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PERRIN LOVETT

~ Fiction, Freedom, and The West

PERRIN LOVETT

Tag Archives: State

The Anxiety: A Nation Destroyed

28 Saturday Sep 2019

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns, News and Notes

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Tags

anxiety, justice, nation, State, War

The remains of the state might be divided, but the underlying nation is toast. The resulting human toll is, both comically and tragically, to be expected.

  • Survey reveals about two in five Americans are stressed out by the political climate, and one in five say they’re even losing sleep.
  • Nearly a third of those surveyed feel views expressed on cable news channels are driving them “crazy.”
  • Study author believes problem is akin to a public health crisis in the country.

LINCOLN, Neb. — The past few years in American politics have been tumultuous, to say the least. Personal political beliefs aside, there is no denying that the U.S. has grown especially divided in the wake of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential election victory. Between social media bots, partisan news coverage, and the president’s frequent Twitter posts, it has never been harder for the average American to avoid being bombarded with some type of political message on an almost hourly basis.

It isn’t a stretch to assume that at some point all of that polarization would have a negative effect on the collective well being of the nation, and a new study conducted at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has effectively confirmed this assumption. According to researchers, the current U.S. political climate is literally making Americans physically sick, damaging friendships, and driving many people “crazy.”

A fifth and a third, etc., all over Tweets and cable news. Just wait until the M777s start singing…

A failed state trades things like civility and justice for insanity. I just read the verdict in an amazing state criminal case. The attendant sentencing blew my mind in its cruel depravity. I looked at the underlying statute and realized that even when an evil government nominally attempts to pacify a real problem, to craft measured or tempered solutions to appropriately deal with particular circumstances, that all it does is perpetuate the ruse. The utter BS from the media was designed (carefully) to distract the public’s attention. The plan worked perfectly. Those literally going crazy in the face of this horror may really display markers of normalcy. I’ll bet 2% of them – not 2.5 or 3% – wake up, shake it off, and move forward.

And, the rest? If they think it’s bad now, …

The Keys of Our Prison

04 Wednesday May 2016

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns, News and Notes

≈ Comments Off on The Keys of Our Prison

Tags

America, Brady Motion, Constitution, Courts, criminal justice, evil, Fifth Amendment, fraud, freedom, government, law, Sixth Amendment, State, The People, tyranny, voting, Will Grigg

Here follows a brief political discussion I had once with old Jethro.

Jethro: “If you ain’t got nothing to hide, you ain’t got nothing to worry about.”

Me: “So the government is constantly worried?”

Jethro: “Huh?”

Jethro: “We need to get back to tha Constitution.”

Me: “Why?”

Jehtro: “Cause the liberals done got the government out of control.”

Me: “You want to go back to the thing that created the very out of control government you’re complaining about?”

Jethro: “Huh?”

Jethro: “We gotta have a government.”

Me: “No. We don’t. Maybe you gotta have one.”

Jethro: “Huh?”

They never found Jethro’s body…

Jethro was spared further lamentation about the Constitution and the liberals and all. I sometimes miss him. At least he cared in a strange way about the state of things. Most folks don’t have the slightest idea what is going on around them. If, by strange chance, they happen to learn something, they immediately self-lobotomize with dope, booze, or the demon television.

Will Grigg knows what’s happening and he tries to affect changes by chronicling the endless fraud and evil of the state. He’s one of the best bloggers and investigative reporters of the day. His column de jure, Take the Fifth — And Face Life Imprisonment Without a Trial, highlights the death of the Fifth Amendment. He also briefly reviews the death of the Brady Motion. Death of the Sixth Amendment, that is. And the death of the impartial and honest judiciary. And of law enforcement. The law itself. Actually, the story is an expose of the complete loss of everything within and without the Constitution not related to unlimited government power.

