[Dark Horse]

Did they actually do any of these things or were they just plans? It seems from the article that they merely discussed things.

On that note. I no longer really have a problem with a police state that arrests people for criminal thoughts. That could be a good thing. As long as I can pick my own drug for my lethal injection.

[SBR_John]

I read that at majorwager. Amazing. A little hard to feel real sorry for the stiff but come on, rattlesnakes???

[curious]

What person on the planet hasn't said things like "i'll get my friends Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson and go teach that honky mo fo a lesson" when they would have never actually done that.

How do you distinguish between someone blowing off steam that way and seriously planning to carry out a murder/extortion plot?

[Dark Horse]

Bail for each suspect was set at $500,000 on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit kidnapping and extortion. Beck is being held in Raton and Steelman in the Jefferson County Jail in Golden.

Investigators said Steelman told them the two men discussed ways to kill Sowash and Beck suggested rattlesnakes. Beck allegedly told investigators he invested $36,000 in the company last December, and with interest was due $60,000.

The plan was to build a wooden box for Sowash to stand in that would hold the snakes, and "the lid was to be built to allow Sowash's legs to be put inside but not pulled out." The plan was to leave the rattlesnake-bitten Sowash on a hiking trail.

"The final and most disturbing method to Steelman was Beck wanting to kidnap Sowash's children and use them as leverage to get the money from Sowash," according to the affidavits.

Sowash contacted the CBI after getting threatening e-mails.

Both defendants have extensive arrest records.

http://www.foxnews.com/index.html

There were no rattlesnakes.

[SBR Lou]

So they're questioned for sending "threatening emails" like pusses, and the one dude admits to all of their murder/kidnapping plans? Was this a 'coerced interrogation' or is the dude really this stupid?

[bigboydan]

Heres the final verdict on this bizarre story.

Man gets probation for plot to use rattlesnakes to kill associate

GOLDEN, Colo. (AP) A man who plotted to kill a poker tour operator by putting his feet in a box full of rattlesnakes was sentenced Tuesday to five years of probation.

Herbert Paul Beck, 57, was accused of coming up with the deadly plan because he said a man owed him $60,000. Beck and another man, Christopher Steelman, were arrested by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation last August. Both men pleaded guilty to extortion.

Steelman will be sentenced next month.

Investigators said the rattlestakes-as-hitmen scheme was meant to kill Matthew Sowash, owner of the Amateur Poker Tour in Wheat Ridge. Sowash contacted state investigators after getting threatening e-mails.

Beck told investigators after his arrest he had invested $36,000 in Sowash's company and that he was owed $60,000 after interest accrued. Beck was prohibited from gambling as part of the conditions of his probation.

[Dark Horse]

Unbelievable. What an idiotic country this is becoming.

It doesn't matter that it's only probation. This goes straight against the right of free thought and free speech.

In the past, if people were suspected in a plot, they would be traced by investigators and caught red-handed. That is now too much to ask. If you have the wrong idea now, this government will take care of you.

And in this same country the police entraps people into behavior they would have never been guilty of without those traps. They typically characterize those people as .... 'predators'.

Police state.

[SBR_John]

Well I dont know. If your idea is to kill someone and you write an email to them with that threat I think you have stepped over the line. Maybe the cops did jump the case but to catch them red handed could of meant the poor stiff gets a rattle snake bite.

[Dark Horse]

Plenty of writers have thought up far more vicious scenes. And man, that rattlesnake scene would have done great in Kill Bill.

Really want a thought police in this country? If I want to write a movie scene I might discuss it in detail with a friend in a coffee shop. What if someone overhears all the gory details?

I'm not saying the police can't talk to people. But don't take them to trial for what they think or discuss. Just let them know they are being watched.

This sets a very dangerous precedent. Again, the outcome of the trial is irrelevant. The fact that there was a trial is a direct assault on our constitutional freedoms.

There is now a legal precedent for arresting someone for what he thinks. In the US. That's the scary part. Or maybe not. After all, they can already wiretap our phones, arrest us because the president says so, lock us up without a trial and throw away the key. And throw in some torture for good measure. So from that perspective it's no big deal...

[SBR_John]

You got a point. The fact they offered probation for a supposed murder plot kinda tells me they didnt have much of a case. And a poor sap will go bankrupt going to trial which forces the innocent to take probation.