>^^^^^
>CB: Also, it is not a crime to yell at a police officer in your house.
>So, the arrest
>was illegal. :>)
yeah. it is. they call it assault. if you wag your finger at them, they call it battery. it might not be de jure, but it is sure as shit de facto.
^^^^ CB: Yes, your de jure/ de facto distinction seems correct to me. I have no idea what the results in court are of all cases of this type. Probably depends to some extent on the judges and, the economic status and race of the defendants (smile). Then the cops lie about what happened a lot of the time , I bet.
The police, I think, sometimes do an arrest as a defensive move to avoid being charged with police misconduct. There were reports that Gates asked this officer for his name and badge number several times.
My impression is that most "disorderly conduct" ordinances should be struck down as unconstitutionally vague, at least as applied in many cases (fat chance).
A reporter for a local progressive paper was recently convicted (!) of obstructing justice because she was taking pictures at the scene of a police chase that resulted in two deaths. ^^^^^
sociologically speaking, it boils down to this: the issue is about respect for the cops. if you show that you diss them, then how DARE you. you have shown that you dare disrespect their authority, to them, then you have no respect for the law. it's the same reason why they give cop killers the death penalty or harsher sentences. ditto if you hit, kick, bite a cop. bigger violation against a cop than citizen.
^^^^ CB: Definitely. It's police acting as vigilantes.
shag