case dismissed

[molonlabetn]

Depending on the particulars, one might be able to sue the department for wrongful arrest, perhaps...?

[shaftbass]

You do not have a clue, and you have no business making accusations about things you do not know about.

I was wrongfully arrested in June on a illegal posession of a weapon charge and the truth came out in court on Thursday.

They do not dismiss cases that have a leg to stand on.

Wow man.. calm down. Like Tungsten said, he got your story confused with someone else's. Next time just post the story too and don't assume that everyone reads all your threads.

[saintsfanbrian]

Um, yeah, I'm gonna need you to come in on Saturday.

Samir naga naga not gonna work here anymore.

[dunndw]

...I believe you have my stapler

[Guest Phantom6]

Congrats Mike. I know you are glad that's over with.

Guess that "sacrifice a liberal democrat to the gun gods" thing really worked.

[Guest Phantom6]

I still feel that way about a speeding Ticket I got in Maryville back in 1968. Speed limit sign behind the bush thing. Costs me, best I remember about $40. Considering that a quarter in college cost about $500 back then that was a lot of money. I figure with interest that's about what the courthouse is worth.... They still owe me for that and I will get revenge before I meet my maker. Vengeance is mine sayest Marswolf.

Yeah, a Pembroke, KY LEO owes me a bit-o-dough due to a similar trap. It was dark, only one light in sight in a field on the horizon off to my right and he has the gall to ask me why I'm doing 75mph through town. I looked around in the darkness and said "ah ... town, what town?" He then explained to me that I could pay him the $50.00 in cash or wait in jail until morning and discuss it with the magistrate. I made Paducah that evening about 2300 ... 50 bucks lighter. The S. O. B actually chuckled as he strode off toward his car into the darkness being punctuated by his red flashing light when I asked if it wasn't customary to receive a copy of the citation.

That was back in '74 and best I can recall he appeared to be in his forties so I guess I could track him down and if he's still living, snatch his walker away from him, push him down and break a hip.

[bteague2]

congrats mike, good news is always nice to hear.

[towerclimber37]

Depending on the particulars, one might be able to sue the department for wrongful arrest, perhaps...?

Hey, wouldn't that be awesome?? It would not only make the lawmakers less likely to just throw arrest charges around, but it would allow someone who's not committed any wrongdoing to recoupe money spent clearing thier name.

and I called the Harker Heights courthouse today.

Guess what?

nope..no ticket, no warrrant, no nuttin!

I asked them to check surrounding areas. Nope.

gave them My SS number. nope. not there either.

check the entire state?

*sigh* mister, you're not here.

I have a feeling that with all the veterans information that was stolen lately, this had something to do with something like that.

that still made me want to crap my pants though.

I'm no badman...Don't like having society shun me...and I DEFINITELY don't want to see what the inside of a jail cell looks like.

[Mike.357]

My apologies to Disney and anyone else I ticked off with my response to what happened. No excuses, I am sorry.

[TGO David]

My apologies to Disney and anyone else I ticked off with my response to what happened. No excuses, I am sorry.

Knowing Disney, I'm sure that apologies aren't necessary. I just wanted to make sure you knew he wasn't trying to malign you. Simply a case of mistaken identity.

And I'm sure that having just come off the judicial battlefield, you're a little tense about this thing still so don't sweat it. Revel in your victory.

[saintsfanbrian]

Hey, wouldn't that be awesome?? It would not only make the lawmakers less likely to just throw arrest charges around, but it would allow someone who's not committed any wrongdoing to recoupe money spent clearing thier name.

and I called the Harker Heights courthouse today.

Guess what?

nope..no ticket, no warrrant, no nuttin!

I asked them to check surrounding areas. Nope.

gave them My SS number. nope. not there either.

check the entire state?

*sigh* mister, you're not here.

I have a feeling that with all the veterans information that was stolen lately, this had something to do with something like that.

that still made me want to crap my pants though.

I'm no badman...Don't like having society shun me...and I DEFINITELY don't want to see what the inside of a jail cell looks like.

You forgot to add "AGAIN" at the end of that statement, Towermonkey - oh wait climber (same thing)

[towerclimber37]

ook ook!

[molonlabetn]

...and I DEFINITELY don't want to see what the inside of a jail cell looks like.

I hear they all look the same, but smell different...

[Mike.357]

Everyone should look at life, if even for a few hours from the wrong side of a jail cell.

It is a character builder.

I wish I knew someone who would take my case and try to get even. I know some shyster lawyers from a previous job but I do not believe a case can really be made. Maybe there is someone here who is a cop and can explain the difference between reasonable suspicion and probable cause.

I personally would like to have recourse for the manner in which I was treated while under arrest. If the law treated a dog like I was treated they would get sued and lose big time. Heck, then the animal control catches a dog they get to ride in a ventilated "paddy wagon" and they get water.

Keep in mind the heat that day was near 90 degrees and the humidity was sky high, about 12:30 PM.

I got to sit , handcuffed behind the back, in an enclosed van, no air movement, no nothing, for about an hour. This is a full size van with small holding box/cage inside the cargo area, when I say no ventilation I mean no ventilation. I could not have been more soaking wet from my sweat than if I had jumped in a river. No exageration here.

Then put in a standard paddy wagon There where about five other people in the male side of the wagon. Everyone handcuffed. Let me assure you if you have thick wrists, well the cops do not care. I had a purple mark on my right wrist that lasted 5 days.

Again hotter than hell in there. Unbearable. I cannnot even begin to explain how bad it was. This lasted about 90 minutes while they drove around and picked up two other people.

I am the first to understand that cops get hardened to criminals. They know all criminals lie. So anything I said was automatically thought a lie. But one distinction I could not help but notice between me and the others in my "carpool" is that they all looked like criminals. Half of them were drunk or on some hard drug tweaked out. Not hard to miss by smell and actions. They were dirty, and unkempt. Now I am not Mr. GQ

but I was dressed in clean clothes, short hair, and I believe it would have been obvious I bathe regularly. I was not high or drunk. Well the Cops did not care one little bit. No questions were answered by this point, I mean nothing. any attempt to ask anything was met with being threatened. All sorts of threats. Comments like "we CAN make it worse, how about we let you all sit there for two more hours, how about we make sure you miss dinner at jail". This comment was not liked a bit my most of the other passengers, they had all taken this ride before, more than once.

I was verbally abused by at least 6 officers from three different juristictions before being put in a wagon. I know in my heart that they all knew the arrest was BS and would not stand so they were doing their best to try to get a response out of me to get an added set of charges like resisting or assault.

At one point in the intitial interview, not handcuffed. I asked the THPman if I could smoke. he said yes. I lit up and he told me to put it in my mouth and then cuffed me behind the back. Right at that moment a Knoxville motorcycle came at me and slapped me across the mouth hollering " he said to get rid of it" I mean flat slapped me across the face. He was immediatly escorted away by two of his kind. I assume so I could not read his badge or name. There had to be 15 cops that witinessed this. All in all I estimate I was being observed by 15 to 20 cops, THP , Knox County Sherrif and Knoxville PD. the whole thing was unbelievable.

I was bailed out with cash at about 6:30 PM.

Well this is starting to read like a bitch fest, but you all get the idea by now.

It will take time for me to not be pissed off by all this.

Thanks for letting me vent.

[TGO David]

Jesus man... What lead up to all of this? Or would you rather not say?

[Mike.357]

Tungsten, we were on Gay Street downtown in Knoxville. there was a white supremacy rally there that day. I was there for a friends daughters wedding later that day. I have never seen a bunch of racist hicks en-masse and I wanted to see it with my own eyes.

People should witness and counter protest these things.

The cops near the rally sight were wanding everyone trying to enter. I had a pocket knife and was wearing an empty holster from shooting the previous day. I had no hcp at this point, it arrived in the mail 11 days later. The cops wanding said I needed to get rid of the pocket knife. We walked back to my nephews truck to get rid of stuff , keys, pocket knives, etc. I decided to remove the empty holster, no reason why I had it on other than I was wearing the same pants I had shot in the previous day and had neglected to remove it. Nothing illegal about a holster. THPman sees me remove holster and set other items on front seat of the truck. He approaches and asks for ID. I comply. he asks about the holster, I answered truthfully. He asks where the gun for it is. I say I shot the previous day and it was just still on my belt, gun is at home in safe. It was a nylon, slim profile ( Uncle Mike's) holster and basically unnoticable on your belt without a gun in it. I really never thought it to be a problem. he then asks to search the vehicle, I say let me get my nephew back here as it is not my truck and let him decide. My dumb ass brother tells him to go ahead and look. So low and behold, very unkown to me my nephew had a holstered S&W .40 in the glovebox. He is legal and has a valid permit from Ohio. Cop did not care that he claimed ownership and well, it went downhill to the rest of my story from there.

Thats it in a nutshell.

[Guest Phantom6]

I hear they all look the same, but smell different...

I've been in many a jail in this country, professionally of course er, ah ... as a consultant to a variety of local corrections/detention departments from Shelby County/Memphis to Pike County/Pikeville, Kentucky and I can tell you that they all pretty much smell the same. Just to varying degrees. Especially certain areas.

[DaveTN]

Let it go man… it will eat you up.

Without knowing the exact facts no one can tell you if they had probable cause for a search or not. I can tell you that probable cause is a VERY low standard. Don’t be too hard on your bother; they were going in the vehicle anyway.

I have been in your shoes and in the cops shoes. If you decide to discuss your case; we can all discuss it. But before getting into any details I have some questions.

