Judge clears Illinois officer of gun charge
By Tim O’Neil
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Wednesday, Aug. 30 2006

SEE THREAD http://www.hk94.com/hk/State-trooper-plead…gun-t20151.html For Past Discussion

Charges that an Illinois State Police sergeant illegally possessed a machine
gun were dismissed Wednesday by a federal judge, who ruled that the law was
“unconstitutionally vague” as applied to him.

In federal court in East St. Louis, U.S. District Judge David R. Herndon
dropped the charges against Sgt. James V. Vest of O’Fallon, Ill., who was lead
rifle instructor for the department’s District 11 in the Metro East area.
Herndon’s 26-page order says the confusion is over the federal law’s exception
for police officers, and whether Vest could reasonably be expected to know
whether he was breaking the law.

Vest was one of four people, including two other Illinois state troopers,
separately accused in January of illegally possessing machine guns. Such fully
automatic weapons are banned by federal law except for certain uses, such as by
the military and police agencies, or by people with a special license, which
the four did not have.

A machine gun fires multiple rounds with one squeeze of the trigger.

How Herndon’s ruling would affect the other cases was unclear Wednesday, partly
because the charges against them are not identical.

Two other defendants, State Police Special Agent John Yard of Collinsville and
Dr. Harold Griffiths of Spaulding, Ill., have similar constitutional claims
pending before U.S. District Judge Michael J. Reagan in East St. Louis.

The remaining defendant, Senior Master Trooper Greg Mugge of Jerseyville,
pleaded guilty July 25 of possession of an unregistered machine gun. His
lawyer, John Delaney Jr., said Wednesday that he was studying the Vest case
ruling. “Who knows what will happen?” he said.

Clyde Kuehn, one of Vest’s lawyers, said Wednesday “was a very relieving and
happy day” for his client. Vest remains on administrative leave.

The four were charged after investigations by the federal Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It was not clear at the outset what triggered
the probe. None of the four was accused of using the weapons in any crimes.

U.S. Attorney Randy Massey, whose office brought the charges, declined
Wednesday to discuss Herndon’s ruling. Massey’s office had opposed Vest’s
motion to dismiss.

“We are evaluating the order and are looking into our options,” he said.

The charges carry a maximum prison term of 10 years and a fine of up to
$250,000, although federal guidelines call for less when defendants have no
criminal records.

Gun used in classes

The case against Vest concerned an M-4 machine gun, essentially a short-barrel
form of the standard M-16 military weapon, that he bought in 1998 and used in
his state police training classes. The charges allege that he lacked authority
from the state to buy or possess the weapon.

Vest argued that he bought and used it under the “law enforcement exception” in
the federal law. Some police agencies have machine guns in their arsenals,
particularly for their tactical teams.

Herndon noted that the prosecution never claimed that Vest ever used the M-4
for anything but official purposes. The judge said the government argued that a
law enforcement agency, not a single police officer, has the authority to
permit possession of a machine gun.

But Herndon wrote that the federal law granting that authority was too vague in
this instance to support the charges against Vest.

“How would a police officer/lead rifle instructor such as Vest ever know
whether his possession of a machine gun or other prohibited weapon was legal,
as there is no guidance under the (statute) as to what constitutes proper
authority,” the judge wrote. “It does not appear that this statute was designed
to criminalize police officers even if they may be guilty of mere technical
violations.”

Given that Vest apparently used it only for law enforcement purposes, Herndon
said, charging him “seems to go against the purpose” of the federal law.

A spokesman for the Illinois State Police headquarters in Springfield had no
comment on the ruling and said he could not discuss personnel matters regarding
Vest.

In February, 10 Metro East police chiefs, two county sheriffs and two state
senators publicly urged leniency for the accused officers.

==============================================

You’re a cop, so you’re not expected to understand the law?

But if you’re not a cop you are expected to understand the law?

Lovely to think that if it were me in that mans’ position, I’d become the Emporer of my own little 8X8 cell for the rest of my life.

-Yaho

Love the jokes! WHEN I get married I’m going to post those rules on the fridge. No, better yet, I’ll paint them on a wall.

@balungaloaf:

the democratic party and the media ARE linked.  Did everyone forget about how the journalists who are supposed to be “unbiased” met with some democratic office people and leaders on how to portray media events in the favor of democrats. IT was held behind closed doors with no mention of what was said inside.  The republicans knew this was bullcrap, but if ONLY fox news talks about it, many others are in the dark.  Then the people attending the meeting go and tell all their other liberal journalist and news friends, editors etc. on how to properly spin news coverage when wanted by the democrats.  Take that one liberal media, how many liberals know that their news is COMPLETELY BIASED.  cnn, abc, nbc, cbs, msnbc, bbc, all sorts of papers and magazines, time, nytimes, usa today, washington post, newsweek.  Weekend shows, night shows, morning shows, specials like 20/20 or 60 minutes, news on tv guide, mtv,  its terrible.  At least i got fox news.

Loaf, you do know that all the sources you just listed regurgitate, almost word for word, the AP press releases, right?  I bet, if someone hacked the AP and sent a news release that stated all the Iraqi’s died today from a horrible plague created in American biological weapons labs it would run night and day for months.  Then, when it turns out they were hacked, it would quietly die and no retraction would ever be made.

Him (I love Mel Brooks), although he’d have to find someway to get Hitler in there, or possibly Kids in the Hall, with Scott Thompson presiding as Jesus.  He’d also play Mother Mary and Mary Magdalene.

the press turned it into more than a hack job.  They might of been honest but the media was to fired up to bash on the white house, any showing of responsibility would have been suicide. Without the media storm it might of happened, but the media was waiting and drooling for the chance to try and run out whoever they could.

