Posted on 05/19/2019 5:05:56 PM PDT by george76
The name of a Navy veteran may be cleared after he was convicted, fined, and imprisoned for digging ponds in a wooded area near his Montana home, to supply water in case of fire.
The Supreme Court has vacated a lower court ruling against Joe Robertson, who was sent to federal prison and ordered to pay $130,000 in restitution through deductions from his Social Security checks.
Any definitive legal victory for Robertson would be posthumous, since he died March 18 at age 80.
But his lawyers describe the Supreme Court’s action as a “big win” for Robertson’s widow, Carrie, who plans to carry on the fight.
...
Barack Obama’s Justice Department had prosecuted Robertson for digging in “navigable waters” without a permit, in violation of the Clean Water Act.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling against Robertson in November 2017 and denied him a rehearing in July 2018.
The Navy veteran’s initial trial at the district court level resulted in a hung jury and a mistrial. He then was convicted after a second district court trial.
Robertson was 78 when he was sentenced in 2016; he completed his 18 months behind bars in late 2017. At the time of his death, he was supposed to be on parole for another 20 months.
...
Prior to his conviction, Robertson operated a business that supplied water trucks to Montana firefighters. Because he himself resided in a “fire-prone landscape,” he was concerned for his safety and that of his property
...
Robertson argued that he didn’t violate the Clean Water Act because digging the ponds did not discharge any soil into “navigable waters,” .. The ponds are more than 40 miles away from “the nearest actual navigable water body,” the Jefferson River
(Excerpt) Read more at dailysignal.com ...
I was speaking in more general terms than this specific instance.
Given the chance :: lefties will repeat the Scalise shooting by a Bernie democrat , like they did to this Navy veteran ..
His only crime was implementing a great solution to a major problem without government assistance or permission.
The government doesn’t like people who are independent or off the grid because they are harder to control.
You are correct..One of the Weissmann / Deep State tricks is to threaten to indict the target’s children... like General Flynn..
Muller’s pit bull :: Andrew Weissmann coerced people into pleading guilty to things that were not crimes : as in the Arthur Andersen trial.
The Andersen case was reversed by the Supreme Court (9-0) . Weissmann — destroyed Andersen and 85,000 jobs for no good reason .
The Deep State hates citizens who think & act for themselves. They want un-armed slaves = hence Common Core math & such.
Hey. Keep in mind the Obama years were scandal free.
Some sonsofbitches need to be shot for this kind of thing.
RIP Joe Robertson.
“It came from the president,” he said. “There are 46 remaining U.S. attorneys from the Obama administration that are done at 5 p.m. today.”"
It doesn't sound like he was singled out for this particular case.
What does his vet status have to do with this? I agree it was an abuse of power, but his being a vet has nothing to do with the case.
The destruction of people itself, the power rush, is the only purpose too many of these people need. The Left is built on the basic principal that whatever is not permitted / licensed by the government is not lawful and everyone is a criminal if you look long enough.
Only sex and whatever helps there to be more sex (like abortion on demand) is off of the table for their common sense regulations ... well, that and madness now.
The Left as it is now constituted is what the Anticommunists of old were fighting to prevent, it has become every actual Cultural Marxist’s wet dream ... not just useful Idiots to bring down a nation and civilization but demented madmen incapable of sustaining even the most basic of human institutions or knowing which bathroom to use. They dance for anyone who wants our destruction, communists or race grievance warriors or the Muslim Brotherhood makes no difference to them.
Among the Woke twits with no power all that is bad enough, but with all these lawyers and bureaucrats they are the dry rot in the very bones of the nation.
Unfortunately we’ve only got leaders who want more dry rot or who think painting over dry rot is dealing with it. But the only way to deal with dry rot is to cut it out.
Being a Left winger should doom a person’s personal prospects.
Every American citizen needs to be educated about jury nullification.
Obama’s BIG (read Socialist) government persecuting an old man for the purpose of keeping you, and me in line. It’s what BIG (Socialist) government does.
I'm originally from Western Maryland and I know what Agenda 21 is. As well as the 9th Circus. Add me to the list.
And Hillary waddles free.
“U.S. prosecutors win 99 per cent of the cases that go to court..”
I hope that works for Barr if and when he gets rolling.
I hope that works for Barr if and when he gets rolling.
Such a pleasant thought, thanks.
BUMP
” I agree it was an abuse of power, but his being a vet has nothing to do with the case.”
Other than signing up willing to die for the filthy government that did this to him.
“The ponds are more than 40 miles away from “the nearest actual navigable water body,” the Jefferson River”
Typical government overreach. And since the penalty for the malicious persecution costs the bureaucrats nothing personally, they don’t give a damned.
It’s still not relevant to the story.
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