dr_hunt Posted March 9, 2005 Share Posted March 9, 2005 I'll try to keep this short. A buddy of mine ownes 2000 acres of land that adjoins National Forest in NM. Four hunters were trespassing in 2002. When he tried to run them off, they fired several rounds in the air and my buddy , not wanting to take on 4 guys with guns, quickly left to call law enforcement twice. Deputy dog shows up, finds hunters in same location, doesn't check weapons, doesn't check crime scene and makes the hunters leave. Buddy writes statement and deputy dog says he'll file criminal trespass charges against hunter. Ok, two months later, buddy gets charged with 4 counts of assault with a deadly weapon, fourth degree felony, and looking at 16 years in the Pen. Seems the 4 hunters went on a campaign to claim my buddy actually shot at them with a manlicher stocked military weapon, possibly a 30.06 and that buddy doesn't own property and produce bogus documents that somebody else owns property. DA dismisses charges no less than 5 times in magistrate court, before going in front of a grand jury and getting an indictment for the same. Goes to trial, Hunters can't seem to tell the same story, DA says buddy doesn't own property. Defense produces survey and surveyor (retired) who surveyed property back in '82, proves otherwise with deed and survey. Defense lawyer blows holes in witness statements, produces evidence that buddy had loaded .45 auto under seat so wouldn't have pulled out an old military rifle, that had only 2 shells in it to take on 4 armed guys, besides, buddy left to call law twice, and hunters stayed hunting even after supposedly getting shot at. Deputy admits that he is a member of the major crimes investigation unit, however he didn't; call for backup, perform weapons check, search vehicles, investigate crime scene for spent cartridges, interview witnesses separately, perform follow up investigation on defense witnesses, perform property deeds search, research county tax assessors maps, or any investigation whatsoever, however he did take the hunters side of the story as gospel. Jury acquits on all four counts in 1.5 hours of deliberation yesterday. My buddy is vindicated and 50K lighter in the pocketbook. Law enforcement and the criminal justice system is bogus, questioning my faith in the law, makes me wonder what would have happened if my buddy didn't have the resources to get a good lawyer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zguitar71 Posted March 9, 2005 Share Posted March 9, 2005 Sounds like the deputy was friends with the hunters. The D.A. should be fired for persuing a case with such obvious evidence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted March 9, 2005 Share Posted March 9, 2005 Dr. Hunt, you are a little slow my friend... I lost faith in the Justice system the day I turned in my badge and changed jobs...It was in 1988... I've got a degree in criminal justice and I could tell you stories that would make your head hurt... Cops and teachers... They get paid so little, what type of "qualified" person do you think will be attracted to that job? No wonder half the cops in law enforcement wouldn't make the cut for a simple confidential security clearance. Sad state of affairs... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr_hunt Posted March 9, 2005 Author Share Posted March 9, 2005 Deputy dog is so stupid, he couldn't tell the same story from the Grand Jury testimony until last week, completely different stories about the same incident. The ADA, well, I guess there's three types, those that don't care, those that do care and apply the law and those that __ck with you just cause they can. Deputy Dog, kept saying, "Well, my boss told me what to do", pretty sad for a major crime unit member that investigates murders and the like. For instance, they found several old tarnished brass cases that were a 30.06 and had obviously stepped on, didn't have warrant, nothing, didn't follow chain of evidence, nada. Sends them to the state crime lab, the crime lab supervisor testifies that they all came from the same gun, but they don't know what gun. What a waste of time and taxpayer expense. Buddy was shooting a .303 British. Morons, simply morons, a weapons check in the field would have exhonerated him from the onset. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2126 Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 Well, I'm not so sure this would be legal (not that it matters and hey, the US military does it) but, if his 2000 acres are fenced (deliniating his property)....post signs that say "WARNING: TRESPASSING PROHIBITED-ALL OFFENDERS WILL BE SHOT ON SIGHT". You know, just like the old days of the west! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr_hunt Posted March 10, 2005 Author Share Posted March 10, 2005 I was kind of thinking he ought to put up signs that says something along the lines of "DANGER LAND MINES" and then have others that say "POSTED NO TRESPASSING". Oh, by the way, his land was patented back in the 1820's and has been in his family for a long, long time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr_hunt Posted March 10, 2005 Author Share Posted March 10, 2005 Well Mike, at least you got out while the getting was still good. I have to admire a person with integrity, dignity and the ability to use both in conjunction with common sense. Hat's off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auxilary Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 can't he countersue for punitive damages, lawyer fees, etc? If they filed a suit against your friend for supposedly getting shot at, that means they must have filed a police report. Falsifying a police report is a crime, what happened to the hunters? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 can't he countersue for punitive damages, lawyer fees, etc? If they filed a suit against your friend for supposedly getting shot at, that means they must have filed a police report. Falsifying a police report is a crime, what happened to the hunters? That sounds appropriate to me... I'd sure as hell want my $50K back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Aaron Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 can't he countersue for punitive damages, lawyer fees, etc? If they filed a suit against your friend for supposedly getting shot at, that means they must have filed a police report. Falsifying a police report is a crime, what happened to the hunters? I was thinking the same thing. I have heard of cases of being arrested without a proper investigation the arrestee sued the police and DA's office for wrongful arrest and prosecution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tony78_280z Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 I sued and won for being arrested on a warrant that didn't exist back when I was 19 or 20. I got a ticket for no proof of inusrance. But I had it, so I went to the States Attorney and presented it to him. He dropped chages with court costs. I asked if I still needed to show up in court. He said no. Two weeks later I hear through the grape vine I got a warrant out for my arrest. Again I went to the States Attorney. He remembered me. Looked at my files and told me that since I wasnt in court I got a bench warrant. He said he would take care of it because he told me I didn't need to be there. I didn't think about it again until a cop rolled up one night (I was drunk btw) and ran all of our names 'cause we were young guys out drinking. (We were not driving around, just makin noise outside a pool hall.) Guess who had a warrant? I went to jail for 14 hours before my worthless girl friend (at the time, not this wonderful woman I currently have) bailed me out. Next day I was talking to my lawyer. Over the phone, he got the police department to settle out of court for 3,000.00. The lawyer told me he probably could have gone to court and gotten more. After his chunk I ended up with 1,700.00. That is more than a hundred dollars and hour. I figured that sounded fair. Course the lawyer got 1300.00 for less than an hours worth of work! The lawyer told me that a key was that I explained to every person involved in my arrest that I was not supposed to be there. I'm sure they hear it a thousand times, and they acted like it. But if I hadn't attempted to bring it to their attention I would have had no case. Since this event I have gone to pay tickets on two different occasions in two different jurisdictions and I've had the clerk say they couldn't find a file/ticket for me. Both times I said "Well, give me some sort of documentation saying that I was here at this time on this day to pay this ticket. becasue I've been arrested on a bench warrant when I tried to take care of it." And both times within minutes they find my info and take my money. Think they are just tryin to up the charges and my costs by screwing me into a bench warrant? My lesson when dealing with courts is to never leave without a document and keep your papper trail. At least until the next time you get your name ran, and know for sure you don't have a warrant. This story is so long that I have forgotten why I'm posting or if it is relevant to the current conversation. I guess it's good that it is in the Non-tech section. =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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