P.s. switch, i will post the rules but i’m still not sure about some aspects of doing it.  check the silly post again.

To me, chili does not include spaghetti.  That’s just a Yankee thing to do.  :-)

Yep it was pretty much like the movie, characters and all.

Thx. I’ll do that.

Sorry to see you go, too bad you won’t be around when Hamdan is overturned!!  :wink: :wink: :wink:

The only good thing about fat bastard is the label.  The wine is icky, the fake cork is a pain in the arse to get out…although it is cheap.

like a priest??

“You know, I got some melted butter and tongs in here…”

No pinch, No pinch…

too funny, thanks ncsc…

GG

That sounds hawt.  Ill join in the fray and give the money to a charity to help hookers in need.

Mussolini made the trains run on time. The rest of that made no sence… sorry.

I was self employed for a long time.  Now i just get a check every year from the company (3% net profits, not a bad deal) for the very reason that I couldn’t stand stupid people working with me!

Where can we find the dicey code for SMF boards?  My dungeon master has a board like this and he’s interested in allowing his 14 players to roll their own dice so he can save some bloody time!

Really appreciate the assist.

Jennifer/AKA Nikki

Alright, here goes.

Let’s assume for a moment that the briefcase does contain Marsellus’ soul.  The combination for the briefcase is: 666.  Perhaps the Devil took Marsellus’ soul (possibly from the back of his neck, hence the band-aid that Jermo mentioned) and placed it into a briefcase.  Tony gets a hold of it and passes it along.  Marsellus finds out that Tony has something of value to him (an understatement) and tosses him out of a window.  The fact that Tony can’t speak properly anymore is the Devil’s way of literally keeping his mouth shut.

And speaking of souls and how beautiful they are, it is likely that Marsellus’ soul is not that beautiful.  But maybe his soul actually is beautiful, meaning that he is actually a good guy, and he just needs it back, so that he won’t be an a$$hole anymore.  When Butch goes to the apartment to get his watch, he shoots and kills Vincent.  After leaving, he runs into Marsellus (with his car) and they end up fighting.  But, after Butch saves his life, Marsellus agrees to let him go, and they call it even.  I think that this is influenced by the fact that Marsellus’s soul had been restored.  Otherwise, he might not have been so lenient.

Now, back to the “Divine Intervention” scene.  Jules and Vincent expected to have been blown away,  But they were spared by “some strange coincidence”.  Again, I think this is God allowing them no harm until they have completed their task.  After the task is completed, they are no longer protected by his will.  (This is why Vincent had no chance when Butch gunned him down.)

Now on to the date between Vincent and Mia Wallace.  They go out, dance, have a great time, she re-establishes my point that no-one really knows why Tony was thrown out of the window, and later she ends up putting a little too much heroin up her nose.  In my opinion, Vincent is in no way to blame for her near-death, but I don’t think Marsellus would agree.  As Vincent puts it to his dealer, “If Marsellus finds out about this, I am a f***in’ grease-spot!”  So they end up saving her life, and Vincent gets off the hook.  What would happen if she had died of her overdose?  Marsellus would probably have had Vincent killed, so then Vincent wouldn’t have been able to help deliver the case, and also wouldn’t have been available to help Jules out in the diner when he was talking with “Ringo”.  And on that note, Pumpkin and Honey-Bunny also learned a valuable lesson when they found out what exactly they were dealing with, and what Jules’ cargo was.  But before all of that, Jules and Vincent were still just talking, and Jules mentioned that he was thinking about the miracle they witnessed.  But carrying something sacred like that is, to me, what convinced Jules that he was living the wrong lifestyle.  And even earlier, when “The Wolf” tells them to move out of the sticks and get a cab, they decide to go and have breakfast.  Once again, this breakfast proved fateful, and Jules learns about what he feels is his destiny.  Not only that, but he sets himself on the path that he now feels is right, and making himself broke by giving all the money he had to the couple, strengthening the love they had for each other, and all the while saving everyone else from being robbed or killed.

I’m sure there may be some details I forgot, but if anyone has any to add, or any criticism to offer, please do.  :wink:

Yea, but let’s not forget that in ADS 1 submarine defending against 5 destroyers and 20 battleships has a chance to win.  In No luck and Low Luck that submarines toast, even the particles left over after the shells are done falling on that submarine are damaged, they’ll never be the same again.  At best, that submarine has a small chance of actually killing the cook on the destroyer with an errant deck gun shot…but it’s a small chance.

In my past life as a rock and roll sound man I turned the lights off and was often a paid parent to musicians at least for the day they were on my stage.

Guitar Techs those guys are parents, and the tour manager/stage manager guys. The guys that travel with the band. What I did was nothing compared to those guys.

I often use the phrase “Did you look for it____” where blank is where they always forget that they left it. I’m not a parent but I’m pretty sure I have several of the requisite skills.

This one may be lost on folks who are not a bit older and remember the Pizza Hut commercials…

What do you call a brunette and 3 blondes on a street corner?

Regular price, 4 bucks, 4 bucks, 4 bucks :-)

How do you know a blonde has been using the computer?
There is white out on the screen.

Or the ultimate blonde statement (courtesy Julie Brown)

“I’d just like to say that being chosen as this months Miss August is like a compliment I’ll remember for as long as I can.  Right now I am a freshman in my 4th year at UCLA, but my goal is to become a veterinarian because I love children.”