A Personal Statement from Zain Dean

[Mick]

Latest news, and, of course, this isn't "official", that is it hasn't appeared in any of the papers, you know, like the one where the guy's being specifically labeled as having commited an act for which he has yet to be tried, but latest news is they're taking forever to go to trial because the already circumstantial evidence is so weak, no Prosecutor will touch the case, it being pretty apparent it'll get thrown out the first day.
A forensic expert has identified numerous places where the security cam tapes from the KTV were clearly tampered with, and not very skillfully, either.
Upon cursory examination, none of the KTV employee's stories matched, and were consistently contradicted by their cell phone records.
The driver kid's deposition was wildly inconsistent and apparently collapsed upon even basic follow up questioning.
More than 5 Prosecutors have passed on going to trial, and it's apparently been hot-potatoed down to like the most junior staff, like under-30s, and they don't even want it.
As always, not stating guilt or otherwise, but there cetainly isn't, as some of us discussed previously, anything even remotely like a case here.

As for dozing through the incident, I think ZD indicated that the kid pretty much had to shake him awake upon arriving near his home.

Ive been following this thread, but refrained from posting. If there is any substance to the above the police in my opinion should start an independent inquiry.

It should have been trivial for the prosecutors to prove their case, take video from the club and correlate it with credit card transactions of patrons would have seemed one way to establish time authenticity.

An inability to prove the case speaks volumes, proof of tampering with evidence is deserving of an independent review.

[bismarck]

Latest news, and, of course, this isn't "official", that is it hasn't appeared in any of the papers, you know, like the one where the guy's being specifically labeled as having commited an act for which he has yet to be tried, but latest news is they're taking forever to go to trial because the already circumstantial evidence is so weak, no Prosecutor will touch the case, it being pretty apparent it'll get thrown out the first day.
A forensic expert has identified numerous places where the security cam tapes from the KTV were clearly tampered with, and not very skillfully, either.
Upon cursory examination, none of the KTV employee's stories matched, and were consistently contradicted by their cell phone records.
The driver kid's deposition was wildly inconsistent and apparently collapsed upon even basic follow up questioning.
More than 5 Prosecutors have passed on going to trial, and it's apparently been hot-potatoed down to like the most junior staff, like under-30s, and they don't even want it.
As always, not stating guilt or otherwise, but there cetainly isn't, as some of us discussed previously, anything even remotely like a case here.

As for dozing through the incident, I think ZD indicated that the kid pretty much had to shake him awake upon arriving near his home.

Ive been following this thread, but refrained from posting. If there is any substance to the above the police in my opinion should start an independent inquiry.

It should have been trivial for the prosecutors to prove their case, take video from the club and correlate it with credit card transactions of patrons would have seemed one way to establish time authenticity.

An inability to prove the case speaks volumes, proof of tampering with evidence is deserving of an independent review.

I have to admit, I think the entire thing smells off. At this point, the only people I really feel sorry for is the family of the bloke that was killed. Regardless of who the culprit was, I think they deserve some justice at least...
The cops should be all over this, and I agree with your sentiments. It shouldn't be that hard to get the evidence from credit cards, cameras etc.

[the chief]

It looks like the judges have reached the end of their patience and earlier this week required the prosecutors to present their body of evidence.
The prosecution's sole exhibit is a video segment showing Mr. Dean getting into the passenger side of his car and someone else, dressed as an employee, getting in the driver's side. Apparently the video isn't clear enough to identify the employee.
That is the full extent of the prosecution's evidence.
The judge has made the disclosure public, an unusual move.
More than likely to avoid criticism when he throws the case out.

An interesting side note is that the owner of the KTV, who had earlier sworn under oath that he had gone home long before the time when Mr. Dean left, can be clearly seen on the video right there all along.

[Jaboney]

Now that's very interesting.

[headhonchoII]

There must be 10s to 100s of camera along the route..and that's the ONLY video evidence they can come up with ?!?

[the chief]

There must be 10s to 100s of camera along the route..and that's the ONLY video evidence they can come up with ?!?

Maybe there's no evidence because he isn't guilty????

[headhonchoII]

This whole story stinks to high heaven, from all sides! People don't try to get rid of cars so quickly after a crash, there should be tonnes of videotape covering the route, the prosecutors suck and the court should admit the evidence is to weak to go to prosecution, the KTV owners and employees should be done for perjury, the police should be investigated for collusion...

[Tempo Gain]

If it's tossed out, at least he can look forward to seeing his name cleared in the media after it's all over.

I'm looking forward to the Lord God teleporting through my ceiling like in "The Hand of God" and handing me a bottle of 30yo scotch too while we're at it. I'm a bit hairier and nowhere near as well built as Adam but what the hell.

[Icon]

The problem is how this development is going to play in the local media. "Oh, he's getting away with murder because he's a foreigner". Heck if all the data will be displayed. I can imagine the content in the rags... Good thing he was already on his way out.

I really do not understand. Why would anyone go through all this farce, stage and execute such a botched plan, if the guy was already leaving? Please don't say face.

On second thought. I don't wanna know.

[yaoshema]

There's another hearing coming up soon. I would have thought a strong showing by the expat community would help to make sure there is due process...reads like a gangster setup, for sure.

PS: Recently met the defendent. Read his statement of what happened, and was impressed with how important it is to make sure the Taiwan 'judicial' system (through the sieve of a hysterical, out of control media pressuring often incompetent and corrupt police force) does not allow an innocent person to be framed ... on purely circumstantial evidence.