Cost is NOT a factor, including your freedoms....

The Three Piggies and Warren

Does Government not care what rights or treasure of yours it takes to expand it's power? Does a former drill instructor make a really bad therapist?

The money, while it is probably a prodigous amount, is not important to the State of Texas.  Texas thinks it's probably some amount YOU would think is inappropriate, considering the lack of prosecutorial success (vs Warren) elsewhere.

How do we know it's too much?

They'd tell you if it was cheap.  (Either that, or they don't know, which ought to bother you as well.  Strickland says he doesn't know.)

It doesn't matter to Texas, they got their desired photo op. Not Warren as depicted in the last post, but Warren in prison sweats and prison orange with what looks like a bit of a 50+ five o'clock shadow, in irons, flanked by fat pigs dressed in their best.

Oh.

You think I meant something pejorative?

Those guys aren't a bit porky looking to you?

Considering Mr. Jeffs is more or less a cardiologists ideal by comparison, Texas did need to "weight" (sorry, no, not really) the photo op in their favor.  I've been driving through Texas a lot recently and they are the most cliché bound bureaucracy I know of. "Don't Mess with Texas" one Government billboard preaches, and yet another declares; "the Eyes of Texas are upon You."

So when it comes to whether or not Texas will spend infinite amounts of Tax Payer $$$ to get a picture of Warren looking his worst with a three overweight cowboy wannabes flanking him like he was going to shoot his way out of the "joint," or be rescued by "King Willie, the Thug," gangster style, they spare no expense.

The San Angelo Standard-Times - "Jerry Strickland, spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, said they flew Jeffs into San Angelo from Utah at 9 p.m. Tuesday night and then drove him to Big Lake.

'Attorney General Abbott and his office his prosecutors have been handling the prosecution of cases related to the YFZ ranch,' Strickland said, as he walked into the courtroom Wednesday morning. '... Today 7 of 12 men have been convicted of sexually assaulting children. This case stems from that action.'

When asked about costs related to trying Jeffs in Texas, Strickland said he doesn’t have specific numbers, but that cost is not a factor.

'What I do know is, Attorney General Abbott is committed to protecting children in this state,' Strickland said. 'You cant’ put a price tag on protecting children and because of that, this case will be handled with prosecutors (from) the AG’s (attorney general’s) office.' "

The great difficulty is that they are not just spending your tax dollars (and with the "co-mingling" of Federal and State money that is Revenue Sharing, yes, it's yours too), they're spending your freedom as well.

Texas wanted to make this "statement" as you see above, and Texas wanted their picture. Now they've got it. In the process they ran roughshod over Warren's right to a "speedy trial" (it doesn't matter if he didn't want it before, he wants it now) and they got to treat him like a fugitive. No one in Texas wanted a Dapper Warren Jeffs showing up in wing tips and business suit, with stylish coiffure, fatherly appearance, etc, walking through the front door and surrendering to authorities, they wanted to fly him out and drag him around much like Achilles is supposed to have done with Hector after defeating him in battle.

Well, there you go Texas. And America? There went your money, though granted, it was mostly Texas dollars (except they won't account for it), and there went your freedom, with Warren. You have to decide: Does the prosecution of a man for crimes Texas probably can't prove warrant the setting aside of the rights your founding fathers insisted on having for each citizen PRIOR to signing our Constitution in favor of the rights of the State to extradite?

I think you know my answer. What's yours?

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Not Monday, but Friday for Jeffs

Next Friday, that is.

The State of Utah will a hearing Monday to appeal the unanimous ruling of the Utah Supreme Court, but there will be time to digest whatever ruling comes out of that hearing, file whatever motions must be filed and raise whatever objections there will be.

The Salt Lake Tribune - "Walter F. Bugden, one of Jeffs’ attorneys, said he will file a habeus corpus motion opposing the extradition until there is a resolution in the Utah case.

'It is not only a question of fairness but of constitutional proportion to shuttle him back and forth between states,' Bugden said. 'I think that the decision should be made and shouldn’t just be left pending until after he has a trial in Texas. I think it is fundamentally unfair to not finish what they started.' "

This gives Wally the maneuvering room to make whatever objections he will make is an indication his arguments have basic weight. This is provided of course, Utah's Supremes do not "reconsider" their decision. In addition, there is no "Constitutional Right" of Texas to dispose of "more serious charges" but there is a Constitutional right to a speedy trial. Offhand that would seem to trump any claim Texas has to Warren for the time being.

