Handshake leads to assault charge

Prosecuting a "vigorous" handshake?

  • Damn straight. Attitude problems should be more subtly expressed.

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  • What's next? Attempted murder charges for accidentally shouldering someone down a staircase?

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Tiassa

Tiassa

Let us not launch the boat ...
Valued Senior Member
Source: BBC News Online
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7237248.stm
Title: "Assault rap for rough handshake"
Date: February 10, 2008

Once upon a time in America, you could tell something about a man by his handshake. Or so said the myth. And, of course, the myth says little about women. Maybe butch dykes, but that is mere theory.

Attorney Kathy Brewer Rentas faces an assault charge after shaking the hand of the federal prosecutor who successfully nailed her husband for violating a probation order, which resulted in Anthony Rentas receiving a 90 day jail term.

Kathy Brewer Rentas, 49, shook the hand of Assistant US Attorney Jennifer Keene so hard her arm was nearly ripped out of its socket, a court official said ....

.... After the hearing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Mrs Brewer Rentas insisted on shaking the prosecuting lawyer's hand.

In shaking it, she nearly floored Ms Keene with the vigour of her hand-action.

"With Keene in hand, Brewer made an upward, then a quick downward motion and pulled Keene toward the ground moving her forward, almost causing Keene to fall to the ground," said a court security officer.

Alicia Valle, a spokeswoman for the US Attorney's Office, said assaulting a federal officer was a serious matter and that Mrs brew Rentas would be prosecuted "vigorously".

"As a member of the bar, she should know better," she said.

Mrs Brewer Rentas was freed on Friday on $100,000 bail, after spending a night in solitary confinement, and ordered to undergo psychological examination.

She was also ordered to stay away from Mrs Keene, and faces up to a year in prison if convicted of assault.

(BBC News)
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While it is true that many people look to their handshake as a means of intimidating others--techniques include yanking on or twisting another's arm, and squeezing the hand with the intent to cause pain--I cannot recall ever hearing of criminal prosecution for such behavior. Perhaps Mrs. Brewer Rentas should have gone with the squeeze o'death. Or maybe some quiet verbal abuse. After all, if she had just squeezed Keene's hand as hard as she could and muttered, through smiling teeth, "You're such a vindictive f@ck", perhaps that would have been all there was to it. Now, of course, Rentas faces prison time. For allegedly making a point of being an asshole.

Ms. Valle might have a point: a lawyer ought to know better than to be so direct. Perhaps a jury will agree.
 
Like WTF ?

Last time someone tried to rip my arm out, I just yanked them back.
Maybe it's Keene who should have firmer hands. I mean, You can just resist you know ?

What's next, a pat on the back turns into sexual harassment ?
 
See that's the thing. I tend to agree, but part of me is sick of a certain role in these equations. Some people do like to use physical force to make their point, and it seems the only way to communicate with them is to use some sort of force in return. What if I pat you on the back hard enough to bruise you? Or clap you on the shoulder hard enough to dislocate it?

Is the pretense of civility a proper excuse for violence? Should a customary greeting or acknowledgment really be a means of establishing dominance through physical violence or intimidation?

I wonder about the phrase that the accused "insisted on shaking the prosecuting lawyer's hand". Insisted? What, exactly, does that mean?

"But I was just shaking her hand!" Does that mean people ought to be prepared to damage one another through social custom?

Perhaps if Mrs. Brewer Rentas had done this somewhere out of the sight of court security officers--say, a bar or restaurant later that day--she would have escaped arrest. I mean, really, if the police had to be called someplace on that kind of a report, their reaction would be a bit more like, well, "What the hell? You called us out here for what?"
 
Hey challanger do you rember that handshake latham gave Howard that nearly knocked the tosser over?:p
 
Asguard said:
Hey challanger do you rember that handshake latham gave Howard that nearly knocked the tosser over?:p
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I remember it. It also resulted in Latham being seen to be a domineering bully.

Tiassa said:
Is the pretense of civility a proper excuse for violence? Should a customary greeting or acknowledgment really be a means of establishing dominance through physical violence or intimidation?
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No it should not. As you have said, had this happened in a bar somewhere, nothing would have probably come of it. But when we look at the story behind this particular handshake, we see a reasoning of why she wanted to use violence against the woman who sent her husband to jail.

The husband of Rentas had just been found guilty of violating his probation and had been sent to jail. The prosecuting officer in the case was Keene, the woman's hand she "insisted" on shaking. Why would you insist on shaking the hand of the woman who sent your husband back to jail for violating his probation? I suspect she wanted to humiliate and hurt the prosecutor in this instance and she assumed hiding it behind a handshake might have worked. In short, she's an idiot.
 
Bells, actually i think the guy had a mental break down but thats beside the point. I seriously doubt that anyone would have advocated sending him to JAIL over it. I certianly wouldnt have. Of course i do like seeing the little brown nose out of his comfert zone:p
 
Asguard said:
Bells, actually i think the guy had a mental break down but thats beside the point. I seriously doubt that anyone would have advocated sending him to JAIL over it. I certianly wouldnt have. Of course i do like seeing the little brown nose out of his comfert zone:p
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He would not have been charged for it because of the political implications it may have had on Howard. His actions however, went to prove that he was not fit to be leader of this country. As amusing as it was to see Howard out of his comfort zone, Latham's actions were not funny in the least. It proved a bully boy tactic and he did it deliberately. It was not just a handshake. It was meant to prove who was the bigger and stronger man, literally. It reeked of the type of thing school boy bullies do.

I personally found it funnier to see John Howard fail to throw a ball repeatedly or feel so uncomfortable when dealing with the general public, than to see him being yanked forward and into a virtual stronghold by his political opposition.
 
You didnt think howard was as big a bully at the time? I have a vage memory of a set of personal atacks from various librals (namly Abbot and Tucky to name 2) aimed at latham both before and after that. Did i think it was a good look? not really. Do i think it was any worse than the libral campaine running at the same time? HELL NO, they were just as bad as eachother. Oh and I said i liked it because it put howard out of his comfert zone, never said thats why he did it. There could have been 100's of reasons why he did it ranging from an acident to delibrate. After all it could just have been a case of him sliping over and using howard to balance himself and trying not to show it to the media. From the footage you cant tell, all you can see is howard almost falling over.

Oh and i dont think i ever saw howard trying to throw a ball:p

I have to admit i LOVED watching the last pudoelection campain and the real election campain. I loved watching the librals get up in parliment and cry because Rudd was "copying them" what a joke:p
 
They actually cut out a lot of it. The reality went painfully on for a lot longer than that.

I am more partial to this video, personally. Pay particular attention to his golf swing and his wife's reaction in the background as the ball and a wad of dirt comes zooming for her.. just over 2 minutes into it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds9u2WpvVBU&NR=1

The handshake in question is also just about 4 minutes into the video... to ermm try to bring this back to topic.

*Hides*
 
Bells maybe we should make a bag the crap out of howard thread so we can stop derailing this one:p
This is first time i have seen a thread derailed by AUSTRALIAN politics:p

dragon America limits the terms of its leaders we just bag the crap out of them:p
 
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