Last August 27, after Rawls refused to comply with Rueter’s facially unconstitutional order, the judge found him in civil contempt and ordered him to be taken into custody by federal marshals and imprisoned until he repudiates his right against self-incrimination. A motion filed by his defense attorney received a judicial reply citing a smirking, sucks-to-be-him statement from a 1994 Supreme Court ruling that someone facing the prospect of life imprisonment, without trial, for civil contempt “carries the keys of his prison in his own pocket.”

Rawls, in other words, can unlock his own prison only if he hands over his encryption key to the State – which will inevitably find some reason to send him back to prison.

Those rights, as set forth in the old parchment, are in practice and reality only privileges the government can take away on a whim. The Constitution, the liberals, and all. ISIS. Budweiser. ‘Merica.

This kind of thing happens day in, day out and has happened for years out of mind. It will go on for at least a little while longer. It’s not hidden away. The depredations of the state are always on display at all times for all to see. And still! Still the people support “their” candidates for this and that office with the glee normally associated with a favorite sports team or a rock star.

Yep. Notbeinggoverned.com.

News flash! The Donald will not fix these problems. Hillary will not fix them. Crazy Uncle Bernie won’t do it either. Support the system if you want to. Just remember that doing so means you use your key to lock yourself in their prison.

Sic semper evello mortem tyrannis! Or television … your choice.

Guilty: Students, Professors, and the Public Get Schooled by Big Brother

16 Wednesday Sep 2015

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

America, Amerika, anarchy, bombs, Courts, crime, double jeopardy, drugs, due process, evidence, evil, freedom, government, injustice, Islam, justice, Justice Department, law, police, police state, prisons, probable cause, rights, schools, Sir. William Blackstone, State, statism, students, teachers, Temple University, terrorists, The People

Several years ago, when I was actively practicing law, I held a discussion with a class of highly motivated and intelligent high school students (mostly upperclassmen).  My subject matter was the economic and cultural chaos wrought by the modern police state.  To my joy the students, nearly every one of them, were not only aware of the issues I covered but were deeply concerned about the world they would soon enter as adults.  Many embraced good old-fashioned anarchy as a positive response to the daily deluge of state-imposed evil.

Another thing which struck me, and which I mentioned to the young people, was how much their public, government high school resembled a prison – both in physical appearance and in operation.  Of this too they were all to aware.

It was a nice, new, modern facility in one of the trendiest parts of town.  It was where the money went when they didn’t want the private school bills.  The halls were clean, the grounds attractive, the people were pleasant.  However, I noticed things which seemed better suited for a correctional facility than a place of education.

Back then I regularly traveled around to various prisons and jails.  Most have a familiar layout and feel.  So too did this shiny new hall of academia.  The building was made of interlaced concrete blocks, bare of ornamentation – like a prison. The rectangular halls, with classrooms on either side, were laid out in wings or pods, fanning from a central hub – like a prison.  The central hub housed the administrative office in what looked like a tall glass control tower – like a prison. Near the doors were metal detectors (not in use that day) – like a prison.  The building was patrolled by armed officers – like a prison.

I had met some of these officers, all certified in law enforcement, before in professional settings.  I tried several cases stemming from “criminal” school misconduct.  The cases usually involved drugs, alcohol, cigarettes or other earth-destroying calamities.  Every single one of them was also devoid or things like probable cause, evidence, due process, and common sense.  I beat every single case.  And, it took quite the beating to win them.

Another ancient legal protection absent from modern Amerika, especially concerning students, is the prohibition against double jeopardy.  The theory, best summarized by Sir William Blackstone in the late eighteenth century was the “universal maxim of the common law of England, that no man is to be brought into jeopardy of his life more than once for the same offence.” (Emphasis mine.)  This theory is but legend now.  Our children often face triple jeopardy over things that are not crimes in the first place.  Here’s a real world example (possibly a combination of different cases, all real):

Johnny saw the school psychologist who suggested Johnny be prescribed mind-altering psychotropic drugs for his nonexistent attention deficit (in reality Johnny was just a boy).  Johnny’s doctor prescribed the narcotics, which otherwise would be considered illegal under state and federal law.  Johnny became semi-addicted.  The drugs caused his brain to slow down.  While giving him the appearance of being calm and receptive the dope also seriously impaired his health, to include his judgment. Johnny became a zombie.

