father said his fourth-born son was born in 1990 – and the judge ruled his testimony was not credible.
Ya think?
Look at the big smile on his face. American prisoners live better than the average Somali.
Comment by Roy Mustang — 4/21/2009 @ 11:31 pm
Be prepared for this terrorist/pirate to start receiving support from the left because he is just a victim of racism and the imperialist oppression of countries like the US.
This is going to be interesting because this case is a slam dunk compared to the Gitmo prisoners that they want tried in our court system.
Comment by Baxter Greene — 4/22/2009 @ 12:43 am
They should have just hung the bastard.
Comment by Dr. K — 4/22/2009 @ 2:28 am
Quick! Get a hold of Mr. Peabody, Sherman and the WayBack Machine, set it to 1822 coastal Florida and hang the wee jibber from the nearest and highest yardarm.
Comment by DCSCA — 4/22/2009 @ 3:27 am
Arrest and prosecute the father for perjury.
Comment by Mitch — 4/22/2009 @ 5:42 am
Doesn’t seem as though it matters much. He’s going to be tried as an adult, so whether he’s 15 or 26, it doesn’t really matter. Assuming he gets the appropriate sentence, life in prison without parole, if he’s only fifteen, then he’ll get an additional eleven years as our guest.
Since no one was killed in the incident for which he was arrested, there was never a possibility of capital punishment if he was to be tried under American law.
The only point in saying that he is a juvenile is to try to generate some sympathy for the miscreant; as eager to throw people under the bus as our President has been, I don’t see him showing much mercy to this guy, juvenile or not.
It’s just good politics for the Administration to prosecute this misunderstood boy as an adult, and throw the book at him, so that’s exactly what they’ll do.
Comment by The cold-hearted Dana — 4/22/2009 @ 5:49 am
That is not entirely accurate…
And besides, isn’t it the liberal side of the court who keeps telling us we should be willing to apply law from sources outside the US?
Comment by Scott Jacobs — 4/22/2009 @ 6:16 am
#7 Only when said laws support a result they want.
This case is going to be very interesting to follow. The piracy was committed against an American flagged ship with an American crew, universal jurisdiction doesn’t apply. So this case will absolutely put The Law to the test.
Comment by LarryD — 4/22/2009 @ 6:28 am
There are ways to estimate his age with x-rays and bone maturation although the malnutrition common in Somalia might alter that a bit. It matters little but will get some mileage in the press. If Kuby is the defense counsel, a conviction is pretty much assured. Do any of his clients ever get off ?
Comment by Mike K — 4/22/2009 @ 6:34 am
Law of the sea is to hang Pirates immediately upon capture. What is the problem here?
Comment by PCD — 4/22/2009 @ 6:46 am
#8
Oh yeah… I keep forgetting that part…
Comment by Scott Jacobs — 4/22/2009 @ 7:15 am
In a just world, after his conviction, he would be hung from the Verazanno Narrows Bridge so that all mariners would know that piracy will not be tolerated, still.
In a realistic world, he would have been shackled to an anchor and line immediately after his capture, and tossed off the fantail.
Comment by AD — 4/22/2009 @ 8:30 am
12, How about welding the pirate in with a drunken Ted Kennedy in an old Olds for a tour of bridges of the Northeast? Or to make sure of the job, launch the welded shut Olds of an aircraft carrier for Ted to search the Atlantic floor for JFK’s original coffin?
Comment by PCD — 4/22/2009 @ 10:29 am
No! I wouldn’t wish Teddy on my worst enemy, last of all some illiterate goat-herder from the arm-pit of Africa. Teddy has his own accounting that he has to answer for, and that session is fast approaching.
Comment by AD — 4/22/2009 @ 1:29 pm
Did anyone see that knob-job clip of Barcky lauding praise and accolades on Kennedy yesterday? If you are a Republican, and speak positively of an elderly douchenozzle at his birthday party, you can get run out of office. If you are a Dem, you can heap praise on someone that got all Kennedy’d up, drove off a bridge, and fled like a coward, allowing a passenger to drown, and that is fine.
