BL> I'm the one with a lethal weapon... a 1.4 ton car with 150HP.

 JT> A 1.4 ton car is also not "considered" a weapon, but if push
 JT> comes to shove, the car would be more a weapon than the brick,
 JT> the law would see it that YOU had an unfair advantage.

  The Law has not seen it that way, so far. Even that bus driver who
ran down the drunks coming out of the Hakoah Club and killed the
footballer... he just kept insisting that his foot slipped on the
brake, in spite of 50 witnesses saying the contrary, and walked away
giggling. Even that lunatic who knocked over the guy, and then came
around for a second go and killed the girlfriend... only got 2 years
for what would have been cold-blooded murder if he had used any other
weapon but a car.

 JT> Remember the boongs could scream innocence and say that they
 JT> are so unfairly treated.

  Yair... then why are there so many abos in gaols? It's a plain fact
of life that if I turn up in court, blond, blue-eyed, wearing a suit
and clearly nervous, well-spoken and intelligent, defer to the judge
and the system... and face a dopey untidy boong talking like a boong
and especially looking like a boong with a smartarse boong-lawyer and
both of them sneering at the judge... oh, yair. Even a boong-judge is
going to believe me over the boong. Racism is much more subtle that
most people think.

  I was raised in the slums of Newtown surrounded by dickheads who
had to act like boongs because they knew no better. It was one of the
first things I did: learn *not* to look like a boong and talk like a
boong. You can always go back, it you want to talk to a boong...

 BL> If I were attacked in the street by unarmed kids (say), who
 BL> yelled they were going to kill me (as is their wont), and I ran
 BL> up an alley to get away and was trapped... then, under the law,
 BL> I am entitled to kill them. I took steps to avoid them (I ran
 BL> away); I was in imminent fear of my life (they stated the
 BL> intent to kill), so I can pull out my 357 magnum and blow the
 BL> fuckers away.

 JT> So in court, when they ask you what the offenders' weapon was
 JT> you say "what weapon?". His mates could claim that they were
 JT> only playing joke, a joke that turned sour, but a joke in any
 JT> case.

  No, no... the key is to be in fear of your life with due cause,
after havign taken reasonable step to avoid it. THEN you are allowed
to use self defence. The "joke" is on them. If they terrify you and
pursue you, you are entitled to defend yourself. The court case then
runs on rails, and it is up to the jury to decide whether your action
was justified.

  If you can't show that you were in fear of your life, and that you
retreated, then self-defence cannot be used.

  A classic example was the antique dealer who chased the buglar and
shot him in the back. His problem was proving he was in fear of his
life. Once it got before the jury, they were quite happy to turn him
loose.

 JT> See what happens if you try driving a gun. Holy shit, the media
 JT> would have a field day. Oh, I'm sorry, shooting is not a sport,
 JT> so it must be a revenue earner for the media.

  You seem to have a slim grasp of our legal system. Once you are
charged, the Media is not allowed to comment until *after* the trial.
It's fashionable for guilty people to say that they suffered "trial by
media" but that does not happen in Australia. Our law is different
from the USA and the OJ Simpson farce.

 BL> It's so easy to invent a sequence of events that changes the
 BL> perception...

 JT> You need a good lawyer. They are trained in their field to lie
 JT> in a way that makes it seem believable.

  That's what lawyers are for.

 BL> If you are ever in *serious* trouble with the law, and
 BL> especially if you are guilty... say nothing. Tell your story in
 BL> court for the first time, after rehearsing it with your lawyer
 BL> in private.

 JT> Yeah, this you have to do.

  Crooks know it, but no one ever explains it to us law-abiding ones.
Instead, we get a constant barrage of "the police are your friends"
bullshit on TV. If you step on the law, either intentionally or
accidentally, the police are the ENEMY.

Regards,
Bob

  
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