Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for July 16, 2018

The skull does not mean death.

Defendant just has to spend time with a certain young lady we all know.

Defendants should not have to choose between a speedy trial and a competent legal defense.

There are six options which means that they could use a Russian roulette pistol with little flags that pop out the end saying “guilty” or “not guilty”. There would be one chamber with a bullet.

Trump’s imigration court just has guilty, even for one year olds.

“Bust a deal, face the wheel…

http://www.bigger-blog.com/index_files/wheel-from-mad-max-beyond-thunderdome.jpg

Wouldn’t be fair to anyone but it would change things. Would work a lot like a plumbers’ helper and unclog the system. Amazing results in number of cases cleared. Results totally free of bias or quality of participants on both sides.

I’d like to plead no contest and receive my going away prize.

This just in from the “Truth is Stranger than Fiction” department: 2 cops from Roswell GA placed on admin. leave after flipping coin to decide arrest vs. ticketing. SPOILERS The coin flip said tickets but they arrested her anyway! You can’t make this stuff up (well apparently Wiley can!)

This is, in fact, what happens.

I see in comments on this strip (very often) people want to get rid of Trump. I understand why. But just pause and consider if you want Pence in the same position for the rest of the term.

If this was in my country India, the Fascist government would go with the PM. The president doesn’t matter. You in the US are stuck till 2020!

IRS and ICE are already guilty until proven innocent in a lot of cases (look it up) but that doesn’t stop a lot of patriotic citizens from willingly degrading the constitution and thinking those changes they wanna make won’t ever apply to them. The founders of our country are spinnin’ in their graves.

No ‘flip a coin’ app?

“It’s the court’s contention that ‘due process’ is yet another pesky Right guaranteed by that pesky Constitution that we activist judges continue to try and undermine in our Leftist quest for tyranny by arbitrary edict.”

And now we have a so-called “president” who has openly called for an end to due process.

The right to a speedy trial seems to have completely disappeared. People are in jail for years awaiting trial now. And not because they’re a flight risk, because they don’t have cash. And no, I don’t think “speedy trial” means it’s over quickly once it starts. I think it obviously refers to the entire process.

I know Wiley didn’t mean it this way, but since today’s cartoon covers both sides of the political aisle, I’m okay with it.

What is really sad is how quickly we politicize the judicial system — one of the reasons we have legislative, judicial, and executive branches is to keep politics out of our courts. Our founders’ system of checks-and-balances has been replaced by a child’s game of tug-of-war. No matter which side wins, we all end up in the mud.

Shouldn’t the pins be along the lines that separate the options, instead of in the middle of the options?

A reality game show where guilty defendant’s sentences are decided by the “Wheel of Misfortune” would be a big hit, especially if the nastier sentences were carried out right then.

Source material: “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.” —6th Amendment US Constitution

That part about “the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed” was specifically intended to prevent the practice under the British crown of transporting accused seditionists and tax protesters across the Atlantic to stand trial in England, where they had no witnesses or counsel of their own.

I knew a judge who used to read opposing attorneys their “Rights”, in his chambers. These Rights included: The Right not to bore the judge and the jury; The Right not to put them to sleep; The Right to keep the trial moving and not bog it down with unnecessary motions; The Right to keep their summations brief; and the Right not to piss off the Judge !

The Right Wing’s real complaint is that there’s no handy place like Australia any more that we could just ship people off to in confidence that they’d Never be able to return home.

They checked out Death Valley and discovered that it’s not Guaranteed to live up to the name.

Keep it up Wiley keep it up

How many times on TV or in the movies have we seen lawyers telling clients, “We can take the deal or throw the dice at trial”?

How else do you get a skull?

I suspect there’s also a wheel in the judge’s chambers with the sentence itself. Explains how some child abusers get 3 years in prison for ruining a child’s life but someone caught with too much weed can get 10 years or more in prison. I’ve seen a murderer get 20 years but someone waves a gun at someone during a robbery can get life in prison (more than 20 years usually), even if the victim wasn’t killed.

Rich, white men who are found guilty of rape can get off on probation while some black minor (16-17 year old) is found selling drugs can likely spend most of their young adult life in prison over it.

Where’s the “Pass Go and collect $600.00” option?