Which of these happened…

1. You were tried before a Judge or jury and found not guilty.

2. You went to trial before a Judge and at some point he stopped the trial and dismissed your case.

3. The Prosecutor made the decision to dismiss your case before you started a trial.

4. You made a deal with the Prosecutor that you would do some amount of “Court Supervision” (or some other term) in exchange for a dismissal of charges at the end of that term.

As far as those suggesting that you have some action against the cops, my common sense tells me that your attorney (Who is intimately familiar what happened) doesn’t think you have a case. Is that a good assumption to make?

After going through what you just went through do you see why I laugh out loud when I see someone post about their “2nd amendment rights”?

[Mike.357]

But before getting into any details I have some questions.

3. The Prosecutor made the decision to dismiss your case before you started a trial.

Bingo! My lawyer told me it would be dropped after a brief conversation he had with the prosecutor right before the hearing. I was called up in front of the judge and he asked if I agreed to the dismissal. (I mean duh!!!!!! I understand he legally had to ask I guess, but what a dumb question. Did he think I would rather keep the charge and go to trial?) I replied "yes Sir, Thank You". Had my bail money back within about 20 minutes and then outta there.

My lawyer is now working to have the charge expunged. I guess I will be good to go once that happens. They said about thirty days.

I paid my attorney to have this charge go away, that is what he is doing. Other than that if I wanted him to help me seek some restitution I am guessing I would have to bring up that subject and also pay him more money. I seriously doubt he works off a percentage. I doubt he needs to deal with a case like that.

I think trying to get a financial gain out of this woud be like beating a dead horse. The horse ain't moving so why put out the effort. It would be near impossible to prove.

why I laugh out loud when I see someone post about their “2nd amendment rights”?

I am with you here totally. The only 2nd ammendment right you have is whatever the cop you are dealing with that moment says you have. IMHO Cops do what they want and it is up to you to try to sort it out afterwards. If it was a Right there would be no hoops to jump through or hassles like this.

[DaveTN]

My lawyer is now working to have the charge expunged. I guess I will be good to go once that happens. They said about thirty days.

I would stay on top of that and make sure it happens.

I am with you here totally. The only 2nd ammendment right you have is whatever the cop you are dealing with that moment says you have. IMHO Cops do what they want and it is up to you to try to sort it out afterwards. If it was a Right there would be no hoops to jump through or hassles like this.

In all fairness, you may have had a run in with some bad cops but cops have nothing to do with whether or not you have a RTBA. Your Tennessee state Congressmen and Senators have passed laws that say that you do not a have a right to bear arms. All the state courts and appellate courts have said that you do not have that right and even most Federal Districts courts have ruled that way. They will however sell you the privilege of bearing arms. But hey, that’s better than what you had in Illinois… right?

I have a right to bear arms. That right does not come from the 2nd amendment. However, none of the above mentioned courts agree with me.

[Guest Disney]

You do not have a clue, and you have no business making accusations about things you do not know about.

I was wrongfully arrested in June on a illegal posession of a weapon charge and the truth came out in court on Thursday.

They do not dismiss cases that have a leg to stand on.

Reply retracted.....

[Guest Boomhower]

I'd say we need to call this conversation "case dismissed", as well as the thread topic.

EDIT: That was very noble Disney, I'm only sorry that I did have the chance to read it....but still noble.

[Guest Disney]

Thanks, it was a tough one for me! I saw his reply and pecked out my long winded and not very neighborly reply before I read all of the others. Thanks God for the edit feature!

Good think is, Mike got this crap resolved. Sucks to go through what he did, I would freak the F out.

[Marswolf]

A couple of quick things. This just shows how things can get out of control.

First, if the police believed they had probably cause to search the vehicle, they wouldn't have asked for permission to do so. You need to understand that. That's important. They searched because they were given permission. They are trained to get that permission. In this case Mike didn't know there was something in the vehicle that shouldn't be there. Mike's brother owes him the legal fees.

Second, here is a video that is put out by the Flex Your Rights Foundation. It really is the ACLU in disguise. It mostly tells you how to get away with not getting busted for the drugs in your vehicle or home, but the search information is something you need to know. It's a long view but worth taking time to get your head straight about what not to let LE do to you. And as you recall, I'm pro-LE. But don't give your rights away.

[ame]

[/ame]

[DaveTN]

First, if the police believed they had probably cause to search the vehicle, they wouldn't have asked for permission to do so. You need to understand that. That's important. They searched because they were given permission. They are trained to get that permission.

Marswolf, that’s just not correct. I’ve searched hundreds of vehicles. I almost always asked for permission, and I never asked for permission to search a vehicle that I didn’t already have probable cause to search. I didn’t do it because I was worried about having probable cause; I did it as conversation and interaction with the person. I had discretion on a misdemeanor and I may be deciding if I was going to make an arrest or not.

Whether or not a person gives permission to search or not is their choice; but it is something they should think about carefully before they answer based on the situation. How you answer that question could be the difference in going to jail and going home.