Stegall Law Firm

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/04/world/africa/africas-elephants-are-being-slaughtered-in-poaching-frenzy.html?_r=1 I realize there are no shortage of depressing stories out there competing for our attention, but this one really gets to me. I hope something can be done to save these creatures. I hope that the ignorant, rich Chinese who buy ivory products wake up and quit demanding their spoils of murder. I hope that the heartless mother ####ers in Africa who commit these atrocities get what's coming to them (and I've learned that everyone, sooner or later, has to answer for what they do in this world). Stewardship and conservation are things at which people generally suck. We'd rather consume, exploit, and move on. Humans can be absolutely despicable. I'm going to look into a wildlife organization to which I can make a donation. What else can I do? I know what I'd really like to do: send some AK mags and a case of 7.62 to the guys who work in the parks defending these animals. I do like the park rangers' policy on dealing with poachers: “We don’t negotiate, we don’t give any warning, we shoot first.â€

You may not like the result but try to respect or at least understand the reasoning. In any criminal case the state must prove each element of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. Here it did not prove serious bodily injury. And don't blame the judges. It is most certainly not a game to them. There is no one to blame. As many freedoms as our system guarantees, it's not going to be as nice, neat and tidy as people want it to be.

I was Farmer's lawyer at trial and on the first appeal, then another lawyer came in for the Supreme Court appeal (I do some appeals but I don't claim to be an expert in them). Interesting case. Don't feel bad for the victims, though. They were just drug dealers who lied every which way at trial.

Paletiger it's 223.

And you never set foot in a casino again, right? Do tell.

After-dark carry. Kaluban cloak.

Mine:

Don't go confronting people. Even if they started it. What would you have done if you found the guy? What would he have done? This is how people become the lead story on the 10:00 news.

That's crazy. I'm not touching them. I think it would be very uncomfortable to sit there and watch someone bleed out, but I am not going to get near a person who just tried to seriously harm or kill me. I think I'd just keep an eye on them and say sorry dude, ambulance is coming. Most of the comments here are pretty good from a legal point of view. Regarding statements...if it was absolutely, positively a 100% justified shooting, attacker's weapon is still in his hand, I might give a cursory statement right then and there but I'm not going to say yeah I'll come in tomorrow and talk. That's probably the last thing that I care to do. If they call you the next day or a few days later and say we want you to come down and give a statement, get a lawyer because that means charges are coming. They want you to come in only so they can formally charge you. I don't think having insurance would be admissible, or could be used against you. If it could, people wouldn't have insurance.

Just did. They are in stock, $699 otd.

Where are the M&P Sports for that price? May have to check that out. I think we hit a bottom in the Saiga market a few months ago, when you could get them online for $300 (before shipping and transfer fee). I saw a sporterized Saiga 5.45 at a gun show last month for something like $525. I agree anything over about 600, get an AR. Hell, an SKS is now close to five bills. I'll be at the gun show this weekend. Come by my table and say hello. Not selling guns, just legal services.

Jury selection may be the toughest part of this case and will be a huge undertaking. The defense will certainly enlist the services of a jury selection expert to help determine who the ideal (and un-ideal) juror would be. In Tennessee you get eight peremptory challenges for a felony. For-cause challenges are unlimited. Don't know what the numbers are in Florida. With race such a huge issue in this case, there are bound to be some Batson challenges. U.S. v. Batson was a case that said you can't remove a particular group of potential jurors based on their race, ethnicity or gender. So for instance if it looked like the prosecution was trying to remove white jurors, the defense could claim Batson. The prosecution would then have the burden of showing it was removing white jurors for something other than race. I'm sure that the case will be moved to another venue, like Miami or Tallahassee, or perhaps they will keep the case in its original venue (near Orlando I think) and get jurors from another Florida city and bring them there. They did that in a death penalty case in Memphis. Picked a jury from Nashville, bused them to Memphis and kept them here two weeks. In Zimmerman, since the crime scene is so important, I'm thinking that they willl show it to jurors during the trial, actually bring them there one day with the lawyers and the judge. So perhaps they will get jurors from another city and bring them in. Obviously everyone has heard of this case, but simply hearing about it won't disqualify you. It has to be an inability to be impartial. In Tennessee you're only entitled to name, address, occupation, and spouse's name and occupation. Not sure how much effort would be made to hunt down what everyone has said online. That would be a lot of work. You can't read people's minds, but you can develop a "type" and do the best you can to get as many of your types as possible in the box. That's about the best you can do.

