Comments on: Motorhome Diaries Jones County update: motions to dismiss filed

By: Motions to Dismiss Filed (via the N Miss Commentor) | Talley

Motions to Dismiss Filed (via the N Miss Commentor) | Talley — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 08:47:51 +0000

[...] NMissCommentor.com just broke the news of lawyers filing a motion to dismiss our charges on appeal: Since last May, I’ve been writing about arrests in Jones County, Mississippi of several travelers who write on the site MotorHomeDiaries.Com. They were stopped while passing through. They were arrested under a typically wrongheaded and vague use of the disorderly conduct statute, charged with failure to follow the lawful order of a law enforcement officer. They were convicted in justice court and then appealed to County Court, where they will get a de novo appeal (for non-lawyers– an appeal where the appeal court starts from scratch, a complete do-over, rather than just reviews what previously happened). [...]

By: Stinky

Stinky — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:09:53 +0000

I have a feeling the Jones County prosecutors won’t let this one go. They are way too frightened that they will get sued big time by these guys. They will file additional charges, the cops will lie like crazy in the hearing, and these guys will be lucky to get off with less then 5 years in the slammer. The cops will testify that all three guys assaulted the cops (felony), robbed a grocery store, beat a gay black man to death, sold acid to and then raped a 6 year old girl, smoked crack, practiced witchcraft, drank blood, etc etc etc…

By: Fleetwood RV

Fleetwood RV — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 07:50:44 +0000

This situation is repeated countless times each day I am sure. Most people just comply and do what they are ordered to by the police. So when a small minority actually decides to make use of their Constitutional rights – they get hammered down. Any response that is not total submission is usually handled with violence and charges are written up as “Resisting Arrest”

By: Claudia I. Sims

Claudia I. Sims — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:35:47 +0000

I’m experiencing trouble seeing your site clearly through the newest release of Opera. It is fine in IE and Firefox though.

By: Commentor

Commentor — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:30:16 +0000

T. Gentry, you nailed it re: expectation of privacy. Cops doing their jobs in public have none.

By: J Qpublic

J Qpublic — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:15:38 +0000

Recommended reading is Zeitoun by Dave Eggers.

Post Katrina legal chaos of this type. Arrest without charges, imprisonment without representation or process, confiscation of money in possession of those arrested.

The fact that these acts were not an accident.

By: T. Gentry

T. Gentry — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 02:11:53 +0000

I am certainly not condoning what happened in Jones County. I think the World would be a better place if every citizen had a digital camera, an internet connection and a YouTube account. It scares the hell out of me to see the MHP running up and down the roads armed with M-16s and in some cases the H&K MP-5s.

But on the issue of the legality of audio recordings, it was explained to me this way:

” Expectation of privacy, is the compeling argument before a court.

“For example: SCOTUS has ruled if someone “steals” your garbage out by the curb, not illegal for them to have done so inasmuch as you have no expectation of privacy as to the contents therein. Another example: You’re having a conversation in a public place; if someone uses a shotgun mic to record that conversation, perfectly legal. At least, that’s the way it was.”

Maybe the courts have ruled that the “conversation” between an arresting police officer and a suspect is a police matter? Do Jones County police officers routinely record arrests?

By: John Pittman Hey

John Pittman Hey — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 21:53:31 +0000

To T. Gentry,

There were persons in the “conversation” that consented to the recording. The gentleman’s colleagues certainly wanted the incident taped, as it proved they were committing no crime and that the arrest was improper.

Also, that restriction would not apply to public speech in a public place. Scalia had his hand slapped in that incident, and the rules that he had always imposed on his public addresses were changed.

Think about it: if your point were relevant, EVERY act of a journalist in recording what happened in public would be subject to Federal criminal process. As we all know, that cannot be correct.

John Pittman Hey
The Taxpayers Channel

By: Prosticutor

Prosticutor — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 16:51:55 +0000

Ah, yes. Cash register justice. Those Shipley donuts don’t just magically appear over in the Sheriff’s Dept.

By: T. Gentry

T. Gentry — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:58:30 +0000

Isn’t it illegal under the Federal 1968 Omnibus Crime Bill to audiotape a conversation unless at least one of the participants consents?

If the videocamera/audio operator was filming the arrest and was not a part of the arresting process, I can see why the police responded down in Jones County.

A few years ago, Justice Scalia was speaking to the Presbyterian High School students in Hattiesburg. A student newspaper reporter was taking down notes as Justice Scalia’s spoke, when “security” came and confiscated her notes.

As I recall, Scalia stopped his speech and ordered the confiscation by security. He later apologized.

I don’t recall the high school reporter taping the speech, just transcribing his comments by hand as he spoke.