Posted on 12/27/2004 4:01:52 PM PST by pabianice
One day in 1994, Doug Burns was leaving an appointment at Mass General Hospital when he was set upon by a thug standing over 6 feet tall and weighing more than 300 pounds.
The criminal first battered Burns and when Burns protested the assault the thug threw a weapon at Burns and then charged Burns.
Burns then drew his licensed handgun and shouted at the attacker to stop and then yelled at everyone nearby to call 911. Many calls were then received by 911, telling of the attack and how the victim was holding the criminal at gunpoint.
When the Mass State Police arrived, they arrested Doug Burns after taking the attacker into custody. Handcuffed and stuffed into a cruiser, Doug was never read his Miranda rights and never allowed to make a phone call. The police told Doug that in Massachusetts, no one has the right to use a gun in self defense unless they are police officers.
At a pre-trial hearing, not a single independent witness supported police charges against Doug. The 911 calls were never entered into the trial record. Not a single independent witness was called to testify.
Nonetheless, the jury voted not guilty on all charges except for one juror who stated that no one had the right to possess a gun. The judge refused to disqualify her and seat an alternate juror.
At the second trial, still with no independent witnesses allowed, Doug was found guilty of assault and battery, fined $19 and given 20 minutes probation. Because of the conviction, his LTC was revoked.
The 300 pound thug went on with his life unscathed. It turns out the guy is a Suffolk County (Boston) Deputy Sheriff who had been out for three years on a disability pension after being involved in a fight in prison.
In 2003 (nine years later), the Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled in Bruce Callender v. Suffolk County, 01-P-0983, that thug Callender had lied in his disability application and reversed Callender’s disability pension, ruling that Callender had lied about his injuries. The perjured disability was three years before Callender lied about his assault upon Burns. Yet, during Burns’ trial, Callender was “assisted” into the courtroom by State Police, spoke in a “shakey” voice, and gave the appearance of an elderly, crippled man. The Boston Herald printed a picture of Callender shaking the hand of Johnnie Cochran in 1996, in which Callender looks hale and hearty.
So, the morale of the story is that if you hold at bay with a handgun a perjured Massachusetts deputy sheriff who is trying to kill you, then you, not he, will be prosecuted.
Welcome to the Massachusetts “justice” system, where only some people have the right to defend themselves with a gun, and only some people have the right to be read their Miranda rights, and where not everyone gets to make a phone call after they’re arrested.
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Unbelievable.
He should have just shot him.
Believe it. This is what our "liberal, peaceloving, party of the people" have in store for us.
Sweet Goodnes. What have we become?
I used to agree with Shakespeare, that first we should kill all the lawyers, but I've come to realize that first, we should kill all the judges (and most of the juries.)
Well of course I would never suggest this but to allow, for a moment the idle thought, wouldn't it be interesting if someone attacked the Judge who did this (preferably someone who was dying of aids or cancer or something, so that there were no longterm ramifications) and see if the Judge retaliated with a weapon...as the old saying goes, "Where you stand depends on where you sit." Also, the MA law has to be unconstitutional - no state may legislate that a person cannot defend himself when in peril of his life....
A phone call is mandated, but only required when the arrestee has submitted voluntarily to the booking process. If the arrestee refuses to answer questions like name, address, etc, or refuses to submit to fingerprinting of photographing, the call can be legitimately withheld. I suspect the gentleman refused to be booked.
So, who was the guy's lawyer, Lionel Hutz?
If that's the case, then "It's Time".
Sounds like BS to me. Clearly not correct. This piece is strange, and incomplete.
No! the moral of the story is:"If you have an 300 pound brute who beats you up, shoot his A$$, in self defense!"
its crap likethis that isthereason that mass is the only state in america that reported a population drop in the last census
Yes...this article is, undoubtedly, crap.
its been time in dumMassachusetts since the 70s
"this article is, undoubtedly, crap."
Yes, it certainly is only giving one side of what happened.
