Sounds like the Feds - at least the Justice Department - has done this correctly

[JB White]

As much as it pleases me to hear the bad guys might be getting what they deserve, it still strikes a nerve. A local armed robbery being tried in a Federal court.... Seems as though there's a States rights issue in there somewhere. In the very least it's an example of a Federal agency extending its powers into local issues. They robbed a store. Not a financial institution, not a train, nor did they hijack an interstate hauler.

This could set a precedence which may haunt us in the foreseeable future.

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[Ramboueille]

As much as it pleases me to hear the bad guys might be getting what they deserve, it still strikes a nerve. A local armed robbery being tried in a Federal court.... Seems as though there's a States rights issue in there somewhere. In the very least it's an example of a Federal agency extending its powers into local issues. They robbed a store. Not a financial institution, not a train, nor did they hijack an interstate hauler.

This could set a precedence which may haunt us in the foreseeable future.

JB,

Your thoughts are mis-guided. If there is any way a crime that can be associated to breaking a federal law, they will pass it off to federal court. Actually the states are looking for an association to a federal crime to pass it off.

Here's why: There is no parole in federal prison. You serve the whole term in an out of state federal prison whereas state courts have a myriad of minimum to maximum term lengths for various crimes along with parole hearings where criminals very often are released on "good behavior" after serving the minimum sentence. Trying a crime in federal court with a conviction is really doing the good citizens in the state where the crime was committed a favor.