At 11:21 AM 8/19/97 -0700, Tim May wrote:

...

So, I disagree with Duncan's apparent point that it's too bad the Bell case didn't go to trial. I'm convinced Bell would have been convicted on most or all charges. Hardly a test case for anything important.

At 05:56 PM 8/19/97 -0400, Duncan Frissell wrote:

But the charges were minor stuff. Under the Federal sentencing guidelines he wouldn't have gotten much if convicted.

Federal sentencing guidelines are irrelevant in political cases. For example the survivors of the Waco massacre were found guilty of trivial technicalities, and then sentenced as if they had been found guilty of murdering federal agents. All appeals have been denied. Indeed it appears to be standard practice, that if a political criminal is charged with both trivial crimes of which he (and everyone else) is guilty, and extremely serious crimes, of which he is obviously innocent, he will be convicted on the trivia, and sentenced on the accusations. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | We have the right to defend ourselves | http://www.jim.com/jamesd/ and our property, because of the kind | of animals that we are. True law | James A. Donald derives from this right, not from the | arbitrary power of the state. | jamesd@echeque.com