After doing a quick peek at the Facebook link, I found a few things interesting...

1) How ironic that a man wants to defend a person's right to carry firearms... except for these boys.



2) Perhaps the years of riding motorcycles with loud pipes has damaged his hearing?



3) Photos show that he enjoys a cold beer. Did anyone ask if he had enjoyed any cold beers on that night prior to turning into Perry Mason?


My guess, truth be known, is that the boys chunked some leftover New Year's fireworks out. I do not believe that they shot the gun.

I just read about the Pinson and Hembree shooting. Just judging from what I read, Pinson was the jerk and AS A SENSIBLE LEO (or former), he should have conducted himself better and shown sensible restraint. I don't think (from what I read) that Hembree threatened Pinson's life.

A litmus test of fairness and unbiased judgement is the ability to rule or make a decision about someone's action that is a family member or someone you identify with or a member of your group/organization, etc... and be able to stand up and say, "You were wrong in your actions/conduct!" It's like blacks supporting obama just because he's black or whites not supporting a man because he's black. It's not fair. IMO, Rusty Morrow is supporting Pinson just because he is a former GW or a friend and is not willing to look at the facts and make a fair judgement. One's personal standards and judgements should apply to strangers as well as friends and family members. It appears Morrow is unfairly bias.

I don't know how old you are, or how long you have been in law enforcement. Things have been going on down there since her Daddy was a judge. I am 58 and grew up around all that crap. Let me put it mildly, the justice system in Lowndes County sucks. It is very much a who you are in that area. Very different treatment for different people. I am not going in detail, but my Daddy told me about some stuff her Daddy did , you would not believe, and got away with it. Like the old saying goes , you see enough smoke and there is a fire somewhere. And it has been smoking down there a long time.

Used to be that way in Jackson big time! May still be, folks in power now may just be slicker.

First, let me say that I greatly appreciate all of you who took the time to read the trial transcripts and post your thoughts, whether they agreed with us or not. If you have not read it, I encourage you to do so, and welcome your thoughts and comments.

We have never had any experience with the Court System or even a Lawyer for that matter, so all of this has been an eye opening experience for us.

In reading your post, I was glad to see that many of you have realized that this could be you, your son/daughter, or anyone who carries a gun in �an area known to have wildlife�. It is our 2nd Amendment right to carry a gun. These boys were doing just that-LEGALLY.

Boys Testifying in Court - For those who have said the boys should not have testified in court, that they hurt themselves on the stand � I AGREE 100%. But please know that they were not prepared in any way, shape or form by our Lawyer, at the time, prior to taking the stand.

We received notice that we had a Court date of 4-2-14 about 2 weeks or so before the actually date. When I received the notice in the mail I immediately picked up the phone and called the Lawyers office. He was not in but I spoke with his secretary. I let her know that we had received the notice and I wanted to know what we should expect. Had they heard anything about the motion to dismiss or is that what this court date was for. Her response to me was, we just got the notice also and don�t know anything else. I asked her to please have him call me.

A week went by and I still had not heard from him. I called his office again, the Monday prior to our court date. Again, I was told by his secretary that he was not in. I asked if they had found out anything concerning the court date and was told that all they knew was that we would have to be in court on 4-2-14 . Needless to say my aggravation level was HIGH. The Attorney had previously given me his cell number and said to text him if I had any questions, not being able to get a response from his office, I sent him a text message�. NO RESPONSE.

We did not see the Attorney, or speak with him again, until the morning of 4-2-14 about 30 minutes before the boys were to appear in court. We were told that Judge Lovell had denied the motion to dismiss and he had found out at 6:00 the night before. Prior to this date, the last contact we had with him was around March 5th, when we emailed asking if he had filed the Motion to dismiss.

We went into the court room, Judge Lovell called the Attorneys to the bench. They spoke for a few moments and then our attorney asked us to step outside.

Once outside the court room, he informed us that if they boys would plead guilty to a lesser charge that the penalties would not be as bad. He went on further to say that one of the current charges carried a 6 month jail term and the Judge could invoke that if they were found guilty. All 3 boys said they would not plead guilty to something they did not do.

We all went back into the court room and proceeded with the Bench trial. No preparation of the boys prior to taking the stand, no pictures that we had previously provided our Attorney were presented in court, nor was Mr. Morrows behavior when he confronted them addressed. Furthermore, after the trial, we asked the boys why they did not say anything about Mr. Morrow�s demeanor when he approached them, which was aggressive and confrontational. All 3 boys said that the Attorney told them not to say anything about that because it would just be their word against his. I was flabbergasted!!!!! The ENTIRE CASE is their word against his!

Youthful Offender � In hindsight I wish we had not filed for this. My son wanted to be a Game Warden and was in school for this. We thought that filing for YO status would help him in the future. As we have come to learn this was probably not the best decision/advice that we received. Several people have told us that this could definitely hinder him in the future YO status or not. I do believe that the outcome would have been different had we had a trial by Jury. However, we never thought the case would even get this far. But as they say, hindsight is 20/20.

Reserved Deputy or not? � According to Mr.Morrow�s testimony Sheriff J Williams had �designated� him a reserve deputy.

16 Q What do you have to go through to become a
17 reserve deputy?
18 A It's merely a process with the sheriff
19 designating you a reserve deputy and you qualify
20 with them. Of course, I qualify every year

I would hope that there is more to it than a Sheriff saying I appoint you a Reserve Deputy. Some paperwork, documentation etc� If not we are all in some serious trouble.

