The law is an ass

JCat

JCat

Well-Known Member
Accessory Maker
This is a severe case of people having no fucking clue ... why did the judge not throw it out once the laws changed? why continue to waste tax payer dollars? oh yeah ... that's right ... private prisons ... big business ... gotta' keep putting people in jail!

I wanted to go to TechEd this year ... but being that this is the type of penalty I risk (especially in Houston, Texas, I would imagine not being great!) ... so I've passed this year (now 2 years in a row ... still waiting for somewhere that I can go and not have to make a choice between feeling good or risking my freedom ... just crazy!)

Edit: How's that for funny ... I tell my boss that I can't go to TechEd because they might put me in jail if I go or I have to choose to be without medication which is really quite unpleasant for me ... same story to my wife too! I'd consider bringing tinctures but I really feel uncomfortable in airports when travelling internationally ... one of the few places where I feel my rights are secondary ... guilty until proven innocent ... you have no rights and can't speak up for yourself for fear of making the situation worse depending on who you end up having to deal with .... as long as I stay in country I can fly with my cannabis :))
 
JCat

JCat

Well-Known Member
Accessory Maker
ogcook said:
Just saying, even now that's too much to be caught with and you would at least be persecuted.
Click to expand...
Correct ... probably deserved to be prosecuted, however, don't think the punishment fits the crime ... and the fact that they let him out 10 days a month to consume what he is in jail for having is still pretty messed up.

Why they have a cancer patient behind bars is beyond me, unless he poses a significant threat to society, and is at risk of re-offence of something that could harm other people, there is no logical reason to have tax payer dollars going towards taking away a person's freedom ...
 
ogcook

ogcook

Well-Known Member
JCat said:
Correct ... probably deserved to be prosecuted, however, don't think the punishment fits the crime ... and the fact that they let him out 10 days a month to consume what he is in jail for having is still pretty messed up.

Why they have a cancer patient behind bars is beyond me, unless he poses a significant threat to society, and is at risk of re-offence of something that could harm other people, there is no logical reason to have tax payer dollars going towards taking away a person's freedom ...
Click to expand...
Completely agree, I just didn't want everyone glossing over this fact thinking he was put away for a personal amount before the change in laws.
 
ogcook,
  • Like
Reactions: JCat
arf777

arf777

No longer dogless
Well, it just got worse.
Yesterday, in Fernandez v California, SCOTUS seriously expanded warrantless searches. In this case, they held that overriding the defendant's refusal to allow a warrantless search was kosher because the defendant was 'no longer physically present' - because the cops had TAKEN HIM AWAY - and they then conned his girlfriend into letting them search without a warrant. From the pleadings below, it appears they made her think the search was related to her being hit by her boyfriend, when it was in fact about an alleged armed robbery. At least there's a raging dissent on this one. Some recent bad ones have been unanimous.

http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/12-7822_he4l.pdf
 
arf777,
Vicki

Vicki

Herbal Alchemist
arf777 said:
Well, it just got worse.
Yesterday, in Fernandez v California, SCOTUS seriously expanded warrantless searches. In this case, they held that overriding the defendant's refusal to allow a warrantless search was kosher because the defendant was 'no longer physically present' - because the cops had TAKEN HIM AWAY - and they then conned his girlfriend into letting them search without a warrant. From the pleadings below, it appears they made her think the search was related to her being hit by her boyfriend, when it was in fact about an alleged armed robbery. At least there's a raging dissent on this one. Some recent bad ones have been unanimous.

http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/12-7822_he4l.pdf
Click to expand...

I hate reading things like this. :(
 
friedricey

friedricey

being human
No wonder why people have no faith in the legal system... It's sure a crazy world we live in - but a lot better than before!
 
friedricey,
arf777

arf777

No longer dogless
newVaper420 said:
Yay! 3 days after you posted this, he was released! Justice

**Update**
Forchion’s sentence was vacated on Jan. 30 and he was released after spending a total of 130 days in jail.
Click to expand...
This will be a growing issue, as more and more states look at decriminalization / legalization.

It;s kind of amazing, as this has happened before - when alcohol prohibition ended, there were thousands of people in prison for possession of alcohol. And nobody thought about what would happen to them when prohibition ended. Many, if not most, ended up serving out their full prison terms.

I can only hope that some of the states will add an amnesty provision to their legalization bills. If they do not, every single case will need to be litigated, as US Constitutional law specifically prohibits general grandfathering (retroactive application of new / changed law). Courts have allowed it when passed as part of larger amnesty and reform laws, like immigration amnesties.

Meanwhile, though, the Supreme Court and state law have made it an order of magnitude easier for your home to be searched without a warrant, made holding the supervisors of cops who intentionally violate rights next to impossible to be held accountable, and have made habeas actions logarithmically more difficult (see Fernandez v CA, Ashcroft v Iqbal [the latter both for judge's personal judgment being substituted for actual evidence and legal reasoning - "the judge's personal judgment and common sense"- and for gutting Bivens v Six Unknown Named Agents, one of the major precedents on supervisory responsibility], the cert denial list from June 11 2012, and the boatload of habeas-restricting laws and lower appellate cases from the '90s).

Taken all together, getting yourself out of a patently illegal imprisonment has, in some states, become as hard as in Russia. This is not an exaggeration. I know of over a dozen such cases in Texas alone, including a good friend who was illegally imprisoned there for over 4 years. The prosecutor, sentencing commission and warden all admitted to him he was illegally detained, but that they could not do anything about it. He even had access to counsel from a major DC law firm, and it made no difference. Not surprisingly, my friend now lives primarily off the grid.

Ashcroft v Iqbal-
http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/08pdf/07-1015.pdf

Fernandez v CA-
http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/12-7822_he4l.pdf

Habeas cert denials-
http://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/061112zor.pdf
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom