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AZ: no retrial for Harold Fish
Story here.
"Rozema said that two developments prompted his decision not to retry the case. First, the Arizona Court of Appeals overturned Fish's conviction. ... [T]he appellate court decided the jury was not instructed properly as to what constitutes "unlawful physical force." The court also decided the jury should have heard evidence that Kuenzli was known to act violently when confronted about dogs in his care.
Second, Gov. Jan Brewer signed a bill into law Monday that applied retroactively to the Fish case a new law on self-defense. Whereas Fish had to prove at his trial that he acted in self-defense, it is now up to the prosecution to prove at trial that Fish did not act in self-defense."
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"it is now up to the prosecution to prove at trial that Fish did not act in self-defense"
Interesting that innocent until proven guilty is a twist. /s
The State has already ruined his life. It's more than enough, even for a prosecutor.
Many will say tha justice has finally been done, but of course that's not the case. Mr. Fish has lost years of his life, and that can never be returned. He'll suffer from this forever. First he was victimized by his assiliant, next by the state of AZ.
There was an attempt to get the same law applied retroactively when Napolitano was in office. It may have been too broadly applied (and therefore in danger of overturning previous convictions). Napolitano vetoed it.
How soon will he get out of prison?
How soon will he be legally allowed to exercise all Second Amendment rights again?
Will he ever recover financially?
Whom can he sue?
I remember that one of the TV networks did a story on him and they talked about how he had used a 10 MM for a hand gun. The Prosecutor had made a big deal of how powerful the 10MM was and asked something like why anyone needed a 10 mm and was Fish just a gun nut looking for an excuse to shoot someone. They interviewed a woman on the jury and she said that she did not understand why he needed a 10mm.
I am sorry for Mr. Fish, and he will carry this to his grave. I hope he is a bigger man than me and can rise above it and salvage what he can, still get a laugh now and again, smell a flower and say thanks for it.
Napalitano of course ran true to form on this one. Very interesting she now runs DHS...another useful idiot for Bama to exploit.
Yippee for Brewer, on this and telling Bama's minions to take their stimulus and cram it. Only a low-life thug would have run that path, and the fact Ray La Hood and others ran the errand from the One is an indictment of them. It does make clear the measure of those who serve the guy who "won", as well as their boss.
A fish rots from the head down.
Once again we see the filth of the legal system at work. This should have never gone to trial. The prosecutors involved in this charade should be dis-barred.
"it is now up to the prosecution to prove at trial that Fish did not act in self-defense"
An interesting twist on the burden of proof, but long overdue.