Now, under the influence of these otherwise illegal drugs, practically mandated by his school, Johnny ran afoul of the school’s idiotic policy on otherwise illegal drugs.  School regulations dictate that any and all medications prescribed to a student must be held for the student’s use in the keeping of the school nurse. Johnny so kept his medicine in the school’s care and keeping.  Remember, the drugs in question diminished Johnny’s ability to rationalize and act appropriately.

One day, under the influence of these dangerous narcotics, Johnny forgot to drop off a few of his pills with the nurse.  He kept them in his book bag.  Mind you that Johnny never had any troubles whatsoever with his teachers, his classmates, or anyone else.

Out of the blue, without warning, probable cause, or a warrant, along came the local Sheriff’s department and their trusty drug-sniffing dog.  My students told me periodic drug sweeps were common in the prison…er..school.  The dog did his unlawful job well and promptly located Johnny’s pills.  The pills he was forced to take.  The pills that impaired his ability to reason.  The pills that caused him to forget to follow the procedures of the school that forced him to take the pills. Johnny was in trouble.

Jeopardy the first: Johnny had to appear at an administrative school hearing and faced expulsion or a year at the “alternative” school – like the supermax prison of the school world. Jeopardy the second, under asinine state law, as a minor with a driver’s license, Johnny’s possession of “drugs” put his license at risk and necessitated another administrative hearing before a state officer.  Third, and worst, Johnny faced a criminal proceeding and the possibility of jail time.

Luckily, Johnny had a good attorney and beat the triple threat.  He was back in class, soon weened himself off the school dope, and became a college honors student.  Others in the system are often not that lucky.  Maybe you know one of them. Maybe you were one of them.  Others have noticed this phenomenon and written about it.

Today John W. Whitehead wrote: Public School Students Are the New Inmates in the American Police State.

From the moment a child enters one of the nation’s 98,000 public schools to the moment she graduates, she will be exposed to a steady diet of draconian zero tolerance policies that criminalize childish behavior, overreaching anti-bullying statutes that criminalize speech, school resource officers (police) tasked with disciplining and/or arresting so-called “disorderly” students, standardized testing that emphasizes rote answers over critical thinking, politically correct mindsets that teach young people to censor themselves and those around them, and extensive biometric and surveillance systems that, coupled with the rest, acclimate young people to a world in which they have no freedom of thought, speech or movement.

If your child is fortunate enough to survive his encounter with the public schools, you should count yourself fortunate.

Most students are not so lucky.

By the time the average young person in America finishes their public school education, nearly one out of every three of them will have been arrested.

Whitehead.

Whitehead notes the utterly insane militarization of the school police, who shouldn’t even exist in the first place:

In their zeal to crack down on guns and lock down the schools, these cheerleaders for police state tactics in the schools might also fail to mention the lucrative, multi-million dollar deals being cut with military contractors such as Taser International to equip these school cops with tasers, tanks, rifles and $100,000 shooting detection systems.

Indeed, the transformation of hometown police departments into extensions of the military has been mirrored in the public schools, where school police have been gifted with high-powered M16 rifles, MRAP armored vehicles, grenade launchers, and other military gear. One Texas school district even boasts its own 12-member SWAT team.

As Whitehead states, the stories of abuse are “legion.” Students are being harassed, detained, and arrested for anything and everything.  One student was recently arrested for showing off his homemade clock at school.  Specifically, he was showing the clock off to his engineering teacher, who was duly impressed. Despite the fact the clock was obviously a time keeping device and impressed the shop teacher, its owner, a 14-year-old, was handcuffed and hauled away by police.

_85589317_4163c0e1-3c48-44ab-af0f-c53360632e81

Child Arrested for Chronometer Possession.  BBC.

