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Federal judge gives world-class butt chewing
The US Attorney for Montana just got a world-class butt-chewing over a felon in possession case.
The defendant had been convicted of what sounds like manslaughter ten years before. After his release, he developed a mult-million dollar construction business, became a bit of the pillar of the community, etc. In 2004, it was discovered that he owned guns, and (while the article is unclear) the state apparently moved to revoke/modify parole based on it.
Then the US Attorney (apparently having lots of spare time) filed federal charges as well. The judge's point was that the State had taken care of the matter, the defendant obviously is no street thug or menace to the community -- why is this a federal case? It didn't help that the prosecution had previously evaded the Speedy Trial Act by dismissing the indictment and then re-filing it to start the clock running all over again.
[UPDATE: link fixed...thanks...]
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"Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of a small mind," Molloy said, quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson. "Your job is not to get convictions. Your job is to ensure that justice is done. I think that's just a real problem for you. Blind persistence to a technical claim. You're not pursuing justice. You're pursuing statistics."
Wow, he got pwned, as the kids say nowadays.
I spent two years as a state prosecutor. One thing I butted heads with some of my superiors over was the duty to "do justice." I sometimes thought that some cases shouldn't be brought because, while there may have been a technical violation of the law, justice would not be served by a prosecution.
The more politically-minded folks in the office, however, knew that being "tough on crime" is a greater advantage when it comes to election time than seeing that justice is served.
Good for Judge Molloy.
Um... was the link to the story suposed to go to http://www.gunlaws.com/books.htm?