Law and Order 2 - Page 60 - Politics and Economics

Still, the Justice Department has not attempted to identify the men, has made no effort to notify them, and, in a few cases in which the men have come forward on their own, has argued in court that they should not be released.

wtf?

Quote:

"At most," the Justice Department said in an April court filing , McCullum "has become legally innocent of the charge against him." In other words, the law may have changed, but the facts of his case didn't — he did possess the gun, and he had a criminal record — so he isn't entitled to be released.

...

06-15-2012 , 07:24 PM

#1477

dkgojackets

DKGOAT

Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 86,123

Quote:

In 2009, McCullum went to federal court and pleaded guilty to the charge of illegally possessing a firearm. At the time, even his lawyers thought that his prior conviction for stealing a gun made him a felon under federal law. The judge sentenced him to a year and a day in custody, and the government sent him to Big Sandy, a high-security penitentiary in the mountains of eastern Kentucky.

It was the first time McCullum had been to prison.

"I ain't no bad person. I made mistakes, but I ain't that bad," McCullum said. "I just was young back then, just made some stupid mistakes."

He got out in 2010 but quickly violated his supervised release by robbing a man. ("I saw him with a whole bunch of money and I just got him like that," McCullum said during one phone call.) The judge sent him back to prison. Now he's finishing his sentence at the local jail in Farmville, counting the days until he can go home.

really, the article focuses it's story on this guy?

06-15-2012 , 09:26 PM

#1478

BornToPun

adept

Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 1,041

It didn't get plead down?

06-15-2012 , 09:50 PM

#1479

Ray Horton

banned

Join Date: Dec 2011 Posts: 26,879

lol at people not reading the whole article

this is more about NC's ******ed sentencing structure and its district courts misinterpreting it than ZOMG zealous gov't gun haters

Cluster****:

Quote:

The key to McCullum's innocence lies at the complicated intersection of state and federal criminal laws.

Decades ago, Congress made it a federal crime for convicted felons to have a gun. The law proved to be a powerful tool for police and prosecutors to target repeat offenders who managed to escape stiff punishment in state courts. In some cases, federal courts can put people in prison for significantly longer for merely possessing a gun than state courts can for using the gun to shoot at someone.

To make that law work in every state, Congress wrote one national definition of who cannot own a gun: someone who has been convicted of a crime serious enough that he or she could have been sentenced to more than a year in prison.

Figuring out who fits that definition in North Carolina is not as simple as it sounds. In 1993, state lawmakers adopted a unique system called "structured sentencing" that changes the maximum prison term for a crime, based on the record of the person who committed it. People with relatively short criminal records who commit crimes such as distributing cocaine and writing bad checks face no more than a few months in jail; people with more extensive records face much longer sentences.

For years, federal courts in North Carolina said that did not matter. The courts said, in effect: If someone with a long record could have gone to prison for more than a year for the crime, then everyone who committed that crime is a felon, and all of them are legally barred from possessing a gun.

Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit said federal courts (including itself) had been getting the law wrong. Only people who could have actually faced more than a year in prison for their crimes qualify as felons under federal law.

06-15-2012 , 09:53 PM

#1480

Chips Ahoy

help me help you

Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 28,869

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ray Horton

lol at people not reading the whole article

this is more about NC's ******ed sentencing structure and its district courts misinterpreting it than ZOMG zealous gov't gun haters

Cluster****:

I think it's about not letting people out of prison when you know they are innocent. That nobody in the justice system has the slightest interest in justice -- the legislature, police, prosecutors, judges, defense attorneys -- all think that justice is not their job.

06-15-2012 , 10:48 PM

#1481

pvn

Guest

Posts: n/a

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chips Ahoy

Serving time for legal gun ownership

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...ers/55585176/1

hey guys don't worry the government is here to protect you what could possibly go wrong AMIRITE?

AM I ****ING RIGHT???

06-16-2012 , 12:08 AM

#1482

Ray Horton

banned

Join Date: Dec 2011 Posts: 26,879

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chips Ahoy

Quote:

Originally Posted by pvn

hey guys don't worry the government is here to protect you what could possibly go wrong AMIRITE?

AM I ****ING RIGHT???

lol x 2

en.wikipedia.org/expostfacto

06-16-2012 , 12:16 AM

#1483

Chips Ahoy

help me help you

Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 28,869

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ray Horton

lol x 2

en.wikipedia.org/expostfacto

Here is an actual link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex_post_facto_law

Quote:

An ex post facto law (from the Latin for "from after the action" or "after the fact") or retroactive law is a law that retroactively changes the legal consequences (or status) of actions committed or relationships that existed prior to the enactment of the law.

What law was passed after their conviction that changed the legal status of owning a gun?

06-16-2012 , 12:23 AM

#1484

Ray Horton

banned

Join Date: Dec 2011 Posts: 26,879

The Court's reinterpreting what the sentencing structure was effectively changed the law pertaining to the status of the cons as prohibited possessors.

After the fact.