The boy in question was a known Muslim and some feared his clock was a bomb. The criminal case was dismissed after the clock was verified to be a clock not a weapon.  I imagine the boy still faces school discipline in addition to the trauma he suffered during the incident.

This story almost makes sense.  Americans today face the threat of Islamic terror, largely because their government constantly stirs the Islamic world to the point of terrorism.  The same government then trains, equips and funds the known terrorists.  Worse, the government, almost out of malicious hate for the people, then import migrants from the areas where they have fostered hate and terror.  You can see this is definitely a problem.  But, it’s a problem with the state not with an aspiring young engineer.

Your government does not care, at all.  Frequently neither does the media nor the television-numbed people themselves.  Obey those laws!  Trust the state! Arrested means guilty, period!

William L. Anderson today recounts the horror story of the arrest and unlawful prosecution by the U.S. “Justice” Department of Xiaoxing Xi, Chairman of the physics department of Temple University, on espionage charges: Paranoia and Pernicious Prosecutions: The Department of Injustice Continues its War Against the Innocent.

The once-glorious standard of American criminal law – guilty beyond a reasonable doubt – no longer exists de facto in U.S. courts, and especially in federal courts. Furthermore, federal intervention in certain legal areas – and especially when highly-politicized accusations of sexual assault are made – has made it extremely difficult for charged individuals to mount a defense, even when a charge is ludicrous on its face.

Let me further explain. Had there been a trial federal prosecutors would have presented their evidence and Dr. Xi would have had to then rebut with his evidence. However, as became painfully obvious, prosecutors had no evidence. Instead, they had “evidence” that on its face was untrue because they had the wrong material. One imagines that prosecutors and their “expert” witnesses would have given jurors a lot of scientific terminology that would have been confusing, and when jurors are confused, they usually end up siding with the prosecution, since most Americans believe that an indictment itself is “proof” of guilt.

It would have been up to Dr. Xi and his defense to prove that federal agents had presented the wrong set of blueprints. The feds would have falsely claimed that theirs was the correct set, even though by then they surely would have known they were presenting false claims. This last point is important, because it is a crime to knowingly present false information to a jury, but prosecutors never are disciplined for doing just that.

Anderson.

As Anderson notes, the feds dropped their case once it was obvious they had no evidence.  Xi pretty much lost everything – his reputation, his position, his peace of mind as an innocent American – all because of groundless charges brought without evidence.  Evidence is (or used to be) critical for a criminal case and conviction.  In my career I had similar criminal cases in federal and state courts fall apart due to a complete lack of evidence.  More on some of those in another column or two.

Many do not care about standards of evidence, due process or about the rights of people in general.  See: here, and here, and here.  That last “here” link is to a story I did about an innocent man shot by the police in Atlanta in his own home for no reason.  That narrative has played out yet again:

Fearing for their lives, California deputies opened fire on a man who was recording them with a cell phone from the garage of his home Friday, claiming they thought it was a gun.

Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies then searched the man’s home, finding no guns, before they apologized and went on their way.

Fortunately, Danny Sanchez survived the shooting, ending up with only bullet fragments in his legs, which he was having removed through surgery on Friday.

And although deputies apologized to Sanchez, they are pretty much unapologetic for their actions because, you know, officer safety.

 Carlos Miller, PINAC News.

Pitiful action by pitiful men.  Scared of a cellphone.  “Sorry we shot you.  Well, have a good day, sir!”  And the lemmings among you will still praise the deputies and chastise the victim.  “He should have obeyed the law!”  He did.  “You have to respect the police!”  No known disrespect even after they almost murdered him. Reality is doing a really poor job convincing the state-worshipers their’s is a false god.

For you, the sane, eye with distrust the machinations of government: its foreign policies; its immigration policies; all its policies; its schools; its courts; its police. All the laws and all the agents serve but the government and its owners. You and I are either obedient servants or criminal enemies of the state.

Note: This article was originally intended as two separate parts. As the subject matters – schools as prisons and more prosecutorial/police misconduct are related, I combined them, here.  This also promotes reading economy.  You’re welcome.

