Day: December 2, 2010

The “absurd result” of statutory constipation – USA Letten files Appeal on Judgment of Dismissal in USA v O’Dwyer

In principle…[a statutory]… interpretation which leads to “distinctions that are arbitrary and irrational” leading to a “strange result” which would shock “common sense” would be dismissed.

While the yet to be indicted corrupt of Jefferson Parish do lunch at Galatoire’s and Antoine’s, USA Letten has his site set on none other than Ashton O’Dwyer – and that, Slabbed readers, is the absurd result of the USA’s statutory constipation.

In the 31-page hyperbole known as the Appellant’s Brief, the our Government claims the district court erred in “holding the charged threat could not be a true threat ‘as a matter of law'”.

On June 24, 2010, the district court issued its written conclusion that the charged threat was “not a threat, conditional or otherwise, rather it was a cry for help seeking money to pay for…prescription medicine.” USCA5 1214. The district court reviewed the sequence of e-mails contained in the government’s Rule 404(b) motion and held that O’Dwyer “did not threaten bodily harm,” and that whereas ”  [p]hrases taken out of context could suggest a threat…reading the sentences as a whole, no threat as a matter of law was made.”

Also on June 24, 2010, the district court denied the government’s reconsideration motion and request for oral argument, USCA5 1219, and ordered that “[t]he indictment against the defendant is hereby dismissed with prejudice”…On July 23,2010, the government noticed its appeal.

Naturally, Ashton fought back, filing a cross-appeal – and that led to yet another absurd result, this one produced by the Fifth Circuit: Continue reading “The “absurd result” of statutory constipation – USA Letten files Appeal on Judgment of Dismissal in USA v O’Dwyer”

Jim Brown

Thursday, December 2nd, 2010
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

WHO DOES SARAH PALIN THINK SHE IS — BOBBY JINDAL?

Sarah Palin brought her indomitable road show to my hometown of Baton Rouge this week with the flair and the chutzpah of a larger than life personality, which she just might be. Security was tight at the local Books-A-Million, and the crowd of over 1000 was given strict instructions of what it could, and could not do. From the way her entourage carried on, on you would have thought she was trying to be like Louisiana’s own, Governor Bobby Jindal.

Jindal, for the benefit of you readers outside Louisiana, has set a standard for inaccessibility that is unmatched in Louisiana history. As is the case in most states, Governors in general are openly available public officials. A few, like the Governor of South Dakota, even answer their own home phones. Stories are legendary in Louisiana of average citizens just showing up at the Governor’s office, or even the Governor’s mansion, asking for help, or even just to pay a visit. Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour receives accolades from locals in his home state for being easily available to the press and the general public. Jindal has taken the opposite approach.

When the Louisiana Governor is making a speech, even in the far reaches of the state, the Baton Rouge press corps complains that they are often given only a few hours notice, if any notice at all. The national press gains easy accessibility to Jindal where the locals, at best, get a self-serving quote from a staff member – an approach similar to the one taken by Palin back home in Alaska.

I live just a short walk from Books-A-Million, so I decided to mosey on over to check out the Sarah phenomena. I read Palin’s first book, Going Rogue, which came out last year. Yes, it was an easy read, but you know what? I learned a lot. Continue reading “Jim Brown”