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----- Original Message ----- From: Bill Bartlett To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2003 6:41 PM Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Give Up
At 11:17 AM -0500 14/8/03, Carrol Cox wrote:
>P.S. I propose a put up or shut up experiment for those who really think
>lawyers are not necessary. Deliberately commit a misdemeanor. (Choose
>carefully one that only involves a fine you can afford and no jail
>time.) Then defend yourself.)
That can be fun, but there's no need to waste the effort for a pointless misdemeanor. Suggest a politically interesting act of civil disobedience instead. The trick is to tailor the offense with a legal defense strategy in mind though.
>
>And the fact that the the prosecuting attorney is a lawyer is
>irrelevant: he/she is not in essence a lawyer but an agent of the state.
>And to whine about his/her legal skill is as absurd as to whine about
>the fact that cops are in essence strike-breakers.
The idea here is to turn their own strengths against them. You would have the advantage of the initiator of the legal conflict anyhow. The prosecuting agent has no control over what you do, but can only react.
I deliberately provoked the authorities to cut me off the dole a couple of times, to make a point. But it was important to trap them into a couple of technical errors, so that they would be humiliated on appeal.
Obviously none of that works in a police state, it only works where where there is some semblance of impartiality in the courts.
Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas ___________________________________ http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk