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.
Looks like a good case for jury nullification to me.
Another daily example that so-called academics are often the most stupid and bureaucratic people you will meet
zero tolerance rules and laws create regulatory, bureaucrat and police zombies - no minds, no ability to reason, no ability to put anything in context, just mindlessly follow rules
What was the justification for searching his car? Uploading Youtube videos featuring home defense techniques, and video game reviews seems pretty thin, even if officials are claiming probable cause.
We charge people with everything we think they are guilty of.
Sounds okay until you realize common sense is tossed out the window. The real problem with prosecutors is they all think its a stepping stone politically. Win loss record.
I have to admit, I’ve been around for a pretty good while. As such, my memory isn’t as sharp as it once was. Does anyone recall exactly when this nation just went batsh#t, crazy?
Agreed, nullification, I don’t see how they can get a jury to go along with this crap.
Liberal Legalism - manufactured and biased legislation designed for a specific political purpose that perons others than the authors of said legislation are to follow to enhance the lifestyles of liberals. The authors are exempt from said laws by design.
No, they're the devil because they're likely applying the school's "zero tolerance" policy and prosecuting this kid to the hilt.
Zero Tolerance policies are nothing more than an excuse for those in charge to not THINK about the individual circumstances of a situation to then determine what action if any is warranted -- OR NOT warranted in this case.
I hope jury nullification is applied or some judge with common sense steps in, after which this kid sues the piss out of every dumb asshole who went after him. It'd serve them right.
There's been rumblings for a long time. I thought that a couple years into Clinton's first term there was a sea change in the vociferousness of the left and the corruption of the Executive Branch. GWB didn't undo that--it festered underneath him, and re-erupted worse than ever with Obama's election.
This is what the NWO police state looks like.
Iarocci is building his career.
The entire nation? That would be November 4th, 2008.
That's the concept. But I suspect that most jurists haven't heard of jury nullification, complements of institutionally indoctrinated judges.
For freepers and lurkers who don't know what jury nulification is, it is jury power to "repeal" the law(s) that the defendent is accused of breaking, giving the defendent a "not guilty." Such a repeal is applicable only to the case that they are hearing. Corrections welcome.
WOwsa. They kicked him out of school, they kicked him out of technical school, they held him for 13 days in jail, the Army kicked him out of his Future Soldiers programs, and he’s facing a felony charge?
This is stupid. He is right. This will ruin his life as he had it planned out.
This is a ridiculous charge.
When I was a little girl I believed that things got better as a person grew older. I thought that I could trust the authorities over me to be good and to work for the benefit of others. I know now that simply isn’t true, at least not for my generation. There really is no justice in the world these days. I suppose I have lived too long.
even if officials are claiming probable cause.
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.
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