Let me also say that in District Court Mr. Morrow was asked the same question and answered it a little differently. He said that he did tell the boys he was a Reserve Deputy and admitted that he was not at the time. When asked why he would tell them that he said that he was trying to calm the situation down.

One has to wonder why the case went any further or why after admitting in court that he �impersonated� a police officer was something not done � I believe impersonating a police officer is a felony.

Are there transcripts from District Court? No, we were not aware that there was no court reporter or recording of court proceedings in District Court unless you pay for a court reporter. Had we know this we would have DEFINANTELY paid to have one there. It would probably have saved us A LOT of money in the long run.

It is my understanding that when we appealed to the Circuit Court, it was a whole new trial and nothing from the previous trial could be considered. Everything would be presented as new evidence etc� One has to wonder about this prior statement � had the boys not been advised to not say anything about his demeanor would this have come out?

As far as Mr. Morrow�s �standing in the community� � While some may hold a person in high regard in the community, in my opinion, this should not come into play in a Court of Law. With that said, Judges are still human beings, have friends, personal beliefs etc� But, I feel that, if a Judge cannot separate him or herself from these things, including a person�s �standing in the community� and rule solely on the facts presented then they should recues themselves. While we all like to think we can remain impartial � I want you to think about this- if you had a close friend that you grew up with and had known most of your life � and someone that you didn�t know came up and told you something negative or unlawful that this person had done, your first thought would be I just don�t believe that, I have known him/her all my life. This is simple human nature� but I believe that a Judge must hold himself above this when in a Court of Law.

Like many of you, I�m sure, I have had conversations with people, watched TV shows and read articles where people who were convicted in a court of law are proclaiming their innocence. And, like some of you, my first thought was yeah right!, I bet there is something they are not telling us etc.. After what we have experienced, I will not be so quick to discount their claim.

While these are just misdemeanor charges and many would call minor charges they will stick with these boys for the rest of their lives unless we can get it overturned. While YO status makes their record sealed, law enforcement can still see it and a Game Warden is considered Law Enforcement. So the chances of my son ever doing what he wants to do are slim. There is something wrong with 1 man being able to do this to 3 teenage boys.

Where we stand now- We have retained a new attorney who is not from the area. He filed a motion for a new trial which was denied. We have filed an Appeal with the Alabama Criminal Court of appeals is now just waiting.

We have nothing but respect for Law Enforcement of any kind as well as the court system. We have always taught our kids to do right, stay out of trouble, abide by the law and to treat others with respect. While we will continue to instill and uphold these values in them - their belief in what we, as a parent, have told them as well as in our Justice System have been called into question by this ordeal.

Like I said earlier, If you have not read the transcript I encourage you to do so and welcome your thoughts and comments no matter if they agree with ours or not. You are also welcome to PM me.

Keep in mind that this was just 3 boys driving down a public road with an unloaded gun in the truck at night�.. nothing more nothing less.. Many of you have done this and many will be doing the same thing tonight.

I hope that by telling our story, this will help someone and/or their son or daughter from having to experience this.

From what I read of the transcript your boys were the victims of "good old boy down home" "justice" (not really). Please keep appealing this and maybe you can get away from this obviously non-impartial judge and her cronyism. Good luck

Your lawyer SUCKED too as best I can determine

Just as a side note about your sons future, I filed charges on a 20 year old for criminal mischief and reckless endangerment for crimes against my family and he got youthful offender status and admitted in court to the charges. A year later he was a cop and later went through a certified police academy so I wouldn't think becoming a game warden is out of the realm of possibility.

JWC, bet that "attorney" didn't have any problem contacting ya'll when it was time to present the bill.

I know a guy personally who was convicted of y.o. and convicted of at least one felony that he did time for. Got a complete pardon for the felony. And later got a security clearance. Personally i wouldnt waste y.o. status for a misdemeanor. But thats me. And also its not really the " justice " system. Its the legal system. Whatever the outcome the boys will be fine. U did the right thing by firing the lawyer. He sucked. When he wouldnt return your calls. He would have been fired before court. Some lawyers just bleed and feed. My sister in law talked to a lawyer one time. He charged her $15000 then later said he couldnt help her. No refund

Update?

This is the crazies thing I have ever heard in my life. I really hope that this WRONG get righted.

Update.. Still Fighting this! Going through the Appeal process.

10-4. Don't forget to let me know how it turns out.

JWC:

I feel your pain, disgust, frustration, and bewilderment with the legal system very personally. There isn't a single thing "just" about it most of the time. There isn't anything fast about it any of the time.

The only positive thing I have seen in this entire post is in your last post: "still fighting"

Don't give up hope man. Your boy got screwed....now you got to have the guts to stick it out and fight with/for him. Which sounds like you are doing.

Good for you.

There, sir, is your doubt. Case closed.

I have brought up that very same point. I went so far as to ask why are we here if the person who signed the warrants states, under oath, that he doesn't remember that night exactly.

Still don't have an answer.. The only response I have gotten is.. "that is a good question".

Maybe it has been mentioned in another post but do you know the GW name that filed these charges. If you dont know his name is he about 6'6" or 6'7"

Because they can. And are.

Not quite sure I get what you mean there....

As Tn LEO I agree with this post, something is missing. I have 25 years in, serving currently as Sgt. Over the Detective Division, one thing I can say is Appeal. There is NO common sense in the law, common sense comes in on the enforcement side. The road Deputies used that in the first interaction with the boys. I would love to see the Affidavit of Complaint the, and I use the term loosely, gentleman filed with the court. No offense intended, please understand, I just feel something is missing.