Tuesday, January 23, 2007

"What Price Treason?"

Supporters of Wayne Fincher have asked that letters by sent to the "judge who tried Wayne and will do the sentencing. He needs to know how the citizens of Arkansas, and the United States (& those abroad who care) feel about this egregious case."

Here is one such letter that the author has graciously allowed me to post:

20 Jan 07

U.S. District Judge Jimm Larry Hendren

United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas

Sir:

As an American citizen who is deeply concerned about the state of liberty and the lack of rule of law in this land I have been following the Fincher case. This nation was wrested away from a ruling elite that ruled by whim and the myth of moral superiority of the highborn. Because of the reasons for our departure from our mother country we established the rule of law, not whim. Those rules reserved and guaranteed rights embodied in the Supreme Law of the Land , The Constitution of the United States of America. Government was guaranteed no rights in that document, but were granted certain powers in order that the state be able to honor its duty to the citizen in protecting the reserved and guaranteed rights bestowed by Nature and Nature's God upon the citizen.

Therefore, when I read that you had stated in public, on the record, that the Second Amendment guaranteed an individual right and not a collective right, I was pleased beyond measure. I thought to myself, "Finally an honest sitting judge, who will rule based on law." That thought did not sustain me long. For the very next day, after your meeting with representatives of the prosecution, you reversed yourself. Which brings me to some questions for later in this missive.

I know you did not attend and graduate law school without ever learning that the Constitution of the United States of America was and is the Supreme Law of the Land. Further, I contend that you could not have graduated law school without ever learning that the jury is charged with judging not only the facts of a case, but also the law under which charges are brought. Were you to try to deny having ever learned that, your already suspect integrity would be revealed by its absence.

I can believe that you graduated law school and never learned that the courtroom belongs to the jury, not the judge, not the state, not the prosecutor and not the defense. The jury owns the courtroom, they are the highest power in that room, at all times. As stated previously, I can believe you graduated without that ever being revealed to you by your instructors. Such is the nature of arrogance in many that attain offices of honor. Many believe that they are imbued with a moral and universal superiority that places them above others and often simply ignore the truth if it does not please them. The fallacy of the judge owning the courtroom is one such manifestation of this arrogance. So while I can believe you were never taught that in law school, simply because the fiction of a judge owning the courtroom must be protected if the abuse of juries and the jury system is to be sustained, I cannot understand how you were able to study law and the history of the law and not discover the truth on your own. I suspect that it is an ignorance of convenience on your part.

The judge is a referee. His job is to keep the proceedings fair and in the bounds of the law. The judge has a duty not to be an advocate. A duty you have miserably failed in Fincher.

It has been ruled and upheld many times that a judge is not required to inform a jury of its duty and right to judge the suitability of the law under the Constitution. While it may not be legally required of him, it is certainly a moral obligation if justice is to prevail in our nation. When a judge declines to apprise a jury of its entire duty, but deigns to apprise it partially of its duty, he has become an advocate, and has shown his disrespect for justice.

I could cite cases and rulings that uphold everything I have stated above. I could cite quotations and writings of founders and jurists who have stated in eloquent terms the principles you have violated. I could do that, but I believe it would be pointless. I do not believe I have engaged an honest and principled man who has a different point of view, or who only needs to see the proofs that he has ruled wrongly, to set his path aright. I believe I am addressing a man who already knows all the things I have addressed here. I believe that man knew he was wrong when he disallowed the jury in Fincher to hear what the law, especially the Supreme Law of the Land, had to say, before directing the jury to a guilty verdict.

So here are the questions for you I mentioned above.

What was your price? What was offered you in that meeting with representatives of the prosecution that seems to have caused a complete reversal of what you had stated only the day before? Was it reward? Was it threat if you did not cooperate?

To sum it up in one question, "What price treason?"

Absolutely sincerely,

Charles H. Sawders
Doddridge, Arkansas

Send your letter to:
U. S. District Judge
Jimm Larry Hendren, Chief Judge
P. O. Box 3487
Fayetteville, Arkansas 72702-3487

Shot Boy's Father Seeks Gun Control

The father of a two-year-old boy shot dead in his pushchair while on a family holiday joined hundreds of other campaigners as they marked moves to introduce international gun control measures.
I guess he doesn't think "Brian" had a big enough advantage.

"Brian, Please..."

Tragic Sharon Bell's killer shocked her with a stun gun before murdering her in a frenzied knife attack, a jury heard.

A harrowing recording of the hairdresser screaming in agony and pleading for her life was played at Newcastle Crown Court.
Do you think Brian would have been so merciless if instead of pleading with him to stop she was commanding him to keep away--or else she'd shoot?

On the Lighter Side

Official upset by gun lighter his son says he bought at fair...

All it would have taken was a wave of the sleek-looking replica, and a law-enforcement officer to mistake it for a weapon.
"Don't just stand there, idiot. Call a doctor. And then help me find my nose."

Forget Getting Guns Off the Streets--How About Getting Street Off Our Guns?

Mayor Street joins a group of 50 mayors in Washington today pushing for new strategies to stanch the flow of illegal guns into American cities.

With Pennsylvania hamstrung "with some of the most lax gun laws in all of the country," Street said, the mayors are pushing for "tougher laws to control illegal guns... . This is a national movement to deal with the proliferation of guns."

The coalition, known as Mayors Against Illegal Guns, formed last April in New York. In September, the coalition joined Street for a lobbying push in Harrisburg.

With President Bush to offer his State of the Union address tonight to a Congress now controlled by Democrats, Street said that he's hoping for a better gun-control environment.
He's got his wish. It's already started--despite the predictions by some that all those "gun-friendly Democrats" will keep it from happening.

This Day in History: January 23

On this day in 1775, London merchants petition Parliament for relief from the financial hardship put upon them by the curtailment of trade with the North American colonies.