Excerpt:
Prosecutors highlighted “about $10,000 — $8,000 in U.S. dollars and then $2,000 in foreign currency that was found on his person,” CNN correspondent Danny Freeman said following the court hearing.
“Also they said that he had a Faraday bag,” which blocks cell signals, a move that prosecutors alleged marked “an indication of criminal sophistication and reason they should hold him on bail,” Freeman continued.
After prosecutors made the claims, Mangione said he would like to “correct two things.”
“I don’t know where any of that money came from — I’m not sure if it was planted. And also, that bag was waterproof, so I don’t know about criminal sophistication,” the suspect said in a statement that suggested police framed him.
Mugshots rarely look good because they want a centered and level profile of your face with a neutral expression in order to capture as much detail as possible. It also might have been a minute since he’s seen a shower or a razor. I wouldn’t call that a conspiracy, there are much more important details at play here than his looks.
they released multiple mugshots, pictures of him in jail and now there are even videos. That’s not normal at all.
Mugshots are also designed to make people look bad because it used to be a way that criminals would use for self promotion. But if they look bad then it has the opposite effect making them seem more animalistic and thus more evil. Also often used in wanted posters if enough photos are available. This has been the case for long before photography was invented with drawings as well.
Otherwise, they’d look more like photo IDs, which have the same requirements and are bad compared to something framed specifically to flatter someone, but not as bad as mugshots. Doesn’t help that most mugshots are taken after long, abusive “interrogation” sessions or other situations that exhaust them rather than immediately upon arrest, but that’s on purpose.
But the tactic to use mugshots as self promotional got popular when photos first came around because if they could get in a good shot, it’s not like the police could afford to take multiple. Film was expensive. And they were put in newspapers and such, so they spread around for free. Just look at the famous criminals of the Wild West era. So police doubled down on making sure the photos looked as bad as possible and it became a popular tactic to use against “famous” criminals. Now it’s used against basically all criminals.
Versus now where only presidents use them for self promotion.
Trump’s mugshot sure looked good with the practiced Hitler look that he gave. But of course he had help from the lighting guy who put on an uncommon (for mug shots) sideways light on him, thus giving an even more Hitler look to him.