Judge caught trying to board plane with loaded weapon.

[ziadel]

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007708010360

ROMULUS -- Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox could decide whether to bring charges against an Inkster judge accused of bringing a loaded gun to a Detroit Metropolitan Airport checkpoint.

Wayne Prosecutor Kym Worthy on Tuesday asked Cox for a special prosecutor to handle her case, citing a conflict because of her friendship with the judge, Sylvia James.

The chief judge of Inkster's 22nd District Court, James was stopped about 12:50 p.m. Saturday after she placed the loaded handgun in her carry-on luggage in the McNamara Terminal, according to Worthy's office. The gun was spotted during a routine baggage check.

James, who was allowed to continue on her flight to Atlanta, couldn't be reached for comment. Like some judges throughout Michigan, she has a concealed weapons permit. The gun was legally registered.

"I can't imagine her doing something deliberate. She's probably very embarrassed," said Inkster Mayor Hilliard Hampton, who has known James since the 1970s and sparred with her politically.

"She's a very proud person and very much wants to keep embarrassing situations to a minimum."

A warrant was issued for James' arrest by the Wayne County Airport Police. Worthy said her office wants to avoid the appearance of conflict because she and James are sorority sisters. The two have known each other at least since Worthy became a Wayne Circuit judge in 1997.

Worthy is asking Cox for a prosecutor, which under state law allows his office to handle the case or appoint a special attorney. Matt Frendewey, a spokesman for Cox, said his office has not received the case and can't yet say when or if charges would be filed.

James could be fined up to $7,500 by theTransportation SecurityAdministration, but it's unclear if the case would bring misdemeanor or felony charges.

In a similar case in 2003, then-Detroit Police Chief Jerry Oliver pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor gun charge for having an unlicensed handgun in his checked luggage. He paid $250 in court fees and a $300 fine. He resigned, saying he didn't want the gun issue to become a sideshow.

If James is convicted of a felony, the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission could remove her from office.

Airport spokesman Mike Conway would not identify the woman involved in the incident, but said she was cooperative. The woman claimed she forgot she had the gun.

"She was not handled any differently than any other person would be at the airport," Conway said. "We've had a handful of these in the last couple of years. She could not have been more polite and professional as she was."

"She was not handled any differently than any other person would be at the airport,"

who do they think they are kidding?

 

[Cosmoline]

Allowed to continue her flight? A normal person would have been strip searched and sent to jail.

 

[cambeul41]

Okay, but how does this make her any different from any of us?

"She's a very proud person and very much wants to keep embarrassing situations to a minimum."

 

[waterhouse]

I don't really have any problem with the way the judge was treated.

I just wish the rest of us could receive the same courtesy.

 

[MechAg94]

No disagreement there. If any of us was simply found carrying in the secured area of the airport, I doubt we would be treated well at all.

 

[Nolo]

Tell me about it, I think that having a loaded firearm in an airport is worse than having a knife in a school, and I was manhandled and arrested (handcuffed even, what'd they think I was going to do? Run away? after I spent 3 hours in their office?) and suspended (nearly expelled) for nothing more!
Aristocratic fools!

 

[Crunker1337]

If the average Joe was caught in an airport with a loaded pistol there is NO WAY they'd be able to continue their flight.

They'd be arrested, detained, interrogated, strip-searched, and quite possibly abused. Then they'd be sent to jail, have all their weapons confiscated, and charged with a felony and found guilty.

Judges are not part of a "ruling class", and I hope that this judge is a: jailed as would happen to anyone else, or b: anyone else with a CCW permit and a loaded pistol in an airport is treated the same way she was.

 

[Billy_H]

I saw this story on the news this morning, it seems more like par for the course for "normal folks".

Woman arrested for gun at Tampa airport
TAMPA --
(AP) -- A woman is charged with carrying a gun through a Tampa airport security checkpoint.

Susan Mericle True was arrested at Tampa International Airport. Security guards found that she was carrying a handgun with five bullets.

