Comments on: Maryland Judges Tosses the Felony Wiretapping Charges Against Anthony Graber

By: Rebel of the Week: RevisitedSilver Circle Political Blog | Silver Circle Political Blog

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 14:27:41 +0000

[...] 2 felony charges have both been dropped. The Hartford County judge hearing the case has some game changing words to say about the incident: “Those of us who are public officials and are entrusted with the [...]

By: Defending People » Blawg Review #284

Defending People » Blawg Review #284 — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 06:03:37 +0000

[...] making us safer. Sometimes, as in the Anthony Graber cop-recording case, it fails—Radley Balko (The Agitator) and Mirriam Seddiq (Not Guilty) write separately about the court’s dismissal of the charge. [...]

By: pam

pam — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 16:17:49 +0000

driving in circles gets boring. Cops look for more exciting things to do.

By: MadScientist

MadScientist — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 02:57:41 +0000

Not to mention the old “ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking the law” – it obviously doesn’t apply to the ignoramuses who are meant to enforce the law.

By: syd

syd — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 17:47:18 +0000

The judge’s last name is Plitt. The Baltimore Sun got it wrong originally.

http://www.harfordcountymd.gov/directory/PhoneDeptDirectory.cfm?APull=Agency&IDAg=46

By: Charges Dropped Against Man Who Recorded Traffic Stop « Later On

Charges Dropped Against Man Who Recorded Traffic Stop « Later On — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 16:52:17 +0000

[...] in Daily life, Government, Law at 9:52 am by LeisureGuy Randy Balko: Graber is the Maryland motorcyclist who had his home raided, was arrested, jailed, and charged [...]

By: Charges Dropped Against Man Who Recorded Traffic Stop : Dispatches from the Culture Wars

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 15:30:41 +0000

[...] has some good news. Anthony Graber, a Maryland man who was charged with felony wiretapping for recording a police [...]

By: That Was Fun, Wasn’t It? | Truth and Justice For All

That Was Fun, Wasn’t It? | Truth and Justice For All — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 15:02:28 +0000

[...] analysis by Radley Balko on the Anthony Graber case and the judge dismissing the portion of the case relating to [...]

By: Robert

Robert — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 22:06:53 +0000

What happened to the motorcyclist illustrates the old saying:

You might beat the rap, but you won’t beat the ride.

By: Grenadier1

Grenadier1 — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 21:02:03 +0000

“Yep. It’s meaningless to make a judge have to sign a warrant unless the judge has some skin in the game. If he can face no negative consequences, then (short of morality) he has no reason to not simply sign every warrant that comes across his desk. Oddly, that describes pretty well what we see around these parts”

I will make a note of this and once the shooting stops we can fix this going forward.

By: JS

JS — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 18:56:52 +0000

Chris in AL “Apparently the judge that issued the search warrant for Graber’s house also does not understand the law. Obviously he did not refuse the search warrant because the act for which they were searching for evidence is actually perfectly legal.”

That’s the real scandal. Judges just accept that they are an appendage of the police and rubber stamp any damn thing the cops want without having to show the least probably cause. It undermines the whole purpose for having to get a warrant in the first place.

By: Mannie

Mannie — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 18:11:32 +0000

#15 | Steve Verdon | September 28th, 2010 at 1:04 pm Right, but us civilians we have to know it as well as a lawyer knows it. This just underscores the level of bullshit that our legal system has sunk too.

The cops are civilians, too. We are Citizens!

By: Chris in AL

Chris in AL — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 17:40:34 +0000

OK, correct me if I am wrong here, but it was not the cop in the video that arrested him for the wiretapping charge. That did not come until later, after he posted it on youtube right?

So this isn’t a case of a cop making an immediate mistaken interpretation of law. This was a police department with time to review the video as well as the law, consult with the DA’s office on whether a law was violated and make a fully informed decision. And then they had to get a warrant, allegedly from someone tasked with making sure the suspect’s rights were not violated.

And they decided to harass a guy on something they could not really believe would ever hold up in court. It is good the charges were dropped, but this is no win for liberty. I am guessing everything went exactly as the cops thought it would.

By: Chris in AL

Chris in AL — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 17:27:24 +0000

Apparently the judge that issued the search warrant for Graber’s house also does not understand the law. Obviously he did not refuse the search warrant because the act for which they were searching for evidence is actually perfectly legal.

I wonder what the ramifications would be if they had found some incriminating evidence of a different, unrelated crime on the guy’s computer? Inadmissible because it was obtained after arresting a man for a non-crime and during a search for evidence to support the charge of a non-crime?

By: John Thacker

John Thacker — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 17:21:14 +0000

Weird thing about State's Attorney Cassilly: He spoke at Cato last week on the subject and says that he thinks that that the law should be changed to clearly delineate the exception and in fact to make MD a one-party consent state. Not sure that I entirely buy his apparent argument that this was a useful test case to get the law changed, but a clear liberty-respecting law would be better than the status quo. More here.

By: Steve Verdon

Steve Verdon — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 17:04:28 +0000

Going to disagree with you only slightly here. Police are not lawyers and their knowledge of the law is generally derived by given a copy of the state and municipal ordinances.

Right, but us civilians we have to know it as well as a lawyer knows it. This just underscores the level of bullshit that our legal system has sunk too.

By: Boyd Durkin

Boyd Durkin — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 16:23:43 +0000

‘Sed quis custodiet ipsos cutodes’ (“Who watches the watchmen?”).”

Nice to see the judge in the case get it right.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 16:18:49 +0000

You guys are being to hard on the nice police officers. I mean, they were only doing there jobs. First by pulling a gun on a traffic violation while not in uniform and not identifying themselves as a peace officer for like 10 or 15 seconds. I am sure Mr Graber knew he was facing a peace officer as soon as he saw the blue jeans and pistol.

As for the arrest on the wiretapping charge, well, Mr Graber tried to undermine the peoples respect for law enforcement by posting that video. What were the nice police department suppose to do, just let him? No, that would be bad. So they found the wiretap law and twisted it so that they could arrest him for the public good. Maybe they were a bit misguided, but darn it, the public support for law has to come before individual rights, doesn’t it???

So, the next time you get falsely arrested and maybe beaten, be glad there are no video cameras around that might show video that would hurt the support and respect that the police department demand. After all, if for the greater good.

By: JS

JS — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 11:17:54 +0000

“So what will be their punishment?”

Unaccountability

By: Michaelk42

Michaelk42 — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 06:51:14 +0000

But our favorite (alleged) cop caricature on the internet thinks the system worked:

“I doubt the police knew about the video until it went viral. How could they charge him for a video they weren’t aware of?

“Hmmm….so they charged him with a law that is on the books. He took it to court and a judge handed down a ruling that the law shouldn’t apply in this situation. Now there is a case law on this so it is unlikely that people will continue to be charged. Looks like the system worked.

“It’s great that you guys can read the minds of the police and determine their motives. I wish I had that power.”

…

http://carlosmiller.com/2010/09/27/maryland-judge-throws-out-wiretapping-charges-against-anthony-graber/#comment-36860

So of course, no one needs punished. Uh-huh.