People v. State

fairly undermining public confidence in the administration of justice
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Archive for the ‘Castle Doctrine’

“[T]here can be a fine line between reasonable resistance and battery, but that is for the jury to resolve.”

October 17, 2011 By: John Kindley Category: Castle Doctrine, Judges

Eric Rasmusen has an excellent point-by-point critique, which I also linked to in my last post, of the Indiana Supreme Court’s September 2011 opinion granting rehearing and “restat[ing] the essential holding” in Barnes v. State. The Court’s original opinion held that the common-law “right to reasonably resist an unlawful police entry into a home is no longer recognized under Indiana law.” The opinion granting rehearing, on the other hand, holds that the common-law right to reasonably resist unlawful entry into a home is not a defense to the crime of battery on a police officer. (Furthermore, it also appears to suggest that the Indiana statute authorizing “reasonable force . . . to prevent or terminate” the unlawful entry of a dwelling is not a defense to the crime of battery on a police officer, either, on the grounds that battery on a police officer to prevent or terminate the police officer’s unlawful entry of a dwelling is never “reasonable.”)

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“[W]ith any exercise of State power, not only the exercise of social power in the same direction, but the disposition to exercise it in that direction, tends to dwindle.”

October 16, 2011 By: John Kindley Category: Albert Jay Nock, Castle Doctrine, Judges

Mayor Gaynor astonished the whole of New York when he pointed out to a correspondent who had been complaining about the inefficiency of the police, that any citizen has the right to arrest a malefactor and bring him before a magistrate. “The law of England and of this country,” he wrote, “has been very careful to confer no more right in that respect upon policemen and constables than it confers on every citizen.” State exercise of that right through a police force had gone on so steadily that not only were citizens indisposed to exercise it, but probably not one in ten thousand knew he had it.” — Albert Jay Nock, Our Enemy, the State (1935)

Seattle crime-fighting “superhero” Phoenix Jones knows he has it, and more power to him.

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The Castle Doctrine

October 14, 2011 By: John Kindley Category: Castle Doctrine

An individual laying claim to exclusive possession of a tract of land is a proto-government, purporting, as governments do, to have jurisdiction over a particular territory. His home is indeed his castle. Government per se should be understood as nothing more than a confederacy (or confederacy of confederacies) of such proto-governments, instituted among them to secure their claims. How big should such a confederacy become, and how much wealth and power should be delegated to the confederacy itself by its proto-governments, recognizing that such power may very easily become a threat to the proto-governments themselves? Assuming the confederacy is intent on security rather than predation, the answer to this question would presumably be that the confederacy should be no bigger and no more powerful than is necessary to defend itself from external threats to its security. Notably, the smallest countries in the world, some of which have existed for centuries, seem to be doing just fine.

Gratuitous Violence

June 19, 2011 By: John Kindley Category: Castle Doctrine, Cops, Double Jeopardy, Jamison Koehler, Judges, Prosecutors, Rule of Lenity, Self-Defense, Tyrus Coleman

Jamison Koehler cites Ashe v. Swenson (1970) as currently his favorite U.S. Supreme Court case. In a comment on his post I wrote: “If you like Ashe, you might also like Yeager. Until recently these used to be my favorite U.S. Supreme Court cases too.”

What recently changed my mind about these cases is the Indiana Supreme Court’s decision in Tyrus Coleman v. State (2011), and the utter failure of these cases to do Mr. Coleman (whom I represented at trial) any good. Now when I read Yeager the only significant thing about the case seems to me to be the fact that the defendant, Mr. Yeager, was an Enron executive.

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My Opinion of the Indiana Supreme Court’s Opinion of Tyrus Coleman

May 20, 2011 By: John Kindley Category: Castle Doctrine, Freedom of Speech, Judges, Religion, Tyrus Coleman

I borrow the words of a commenter on a local story about the Indiana Supreme Court’s reversal of the Indiana Court of Appeals’ reversal of an innocent man’s attempted murder conviction and 45 year sentence, who writes:

First and foremost I know none of the individuals nor any of their family members involved in this. Having only followed coverage of this trial by this media. This is one of those traits of our court system that continues to perplex me. The Indiana Court of Appeals after careful consideration appeared to side with argument presented on behalf of Tyrus Coleman. The Indiana Supreme Court upon review of essentially the same evidence in turn rendered decision in total opposition to the lower court findings. Keep in mind, aside from the local trials these findings were not rendered by empaneled novice jurors. We as society are to then believe justice has truly been served in spite of the contradictions presented by our own court system.

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“The Lair of the Wolf is his refuge, and where he has made him his home, Not even the Head Wolf may enter, not even the Council may come.”

May 15, 2011 By: John Kindley Category: Castle Doctrine, Cops, Judges, Tyrus Coleman

As Patrick says:

[T]here is a rule older and superior to that of the Constitution.  Many Americans do not believe that to be the case.  There is a philosophical divide in America, with the Justices of the Indiana court, and their Constitution, on one side, and a different law on the other.

One American called it “the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God”.

One Englishman called it “the Law of the Jungle”. [Link added.]

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  • "[T]here is just nothing wrong with telling the American people the truth." - Allen v. United States

  • Lysander Spooner

    Henry George

    Harriet Tubman

    Sitting Bull

    Angelus Silesius

    Smedley Butler

    Rose Wilder Lane

    Albert Jay Nock

    Dora Marsden

    Leo Tolstoy

    Henry David Thoreau

    John Brown

    Karl Hess

    Levi Coffin

    Max Stirner

    Dorothy Day

    Ernst Jünger

    Thomas Paine