17 August 2006

Disarming the fascists

Cops must put away the guns... because criminals have feelings too.
A left-leaning judge has shocked Toronto Police with an order that uniformed cops could not testify in his court if they wear their guns.

Ontario Court Justice Melvyn Green told a flabbergasted cop witness in a routine impaired driving case Tuesday to "check his gun somewhere."

Const. Chris Horton walked a gantlet of criminals as he stored his gun in a basement storage locker, the cop union says.
Of course, when push came to shove, Justice Green had an epiphany.
Green -- forewarned of possible police brass and union intervention -- tossed the gun issue in the laps of prosecutors and defence lawyers.

"It's their trial, not my trial ... if there is no objection, I am not going to raise the objection myself," the judge said. "It is a question of fairness and the appearance of fairness ... for the optics of the parties."
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UPDATE: Thank Dalton McGuinty for this nonsense.

Who is Melvyn Green?
Green was one of three lawyers who took the case of cop killer Clinton Gayle to the Ontario Court of Appeal in 2001. Gayle, who was 26 at the time of the Baylis murder, was found near Baylis' shooting with 14.5 grams of crack cocaine and an illegal, loaded semi-automatic handgun.

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