Comment by JD — 4/22/2009 @ 1:49 pm
Maybe Keith Ellison (D-CAIR) will adopt the little nipper.
Comment by daleyrocks — 4/22/2009 @ 2:58 pm
Actually I think I saw something about some Somali group in Minnesota paying for his legal defense.
Comment by SPQR — 4/22/2009 @ 3:02 pm
17. http://powerlineblog.com has that story. Seems taxpayers are supporting the group that fawns over the poor somali pirates.
Comment by aoibhneas — 4/22/2009 @ 3:05 pm
… the judge ruled his testimony was not credible.
Maybe he had the two sons by different wives
/snark
Comment by JayC — 4/22/2009 @ 3:23 pm
I don’t suppose anyone has bothered to check if he has/had wisdom teeth?
Comment by Soothsayer — 4/22/2009 @ 4:28 pm
Here’s the federal complaint, via PACER, if you’re interested.
Comment by Beldar — 4/22/2009 @ 4:49 pm
Why all the rancor? In perspective, this kid is a lot less of a threat to our society than the ten thousand others of our homegrown ones who will rob you for the three dollars in your pocker, rape you if they think they have time to, kill you because they’re too stupid not to rest their finger on the trigger, and be out on parole in six years.
Comment by nk — 4/22/2009 @ 4:58 pm
Thank you for posting the complaint, Beldar. It has several new and interesting details.
Comment by Anon — 4/22/2009 @ 4:58 pm
Maybe so, NK, but on land we can call on law enforcement for help and in theory they will provide timely assistance. It’s much easier for lawlessness to flourish on the seas, and IMO that’s why applicable law allows more aggressive enforcement.
Comment by Anon — 4/22/2009 @ 5:02 pm
Because one is more likely does not mean that we should not pursue others to the extent possible, nk.
Anon prefers the Stones to the Beatles. The real question is … NC or CA ?
Comment by JD — 4/22/2009 @ 5:04 pm
This year it’s definitely CA.
Comment by Anon — 4/22/2009 @ 5:13 pm
You are a sexist misogynistic racist looksist, Anon.
Comment by JD — 4/22/2009 @ 5:17 pm
You forgot homophobic.
Comment by Anon — 4/22/2009 @ 5:34 pm
oops. Good catch. Looks-ist is one of my favorites. I almost fell out of my chair the 1st time I saw that one.
Comment by JD — 4/22/2009 @ 5:38 pm
#22 nk:
I’m not so sure, nk.
The actions of our homegrown thugs are certainly more immediate, and more tragic for their individual victims…but they aren’t disrupting international trade.
It may be that our attitudes towards piracy are a little outdated, we no longer live in an era where the content of a single ship pirated might devastate the economy of a entire town or even threaten the survival of individuals needing to be supplied from the cargo of the vessel, but piracy is still a very real economic concern just because so much of our trade is carried across the oceans.
Kind of like the urbanites who have difficulty associating groceries with the farms and ranches they came from, it’s difficult for us in the internet age to associate stuff ordered online and dropped at the door with ships and the sea, but they do play a huge part in the delivery of most of our goods.
Comment by EW1(SG) — 4/22/2009 @ 6:26 pm
Unfortunately, I can’t imbed pictures on Patterico’s fine site, but it seems that former Vice President Cheney has come up with a method to answer the question concerning
Johnny Depp’sthe pirate’s age.Comment by The amused Dana — 4/23/2009 @ 8:54 am
I’d give him ten years before sending him back home. It’s a long enough time, now that we are aware of the nuisance, for us to make piracy a quaint memory again.
Comment by nk — 4/24/2009 @ 11:16 am
And just for a test, my respected and very much valued fellow commenters. What would be your proposed solution to men urinating in public, on any corner of any building, on the streets of your city?
Comment by nk — 4/24/2009 @ 11:21 am