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The couple were definitely entrapped.

Not in the legal sense of the word. The whole idea of leaving the car there is to entice people to steal it.

If they just popped into the glove box to look for a registration, that's one thing. But they systematicly searched the car, at night, and tried to break into the trunk. Right there, you lose, and you're going beyond what's reasonable in that situation.

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So then they went into the car, looking for some clue as to who it belonged to, why it was there, and how they might contact the owner. For all they knew, someone had dumped the car on their street with a body in the trunk.

Awful presumputious to assume that the cops are complete morons who hadn't thought of that, isn't it?

Running plates is what cops do. They do it all the time. They do it when they're bored. If they're sitting in a parking lot, they're probably systematicly typing every plate in the lot into their computer system. If they're driving behind you, they've run your plate. And if there's a car that's suspicious to someone, that's the first thing they're gonna do (second is probably run the plates of the person that reported it).

If there was anything to worry about with that car, even if it wasn't a bait car, it would have been picked up.

Plus, bodies tend to, you know, smell after a few days.

Anyways, these people are just whining to the press because they don't think they did anything wrong, when in fact, they did. They even offered them a sweat deal (won't even go on their record), but they don't want to take it because they insist they committed a different crime (you can't trespass in a car, for the record. It's not land). It'll end up OK for them, and hopefully they watch less crime dramas and mind their own damn business next time.

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such crap. 23 years of a persons life down the drain.

It happens, and it's unfortunate. We've never been able to be entirely 100% certain a person is guilty. There's always that .001% chance that they have a secret twin or something.

Not to say that this guy is innocent. We don't find people innocent in our justice system. We find them not guilty. These DNA tests done 20 years later add reasonable doubt into the conviction and give valid grounds for an appeal, which is usually granted. Just saying.

Police are people.

Sometimes people can be real assholes.

When normal people are real assholes, it's the police who get involved.

When police are real assholes, you're probably getting a ticket.

When a normal real asshole meets a policeman real asshole, that's when shit hits fan.

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I wish that there were some more finite numbers for these scenarios. What percentage of non-police are assholes. What percentage of police are assholes. Someone please hook me up with a ven diagram.

While there haven't been many studies, I'd say the number varies on both counts from 5 to 100 percent (everyone is an a-hole sometimes, and some people are a-holes all the time). Don't tell me there haven't been days where you were a total dick to people because something was bugging you.

The problem is, if you're an asshole, they don't get their computer fixed until they call someone else. If a police officer is an asshole, someone could spend a night in jail. Even if you're completely in the right, it doesn't mean much when they haul your ass in. It still takes a judge to set you free. (PROTIP: Be extra polite on Friday night on a holiday weekend, or you may not get out until Tuesday. Unless you have a buddy with bail money).

I hope people aren't too swayed by my supposed "Oh, cops can do no wrong" attitude. They certainly can do wrong, and have some serious authority to abuse, and sometimes it does get abused. It's the exception, though, and most departments do their best to get rid of people like this.