A trust from another state will be good in Tennessee. Under Tennessee law, a trust is valid if it complies with the law where it was executed, or where the settlor or trustee resided, or where trust property was located. Most states recognize other states' trusts. I've heard Maine has funny laws about that. You're going to need an approved form 20 before you go. You have to submit it beforehand and get their blessing. This is assuming you have NFA weapons in your possession at that point. You indicate that you may still be waiting for form 4/form 1 approval then, so it just depends on when you get started and what the wait time is like over the next few months. It ain't getting shorter I can tell you that. As to the first question, I don't know. I'm sure someone here has some insight on that.

Thought I overheard a range officer at Desoto Rifle Club, which is right near where this happened, that the caliber used was 7.62x39, which would indicate an AK knockoff or SKS. I don't know, that could be speculation. Obviously looks like the m.o. is late at night, when the roads are pretty deserted. I don't think the guy would be so brazen to do this in daylight. If you drive in this area at night, be careful and keep one in the chamber. It's pretty messed up. I figure it's either gang initiation or a sicko acting alone.

Same thing with the Roger Clemens trial right now. What a farce.

I was over near the beef jerky folks. I bought a bag of the teriyaki. It was good. If you're a small vendor and have only one table they stick you off in the corner or the far side of the floor. Maybe it doesn't matter because eventually most folks make their way around the floor, but I wish they would spread it out. All the big exhibits are concentrated near the entrance. This was my second show as a vendor and I don't think it was as good as the Memphis show last month, which was smaller. Maybe it was just because of the smaller venue, but Memphis was packed, and I've heard that the April 14 show is sold out, at least for big exhibits. I should be able to get my one table again. But this Hendersonville show was pretty dead, I thought. I did have a number of people come by interested in setting up a trust, but it was so quiet, so much downtime. I left at 1:00 today. I've heard the Knoxville show is good and I am going to try to make one of those this year.

'Course.

I gave a brief interview this afternoon on the Memphis Fox station about this case, it'll be on tonight at 10. We talked about deadly force laws and what might happen in this situation under Tennessee law. I think dude will get indicted. Like someone said, he accosted the kid, kid fought back, dude shot him. That's just not self defense. You can't seek the threat out then claim you were in fear for your life.

Technically perhaps, but the remedy under the Fourth Amendment is suppression of evidence gained from an illegal search or seizure. Without an arrest, there's nothing to suppress, so there's really no Fourth Amendment claim. Now if there were drugs in the car that would be a different story.

That's right, and yes you need a carry permit to transport your rifle loaded (shotguns too). You can transport them without a permit the same way you can transport a handgun without a permit: unloaded, without any ammo in close proximity.

Seeing as how the young man was unarmed, I wouldn't hold my breath. He was just trying to get home.

Yeah that might be the most troubling part of this story, that the officer is standing there holding a gun that he thinks is unloaded.

No you can have a round in the chamber of your handgun in the car w/permit. You also can have a loaded long gun in the car w/permit, but you cannot have a round in the chamber of said long gun unless you are intending on using it in justifiable self defense.

Hopefully that officer learned a thing or two. Actually you can go so far as to have a loaded long gun in the car w/ carry permit, just no round in the chamber unless you're about to defend yourself. Sounds like you handled it well.

The article doesn't say if she was placed on probation. It says she was spared jail time, so her sentence would either be time served or probation. I have no idea how long probation would be for this offense under NY law, but judges usually order that you cannot possess firearms while on probation. So this shouldn't affect her carry permit or 2nd Amendment rights long-term, but if she's placed on probation she'd have to get rid of her guns for the duration. The bigger issue to me is if this is a permanent conviction it's going to be on her record forever. That would suck, having this follow you around everywhere and having to explain it for the rest of your life. Hopefully it won't affect her nursing license.