David on trial for car registration

[d_goddard]

In November of 2007, I began my simple act of civil disobedience. I received a ticket for failure to register my vehicle. ...
I am likely to be found guilty. I will then refuse to pay the initial fine, and any court fees that may be assessed. I am ready to go to jail

This is Good Stuff.

It would be awesome if you could pare it down to 2-3 paragraphs, and fire it off as an LTE to ever paper in the state.
To get you started, here's the info for the Monitor:
E-mail: letters@cmonitor.com
Letters must include your name, address and phone number. They may be edited for length.

[dalebert]

Actually the fine was $83.33, which sounds like some weird thirded fraction of something was taken off of the standard fine of $100, for what I can't imagine. This judge likes to be cryptic, I think. Reminds me of when he said in David Manning's trial that "We'll handle this in the usual manner" and no one knew what he meant by that either.

[John Edward Mercier]

Can someone help with my ignorance? What does it mean to have a fine suspended? If it's anything like when Romney "suspended" his campaign, I think you're in good shape.

It means he doesn't have to pay it as long as he doesn't get cited for the same 'offense' again.
A better outcome would have been 'put on file without finding' or even an outright 'not guilty'.

[Coconut]

Can someone help with my ignorance? What does it mean to have a fine suspended? If it's anything like when Romney "suspended" his campaign, I think you're in good shape.

It means he doesn't have to pay it as long as he doesn't get cited for the same 'offense' again.

How likely is that, assuming he's still driving unregistered? Do unregistered drivers make any attempt to make their stickers look like they're the right color?

[dalebert]

How likely is that, assuming he's still driving unregistered? Do unregistered drivers make any attempt to make their stickers look like they're the right color?

That's the odd thing. I brought this up earlier. He made it pretty clear that he intended to do exactly that but they're sort of turning the other cheek for now. I'm sure they expect he'll get arrested again for it and then they'll have to decide what to do then, but they don't seem eager to rush it. They could have had a cop follow him to his car and ticket him again if they had wanted to. *shrug*

[David]

Can someone help with my ignorance? What does it mean to have a fine suspended? If it's anything like when Romney "suspended" his campaign, I think you're in good shape.

It means he doesn't have to pay it as long as he doesn't get cited for the same 'offense' again.
A better outcome would have been 'put on file without finding' or even an outright 'not guilty'.

The fine is suspended, for 90 days unless I commit a felony or misdimeaner.  They were not going to find me not guilty, I told them I was not registered, right before I told them that my intention was to increase the cost of enforcement.   

How likely is that, assuming he's still driving unregistered? Do unregistered drivers make any attempt to make their stickers look like they're the right color?

That's the odd thing. I brought this up earlier. He made it pretty clear that he intended to do exactly that but they're sort of turning the other cheek for now. I'm sure they expect he'll get arrested again for it and then they'll have to decide what to do then, but they don't seem eager to rush it. They could have had a cop follow him to his car and ticket him again if they had wanted to. *shrug*

My license is out of state, so the tag would not matter much.  I don't think based on what he said in court that he even looked at the little tag.  He saw the expiration based on the paper I gave him. 

[Caleb]

Great Job, Dave! great work, that took a ton of courage. It's a shame russell got bagged by the bad guys cause your stand isn't getting quite the coverage it deserves. You stared down the state, and the state blinked. 

[Caleb]

I love it! I can't get over that one! "I intend to increase your cost of collection."  LOL


David:  "Hey judge! Throw me in jail. C'mon. Whatsa matter, chicken? I like bologna."

Judge: "AHHHHHHH!!!! Maaaaaaaaaaaxxxxxx! Get him out of my court. no fine. no fine. just get him outta here before everybody sees that the emperor doesn't have any clothes on under these robes."

David:  "Ok. by the way, kiss my shiny, white ass."

Judge: "Anything you ask, sir. Left cheek or right cheek?"

[hwrnhetcxyc]

good stuff

Way to go David!

[FTL_Ian]

Video from yesterday morning:

(Russell's arrest will be in a separate video.)

[dalebert]

Wow, you even gave my website a plug! Thanx!

A great video. Why no footage from the actual trial though? I thought the part where the judge interrupts him as he's about to asks those crucial questions was interesting.

[FTL_Ian]

Lauren has that footage.  I didn't want to wait for it.  Keep an eye out for her version...

[TackleTheWorld]

Speakin' o the devil

Video of the event

[FTL_Ian]

I have updated my video description with a link to your courtroom footage, Lauren.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSnOII_EoRI

[FTL_Ian]

Both videos have been posted at FreeKeene.com:

http://freekeene.com/2008/03/19/the-freedom-to-travel/