John Coffin won't spend any more time in jail for beating up two sheriff's deputies inside his house, striking one in the head with a Taser gun he took from the other.
Circuit Judge Rick De Furia said at Coffin's trial Tuesday that he doesn't condone the violence against the deputies.
But Coffin, 56, had a right to defend his family and property because the deputies had no right to be in Coffin's house in the first place, De Furia said.
"Law enforcement was responsible for the chain of events here," De Furia said. "I think in situations like this, officers become so frustrated they go beyond what the law allows them to do."
The fight started when Coffin heard his wife screaming in pain, went into the garage and saw two deputies arresting her on the floor.
The deputies were trying to serve Coffin with civil papers that had been given five days earlier. They had entered the garage even though they did not have a search warrant or arrest warrant.
And they arrested Coffin's wife, Cynthia, 50, on obstruction charges even though she had no obligation to follow their orders to bring her husband outside.
"The most critical is the fact the officers broke the law by stopping the garage door from going down," and then entering the garage, De Furia said.
A jury was picked for the trial Monday. But the judge granted a motion by Coffin's attorneys, Derek Byrd and Brett McIntosh, and acquitted John Coffin on five of six felony charges Tuesday morning.
Coffin pleaded no contest to the remaining charge of taking a Taser gun from one of the deputies during the fight.
Before handing down the sentence, De Furia asked how long Coffin spent in jail after his initial arrest.
"You spent eight days in the Sarasota County jail," De Furia said. "That's your sentence. No probation."
Relatives applauded, and Coffin walked out of the courthouse with only a $358 bill for court costs. The sentence surprised even defense attorneys, who had suggested De Furia sentence Coffin to probation.
Prosecutors had asked for more than a year of prison time because of "the totality of the case" and the injuries to deputies James Lutz and Stacy Ferris, whose name is now Stacy Brandau.
The two deputies testified about their injuries Tuesday -- three blows to the head with the butt of the Taser gun knocked Lutz unconscious.
"I just ask that he doesn't get away with this," Brandau told the judge.
Assistant State Attorney Jeff Young told the judge the case "could have been over in five seconds" if the Coffins "had simply come out and cooperated."
"That is a man who took it upon himself to beat up two police officers," Young said.
De Furia said that while he believed the deputies' mistakes were not intentional, the Coffins had every right to lock doors, try to close their garage door and not cooperate.
"What took place in the house was unfortunate," De Furia said, "but Mr. Coffin ... had a right to resist."
#3
I was just tickled that this dude knocked the two cops for a ringer. I'm not in my 50's just yet, 4 years out, and yes not old and decrepit yet. I guess they learned a valuable lesson about messing with the old guy.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/17/2007 23:15 Comments ||
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Public outrage over the beheading of a St. Paul girl's therapy dog is resulting in a bigger reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case.
The Humane Society of the United States, which has received a flood of donations, is now offering a $10,000 reward instead of the $2,500 amount it announced earlier. "I've never heard of another case getting this much attention and people wanting to contribute money like this. I think it's because this was so horrendous and because the victim was a teenage girl," Jill Fritz, the Humane Society's state program coordinator, said Friday.
The dog, a 4-year-old Australian shepherd mix named Chevy, belonged to Crystal Brown and had been missing since around Valentine's Day. About two weeks ago, a box wrapped in Christmas paper addressed to the 17-year-old was left at the house where she lives with her grandmother. Inside, the horrified girl found her dog's head.
St. Paul Police spokesman Tom Walsh said Friday that police are still searching for a suspect in the case. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 651-266-5659.
Since the Humane Society announced the reward fund Wednesday and news about the case spread, the group has received pledges and donations from across the United States and Canada.
People who wish to donate to the "Justice for Chevy" fund can go to www.humanesociety.org.
#1
This is such a patterned display. You would think they would eventually catch this prick. Will be interesting to see what the Saint Paul Police find out.
A judge in the Palmerston North District Court has told a female witness she has "probably made history" after giving evidence topless.
Janet Robertshawe, 36, was yesterday called as a defence witness in the trial of an alternative health professional accused of indecently assaulting three female patients.
The man, whose name and specific occupation are suppressed, is accused of touching the breasts of two of the women and the breast and genitalia of the other during massage treatment.
Mrs Robertshawe, a solicitor from Invercargill, is a former patient of the accused. She volunteered to be a patient in a massage demonstration the accused performed in front of the jury box yesterday.
Mrs Robertshawe entered the courtroom in a white robe, was sworn in by the court crier, disrobed then lay face down on a massage table dressed only in her bra and underwear.
Before the demonstration began, Judge Les Atkins instructed the members of the jury it is not a reconstruction of the events relating to the charges, but an effort to show them what is involved in a typical treatment. A camera was position near the jury box to record the demonstration for evidential purposes.
The accused then began the treatment, undoing Mrs Robertshawe's bra early in the procedure.
She was moved onto her left side, facing the jury, as the accused continued the vigorous deep tissue massage treatment.
The movement exerted on Ms Robertshawe's body shook her bra free and a towel covering her frequently fell down, exposing her breasts to the court.
After about 10 minutes, the jury was asked to retire while the massage table was packed up. The accused was still massaging Mrs Robertshawe as the jury was led from the court.
Mrs Robertshawe, fully clothed, later gave evidence from the witness box. She said she was referred to the accused in 1998 for treatment on a back complaint, and has received more than 40 treatments from him since.
She told defence counsel Robert Lithgow the treatment had "excellent" long-term results.