Through The Roof: Overcoming An American Tragedy

20 Saturday Jun 2015

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns, News and Notes

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

America, Charleston, church, CIA, crime, Drug "War", drugs, Dylan Roof, freedom, government, guns, Jesus, Joe Arpaio, murder, Obama, people, police, race, State

**NOTE** This piece was written under the influence of pain killers and prescription strength muscle relaxers.  I really really hope it makes sense to you, my beloved readers.  ***

You, by now, have surely heard of Dylan Roof. A drug-addled, psychotic, racist piece of walking, talking sh*t in a form resembling man, Mr. Roof has done America a tremendous service in spite of his initial nefarious designs.

Earlier this week I had intended to write something about a different story out of South Georgia.  It also involved violence against the innocent although it was dispensed by a gang or group of deranged savages – the police.  Let me briefly touch on that story and how it relates to Dylan’s rampage.

Last year David Hooks and his wife, Teresa, were the victims of a burglary which resulted in the theft of their family vehicle.  Naturally, perhaps unwisely, they reported the crime to police.  The police, ever slow to solve property crimes, solved this one fast.  They apprehended the suspect and interviewed him.  Being a weasel, he said the drugs in his possession were found in the Hook’s stolen vehicle.  The police, being either incompetent or gullible, believed the thief and pursued a warrant against the Hooks.

During the night of September 24, 2014 the cops, attired in SWAT costumes, executed a search warrant at the Hooks residents.  Teresa, fearing the burglar(s) had returned called for David’s help.  David emerged with a shotgun and was promptly shot dead by the heavily armed police.  Of course, no drugs or other illegal items were found during the specious search.

Thus did the innocent David Hooks, 59, become the another causality (collateral damage) in the idiotic “war on drugs” in 21st Century America.

Business as usual, the police in Dublin are standing behind their actions.  No criminal charges will flow from this travesty of “justice.”  The Hook family will receive a settlement in their civil suit but this will not bring David back from the dead nor actively deter the police from future murders.  Is your War on Drugs really worth this?  This scenario unfolds every day.

What caught my eye about this story was the support generated for the Hook family. The hooks are white.  During a courthouse rally over this injustice many black civil rights activists from Atlanta showed up in support and outrage.  A disciple of the late Josea Williams stated that now white people would be brought into the struggle against police injustice.  The police shoot to death innocent people of all races almost every day.  It is an epidemic which is largely ignored outside of the black community, blacks being, historically, the primary victims of this “war.”

I rejoiced in that perhaps people would wake up and unite.  Then Dylan Roof came along.

On the evening of June 17, 2015 Dylan Roof walked into the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. A prayer service was underway.  Dylan participated or at least sat quietly for an hour.  Dylan is white, the Church is predominantly black.

I have been the white face in a “black” church before.  I have never experienced the feeling of being the “white face” but rather a sensation of love and welcome as a brother of Christ.  I find black churches to be largely more Christian and less country club than many of their “white” counterparts.  Dylan no doubt experienced the same treatment.

Despite his kind, Christian treatment Dylan, without any provocation, shot and murdered nine church members – members who had just welcomed him with open arms.  Dylan is a white racist who hates blacks for no reason.

29CF116D00000578-3132670-image-a-11_1434819454215

Dylan Roof, intoxicated redneck f*ck, dishonors the Confederate Battle Flag, guns, America, and all humanity. UK Daily Mail.

Dylan’s plan was to start a race war between blacks and whites in America.  As sure as Jesus cast demons from out mens’ hearts, Dylan’s plan has backfired.  Matthew 4:10; Luke 11:14.

In his “manifesto” Dylan declared, “N****rs are stupid and violent…. Black people view everything through a racial lense [sic].”  To solve this problem Dylan acted in the most stupid and violent manner possible against the most helpless and decent people he could find.

