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Judges have very few limits on their power and have very little accountability. Here is an example of what happens when you pizz off a judge.
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A Michigan activist faces up to five years in prison for exercising his First Amendment rights by distributing Fully Informed Jury Association (FIJA) literature outside the Mecosta County courthouse. WXMI, the Fox station in Grand Rapids, reports that Keith Wood was arrested last week after passing out about 50 copies of a FIJA pamphlet titled "Your Jury Rights: True or False?" Wood's pamphleting irritated Mecosta County District Judge Peter Jaklevic, who ordered his arrest on charges of jury tampering, a misdemeanor punishable by a $1,000 fine and up to a year in jail, and obstruction of justice, a felony punishable by a $10,000 fine and up to five years in prison.
Jaklevic, whose office declined to comment on the case, set Wood's bail at $150,000. "When he told me the bond," Wood told WXMI, "I was speechless. $150,000 bond for handing out a piece of paper on a public sidewalk? Speechless."
Judges have very few limits on their power and have very little accountability. Here is an example of what happens when you pizz off a judge.
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A Michigan activist faces up to five years in prison for exercising his First Amendment rights by distributing Fully Informed Jury Association (FIJA) literature outside the Mecosta County courthouse. WXMI, the Fox station in Grand Rapids, reports that Keith Wood was arrested last week after passing out about 50 copies of a FIJA pamphlet titled "Your Jury Rights: True or False?" Wood's pamphleting irritated Mecosta County District Judge Peter Jaklevic, who ordered his arrest on charges of jury tampering, a misdemeanor punishable by a $1,000 fine and up to a year in jail, and obstruction of justice, a felony punishable by a $10,000 fine and up to five years in prison.
Jaklevic, whose office declined to comment on the case, set Wood's bail at $150,000. "When he told me the bond," Wood told WXMI, "I was speechless. $150,000 bond for handing out a piece of paper on a public sidewalk? Speechless."
It's great to live in a country which has a legal system designed to protect citizens civil rights...
If this is all true... the ACLU, and a whole slew of civil rights attorneys will be lining up to sue the city. Maybe even a civil lawsuit will be in order for the good judge.
And in the process the judge violates the first amendment. Handing out pamphlets of this nature is not against the law and is an expression of freedom of speech. Now if he were doing this inside the court then that would be different. That would be disrupting the court and other charges apply. This judge needs to be reminded his authority has limits, especially outside the courtroom.
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