Mrs Robertshawe described the accused as "very enthusiastic" and "innocent" but "there was no procedure".
"I think there are some ways that he practices that are different to other practitioners that could perhaps put him in danger of the type of allegations that have been made against him."
Mr Lithgow put to her that someone watching the courtroom demonstration may think there is "a degree of indignity in the whole thing".
"I guess (the accused's) treatments aren't for the faint hearted," Mrs Robertshawe said. "They're pretty full on."
She said the accused seems to treat the body "like a broken machine and is completely indifferent to the particular parts of it".
When Mrs Robertshawe finished giving evidence, Judge Atkins told her "you probably made history today as a barrister and solicitor of the court, so thank you".
"And we can promise you it won't appear on YouTube," Mr Lithgow quipped. The evidence will soon be appearing on YouTube.
#1
I don't think this is a historic first. I believe I read in William Manchester's The Glory and the Dream about a bitter divorce case where the (white) husband claimed that his wife had hid from him that she had Negro ancestry. She stripped down to the waist in court to prove he had to have known.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
03/17/2007 22:38 Comments ||
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Hypocrite. HT Instapundit
Al Gore Jr. received more than $500,000 in royalties from the owners of zinc mines who held mineral leases on his farm near Carthage, Tenn. Now the mines have a new owner and are scheduled to reopen later this year.
Before the mines closed in 2003, they emitted thousands of pounds of toxic substances and several times, the water discharged from the mines into nearby rivers had levels of toxins above what was legal.
State environmental officials say the mine has had a good environmental record and there is no evidence of unusual health problems in the area.
But the mine's reopening again raises concerns about threats to the environment.
Warning! A rapid decompression in lithospheric stress is being detected by the instrumentation situated in the region along the Pacific-North American Plate Boundary at the Cajon Pass (Southern California) near GeoSeismic Labs.
You shoulld be aware of this potentially dangerous interaction occurring between the Southern San Andreas Fault Zone, and the San Jacinto/ Cucamonga-Eastern Sierra Madre Fault Zones.
A recent M2.7 epicentered N of La Verne at 3:02:27 UTC (03/27) appears to have been related to the San Antonio Fault, which is a blind fault located in the San Gabriel Mountains between Wrightwood and La Verne, CA.
Such a rapid change in compressional stress is suspect for being a precursor for a larger magnitude seismic event within the same region. I consider the M2.7 to be a possible foreshock. You are now advised to stay on Seismic Alert in Southern California.
In the Inland Empire, especially along the nearby, and long overdue San Jacinto Fault Zone, you should be prepared for a moderate magnitude or larger earthquake during the next several days.
We are now approaching the New Moon's arrival a few days from now (March 19, 2007). This may be enough of an induced increase, or change in lithospheric stress to rupture a fault located to the Northeast of Los Angeles, CA associated with the Sierra Madre Fault System, or the San Jacinto Fault Zone.
The potential is increased for having another Northridge type seismic event at this time. In unison with this alert and warning period is a Blanket Seismic Advisory for the Gulf of California to Northern California, which may exhibit further stress changes related to this rapid de-compression at the Plate Boundary, where the unclamping incident level has nearly reached 32 Units as of yesterday.
A torrent of mud that has inundated villages on Indonesia's Java island shows no signs of abating despite efforts to plug it by dropping hundreds of concrete balls into its source, an official said on Tuesday.
The mud has displaced about 15,000 people following an oil-drilling accident in May in Sidoarjo, an industrial suburb near Surabaya city in the east of Java island, and destroyed toll roads, railways tracks and submerged factories.
In the latest move to brake the mudflow, scientists have dropped 296 clusters of concrete balls linked to steel cables into the mouth of the eruption.
But scientists involved in the effort said it was too early to say whether the work was a success.
'We are still evaluating. We are studying the volume of the flow, which has now increased from 125,000 cubic metres to 160,000 cubic metres a day,' said Rudi Novrianto, a spokesman for the government team tasked with dealing with what scientists dub the 'mud volcano'.
He said pebbles, sand and stones the size of tennis balls had now been found in the mud, in addition to clay.
But Satria Bijaksana, a member of a separate team of scientists who initiated the concrete ball experiment, said mud pressure had eased after the balls were dropped.
'We have noticed an increase in hydrogen sulphide, indicating that pressure is decreasing,' Bijaksana told Reuters.
He said fears of some other scientists that the balls would force the mud to erupt in other points due to built-up pressures had not materialised.
Under the plan, 375 clusters will be lowered into the main hole from where the mud has been gushing, with each chained cluster consisting of four 20-40 cm (8-16 in) diameter balls.
Bijaksana said the remaining 78 clusters of balls would be dropped in the next few days.
Anger has been mounting in the area over the hot mud, with displaced residents frequently holding street rallies demanding cash compensation instead of resettlement.
PT Lapindo Brantas, the operator of the well where the mud has erupted, had been told by the government to pay 3.8 trillion rupiah ($412.3 million) to victims and for efforts to plug the mud flow.
But a team set up by the government said the cost would reach around 7.6 trillion rupiah.
Lapindo and PT Energi Mega Persada Tbk, which indirectly controls it, dispute whether the mud flow was caused by the drilling and also whether Lapindo alone should shoulder the cost.
Energi is owned by the Bakrie Group, controlled by the family of Indonesia's chief social welfare minister, Aburizal Bakrie.
Lapindo holds a 50-percent stake in the Brantas block from where the mud is gushing. Energi International Tbk holds 32 percent and Australia-based Santos Ltd the remaining 18 percent.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
