Good decision. May not want to say but I would be curious to what he recommends. Guess that will depend on your goals also. Good luck!!

Hall, you talking about the Bill Johnson that lives in south Montgomery and is past president of the Alabama Cattlemens Association ?

You know something, I think you make some important points here about Morrow - he COULD have lied about that to firm up the conviction for *something* (I'll address that below), and he didn't. So yeah, some credit to him on that.

It wouldn't surprise me if the man had heard a lot of night shots over the years in the area where he lives and was obviously tired of it and just made a lot of assumptions about the 3 boys that night in question and basically just lost it.

But here is the insane part, and it is not just Morrow and the Distric Judge AJ and Circuit Judge TB who screwed up **royal** -- BUT WHERE IS THE PROSECUTOR in all this???

Seriously, there is NOT ONE THING involved here that had **anything** to do with hunting or wildlife whatsoever. Any lawyer with a pea brain could see that, and you have the prosecutor and two judges (who are also lawyers) who failed to see that obvious fact. IF ANYTHING, meaning looking at the matter from the perspective of Morrow the complaining witness and in a light most favorable to his side of things, there was an attempt to destroy public property, i.e, a stop sign (that obviously didn't happen).

How in the world does a case where the complaining witness Morrow claims they shot at a stop sign become a case where there are three **hunting** related charges??? That part is just insane and I don't see how any lawyer/judge would not immediately pick up on that and say no to the three hunting charges that Morrow swore out. Under Morrow's version of what happened it was an attempt to shoot a stop sign and had nothing to do with hunting/night hunting/etc and the prosecutor and two judges should have nixed the hunting charges in the bud, really the prosecutor himself.

IF that district court judge actually said that, and the evidence of same has been preserved, it would be grounds for being removed from the bench.

The starting point for JWC would be to file a complaint with the Judicial Inquiry Commission:

http://judicial.alabama.gov/jic.cfm

http://judicial.alabama.gov/appl_canons.cfm

What about the magistrate that issued the warrants? Can't give them a free pass either.

BTW, when does the season on stop signs open? I've got a few that are nuisances I'd like to take out. If shooting stop signs is hunting, then it must have an open season, right?

Jawbone, that is a big 10-4 on the magistrate who approved the arrest warrants. Who is/was the magistrate?

Have to say this, although she screwed up in this case Circuit Judge Terri Bozeman is a good person and a pretty good judge.

I'm just now exploring the earlier posts in this thread, and yeah, I agree Doekiller, and I can't believe a judge would actually publicly make such an admission. That is another ground for a complaint with the JIC.

Originally Posted By: augustus_65
Now that the matter is final, I am at liberty to comment. I was precluded by the cannon of judicial ethics from commenting until the matter was concluded. As most of you know I am the district judge in Lowndes County. I heard this matter at the district court level and found all three defendants guilty of hunting at night, shooting from a public road and hunting by aid of a motor vehicle. At the trial, the state presented testimony from the retired game warden and the sheriffs deputies that responded to the call. Counsel for the defendants cross examined the witnesses for the state and attacked the former wardens ability to issue the warrants. He testified that he did not sign the warrants in his capacity as an officer but as someone who witnessed a misdemeanor committed in his presence, which is legally correct. After the conclusion of the states case in chief, the defendants had an opportunity to present their case, but instead of presenting any testimony they rested. The defendants did not testify or present any evidence in their defense. The state made a prima facie claim meeting all the elements of each of the charges proving their case beyond a reasonable doubt so I found all three defendants guilty of all three charges and assessed the statutorily prescribed fines. The case was appealed to circuit court where the defendants waived their right to a jury trail and tried the case as a bench trial before the circuit judge. She convicted them as well. The case was the appealed to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals which affirmed the convictions. The Supreme Court has now reversed the convictions and rendered the matter meaning that it is final.

I will say that there is still no doubt in my mind that one of the boys fired a rifle from that truck. Had the one who fired the shot accepted responsibility, I would have dismissed all charges against the other two defendants and allowed him to plead to shooting from a public road and dismissed the other two charges. He would have had a $1000 fine and costs to pay and that would have been the end of it.

That is what I've always heard about Judge Bozeman also. Of course it could have been a procedural matter where she was limited to certain issues on the appeal.

No idea on the magistrate. Typically they are just clerks with no legal training.

Might be the same one. I was thinking of the one that had some involvement in Bob Riley's admin and believe he was from the Montgomery area.

An appeal from district court to circuit court is a de novo appeal. That means that nothing that happened in district court matters. It is as if the case starts over in circuit court.

I call first chance to take out the one on Hooper Drive.

No hunting, of any kind or method, in the city limits.

Thank you, that is why we keep you around. So they went through the same thing twice and still got the same result? That really is amazing.

While I haven't committed on this I did copy his statement and placed it on the local paper facebook page. Lowndes signal.

He dead.

BAM

It's not showing up now. We should light that page up.

How come that Facebook page (Alabama Hunting Laws) is no longer active?

You'll have to ask 49er.