Thousands of innocents languish in prison (or even Death Row) after having been victimized by a justice system deluded in its own hubris and scornful of applying the full measure of meaningful Due Process in pro se litigant cases.
Getting It Wrong: Convicting the Innocent
Clarence Thomas: Cruel but Not Unusual
In Washington State (according to the State’s Administrator to the Courts) of all felony cases filed in all its counties those that actually go to trial result in acquittals only 1/2 of 1% of the time. One might conclude either law enforcement officials are geniuses in ferreting out the guilty…or, we have a hanging jury pool prone to convict and intimidated into abandoning constitutionally justifiable jury nullification principles.
Mason County is rife with abuse cut from the same warp and weave. A series of articles will be presented here criticizing those responsible including (but not limited to) District Court Judge Victoria Meadows, and Detective Rhoades of the Mason County Sheriff’s office.
In the analysis, judges prone to cannibalizing the proceedings rather than allowing the litigants to try the case will be examined. Deputies and detectives falsifying police reports, lying to support personnel, and refusing to gather/document exculpatory evidence will be reported. Judicial arrogance/misconduct will be cited.
This effort takes a measure of courage much as the kind exemplified in the WHO’S GOING TO BELL THE CAT fable. After all, what attorney is going to publicly criticize a sitting judge given the certainty of retaliation? (See http://amicuscuria.com/wordpress/?p=1383) What judge is going to condemn abusive law enforcement officials knowing he/she must stand for reelection to remain on the bench? How many voters know anything about how our elected judges perform their duties when the local newspaper fails to report most of what occurs in the Superior and especially the District courtroom? What citizen is going to challenge the Sheriff’s suitability to hold office when that official maintains a TANK…reportedly (according to one deputy) to serve warrants!?…and where (according to recent deputy prosecutor Monty Cobb) the use of tasers by police isn’t even considered the use of force by our judges? The public, like hogs crowded into the chute at the slaughterhouse, has been assembled…and any pig objecting will be summarily brought to the head of the line.
Salient questions surrounding meaningful due process denied to pro se litigants, dominating hearings rather than allowing the litigants to try the case, allowing the mentally ill to testify without permitting that testimony to be challenged based on the incompetence of the witness, altering/tampering with official court records, attempts to influence outcomes after having been removed by affidavit, abuse of powers of contempt, etc. will be asked.
Local residents willing to come forward with similar/documented accounts of malfeasance/misfeasance are encouraged to contribute to this effort to hold those most powerful officials in charge accountable in order to promote the democratic process by informing the electorate.
Malfeasance- the accurate descriptor caught my attention. Has it ever been stated or lawfully affirmed as I see on a video transcript of a Mason County Superior Court hearing for a Status Conference wherein Judge Cobb dictates, “My court decisions trump municipal codes”?
While I don’t always agree w/Monty’s analysis (e.g. His take on Jafar v. Webb), I do believe he has a grip on this point. A Superior Court judge, until recently, had the power to sign death warrants, steal other people’s children under color of state law w/no jury, virtual unlimited discretion and NO accountability–something County commissioners and district court judges can’t do. All a Superior Court judge need do is find the County ordinance unconstitutional (a power a Superior Court judg has) in entering a conclusion of law, or enter into the record a finding of fact the defendant didn;t intend to violate the ordinance, (lacking the scienter element) and that judge can effectively moot the ordinance for the instant case or more generally. Monty doesn’t always get it right and sometimes leads w/his confirmation biases, but he’s experienced and capable. Might I ask what your credentials are? What is your basis in law, if you have one, to dispute judge Cobb’s analysis? Please provide citations.