The problem is not with lawyers or judges, per se, it is with the legal system. We no longer have a system based upon the pursuit of justice, but a legal system burried in prescedent. When we have a system in which all relevant information, regardless of how it is discovered, is not available to the jurors we do not have justice.
Meanwhile, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts continues its jihad against peaceful gun owners.
Doug Burns, a professional calligrapher, has had his life turned upside down after using his handgun to save himself from an assault by a man literally twice his size. Burns was licensed to carry a concealed handgun in Massachusetts.
The assailant has led a charmed life with no convictions following a long list of earlier arrests for violent crimes. It turns out that the assailant is well connected in local and state police circles.
The 911 tapes that at one point existed have disappeared. They contained the record of the half-dozen calls made by eyewitnesses reporting that Burns was holding off an assailant on the streets of Boston. Witnesses that came up to the cops just after the incident were told to go away, and their information was not put in the situation report.
A series of incompetent attorneys could not prevent Burns from being acquitted of assault and battery, but there was a mistrial on the charge of assault with a deadly weapon.
A subsequent trial was conducted before a judge who said, "No one should have a gun. I think they should all be melted down." Not surprisingly, Burns was convicted.
The result of all this: Burns is now a convicted felon and has lost many business opportunities as a result. He is working with a private investigator to dig up the information covered up by the police before his trial.
2nd Amendment Injustice - Part 1
It was winter 1994 in Boston, and large snowdrifts were everywhere. On February 18, Doug Burnes was returning from checking on test results from a routine physical. Doug is 5'6 and weighs less than 140 pounds.
A large group of pedestrians came out of the nearby T station. Because snowbanks made the sidewalks narrow, Doug turned sideward to let them pass. A large man, estimated to be 6'3 and 300 pounds, crashed into Doug and snarled something as he did so (he later testified it was "get the f___ out of my way"). Doug said calmly, "There's no call for that" and kept walking towards the T station.
Seconds later Doug heard an approaching pedestrian say "look out" or "watch out" and turned to see this large man (we'll call him Bruce) running after him. Bruce was less than 20 feet away running at Doug with large steps. Doug could not flee this huge man who was chasing him on the icy sidewalk. Doug turned and stated, "Halt where you are, I am a licensed firearms owner." He repeated it again, as Bruce kept on coming. When Bruce was just a few feet away, Doug pulled his firearm, for which he was licensed.
Doug then began calling out to passersby and made it very clear to all that he was a licensed gun owner who had been assaulted and asked for the police to be called. Police later reported receiving four to six calls from people stating that a licensed gun owner had been assaulted, would the police please come, etc.
Unfortunately for Doug, Bruce was a Deputy Sheriff. Perhaps that's why funny things began to happen. The state police, not the Boston police showed up. One of the state police immediately snarled at Doug, "Who did you think you were, a police officer?" The helpful folks who had run off to call 911 came back to see if Doug was all right, and were told--in no uncertain terms--to leave.
Doug and Bruce were both placed under arrest. However, Doug was the one interrogated, fingerprinted and photographed. One state cop then told Doug, "What you did was wrong. It is illegal in the state of Massachusetts to protect yourself from assault unless you are a police officer. Now take your clothes off (except for your pants)." The police took off Doug's glasses, and put him in a filthy cell. A bail bondsman was called, and agreed to post bail for Doug, even though he only had $19.00 on him. The bondsman asked Doug to sign the papers, but Doug said he could not read them to sign them, and refused. The state police tried convincing him the glasses were broken, and then threw him his unbroken glasses. Doug was never read his Miranda rights with regard to this arrest.
Doug has not only been treated shamefully by the state police, he also received shoddy treatment from lawyers.
To Be continued because, believe it or not, this saga of abuse continues until today-seven years later. In Doug' words, "Stay tuned for the Hardy Boys Series."
And the $19. The first said he was fined $19, the last said he had $19 on him at the time of the arrest.
Bottom line, I have no idea what happened and one should not jump to conclusions based on these "stories".
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