True is charged with one count of carrying a concealed firearm. She is being held at the Orient Road Jail on $2,000 bail.

An airport spokeswoman says True has an expired permit for the gun.

 

[ConstitutionCowboy]

Bah!

This shouldn't be an issue to begin with! There is that pesky Second Amendment, don'cha know...

Maybe the judge will fight this on Second Amendment grounds..........NAH!

Woody

 

[yhtomit]

"Maybe the judge will fight this on Second Amendment grounds..........NAH!"

But she was keeping and bearing a weapon -- how could the second amendment possibly apply?



























Oh. Right.


timothy

 

[Zoogster]

Should be no big deal for a member of the ruling class. Maybe a minor slap on the wrist or charge to show no preferential treatment (or so they can say) that requires some community service which will count something she already does in her daily life as community service.

The ruling class of judges, politicians, and thier foot soldiers, LEO's get special treatment in these kinds of "errors in judgement". If there was no malicious intent little is done.

A mere commoner would be arrested, stripped, interrogated for hours as a potential terrorist, and finaly booked into jail. They would likely become a felon. Obviously there is nothing to "win" in court, the person had something in a place they could not have it.

 

[shooter503]

Legal Eagles,
What would happen if this happened to a regular person with the same qualifications, CCW etc.?

Could the treatment of this judge be used as precedent for treatment of a regular individual?

 

[ServiceSoon]

Legal Eagles,
What would happen if this happened to a regular person with the same qualifications, CCW etc.?

Could the treatment of this judge be used as precedent for treatment of a regular individual?

A logical person would come to that conclusion, but law has very little to do with logic.

 

[Turkey Creek]

The average Joe in the same situation would already be enroute to the goulag- It gets more true every day that there is equal justice for everyone- Just that some are more equal than others

 

[jamesish]

A friend of the family did this same thing, except he had no special title or position.

He said that airport security and police were very polite and courteous, but he was taken into custody immediately.

I think her "special treatment" was being released while they signed warrants, as opposed to taken into custody and then arraigned on charges.

 

[ConstitutionCowboy]

It's funny, though. She was caught red handed yet a warrant was "required" for her to be arrested. Aside from the Second Amendment(considered notwithstanding for the sake of discussion), would it not be a reasonable arrest(seizure) when you're caught with your hand in the cookie jar?

Just sayin'....

What're we gonna do when they ban defecating anywhere near a fan?

Woody

Litany of blue, profane, derogatory, and truly felt explicatives withheld for the protection of our children and the tender of ear. B.E.Wood

 

[Caimlas]

If the average Joe was caught in an airport with a loaded pistol there is NO WAY they'd be able to continue their flight.

They'd be arrested, detained, interrogated, strip-searched, and quite possibly abused. Then they'd be sent to jail, have all their weapons confiscated, and charged with a felony and found guilty.

Correct.

Judges are not part of a "ruling class", and I hope that this judge is a: jailed as would happen to anyone else, or b: anyone else with a CCW permit and a loaded pistol in an airport is treated the same way she was.

Since when? That's almost never been the case, culturally: judges have always had some degree of autonomy and privilege. And it's even more the case that Judges and similar 'officials' have more privilege now than it was 10 years ago.

My money is that this simply languishes due to the 'political' problems with sentencing a judge to prison for a 'common person' felony. A female judge in prison? Why, she might get raped! Or killed! (Not like the same isn't true for your average Jane or Joe, either...)

 

[obxned]

I thought all our Rulers were exempt form the laws they made for us subject people.

 

[Builder]

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=21716

 

[usmarine0352_2005]

I don't really have any problem with the way the judge was treated.

I just wish the rest of us could receive the same courtesy.

QFT.

LOL. But we don't, were peons.

 

[IA_farmboy]

I may be mistaken but I recall reading somewhere that some judges have arrest powers which effectively classifies them as LEOs. LEOs can carry their weapon on a plane as long as they identify themselves as such. Either this judge does not have arrest powers or is ignorant of the law herself.

It will be interesting to hear how this case plays out.