Posted on 12/27/2004 4:01:52 PM PST by pabianice
One day in 1994, Doug Burns was leaving an appointment at Mass General Hospital when he was set upon by a thug standing over 6 feet tall and weighing more than 300 pounds.
The criminal first battered Burns and when Burns protested the assault the thug threw a weapon at Burns and then charged Burns.
Burns then drew his licensed handgun and shouted at the attacker to stop and then yelled at everyone nearby to call 911. Many calls were then received by 911, telling of the attack and how the victim was holding the criminal at gunpoint.
When the Mass State Police arrived, they arrested Doug Burns after taking the attacker into custody. Handcuffed and stuffed into a cruiser, Doug was never read his Miranda rights and never allowed to make a phone call. The police told Doug that in Massachusetts, no one has the right to use a gun in self defense unless they are police officers.
At a pre-trial hearing, not a single independent witness supported police charges against Doug. The 911 calls were never entered into the trial record. Not a single independent witness was called to testify.
Nonetheless, the jury voted not guilty on all charges except for one juror who stated that no one had the right to possess a gun. The judge refused to disqualify her and seat an alternate juror.
At the second trial, still with no independent witnesses allowed, Doug was found guilty of assault and battery, fined $19 and given 20 minutes probation. Because of the conviction, his LTC was revoked.
The 300 pound thug went on with his life unscathed. It turns out the guy is a Suffolk County (Boston) Deputy Sheriff who had been out for three years on a disability pension after being involved in a fight in prison.
In 2003 (nine years later), the Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled in Bruce Callender v. Suffolk County, 01-P-0983, that thug Callender had lied in his disability application and reversed Callender’s disability pension, ruling that Callender had lied about his injuries. The perjured disability was three years before Callender lied about his assault upon Burns. Yet, during Burns’ trial, Callender was “assisted” into the courtroom by State Police, spoke in a “shakey” voice, and gave the appearance of an elderly, crippled man. The Boston Herald printed a picture of Callender shaking the hand of Johnnie Cochran in 1996, in which Callender looks hale and hearty.
So, the morale of the story is that if you hold at bay with a handgun a perjured Massachusetts deputy sheriff who is trying to kill you, then you, not he, will be prosecuted.
Welcome to the Massachusetts “justice” system, where only some people have the right to defend themselves with a gun, and only some people have the right to be read their Miranda rights, and where not everyone gets to make a phone call after they’re arrested.
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Muck Fassachusetts.
Damn, I miss that guy!
Hutz: I move for a bad court thingy.
Judge Snyder [modeled on Robert Bork]: You mean a mistrial.
Hutz: Right!! That's why you're the judge and I'm the law-talking guy.
Judge: You mean the lawyer?
Hutz: Right.
No, he should have emptied his weapon into him so he would never survive.
Would you mind saying which state this happened in? Is it one of the usual suspects, or one you'd normally think wasn't so, well, progressive?
Isnt that the truth...as "Social Justice" has been the raison d'etre of the US education system for the last 50 yrs...not surprsing the courts decided it is theirs as well....
As former Milwaukee cop...co-opted into theft and then not squealing on his thieving cop buddies...Mr. Reeger would say..."Spell the Straw in Raspberry"...
About twenty years ago I was at a fund raiser for a former MassPort commissioner (now deceased) that had been organized by a known Mafia hitman (now deceased). A Mass. State Police captain was trying to convince a bunch of other cops (state and Boston city) what a great guy the killer was. True story.
The frickin soviet socialist union would be proud. I would file suit under civil rights discrimination.
I understand your position, and I too am appalled at the grip lawyers (today's lawyers from the leftist law schools), but for the record - many of the founders were lawyers too. I think that even then lawyers were the most heavily represented occupation...
I remember in the early 70's Mass. passed a law which essentially stated that if someone breaks into your home, you must first try to run, and failing that, and you are cornered, you may finally use force. Talk show hosts Avi Nelson, and David Brudnoy had a field day on that one:)
Best regards,
Tim
That would be Massachusetts..
Thanks for the C.S. Lewis quote as well.
Definitely one of the usual suspects! I know of a couple of juicy divorces in MA which went on... and on... and on, myself (fortunately not my own).
How, you ask?
Pretty simple... He sent the night duty officer out for coffee and sinkers.
A captain in the Med ford, MA PD led a notorious raid on a Malden Savings Bank, leisurely looting the safe deposit boxes over Memorial Day weekend. The cop gang also sold cocaine and stole the tests for rankings in the old MDC. They ended up shooting it out with each other over drug profits. The leader wrote a book, "The Cops Are Crooks".
A bunch of Haverhill and Lawrence, MA cops ran a cocaine ring out of a health club in Bradford. One of them, the son of the Haverhill police chief was killed and the murder is, I believe, still unsolved.
Career police officers have the same psychological profile as career criminals.
Good thing I retired at 20 eh?
I'm also getting that sense.
He, he! From what I hear, if you're working the other side of the street you don't get to retire, if you know what I mean...
Could've been worse, ...had he been a she and driven out of town on a date by a Mass. Senator.
#2
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