06-16-2012 , 12:38 AM

#1485

Chips Ahoy

help me help you

Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 28,869

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ray Horton

The Court's reinterpreting what the sentencing structure was effectively changed the law pertaining to the status of the cons as prohibited possessors.

After the fact.

When new law is made, it says if it offers retroactive benefits. Only retroactive criminal punishment is unconstitutional under the ex post facto clause. Amnesty can be provided after the fact. See phone companies spying on everybody for an example.

This is the same law, not a new law anyways. They were convicted because the government incorrectly interpreted the law. The people in prison are innocent of the law that put them in prison. They should still be kept in prison because ___.

Help me fill in the blank.

06-16-2012 , 12:46 AM

#1486

DblBarrelJ

2+2 Resident Enforcer

Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 13,857

They had the GUNZ and the GUNZ are bad obv

06-16-2012 , 12:53 AM

#1487

Ray Horton

banned

Join Date: Dec 2011 Posts: 26,879

existing statutory habeas law is unprepared to deal with this contingency, and the people who need to file claims on behalf of the imprisoned (public defenders) have not yet been able to sift through the prisoners' records to mount successful claims.

Admittedly, these types of cases should be disposed of and the prisoners released ASAP. But not "just cuz." Final legal rulings carry significant weight and it is specious to believe these guys were falsely imprisoned; they were jailed for valid legal reasons at the time, those justifications have evaporated based on a new interpretation of a gray area in the law, and it will take some time to address a problem no one anticipated before last year.

06-16-2012 , 09:00 PM

#1488

neverfoldthe1outer

adept

Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 1,178

Quote:

Originally Posted by AKSpartan

How the hell is it possible for someone to be raped in prison? Don't you need some privacy or do the guards just turn a blind eye?

post brings the lulz.

06-18-2012 , 06:44 PM

#1489

DblBarrelJ

2+2 Resident Enforcer

Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 13,857

Atlanta Officer assigned to desk duty pending DUI investigation

Quote:

An Atlanta police officer was arrested for allegedly driving 128 mph and having a blood alcohol level nearly twice the legal limit, authorities told Channel 2's Erica Byfield.
Jarvis Farley is charged with DUI, reckless driving a speeding.

It'll get pled down?

06-18-2012 , 07:12 PM

#1490

vhawk01

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 31,866

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ray Horton

Admittedly, these types of cases should be disposed of and the prisoners released ASAP. But not "just cuz."

I dont understand this series of phrases. They shouldnt be released "just cuz," they should be released, ASAP, because they ARE NOT GUILTY OF THE CRIME THEY WERE CONVICTED OF.

06-20-2012 , 11:40 AM

#1491

pvn

Guest

Posts: n/a

lol dallas cops

http://www.pixiq.com/article/dallas-...aring-head-cam

06-22-2012 , 12:27 PM

#1492

pvn

Guest

Posts: n/a

no good deed goes unpunished

http://www.wmctv.com/story/18841319/...dog-with-owner

Quote:

Stephanie Mitchell is director at Drifter's Place Animal Rescue near Oxford.

Last week, Mitchell said she saw what appeared to be a stray dog. She looked for a tag and when she couldn't find one, she took the pooch home for the night.

But she never expected she would be arrested 24 hours later, and now she wants to change state law.

"I took it home, put it in my house, slept on a couch and the next day spent half a day trying to find the owners only to be arrested."

06-22-2012 , 12:32 PM

#1493

DblBarrelJ

2+2 Resident Enforcer

Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 13,857

I call horse****.

Taking a dog from inside someone's fence because you don't like the way it's being cared for isn't legal.

06-22-2012 , 12:38 PM

#1494

pvn

Guest

Posts: n/a

Quote:

Originally Posted by DblBarrelJ

I call horse****.

Taking a dog from inside someone's fence because you don't like the way it's being cared for isn't legal.

cool story bro, did you actually read the article?

06-22-2012 , 12:43 PM

#1495

DblBarrelJ

2+2 Resident Enforcer

Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 13,857

No.

06-22-2012 , 12:47 PM

#1496

DblBarrelJ

2+2 Resident Enforcer

Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 13,857

Quote:

"What I see is boxes of puppies on the side of the road that everybody is scared to pick up and help," Mitchell said. We tried to get in touch with the dog's owners for their side of the story, a family member wrote down my name and number but no one ever called back.

What I see is a crazy animal rights activist stealing dogs off private property.

06-22-2012 , 12:53 PM

#1497

pvn

Guest

Posts: n/a

Quote:

Originally Posted by DblBarrelJ

What I see is a crazy animal rights activist stealing dogs off private property.

does that happen now in places that don't arrest people who are actively looking for a dog's owner?

06-22-2012 , 12:57 PM

#1498

DblBarrelJ

2+2 Resident Enforcer

Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 13,857

As a cop, I've found almost every time I encountered this "wild dog" situation, I usually located the owner by knocking on the door of the house the dog was in front of.

I'm curious if she attempted that.