From: "James A. Donald" <jamesd@echeque.com>
Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 00:41:37 +0800
To: Duncan Frissell <cypherpunks@toad.com>
Subject: Re: FCPUNX:The Real Bell Issue / Re: Bell, etc
Message-ID: <199708201616.JAA11750@proxy4.ba.best.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



At 11:21 AM 8/19/97 -0700, Tim May wrote:
> > So, I disagree with Duncan's apparent point that it's too bad the Bell case
> > didn't go to trial. I'm convinced Bell would have been convicted on most or
> > all charges. Hardly a test case for anything important.

At 05:56 PM 8/19/97 -0400, Duncan Frissell wrote:
> But the charges were minor stuff.  Under the Federal sentencing guidelines he 
> wouldn't have gotten much if convicted. 

Federal sentencing guidelines are irrelevant in political cases.  

For example the survivors of the Waco massacre were found guilty 
of trivial technicalities, and then sentenced as if they had been
found guilty of murdering federal agents.  All appeals have been
denied.

Indeed it appears to be standard practice, that if a political
criminal is charged with both trivial crimes of which he (and
everyone else) is guilty, and extremely serious crimes, of which
he is obviously innocent, he will be convicted on the trivia, and
sentenced on the accusations.
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
              				|  
We have the right to defend ourselves	|   http://www.jim.com/jamesd/
and our property, because of the kind	|  
of animals that we are. True law	|   James A. Donald
derives from this right, not from the	|  
arbitrary power of the state.		|   jamesd@echeque.com