Oh Wanda, Wanda, How Could We?
November 18, 2009
Did you see the rendition of justice by chemicals? This story ran in the L.A. Times and the Salt Lake Tribune and probably a thousand other news rags: Wanda Barzee pleads guilty and is sentenced to 15 years by agreement. Two years ago Wanda Barzee was so insanely insane, so mentally incompetent, that the Feds had to get an order to medicate her INVOLUNTARILY. All for her own good. Thereafter the Feds force fed her drugs to restore her competency. Originally every doctor who interviewed her, doctors of every persuasion, said she was looney tunes and couldn’t be tried. After being force fed medicine for 2008 and 2009 she was finally declared mentally competent to stand trial. The Feds have now concluded she is presently competent to plead guilty to a crime committed when she was incompetent. Say what?
Let’s state that differently: The woman was declared incompetent by a judge then after being force fed drugs she is suddenly declared competent to plead guilty to crimes committed while she was incompetent. How does an incompetent develop the necessary “intent” required to commit a crime against the state? Answer: It’s impossible.
I thought we hired these young buckaroo attorneys to at least play fair. Is this an election year? What about the defense? Did she actually have an attorney? Is he just plain stupid? What’s the pay-off ? BY DEFINITION she’s incompetent. She’s crazy. You said so. Both sides said so. Your doctors said so. Everyone agreed. So now she pleads? She agrees to do 15 years in the gray-bar hotel for stuff for which you had her declared too incompetent to even be tried by judge or jury? What changed besides your integrity?
What’s worse? A federal attorney beating up on the defenseless or a defense attorney who allows him to? Something smells in Denmark. I can’t help but think that pay-offs come in many different sizes and forms.
If I am not mistaken, Mr. Lincoln, after Congress tried to get him to stop violating the Constitution (printing paper currency, nationalizing the Army, instituting a War Tax), he responded with, to whit, “If you want to stop me, go raise your own army and try, but I will not lose this war!” And from there, it has gone downhill. When we have a President, with a degree from a reputable law school, on trial for lying about having sex with an 18-year-old intern, ask, “what the definition of ‘is’ is”, is it really any wonder that our Courts differ from those of Kangaroo Kingdoms and Dictatorships only by their slickness?
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