Posted on 03/22/2014 1:11:25 PM PDT by markomalley
Eighteen year-old Jordan Wiser is training to be a firefighter. He’s a certified emergency vehicle operator who works as a first responder when he’s not attending high school. And, after just spending 13 days in jail, he’s now facing felony charges for weapons possession.
The weapon? A pocketknife. It was in his EMT vest, and he uses it to cut through seatbelts when he’s practicing saving lives.
How did this happen? According to The Huffington Post, administrators at Ashtabula County Technical and Career Campus in Jefferson, Ohio, where Wiser is enrolled, approached the student after someone informed them about videos Wiser had uploaded to YouTube. The videos include reviews of video games and merchandise, demonstrations on home-defense tactics, and an interview with a local police officer. Officials searched Wiser’s car in the school parking lot and found an assortment of items, including a pocketknife, a stun gun, and two Airsoft pellet guns. Wiser said the Airsoft guns were in his trunk because he planned to participate in the sport after school. The stun gun was locked in his glove compartment for self-defense. The pocketknife was inside his EMT medical vest.
For the possession of the pocketknife alone, police arrested and jailed Wiser for 13 days for conveying a weapon onto school grounds—a felony under Ohio law.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time Heritage has written about teenagers victimized by weapons ordinances. Last year, Cobb County, Georgia police arrested and charged 17-year-old Cody Chitwood with a felony for bringing weapons into a school zone. The weapons were fishing knives, and they were in his truck, in a tackle box.
At first glance, such weapons ordinances sound sensible. But the criminal law contains the harshest punishments the state metes out, and it should be applied in a proportionate manner. Simply put, it’s absurd to ruin a kid’s life over a pocketknife that he uses to save lives.
Jordan has already been expelled from high school and technical school. The Army terminated his participation in its Future Soldiers program, pending a not guilty verdict or the charges being dropped without prejudice. Wiser realizes he’s in dire straits: “I’m 18 years old, and this is going to ruin my entire life.”
You’d think that Wiser has already endured enough. But there’s no sign that the state will drop the charges—quite the contrary, in fact. “We charge [people] with everything that we feel they are guilty of, and in this case, he is guilty of a felony,” said Ashtabula County assistant prosecutor Harold Specht in an unapologetic statement. He added, “I know that there’s a load of people out here that just think we’re the devil because we’re allegedly ruining this young kid’s life, and that’s not the case at all.”
Perhaps additional facts will come to light. But, as it stands, this incident looks like a shameful exercise of prosecutorial discretion—something of which residents of Ashtabula County should take note come November, when the county’s prosecutor, Nicholas Iarocci, is up for re-election. Unless Iarocci’s office is saving some damning revelation for Wiser’s trial, the charges against this young man are unjustified, and should be dropped before they cause him any more suffering.
The absolutely despicable prosecutor of this case intends to “seek re-election”-—RE-ELECTION to an office to which he was never actually elected.
“JEFFERSON — Ashtabula County Prosecutor Nicholas Iarocci has formally declared his intention to seek re-election in November, according to the county Board of Elections....”
How he became the prosecutor:
http://www.starbeacon.com/local/x338555371/Nick-Iarocci-to-be-acting-Ashtabula-County-prosecutor
Case such as this one help repay the prosecutor’s debt to the “Democratic Central Committee”.
“That is not enough for an exigent search of his car. If they did not have a warrant, they have no grounds to search his car.”
The rules are different for vehicles parked on school property, and some schools go a step further and collect consent to search when issuing parking passes.
Further, the Supreme Court has ruled that while teens on school property do have reasonable expectations of privacy, the court believes such privacy should be balanced against a school’s interest in providing a “suitable environment for learning” Relevant case: New Jersey v. T.L.O (1985)
In other words, PC and search and seizure work a bit differently with schoolkids on school property. Don’t expect the courts to honor the same rights in children on school property that they honor in adults in public. Not saying it’s right, just saying there’s a hole there you can step in.
I wonder if he knows who it was who set him up?
A felony for having your rescue knife in your car. Just effing wonderful.
So what bug does the prosecutor have up his butt? No reasonable public safety or taxpayer interest is served by that kind of persecution.
Sounds to me like the kid was destined to be a taxpayer, and was aiming for a productive career in military and community service. Now, what’s he going to do if the prosecutor gets his way?
Jury nullification doesn’t change the law.
It simply means the jury decides to ignore it as inapplicable for the particular case.
It should be noted that jury nullification can be used to reach evil/bad decisions as well as good ones.
Kids brought jack knives to school every day in elementary school. We sometimes played mumbely peg at recess.
I continue to say that all these frivolous charges containing felony status are about taking away voting rights. Strip all Second Amendment supporters of their voting rights and you have a permanent liberal/progressive voting majority who can do just about anything they please. These laws are the worst form of discrimination and I can foresee they will lead to unintended consequences.
And there is arguably a great chasm between “environment suitable for learning” and such paper peccadilloes as this.
If someone brought things intended to be used as weapons in a brawl that’s another story, but that means one actually has to be prepared to make a case in court and that’s too HARD. Instead, criminalize every incidental even though 99% of it will never lead to mischief. Good Job, America!
Like OJ? "If the glove don't fit, you must acquit."
Illegal search?
That’s a good example.
Few discuss it in terms of jury nullification, but that’s exactly what it was.
No, more like: this law is stupid so we are going to acquit.
The prosecutor isn’t a devil. Just an a******.
If you need immediate assistance, please do not hesitate to call the Prosecutor’s Office at 440-576-3662.
If that don't do it, then, well...the County Prosecutor shows 3 addresses for homes in the area on the web...home phone, too.
INSANITY!
Justice can never be absolute. Without the quality of mercy there is no justice.
We’re talking about destroying a young man’s life for making a human mistake - a human mistake shouldn’t be a crime in the first place.
Every one has taken complete leave of their senses. Zero tolerance policies don’t so much punish bad people as they victimize innocent people because they take no account of a person’s character, the gravity of the offense and whether it harms others and society. Every case should be judged on its merits.
That’s not what’s happening here.
I have never let a judge intimidate me, but I didn't know the Constitutional powers, rights and duties of a juror, until I became an informed juror at age 35.
No they don't.
How is it that a once great nation has turned over its rule making and enforcement to certifiable idiots?
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