Posted on 12/20/2018 6:08:28 AM PST by Liberty7732
When I was in sixth grade, I was chosen to be the defense attorney for a classmate. Evelyn was accused of passing an answer to a test question to a fellow student during an exam. She was accused of cheating.
Evelyn was a great student, and she had never been accused of cheating before, but her accuser was none other than the principal of the school, Dr. Gil Beltrán.
As it were, Dr. Beltrán had seen Evelyn pass the note to her friend when, while performing his routine rounds, he glanced through one of the door windows behind the class and saw the allegedly illegal act take place. Upon seeing the exchange of information, Dr. Beltrán opened the back door of the class, signaled to the receiving student to hand over whatever paper Evelyn had just handed him, and opened it.
You could hear a pin drop as Dr. Beltrán stared down at Evelyn and signaled for her to go to his office. Evelyn cried for hours after that prompting the rest of us to protest about the unfairness of the treatment to which Evelyn was being subjected.
At some point, and I am foggy on the details, Dr. Beltrán offered us our class a compromise. We would have a trial, one with witnesses, lawyers, and a judge; the whole deal. I think Dr. Beltrán (may he rest in peace) concluded this would be a great opportunity for us kids to engage in experiential learning. Of course, Evelyn was the defendant, and I was chosen by the principal himself to be her attorney. And to serve as my co-counsel, the principal chose Dagoberto, my best friend in the world.
But the principal also picked himself to serve as the judge, and the trial would take place in his office; in a week.
Dago and I zealously worked to get Evelyn off. First, we learned that what Evelyn had handed to her friend, was not an answer to the test, but a question about what they were going to do after school. Unfortunately, the principal, Dr. Beltrán, had since thrown away the piece of paper.
And in a great development for the defense, we were also able to procure the teacher as a witness who was willing to testify that not only did she not see Evelyn pass any piece of paper that day, but that Evelyn was a young lady of impeccable character and would be the last student the teacher would have expected to engage in cheating.
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Overall, Dago and I were feeling pretty good about our case. At best, we might be able to get Evelyn off altogether. At worst, she would be found guilty of a lesser offense such as disruptive class behavior.
Despite our success at building the case: the accuser was also the judge. I remember Dago and I worried that we would not be able to bring Dr. Beltrán to the stand because a) he was the principal; and b) he was the judge. How do you get the judge to serve as a witness? Dago and I asked ourselves. For the answer to this question, Dago and I would need a classmate friend’s parent who was also an attorney! But try as we did, we couldn’t find one.
Our school, La Lúz School, was a small private, Cuban immigrant school where the Cuban National Anthem was played immediately following the American National Anthem every morning while we stood in ranks with our hands on our hearts and where the Cuban flag proudly waived next to the Stars and Stripes.
At that time, most Cubans had not had the time in country to become members of the learned professions.
So, into trial at the principal’s office we went with the whole class as our audience.
I’ll never forget it! I thought our team performed marvelously. We laid out the facts of the case by calling our witnesses to the stand and having each tell his or her story. We were able to ascertain that the note was not an answer to a test question, that Evelyn had impeccable character, and that no one, except the accuser, ever saw her even pass the paper; a paper no one could produce!
Still, we lost.
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Why? Because the judge, who was also the accuser and who was not called to the stand said he knew what he saw, and that Evelyn was guilty.
It wouldn’t be until years later, during a high school civics class, that I learned that the judge could not be a witness or a party to the case!! I needed to move that the judge recuse himself because he was the witness AND the accuser!
The reason I’m sharing this story with you is because it was the first thing that came to mind when I heard of the shenanigans that took place yesterday at General Michael Flynn’s sentencing hearing.
Let me be clear. I believe that General Flynn lied to the FBI and in so doing broke the law. I also believe he was set up to lie by a manipulative, vindictive, and agenda-driven FBI bent on entrapping the General. What’s more, I believe the investigators in this case were the primary reason General Flynn was without an attorney at their meeting of Jan. 24, 2017, and to allow the FBI to get away with that level of disrespect to a defendant’s rights is repulsive.
But yesterday, a new offense arose. Yesterday, we learned for the first time, that Judge Emmet Sullivan, the judge assigned to the Flynn case, is horribly and irreparably biased against Flynn, and we know this from the judge’s very words.
