From: Laws, David (lawsd@magic.dcrt.nih.gov)
Date: Sat Jul 19 1997 - 23:34:34 MDT
I've heard even more bizarre stories (a friend of mine was actually
arrested in a similar situation but a pocket knife was found on him during
the search...$200 fine and 1 year probation for carrying a concealed weapon
on top of the 'interference'. It would have taken an additional $500 in
lawyer fees (on top of the $500 he paid) to appeal the sentence (with the
additional hazard of possible jail time if the case was lost). His lawyer
quipped something about the judge 'must be having marital problems again'.
My friend thought the lawyer was joking but apparently sentences DO depend
somewhat on the mental state of the presiding judge at the moment of
sentencing.
(Yes I know, rare isolated cases....that is, until it happens to YOU.)
We've discussed what would have happened if it was a journalist as the
'interferer'. We concluded there would be no arrest and all information
would have been given (especially if it was a TV crew). Kinda sad.
I understand that police are now living in paranoia what with all the cop
killings going on. I do not understand the blatant hostility that police
seem to exhibit more and more frequently. I use to think that the 'Protect
and Serve' posted on police vehicles was directed toward ME. I now know it
means to protect and serve the state (community), individuals are dangerous
and untrustworthy.
Unfortunately humans do live in societies with laws and regulations
enforced by a system in which they have next to no control over.
I wonder how such things as a life sentence would be determined/carried out
IF in the future a consciousness could be uploaded into a matrix or
biotechnology allowed a cybernetic life extension of century+. It may be
better to have a society in place able to deal with such things before such
technology makes it possible.
It scares me at some of the things I've found out are 'illegal', and even
more scared at what additional things you can be charged with. 'Ignorance
of the law is no excuse'. I wonder where that came from. Of course it's
an excuse! If you'd known it was illegal you probably wouldn't have done
it. Blind justice doesn't mean reasonless justice. (I wonder how many
judges know ALL the laws in the jurisdiction they preside over...including
those silly ones left over from over a hundred years ago that were never
taken off the books? I just saw a documentary where it once was illegal to
take a bath in Boston. The puritanical ethics there at the time determined
one should concern oneself with spiritual purity and taking a bath was
considered a concentration on matters of the flesh. Funny, but the
documentary never divulged if the law ever expired or was revoked.)
-drl
david_laws@nih.gov
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