Of course Utah could always just drop the charges and clear the way for Texas to take Warren, and that is what I expect will happen if nothing changes Monday. The whole purpose of the hearing Monday is to re-instate Warren's conviction so that he has no right to a speedy trial, having already had a trial. Utah then hopes (as does Texas) to send Warren to Texas a Guilty man, not an innocent one. Once in Texas, Utah and Texas both don't care if the Utah Supremes reaffirm their decision because Warren will then be in Texas. They figure he can argue a speedy trial in Utah all he wants from Texas, while he is waiting for trial in Texas. Speed does not help Warren in Texas.

This is such a cynical move that even I was mildly surprised by it. Utah has no hope at all of retrying Warren and gaining a conviction, but the political pressure on the Utah Supreme Court is now immense. They've already whined how their clear, correct and unanimous decision forces hardship on the "victim" of a nonexistent crime. The pressure is now to "reconsider" their decision, even though everyone knows the only change in outcome would be whether the decision was unanimous or not. All the move on Utah's part does if successful, is to void Warren's request for a new trial.

Texas does not want an innocent Warren in their courts, which will raise the issue of whether he deserves bail or not. Texas wants the prejudicial effect of his conviction to still be in place when they do try Warren. Texas doesn't want to grant Warren bail. Texas is not in the slightest, interested in Justice.

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Utah Supreme Court gets it Right, and then WRONG

It is truly amazing that the decision was unanimous. The case must have been overwhelmingly wrong and clearly against the Laws of our land. Witness what the Utah Supreme Court had to say to Elissa Wall:

CNN - "We regret the effect our opinion today may have on the victim of the underlying crime, to whom we do not wish to cause additional pain," the court said. "However, we must ensure that the laws are applied evenly and appropriately, in this case as in every case."

After getting it spectacularly right, under extreme pressure to do the expedient in the Political Arena, the Utah Supreme court gets it just as spectacularly WRONG.

Hey! DUMMIES in the ROBES. Until there is a guilty verdict, THERE IS NO CRIME in this case. The question is not "WHO raped Elissa Wall," we KNOW who raped her if she WAS raped. The question is, "Was she RAPED?"

With no one convicted the answer is NO. Don't apologize to the witch, she fabricated evidence.

The above report calls this "shocking." Shocking? Guys, the decision was UNANIMOUS. Are you telling me that not one of CNN's legal experts could have seen this coming? I DID.

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Conviction Reversed for Warren, he gets new trial DECISION UNANIMOUS

He's no longer guilty of ANYTHING.

The rumor mill told me this about an hour ago. Now it's official:

ABC4 - "Because we hold that the trial court’s instructions to the jury regarding lack of consent were in error, we reverse Jeffs’ two convictions of rape as an accomplice and remand for a new trial."

The Utah Supreme Court Decision, was UNANIMOUS.

The Salt Lake Tribune - In its unanimous decision, the court said 5th District Judge James Shumate erred when he rejected an instruction requiring the jury to find Jeffs knew unwanted sex would take place and intended for a rape to occur."

It wasn't even close. Read the Ruling at CNN.

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Ben Winslow Reports on Warren's appeal

 

At Fox 13 in Utah.

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Warren's "Creative" Rape Conviction to go before Utah's Supreme Court

We're one court reversal away from this house of cards beginning to fall apart.

The Deseret News - "The hearing will be Nov. 4 at the J. Reuben Clark School of Law on the BYU campus. The Supreme Court routinely visits BYU and the University of Utah so students can see how the high court operates, but the business that is conducted during these visits is not the mock-trial variety, but genuine appeals."

Hat tip to "Sore Toes and a Bleeding Heart."

Allen Steed is claiming a statute of limitations issue, and has yet to be tried on top of that. Warren is appealing his conviction, and Barbara Walther continues to foot drag on the evidence ruling in Texas. It will be 30 days this weekend since the state and the defense were "all in" on the issue with the judge.

Could it be there is some "persecution" angle that is real in these cases and eventually the smell will become to large? I have always believed the constitutional basis for the evidence collected at YFZ and the conviction of Warren Jeffs to be creative, to put it politely. The higher these decisions go, the more likely some judge or group of judges will be to reverse them altogether.

Remember, the history of this string of persecutions is not good for the persecutors. "Toes" worries about the venue. I worry only about the time frame it takes to reverse this nonsense.

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