Thursday, December 06, 2007

Update on the arrested teacher

Here's an update on the story that baffled me yesterday.

Washington County District Attorney Todd Martens said the comment left by James Buss was offensive and disgusting, but was protected speech under the state and U.S. constitutions...

Martens said he could not charge Buss with a crime because the blog was not likely to incite "imminent lawless action." He said it was unclear whether the comment advocated violence against teachers, and even if it did, its language was not likely to incite others to act...

Police had asked the district attorney to charge Buss with disorderly conduct and unlawful use of computerized communications systems. But bloggers and free speech advocates had called on him to drop the case.


Which gets back to the question of, was this a lawful arrest? I'm surprised the police would arrest someone in their home, who is not an imminent threat to anyone (a point now confirmed by the DA), in a case where it is likely that "probable cause" never existed in the first place. At a minimum, the A/O would have been wise to seek an arrest warrant just for CYA. I wouldn't be surprised to see the West Bend PD getting sued.

2 comments:

SheaHeyKid said...

This is the type of story where legally charges can't (and shouldn't) be brought against him, but you hope someone takes it into their hands to beat his ass. Stating an opinion that any particular group is overpaid and lazy is one thing, but to take it so far as to praise a killer and extol him as a hero is disgusting, and there should be consequences..

You are right though, it is odd that they arrested him, and it could result in a lawsuit. The only defensible position would be if they thought his language rose to the level of indicating a clear and imminent threat, which apparently they did not.

Fredo said...

Well, the police might have interepreted it as an immediate threat, while the prosecutor did not.

Keep in mind that the guy was the former head of the teacher's union, who was sick of listening to the people carping about teacher's pay that he saracastically offered his reply of "Klebold knew how to take care of those lazy teachers- one bullet at a time" - or some such nonsense.

I'm with you, the guy's a moron who deserves to get b-slapped. But that's always the problem with overreaction, you end up generating sympathy for the idiot.

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Always sniffing for the truth

Always sniffing for the truth

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