You know what happened at the AME church.  You know about the manhunt and Dylan’s capture.  You have intense feelings about this crime as do I.  Initially I called for Dylan’s execution.  This came from my heart in spite of my distrust of the American legal system in general and the death penalty specifically.  Thus was the force of emotion.

I wrote on a friend’s Facebook posting the comment: “Hang. Him. High.” I then remembered what I had written about the death penalty in South Carolina only a short time before: “Gandalf answered [Frodo] masterfully: ‘Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement.’”

My own inconsistency here illustrates several points.  The State, having surrendered its legitimacy, should never be in the position of deciding whether anyone lives or dies. Christians should not seek nor rejoice in the execution of any criminal.  Dylan, like so many modern mass murderers, was under the influence of psychotic drugs initially developed by the CIA in an effort to effect mass mind control (MK Ultra).

Many have been the vacuous debates about the motives and influences behind these murders.  President Obama roundaboutly blames guns in society.  Guns rights folks blame our debased criminal society.  Dylan’s use of and convictions for legal and illegal drugs are mentioned.  Suspicious people like me see a government angle to the story. In the end, Dylan Roof did this and bears responsibility.  Despite my rationalization and research I still (sadly) stand by my knee-jerk statement of “Hang him.”  God help me, Dylan and everybody else.

Roof appeared by television before a Magistrate Judge.  The case against him is astounding.

Capture

Dylan Roof faces SC justice.  USA Today.

Capture2

Charleston’s Mayor speaks about Roof and the death penalty.  USA Today.

As I said, Dylan’s plan for a war have backfired.  America has instead been brought together as rarely before.  Charleston is not Baltimore or Ferguson.  The country is galvanized against violence.  In Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio has dispatched his mostly white civilian posse to guard black churches.

In Charleston victims of the crime have expressed forgiveness for Dylan in displays of love which nearly defy belief.  I mentioned my Facebook comments herein. Several of my FB friends have linked the following story:

10527525_10153493366453729_2178589435404328584_n

“We are all Sandlappers.”  Facebook/Lauren’s County Sheriff’s Department.

A man tracked down Dylan via Facebook and posted the following on his page:

Screen-Shot-2015-06-18-at-11.06.06-AM

Marcus Stanley is a much bigger man than I. IJReview.

Screen-Shot-2015-06-18-at-11.21.01-AM

Marcus Stanley (R), 10 feet tall and made of gold.

SSRI drugs may play a part in the majority of modern American mass murders. However, the forgiveness and togetherness brought about by Dylan Roof are unprecedented.

While writing this story I interviewed two black gentlemen on their thoughts. Tito, a cigar brother, said, “Where we are as a country is sad.”  “In God’s house to commit those crimes is sad.”

Tito’s visiting friend, Gerard Ousely, of Durham, N.C. said: “Our country has been polarized.  In a sad state of affairs, we’re letting the minority run the majority.” He went on: “Nine people got killed behind hatred.”  “People die because of poor police tactics, racism, hatred, it’s just ridiculous.” “We the majority need to get behind what’s right.”

The time has come to stand together against evil, whether from the State or from each other.  Join the majority, join what is right.

Shootout at the Boobie Corral

20 Wednesday May 2015

Posted by perrinlovett in News and Notes

≈ Comments Off on Shootout at the Boobie Corral

Tags

America, bikers, blacks, boobs, Branch Davidians, crime, culture, FBI, murder, Muslims, organized crime, police, shooting, State, stupidity, Texas, times, Twin Peaks, violence, Waco, whites

You have undoubtedly heard by now of the second great shootout in Waco, Texas.  The first involved the FBI, the U.S. Army and some unfortunate parishioners at the local Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Over twenty-two years ago the government decided to “rescue” some women and children from the clutches of their own church.  In typical government fashion the rescue attempt became an inferno (literally).

ruby21

(Saving the children, government style.  Google.)

This time around the action featured members of various biker clubs.  The Bandidos and several other gangs met at the local Twin Peaks restaurant to discuss recruitment and territorial matters.  It was a sort of corporate retreat for overweight, balding druggies and felons.

