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Charges won't be dropped against 18-year-old Troy teen arrested for carrying gun in Birmingham
clickondetroit.com ^ | 20 June, 2012 | Mara MacDonald

Posted on 06/21/2012 4:49:05 AM PDT by marktwain

BIRMINGHAM, Mich. -

18-year-old Troy teen Sean Combs An 18-year-old Troy teenager is heading to court as a poster boy for the fight over open carry gun rights in Michigan.

Sean Combs, 18, of Troy, was arrested back in April after he was spotted with a loaded 1942 M-1 Garand military rifle slung across his back in downtown Birmingham.

The legal question at this time is if what Combs did was allowed, because Michigan is an open carry state, or was he, as the police say, brandishing a firearm.

Tonight, it will be up to a jury. A judge says he is not dismissing the case against Combs.

Birmingham Police say Combs wouldn’t identify himself when police asked him if he was old enough to be carrying the rifle.

Attorney Mary Kucharek claims Combs' arrest was proper because he had refused to present identification and argued loudly with police.

Kucharek says a crowd gathered to the point where one of the officers had to take steps to control the crowd, and then move them away from Combs.

Combs says he did provide identification to try and de-escalate the situation, but was arrested anyway. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

"You stand up for your rights period, regardless of what that right may be, you stand up for it" says Combs.

Combs will have a final jury pretrial on July 9th at 1:30 p.m. in front of Judge Barron in 48th District Court.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events; US: Michigan
KEYWORDS: banglist; combs; mi; opencarry; policestate; tyranny
The charges should have been dropped. The prosecutor's definition of "brandishing" is ludicrous.

I notice that none of the protestors who were carrying rifles over their backs were arrested.

1 posted on 06/21/2012 4:49:15 AM PDT by marktwain
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To: marktwain

Ironic that he was arrested by people ‘brandishing’ firearms in the same way he was.


2 posted on 06/21/2012 5:11:05 AM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: marktwain
Attorney Mary Kucharek claims Combs' arrest was proper because he had refused to present identification and argued loudly with police.

“[the] freedom of individuals verbally to oppose or challenge police action without thereby risking arrest is one of the principal characteristics by which we distinguish a free nation from a police state.”

- U.S. District Court Magistrate Craig M. Kellison, March 2011

Mary Kucharek is nothing but a Police State thug.

3 posted on 06/21/2012 5:14:59 AM PDT by kiryandil (turning Americans into felons, one obnoxious drunk at a time (Zero Tolerance!!!))
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To: marktwain
"BRANDISH": bran·dish/ˈbrandiSH/

Verb:

Wave or flourish (something, esp. a weapon) as a threat or in anger or excitement.

Synonyms:
wave - flourish - swing - shake - sway

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nothing there about "transport, safely slung across one's back"...

Any judge with a dictionary should throw that charge (and the prosecutor who brings it) right out of his/her court!

4 posted on 06/21/2012 6:13:28 AM PDT by TXnMA ("Allah": Satan's current alias...)
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To: Springman; cyclotic; netmilsmom; RatsDawg; PGalt; FreedomHammer; queenkathy; madison10; ...
Free at last, free at last, free at lat.

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5 posted on 06/21/2012 6:20:42 AM PDT by cripplecreek (What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?)
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To: kiryandil

In Michigan he doesn’t have to provide his ID to police. The “brandishing” charge was just an excuse to arrest him.


6 posted on 06/21/2012 6:31:27 AM PDT by cripplecreek (What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?)
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To: marktwain

“slung across his back “

That’s hardly “brandishing” a firearm.
Someone decided to try and push over a kid for snits and giggles.


7 posted on 06/21/2012 7:28:17 AM PDT by Darksheare (You will never defeat Bok Choy!)
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To: marktwain

I gather in law there are a bunch of legally distinct ways of having a gun, with variants as to whether it is loaded or unloaded, and various licensing requirements, if any.

Figure “in case, locked”, “in vehicle, locked, accessible to driver or passengers (in trunk or not)”, concealed, in holster, brandished (usually implying in hand or hands)(which can be subdivided into “brandishing in menacing fashion or not”, firing (with distinction as to the purpose of firing), fired and empty, and laid on ground within easy reach or not.

I think that covers most of them, but I would not be surprised if I missed one or more.


8 posted on 06/21/2012 8:01:59 AM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy
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To: cripplecreek
Perhaps we should all mail a copy of federal judge Craig M. Kellison's quote on what indicates a police state to Police State thuggette Mary Kucharek.

Anonymously, of course - because the Police State thuggette would undoubtedly try to use her Police State powers to harass impertinent critics.

9 posted on 06/21/2012 8:02:50 AM PDT by kiryandil (turning Americans into felons, one obnoxious drunk at a time (Zero Tolerance!!!))
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To: marktwain
Put Michigan on the list of states I will no longer visit.

No justice in Florida.

No justice in Michigan.

Where can an American get justice?

NOWHERE. The communists OWN US NOW.

10 posted on 06/21/2012 8:05:38 AM PDT by backwoods-engineer (I will vote against ANY presidential candidate who had non-citizen parents.)
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To: cripplecreek
Thuggette Mary Kucharek is guilty of conspiracy to deprive this young man of his civil rights, and is guilty of attempting to impoverish him by using the power of the state to force him to hire lawyers to defend himself against the conspiracy.

The face of the Police State:
thuggette Kucharek


11 posted on 06/21/2012 8:14:38 AM PDT by kiryandil (turning Americans into felons, one obnoxious drunk at a time (Zero Tolerance!!!))
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To: marktwain

In Florida if someone can see your gun that constitutes “brandishing.” Of course, Florida is not open carry.


12 posted on 06/21/2012 10:14:11 AM PDT by arthurus (Read Hazlitt's Economics In One Lesson)
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To: cripplecreek; marktwain; kiryandil; All

Thanks for the ping; post; quote; thread. Interesting.


13 posted on 06/22/2012 4:40:48 PM PDT by PGalt
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