During the hearing, Judge Sullivan is quoted as saying to Flynn, “I am not hiding my disgust, my disdain for your criminal offense.” At one point, the judge went on to state that Flynn, a 33-year Army veteran of war and peace, had betrayed his country and asked whether General Flynn could be accused of treason. Treason!
That is the only crime so egregious, so vile, and so disgusting to the Framers that it stands as the only one mentioned by name in the Constitution of the United States and punishable by hanging. The same crime for which Jane Fonda was not accused when she pranced around in her short shorts in front of the Viet Cong and sat on an anti-aircraft battery for a photo op.
This is what Judge Sullivan thinks of General Flynn! I notice that Judge Sullivan never served in our nation’s military. Never saw bullets flying nearby while wearing a helmet and shrapnel vest, and never spent months overseas away from his family not knowing if he would ever get back home because he might say hello to an enemy bullet first.
With all due respect to the judge, I will put one year of General Flynn’s service to this great country against the judge’s whole career any day and easily come out winning.
Admittedly, the judge corrected himself and apologized for his remarks, to which I will respond in kind. I apologize for those last two paragraphs and strike them from the record.
But regardless of how I feel about this case, we still have a very significant problem. We still have a judge who is disgusted by the defendant and holds disdain for him to the point where he would consider employing the word treason around this American hero.
It’s like having Dr. Belrtrán try a case all over again, except this time, although I am not Flynn’s attorney, I know better.
Judge Sullivan, recuse yourself from this case!
Judge Sullivan is elderly and confused but is clearly enjoying his 15 minutes of fame. But if you are expecting real justice or sound judicial reasoning, forget it. Just another judge seizing his opportunity and craving to exercise power.
Rats never recuse. Rats never resign.
I’ll take it one step further. I wonder if the judge went off the rails in that hearing because he WANTS to get off the case.
I wouldn’t assume too much in this case. Let’s wait to see how it plays out.
I keep wondering where these Liberals come from that makes them think they are so much better than the rest of us?
Is there a secret location they go to where they are gifted with superhuman knowledge?
Are they descended from gods?
That black robe has no more magic than does Frosty the Snowman’s hat.
Maybe the judge knows that if he knowingly convicts an innocent man, he’ll never sleep well at night again.
Simply trying to find out what the other hand was doing.
Just think about it. This judge is going to sentence him...but Mueller still has Flynn by the ______. WHY?
“Dagoberto” ????????????????????
I sure hope he wasn’t eye talian!
Elderly and confused
Fake post
ML/NJ
The problem is, the man swears that he's guilty every chance he's given.
“I’ll take it one step further. I wonder if the judge went off the rails in that hearing because he WANTS to get off the case.”
Great minds think alike.
or give Flynn grounds for an appeal.
Cuban probably
I suspect the judge doesn’t really take this thing seriously.
I don’t either, except regarding the impact on Flynn. If I were him I’d just want it over and then buy an island and move there.
I agree with the solution - recuse....I don’t really care if he apologized. Aren’t we all sick to death of the phony apologies when it would take a nanosecond for people to watch their words and never need to apologize. A judge on the bench - how many years - who hasn’t learned to control his emotions and his tongue... Remember how the idiots blasted Kavanaugh for being emotional and everyone just KNEW he’d be emotional ON the bench at the Supreme Court. The man had every right to be emotional - he was being attacked PERIOD! This judge was not attacked and was terribly unprofessional and I say again - his apology is meaningless. Everyone now knows what kind of man he is and you know what? We all seem to care more about that behavior than Flynn and his attorneys do. THAT I don’t understand!
Blackadder court-martial trial
I think there is something wrong with this trial but I can't quite put my finger on it. Enjoy.
Sullivan MUST NOT be allowed to continue hearing General Flynn’s case. He has already demonstrated in open court his personal distain towards the defendant he is supposed to impartially sentence.
It’s like an attorney telling the judge he is a despicable individual for having sex with goats, then coming back after a recess to apologize. The jury can’t unhear what they heard.
He has got to go.
Is there a secret location they go to where they are gifted with superhuman knowledge?
University.
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