Flutterby™! : Alive and "legally dead". 2013-10-10 23:06:20.731189+00

Alive and "legally dead".

2013-10-10 23:06:20.731189+00 by Dan Lyke 3 comments

I have often thought it interesting the way that "guilty" and "innocent" are legal states, in a way curiously disconnected from whether or not the person in question in fact did the thing they are accused of, and even then only as those actions are filtered through the legal process.

Turns out "dead" is also such curious legal state: Man who appeared in court is "legally dead", judge says:

Donald Eugene Miller Jr. was declared dead in 1994, eight years after he disappeared from his home in Arcadia, the Courier reports. On Monday, Judge Allan Davis of Hancock County said Miller is still legally dead because a death ruling cannot be changed after three years have passed. UPI and Yahoo News noted the story.

Dude apparently went on an 8 year bender and disappeared, is trying to be declared "not dead" so he can get a driver's license and reinstate his Social Security number, but this raises questions about the death benefits for his children, and...

I've always been dumb-founded by the fact that once you reach the legal state "guilty", you remain "guilty" even if the law you broke is repealed. Bunch of folks sitting in prison in Colorado for marijuana are in this state of disconnect.

K wrote a letter to the judge for consideration in sentencing M, who had pled guilty to growing mushrooms. In it, she pointed out that mushrooms ('shrooms) are simply hallucinogenic, that they're not addictive and non toxic. She also described the circumstances that led M to grow: he was over his head in debt due to the housing collapse, couldn't rebuild vacated and vandalized houses because if no 24 hour muscle present any plumbing or wiring would be stripped, so chose to grow to dig himself out of the financial hole.

The judge's response, recited in court and dripping with derision, was that it mattered not at all that nobody was harmed and that no damage was done; the law had been broken. period.

It's all about domination. "mind over matter": we don't mind, and you don't matter.

I am no longer shocked when hearing "I was only following orders", whether from a judge, a prosecutor, or a police officer.

My last few show-ups for jury duty have gotten me booted pretty quickly, even though I'm actively wanting to serve. As I think more about it, I realize that the one time I got to serve was probably just because the prosecuting attorney was so new that she didn't understand how to stack the jury yet.