Last Friday my wife was on Missoula Judical Court jury Duty. When she got home this is what the case was. What a waste of taxpayers $$$$$.

Defendant (age 67 btw) is accused of using his employers riding lawnmower to mow a neighbors lawn when he only had permission to cut his own lawn. Prosecuting attorney says it's in the laws that this is theft of services and theft/misuse of company equipment.

The defendant had permission to use the mower to cut his yard and while doing so, cut his neighbors yard. The neighbor is disabled and his wife tries to cut the lawn when she can. (both are in their 80's.) The defendant says he was only trying to be a good neighbor and practice random acts of kindness, and another, younger employee of the lawn service drove by and saw him cutting the lawn and reported it to his boss.

The trial went two hours and my wife and several other jurors were praying that God would send a lightning bolt down and do away with the assistant DA and the lawn service owner. Finally the case was sent to the jury and they took all of.........................................

12 minutes and 23.7 seconds to find the defendant "NOT GUILTY".

Each of the 7 jurors was paid $85 for the day, plus travel mileage and parking vouchers. As CBS's John Strossel would say......."You've got to be kidding!"

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The question you have to ask yourself is, do you believe in the letter of the law or the spirit of the law? Based on your reaction, I'm assuming the spirit of the law. I tend to agree, but I would certainly like the letter of the law to look a bit more like the spirit...

I was rooting for the lightning bolt. :thumbleft:

This is an awesome example of jury nullification . Highest praise to your wife and her fellow jurors for having the courage to set aside the law and rule in the favor of justice. Give her an extra special hug and take her out to her favorite restaurant for me. We are in desperate need of more courageous jurors in this nation to kick our government in the balls when it tries to make inroads into our personal liberties. So few people know these days that a jury has the sovereign right to set aside any law it deems to be unjust. Too many juries simply cow before the robed magistrate and do whatever he directs. That is the primary reason our government has been so spectacularly successful at pushing through unconstitutional infringements of our rights.

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Technically, what the guy did was "wrong".
But geez.......his employer took him to COURT for this???

Now......imagine what the owner of this lawn service looks like now.
EVERYONE in that area should call and tell him what a jerk he is.

Karma.......it's payback time.

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Truth. +1

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I think the young guy who told the boss should have the lightning bolt up his arse. Just seems like you cant do a good deed for anyone nowadays without being bitten in the ass

But hooray for the justice system

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I will do that, Nonstopdrivel. I'll take her to the Blue Canyon Inn at the Missoula Hilton Garden Hotel. Dinner prices start at $40 a meal. Who should I send the bill to in LaCrosse??? (lol)

I mean, com'on...the letter of the law is one thing, yes, but in this world we need to stop and think of our fellow citizens and human beings. I talked with the sheriff's deputy (friend of mine) who served the summons notice to the poor guy and he said this was a complete joke. The lawn service guy was a jerk and just trying to prove a point. The point being he is an asshole.

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You know, I've been doing my darndest on this board to not say anything too politically polarizing. I have my opinions, I may think that I'm right and other people are wrong but other people have the same attitude and just think differently... Can't help it. I'm so angry with society and what it lets the government do, and for the government for not giving a crap what its constituents want. If they're being so blatant about it that they're putting reelection at stake, they then switch to self-preservation mode (but still are caring more about themselves than those they're supposed to serve). It's not a republican-verus-democrat thing, 90%+ of the legislature is completely beyond redemption.

I'll come out and say that my family is conservative, my girlfriend is conservative, and her family is conservative... Pretty much everyone I spend any significant amount of time with is conservative so I don't regularly interact with people with a dramatically different worldview. My primary "news" source is cnn.com (which often enrages me). I do my best to be open-minded and let opposing viewpoints come into my mind.

However, I cannot fathom why ANYBODY can look at the track record for medicare and say that the government will do a better job than a private company. I cannot fathom how ANYBODY can point at the greed and corruption of insurance companies and look to the GOVERNMENT to be less greedy and power-hungry.

Should the government try to make the system more fair? Well, that's an opinion. Have a very moderate tax increase (preferably divert funds from other areas) in order for the government to provide subsidies for a portion of low income families to have health insurance coverage? I wouldn't throw a fit. Should the government force health insurance companies to cover people with preexisting conditions that cannot find a health insurance company? That's a bit of a more complex subject that I don't have an immediate answer to.

Which brings me to the "Well, let's see YOUR plan" argument .If you have an unidentified disease and no doctor can tell you what's wrong with you or how to fix it, would you go to a doctor with a history of quackery and have him remove a portion of your body that was not affected by the disease in an attempt to treat it unless he could specifically tell you how it would help?

Gah. I want to hack my arm off.

Which is why politically, I'm quite libertarian (though not Libertarian). Keep the government out of my business and let me figure out my life for myself. Government works best when it is firmly shackled, which is why our constitution was drafted in the first place.

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