Twin Peaks is famous for its sophisticated culinary offerings.

TWINPEAKSS

(Steak Tartare and Foie Gras, anyone?  Google.)

Bikers are famous for … well …

Ugly-People-Unite-119

(Yeah… Why, Google, why?)

Bikers clubs, frequently rivaling the State in criminality, are often subject to intense police scrutiny.  The government suffers no rivals.  As was, the local police were keeping a malicious eye on the two-wheeling hooligans.  They apparently warned the management of Twin Peaks the event would turn out poorly.

At first, things seemed to go well.  “You like riding a dangerous over-sized bicycle without a helmet?”  “Me too!”  Friendships were forming.  Then, sadly, someone said or did something someone else did not like.

A fight began which left nine dead and eighteen seriously injured.  About 170 were arrested following a mass assault by the police who were, conveniently, staging nearby. When the shooting started the cops were ready and participated immediately.  SWAT units and tanks were already on site.

Authorities investigate a shooting in the parking lot of the Twin Peaks restaurant Sunday, May 17, 2015, in Waco, Texas. Authorities say that the shootout victims were members of rival biker gangs that had gathered for a meeting. (AP Photo/Jerry Larson)

Authorities investigate a shooting in the parking lot of the Twin Peaks restaurant Sunday, May 17, 2015, in Waco, Texas. Authorities say that the shootout victims were members of rival biker gangs that had gathered for a meeting. (AP Photo/Jerry Larson) (Read: Costumed gang members arrest other costumed gang members while others retire neath yellow tarps…)

Many of my fellow conspiracy theorist friends have judged that the police, seeking to eliminate corrupt competition, staged the event and sniped those key members of the clubs whom most threatened their dominance.  I, as of yet, do not share this conclusion.  However, if the media resoundingly silences the results of autopsies and reports (as in the first murderous Waco affair), much credence will be given to this view. Already, things are “returning to normal.”

As nothing really surprises me anymore, this would make perfect sense.  It would also make sense if this was just the result of redneck stupidity – a sign of the demented times of modern America.  I recently wrote about blacks in Baltimore burning and looting their own neighborhoods in acts of flagrant stupidity.  I also touched on the incessant need of Muslims to shoot up cartoon conventions.  It’s only natural for marginally educated or employed white boys to get in on the senseless violence.

So it goes in America.  What a great country we had.  Remember the 70’s? Or the 80’s? 50’s? 90’s?  It seems like such a long time ago.  Time marches on.  The culture regresses.

I’ve been forecasting a giant, scholarly post of late.  Today will be the day.  I intend to publish a draft today or tonight by hook or by crook.  It’s coming.  As sure as the boobs of Texas are upon you.

It Depends…

16 Saturday Mar 2013

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

advice, Atlanta, cases, civil procedure, clients, copyright, court, default, DUI, education, experience, expert, facts, honesty, judges, jury, law it depends, law school, lawyers, Philadelphia movie, research, settlement, skill, State, Tom Hank's, trial

On any given day I receive requests for legal advice – from clients, friends, and strangers.  Half of the time I am not truly familiar with the subject and usually not that interested.  Lawyers are trained to qualify any response they give to such questions as to their lack of specific knowledge.  They can be sanctioned for malpractice for giving advice which is incompetent.  Thus, I usually make it known that any answer is largely my off the cuff opinion, that I am not giving official advice unless retained to do so, and that any further explanation will require research.  This generally gets rid of most inquirers.  Usually their questions aren’t important enough to spend money answering.

My civil procedure professor in law school told us the answer to any legal question, initially, is always, “it depends.”  As a first year student, in a class that doesn’t begin to make sense until the end of the semester, this statement was perplexing.  It is entirely correct though.

confused

(Uhhhhh…weeeellll.  Google Images.)

