Local blogger Raging Red and I don’t often agree, though that doesn’t stop me from enjoying her blog. However, on the topic of Desmond Clark, I agree with her completely.

For any non-local readers who aren’t familiar with the story, Desmond Clark is a scumbag who, despite his colorful criminal history, was free on 7/5/2008 to kill his girlfriend, Na’lisha Gravely in a local Taco Bell (Gravely had run into the Taco Bell fleeing from Clark, and hid in a closet, where Clark found her and shot her several time).

Apparently, part of the reason the courts have been so lenient with Clark in the past is because the police requested leniency, due to Clark’s status as an informant. That’s where Raging Red’s post comes in:

Exactly. She probably felt helpless. She’s not going to testify against him knowing that the police are cutting him breaks, because if she does, she’ll just get beaten and abused even worse.

…

This is a guy who tracked her down at her grandmother’s house and dragged her out to his car and forced her into it, firing a warning shot. In another incident, he forced her into his car, shot at her, then drove around for hours until she managed to escape the vehicle. During a traffic stop, do you think she’s going to lean over and say, “Excuse me officer, could you help me?” She wouldn’t be paranoid to think that Clark might just drive off if she did that. Based on Clark’s history of always getting released, why would she think that asking a police officer for help would make her any safer?

The whole post is worth a read.

Law enforcement and the judicial system exist to protect the citizenry, and in this particular case, they failed us miserably. I am not generally one of those who believes that the police should prevent every crime — the amount of power and presence they would need in order to do so is undesirable. Still, they should do their best to investigate crimes and prosecute those crimes to the best of their ability. By doing nothing to get this violent criminal off the streets, the justice system in Charleston let all of its citizens down, not just Na’lisha Gravely.