Much has been made of the pre-dawn arrest of Roger Stone in his home in Fort Lauderdale. To make this arrest, Special Counsel Robert Mueller, probably having delegated the task to his subordinate Andrew Weissmann (who is known for this tactic), assembled a full-scale FBI SWAT team of 29 members, replete with long weapons, body armor, and even a flash-bang grenade or two. The arrest took place at “zero dark thirty” or 5:30 A.M. Nevertheless, a CNN crew was on hand to film the whole thing.
Once upon a time, this level of force was considered necessary only to raid suspects able and inclined to shoot back, or who might destroy evidence. Think Symbionese Liberation Army or drug kingpin Frank Lucas of American Gangster fame. In such cases, in which the suspects really might shoot back, a television crew would never be allowed, on the grounds that they could be killed in the crossfire. The fact that a CNN crew was allowed to film Stone’s arrest is evidence that nobody believed he was dangerous. Indeed, he was not: he is 66-year-old white-collar suspect with no prior history of violence, who didn’t even have weapons in his house. Even the judge processing Stone’s arraignment implicitly accepted that Stone was not dangerous; he allowed Stone to be released on a $250,000 surety bond.
The usual procedure in white-collar cases is not to assemble an unnecessary SWAT team. Instead, the Justice Department informs the suspect’s attorney that the suspect has been indicted and needs to turn himself in to whatever courthouse for arraignment. The attorney informs the suspect and usually surrenders his client peacefully in the courthouse. No guns, no flash-bangs, no pre-dawn raids. Alan Dershowitz has said the only purpose of this level of force is to intimidate the mark into flipping on someone higher. In the case of Roger Stone, that can mean only President Trump.
Nor is Stone the only white-collar suspect to feel Mueller’s wrath. Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort got it much worse. Manafort not only was subjected to the same kind of pre-dawn raid as Stone, but also denied bail and held in solitary confinement – before his trial.
All suspects are, legally, presumed innocent until they have been duly convicted. The government has a positive duty to treat all suspects as decently as possible until their convictions. Tactics such as the ones employed on Stone and Manafort are an outrage and instances of government tyranny. Alan Dershowitz opined that the ACLU ought to be up in arms over this kind of arbitrary treatment of Manafort but that he wasn’t holding his breath. (Dershowitz himself resigned from the ACLU a few years ago.)
Is there anything we, the citizenry, can do about this violation of our rights? Actually, there is: jury nullification. It is the public’s final sanction against abusive, arbitrary, and tyrannical government power. more
h/t Forcibly Deranged.
Just the wrong target.
Should have used this to take down HRC.
That’s the kind thing that would make me look forward to being on the jury.
Unless something is done rhe RATz will just continue with this phony investigation and Hollywood TV production arrests until they get a democRAT President thru legalized election fraud, then it will all vaporize like ServPro came in and made like it never happened! All they are doing is pushing off justice for the real criminals… THEM!
I’ve been a fan of jury nullification for a long time, and from time to time send a contribution to the Fully Informed Jury Association, or FIJA. They try to get the word out that contrary to what a judge might tell you, the jury can judge the law and its application to a defendant. You’re not limited to deciding questions of fact¹.
My main disappointment in 2018 was that although I was on call for jury duty at a federal court, they ended up not needing my services. Dang! I was looking forward to only significant opportunity to affect govt activity there is, way more than voting or writing congressvermin.
1. (edit) That part of a juror oath that makes you promise to obey all judge’s orders is null and unenforceable. You are not doing anything dishonorable by disobeying.
The only force you’d have to exert to arrest Hillary would be holding a gin bottle in front of her and saying, “Party?”
Good luck waiting for Jury Nullification if the Court is in Washington, D.C.. I assume they will select a *favorable* venue…but who knows.
GITMO for Mueller seems more just. And fitting.
A head shot?
was only meaningful in the early 60’s,
‘Cept add the Clinton list here,,
Good luck with that. Have you seen where his trial is being held?
Trump has legal Presidential powers to toss Meuller AND the FBI, but he is not being allowed to. Why not? Because the Communist coup has already been accomplished; Constitutional law is no longer in force. The Trump administration is now fully in anti-America, criminal hands. Thus the US government is marching madly on to war and Trump is only kept in place to make trusting-him Americans pacified while they are being deceived. Stone is supposed to be an object lesson for anyone who dares to criticize and expose government criminals. Roger Stone/FBI is like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn/KGB. How the American Republic has fallen!
No Blushes – A head shot??
Well it is the anniversary of Bill Clinton dening ‘sexual relations’ with
Monica Lewinsky on TV 21 years ago…
A head shot?
TRF,
Perfect response!
Thanks for dating!
Problem with jury nullification is that the Secret Police would just find a way of rephrasing the charges and trying the defendant again.
“You want to do jury nullification like the last jury? Just so you know, we have friends at CNN who would just love to have your names and addresses.”
Jury nullification? I’ve done it before when I was on jury duty and it felt great. The judge was obviously annoyed at me but I just kept smiling at him.
I can’t think of any suggestions, that wouldn’t have black helicopters dropping troops on my house at 4 in the morning… 🤭
oh…. jury nullifaction… man, was I way off.
Anyway, I’m assuming somewhere in the article they mention baseball bats, meat tenderizers and/or a solid oak branch.
Our county has an over 70 provision for permanent excusal. After having my time wasted for a lousy $15 for the day for several occasions over the years, I used this excuse, stating in the letter that , although in better shape than many people half my age, I was using the over 70 excuse. I haven’t gotten another notice.
No Blushes
Pink Mist will save the Republic. LOL.
For starters the President and ALL MAGA supporters should DEMAND the CNN admit how they knew about this raid!??
They must explain why they were there? And which FBI official informed them of this raid?
Assuming they won’t answer those questions it is obvious that the FBI is playing politics and that CNN is their close accomplice.
Jury nullification. I’d forgotten about that. Thank you.
Just fire him.
The whole investiagtion was revenge for winning the 2016 election.
I’m sorry… Bringing up Jury Nullification is a f***’in hail Mary play. Don’t need this kind of defeatism in the house…