First thought: Wow, a powerful man is going to see some CONSEQUENCES???

[girlonthenet@mastodon.social]

@benh only if we completely ignore the testimony of survivors!

[aadeacon@mastodon.social]

@girlonthenet I suspect it is a holding charge whilst investigations continue on the more serious charges. it is not unknown to use a lesser charge to hold people in custody whilst the other case is built, especially if there is a risk of the perpetrator fleeing or interfering with witnesses.

[mactonex@toot.community]

@girlonthenet misconduct in a public office is a serious sounding offence (and is in fact a serious offence) but it’s one they can limit to him and him alone. Investigating him and charging him over his Epstein connections threatens to drag all sorts of sordid creatures from out of the mud.

Still made me very happy to see though, and on his birthday too!

[notthelbcguy@mstdn.social]

@girlonthenet @benh well, you know the problem with testimony. It’s just a case of he said, she said, she said, she said, she said, she said, she said, she said, she said, she said, also she said, and also he admitted it in email with a winky emoji.

[cougar@infosec.exchange]

@girlonthenet I would assume that either it's an offence they believe they can get to stick, or it's an excuse to raid his properties with a high degree of confidence that they'll find something far more damning.

No-one is going to arrest the artist formerly known as a Prince unless they're sure, because there's no graceful climb-down to be had here if they can't secure a conviction. Plus that would send a really terrible message to all the others who think they're untouchable.

IMHO, etc etc.

[girlonthenet@mastodon.social]

@Cougar oh yeah for sure. I particularly like the bit in their statement which says they are carrying out further searches at his addresses. I think my frustration comes from the fact that for so long, 'survivor testimony' has been written off as 'obviously not good enough evidence'. I would like to live in a world where survivor testimony - especially of the detail and magnitude we see in the Epstein files - is good enough for arrest, at least.

[girlonthenet@mastodon.social]

@NotTheLBCGuy @benh extremely well put holy shit

[girlonthenet@mastodon.social]

@Mactonex on his BIRTHDAY oh god thanks for that detail. Lol.

[mactonex@toot.community]

@girlonthenet yeah, pretty sure he’s not going to be going to Woking Pizza Express to celebrate

[juergen_hubert@mementomori.social]

@Cougar @girlonthenet

Yeah, you start out with the parts that are easy to prove, and then you have the legal cover to search for the _really_ juicy stuff on all his premises.