3-13-25

As an Attorney I understand the law…..I get the legal concepts of precedent,

burden of proof, burden shifting…..I respect that there are rules of evidence and

rules of procedure…..and I appreciate decorum and formality……there is a way to

do things and there should be……the enforcement of laws and application of

justice should always have some measure of special and set-apart treatment……I

know all of the judges in my area personally but I never call them by their first

names……it is always “Judge” or “Your Honor”…….and I appreciate the fact that

the law has its nuances, which sometimes require judicial discretion and even

interpretation……anytime you have a new or novel situation the legal world refers

to that as a case of first impression….one that may require new legal and even

mental wrangling……and when that happens it means that a Judge must study,

and reflect, and opine, but always within the confines of the law……what is the

case precedent, what are the applicable statutes, what measure of scrutiny is

required, and most importantly: how does the issue before the bench stand in the

face of Constitutional provisions…….

Having said all of that let me go full on cowboy on you……you all know that I use

movies sometimes to help illustrate my points and there are several that are my

go-to favorites……and yes, there’s a few movies that are my bona fide Achilles

heel…….if I’m flipping channels and one of them is on it is almost a matter of

compulsion that I have to stop on that channel and watch a few minutes….which

usually winds up stretching into something longer…..to name a few of them: “The

Book of Eli”, “Open Range”, “Gladiator”, the newest version of “The Magnificent

7”, “The Outlaw Josey Wales”, “Jeremiah Johnson”……whoo…….that’s some good

testosterone laden cinematic genius right there……and if Charlene is in the room

there will be a couple of minutes of pause at which point she will finally say, “I

don’t recall agreeing that we were going to watch this”……..can you men

relate?.....but there’s one movie that I’ve told you before that she and I both tend

to agree on, ……. it’s a modern day epic…..filled with great acting, good scripts,

and a constant string of one-liners…..and that movie would be

“Tombstone”…..anybody who says that they don’t like Tombstone, well, I’m

questioning their patriotism! ….and any man who says that they don’t like

Tombstone, well, I’m questioning their manhood!......not really….well, yes,

really!.....

There are several great scenes in Tombstone….all are movie history….but the one

that I want to focus on today is the scene in which one of the main bad guys, a

member of the Cowboys gang named Curly Bill, comes out of the opium den and

murders the town Marshall whose name was Fred……Wyatt heard the shots and

rushed out and pistol-whipped Curly Bill……but the town loved old Fred the

Marshall and an angry crowd began to gather immediately…..Wyatt knew that

Curly Bill was guilty but when the crowd got antsy and one man yelled, “get a

rope!”, Wyatt’s response was “nobody’s hangin’ anybody! He’ll stand trial for

what he’s done!”……was he taking the side of the criminal?.....but then members

of Curly Bill’s gang showed up and demanded that Wyatt let him go…..one of

those was Ike Clanton, who tried to bluster his way into making Wyatt Earp let

loose of the bad guy….and suddenly Ike found himself staring down the business

end of a Colt Peacemaker, with Wyatt saying, “Your boys might get me in a rush

but not before I make your head into a canoe”……so was Wyatt taking the side of

the people at that point…..in the whole 3 minute segment whose side was Wyatt

Earp even on…..he stopped the bad guy, he saved the bad guy, he denied the

townsfolk their vengeance, and he denied Ike Clanton his attempt to subvert the

legal system…….In reality, what that entire scene portrays was that Wyatt Earp’s

position was to take the side of justice…..actual Justice…..not one side or the

other, but the law, the enforcement and application of the law, and the outcome

supplied by the law through the application of actual, non-biased, on the books,

keep the peace, Justice……

And that sense of actual justice is what liberal DA’s and activist judges seem to

have forgotten……when a liberal DA like those so often in the news right now say

that they will not pursue the actual application of law and enforce and prosecute

crimes they often do so under the guise of “helping the disenfranchised”….but

that’s not their job….their job is the application of justice……Justice and

vengeance are not the same thing. Vengeance is the enacting of punishment

against someone for a perceived wrong because there is a grievance…..but justice

is bigger than that……justice is matter-of-fact. Justice is even tempered. Justice is

based in both law and fact……Justice is required, it is a duty to enforce and pursue

what is legally and naturally right…..vengeance is against the wrongdoer and

often a matter of passion…..but justice is the even-keeled protection of rights and

the stability that comes from law and order, regardless of whether they are

enacted on the part of the accused or the accuser, the perpetrator or the

victim……Justice protects the weak, defends the right way of doing things,

establishes order in our communities, maintains civility, and upholds proper

authority…….because justice cares for the aggrieved but makes sure that passion

and compassion both remain tempered and manageable…..justice is supposed to

seek what is best for all…..in a sense, Justice sets the tone for peace, real peace…..

So think back to that scene from Tombstone……what if Wyatt Earp had just joined

in with the crowd and said, “yeah! Get a rope!”…..his character was angry, his

character liked old Marshall Fred…..but would you have felt as good about his

character then?......or what if Wyatt had just holstered his pistol and stepped

aside when the Cowboys demanded he release Curly Bill…..it was a bad spot and

they were the bullies everyone feared, so Wyatt Earp could’ve acquiesced and

just let it be…..but how would you have felt about his character then…..the

character built in the movie for Wyatt Earp was that he was a man of infinite

courage and unmitigated cool under pressure, but that he was also a man who

did not let his emotions get the best of him……a man like that is what we need

more of in our society……and men and women who prosecute the law….and men

and women who take the bench to oversee the application of the law……for them

to do their jobs appropriately they have to have those characteristics…..

Right now, in venues all over this nation we are seeing an epidemic of

injustice…..the uneven application of the law…..agenda driven DA’s, many of

whom have been backed by George Soros are making a mockery of actual justice

in places like Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York, just to

name a few…… pursuing a soft on crime policy that has eliminated the pursuit of

real sentencing for violent and gang-related crime….those cities and others like

them are not seeing justice…..they are not living in law and order…..and as a

result it is hard for them to know peace…..

But we are seeing the same on the bench as Judges preside over the proceedings

in which facts and evidence are presented……and while I fully understand that any

Judge is a person first, with personal thoughts and personal desires, they are all

the same not allowed to bring personal agendas into the even and equal

distribution of the law……I’ve stood before some good judges and some bad

judges……I’ve won most things I’ve been to Court on but I’ve also had some that I

didn’t……but only once in a while have I felt that the Judge was predisposed, or

had some agenda, and that my client was not well served to be in the same

Judges courtroom……

The application of law is a sacred thing…..we are a nation of laws which sets us

apart from much of world history……we are not to allow whims, prejudices,

agendas, or predispositions to enter into the prosecution of our citizens, nor to

take the bench…..but in our polarized society we are seeing that very objectivity

too often go out the window and activists not only acting, but seeking, the ability

to strip the blindfold off of lady justice……

In a nation of laws there is no room for courtroom activists……lawyers come and

go, but prosecutors and Judges have a much higher burden of responsibility……we

need more constitutionally grounded, fair-minded, objective and dispassionate

men and women in those positions of such esteem and import…..

We need some modern day Wyatt Earp’s to step up…..

And that’s a wrap for the Rightside Way