Originally Posted by Chris R
If someone is in Federal custody they are also under the protection of the Federal government.
Now just suppose someone who is accused of a crime gets excited in court and starts jumping up and down proclaiming innocence (very plausible for most people). Now say an over-zealous court officer decides it is prudent to restrain the person in question with a stun gun and said person falls, hits his or her head on the table and subsequently dies from the injury. Who would be in trouble now??
Also, and this happened as well, suppose the unrestrained accused is walking outside the court house and is taken either willfully or not by a third party either for reasons of flight or to be held as "ransom" or something similar.
these are things that happen and because these things happen all people in custody should be treated a consistent and similar way regardless of what you may think are extenuating circumstances. Helio might be a no-trouble detainee but the next guy might not and who is going to consistently make that judgement correctly??