“It depends” is a fancy, professional way of saying, “I don’t know.”  Most attorneys don’t know the answer to most legal questions, even in areas they specialize in.  To begin with, the law is such a vast, confusing, and constantly changing field, it is completely impossible to know everything about anything.  That senior lawyer with the “encyclopedic knowledge” of the law from the Tom Hanks’ movie, Philadelphia, resides on the silver screen and nowhere else.  Next, the facts presented by a particular person’s circumstances may differ from any other set of facts conceivable.  Think of laws as wrenches and facts as pipes; a lawyer is like a plumber, applying different wrenches to different pipes.  Most importantly, cases in court will ultimately have conclusions which cannot be foreseen, let alone guaranteed.  Any lawyer who guarantees an outcome is a liar and should be avoided. 

I have won cases I knew I was going to loss.  I have lost cases when I should, by all rights, have won.  Judges are as fallible as any other human beings and juries are like living roulette wheels.  Jurors are often influenced in their decisions by things completely unrelated to the case they’re reviewing.  As a prosecutor I once lost a DUI case just because the jury did not like the way my arresting officer presented himself on the witness stand.  They agreed the law applied to the defendant and the defendant’s actions qualified under the law as clear indications of guilt.  However, the officer kept yawning on the stand and the jury felt he wasn’t interested in the case and didn’t try to convince them of the State’s position.

Jury-Images-1

(Not a good day in court.  Google Images.)

That particular officer was well-seasoned and knew his job.  Unfortunately for me, he had just come straight into court from the night shift and was focusing most of his energy on staying awake.  I did not foresee that and there was nothing I could do about it.  As a consolation prize, I did win on the related minor parking charge.  The judge informed the very happy defendant he had dodged a bullet.  Chance leads to many dodged bullets in the law, and bullets that sometimes find innocent victims.

Usually an experienced attorney, once familiarized with the case in full, has a pretty good idea as to what will happen.  The attorney can relay this confidence to his client.  However, for the reasons I just gave, no attorney should ever declare even the most trivial matter a slam dunk.

In my article Legal Education I noted that law schools primarily teach worship of court decisions and legal research methods.  While it’s impossible to know all the law, it is quite easy for a skilled practitioner to look up and educate himself on any given subject.  I’ve had clients call, upset about “research” charges on their bill.  I always stand by these fees, so long as they are reasonable for the given case.  Doctors do extensive research before they cut a patient in surgery.  Lawyers are no different.

Like doctors, lawyers sometimes feel the need to associate expert counsel to assist with a really complicated area of the law.  Once a client came to me in a tizzy over a copyright infringement case which had been filed against him in federal court.  As the case was in a district where I do not normally practice, and after a cursory review of the maze of intellectual property laws, I concluded justice required me to hire another attorney from a giant Atlanta firm for assistance.  This was a very costly decision for the client.  In the end, though, the money was well spent.  I would draft the responsive pleadings to the best of my ability and with the client’s in-person co-operation.  Then I would email the drafts to the expert for touch-up and filing. 

As a result we were able to re-open the case and have a default judgment set aside as unjust.  Then, we removed the case to my area (where the client lives and operates his business).  There’s something to be said for home-field advantage.  We even got the “foreign” district judge to issue a scathing censure against the opposing counsel for his obnoxious behavior in the case!  That had the dual effect of making me and my expert look good and it took the slimy steam out of the other guy.  He was fired shortly thereafter.  In the end, we wrangled out a terrific settlement for pennies on the dollar out of the whole ordeal.  It was good work of which I am still proud.

Don’t be taken aback if your attorney reveals she isn’t familiar with the topic you present.  Such revelation is the mark of honesty.  Be ready to spend time and money on an investigation which may end up disappointing you.  It’s better to be told your case does not have merit or is unwinnable in the beginning, rather to discover such at a trial.

Remember, the advice I’ve given here is merely legal education for the lay audience, not exact legal advice.  If you have a specific case, you should consult a specific attorney.  Based on the subject and how your facts fit the law the outcome may be difficult to predict and will require some degree of research and work to resolve.  As for what I could tell you right now?  It depends.

Perrin Lovett

perrinlovett@gmail.com

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