Posted on 06/26/2013 9:27:11 AM PDT by servo1969
The case of the rural West Virginia eighth-grader who was suspended and arrested in late April after he refused to remove a t-shirt supporting the National Rifle Association just keeps getting weirder.
According to local CBS affiliate WOWK-TV, the student, 14-year-old Jared Marcum, was back at the Logan County Courthouse on Monday for a hearing because prosecutors Christopher White and Sabrina Deskins were seeking an emergency gag order.
Earlier this month, Marcum had been formally charged with obstructing an officer. He was also suspended from school for one day. His crime was refusing a teacher’s request to take off the shirt, which was emblazoned with a hunting rifle and the statement “protect your right.”
“She said, ‘Are you supposed to wear that in school?’” Marcum had previously explained in an interview with WOWK. “I said, ‘I don’t see why I shouldn’t.’”
In court papers, the arresting officer, James Adkins, reportedly asserts that the criminal obstruction occurred because he couldn’t get Marcum to stop talking.
The school district’s policy doesn’t prohibit shirts promoting Second Amendment rights. Audaciously, Marcum returned to school after his suspension wearing exactly the same shirt.
The 14-year-old now faces a $500 fine and a maximum of one year in prison or juvenile confinement.
In seeking the emergency gag order, the podunk prosecutors argued that Marcum’s interest would best be served if he, his attorney and his father are prevented from speaking about the case in the press.
Marcum’s attorney, Ben White, and his father, Allen Lardieri, both say they find the argument strange.
“We were here because the prosecution filed a motion for a gag order,” Marcum’s attorney Ben White told WOWK. “My opinion is because, seemingly, they want to take it out of the court of public opinion.”
“It was for Jared’s better interest is what I was told, which seems to be a bit odd to me,” Lardieri told the station. “These are the same individuals that are trying to prosecute him, so as far as them knowing what is in his better interest, I have a lot of questions about that.”
At the end of the day, the motion for the gag order was likely a strategic maneuver by the state’s lawyers against the newly-minted middle-school graduate. They withdrew their petition provided that Marcum’s father agreed to waive the confidentiality that prevents the prosecutors from also speaking about the criminal case.
Prosecutors could not speak about the case without first cutting a deal because Marcum is a minor.
Both prosecutors as well as police declined to answer questions.
WOWK reporter Charlo Greene attempted to oppose the gag order on behalf of her employer. However, she was unable to deliver her petition, a Logan County Courthouse bailiff threw her out — twice. Greene was also threatened with arrest for obstructing an officer, the same charge Marcum currently faces.
The bailiff said the presiding judge, Eric O’Briant, requested Greene’s removal.
Battle of Athens
Even if true, that makes it worse.
It's also possible that the prosecutor is a transplant that ran unopposed for the position because he couldn't earn a living as a lawyer and has now stepped in a big pile of stupid.
How “Podunk” is this?
Is that sarcasm? Morning fog rising would still be green. Think Ireland.
Logan County gives up $65K to settle civil rights claim
February 22, 2013 7:27 AM
By LAWRENCE SMITH
CHARLESTON – The Logan County Commission has settled a woman’s lawsuit alleging two deputy sheriffs not only falsely arrested her, but also played a role in setting fire to her house and car in retaliation for complaints she made about their conduct.
http://wvrecord.com/top-stories/258058-logan-county-gives-up-65k-to-settle-civil-rights-claim
Did you steal that from me or from the guy I stole it from?
Bloody Democrat Slaverers still want to keep thier slaves inline.
This kid is getting a real (as opposed to as fabrications from NEA statists) civics lesson. If he weren’t one already, I’m sure they’d have created another libertarian/conservative here.
No sarcasm. Don’t know about fog in Ireland, but the morning fogs here are all like that. I’ve seen green beer, but never green fog.
The mountains are called “The Smokey Mountains” for a reason.
The original inhabitants called them “The Land of many fores”
West Virginia is one of the country’s most beautiful locations.
Sunrise or sunset, it is awesome. - and I don’t use that word much.
I apologize. That stamp looks like smog in the Central Valley of CA where I was born. I’ve only transversed WV in the middle of the day, or the middle of the night. I’ve never seen the fog. It just doesn’t evoke the beauty of WV to me.
I refused to buy those stamps and purchased Johnny Cash and Major League Baseball players for the office, instead. Flowers for home use! LOL
I agree. That's why I think that they could have done a better job with the stamp.
Is it tar-n-feather o’clock yet?
Wow. I'd have gone a lot higher than $65k
So must the news reporter that the judge had thrown out. I’ve lived in rural areas for most of my life so I know how they work but the judge having the bailiff throw out a reporter isn’t normal small-town stuff.
Sounds like this could be a legal community that punishes whistleblowers.
Makes me wonder what they would have done to the kid if the teacher had ordered him to take off his pants and he refused.
Why do you think the Education/Law Establishment wanted to supress public comment?
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