PART THREE
On Second Thought! December 19, 2000
(Part One and Two attached below)

When you are on the accusing side of an argument and you begin to lose ground.on second thought..you retreat. If you are on the winning side of an argument, you stand until your enemy retreats. If the person in the right does have second thoughts and does not continue standing on the truth, wrong trumps right and then controls us.

The 2000 Presidential Election, which is final at last, shined a very bright light on the third branch of government, something that does not happen very often. The Judicial Branch of our government is empowered to interpret our laws and apply them in situations brought before them. They have no power to make new law.

I have been looking at issues in state and federal courts for about four years. What I believe we have just witnessed is politics being practiced in the courts-rather than law. A political career was at stake so the judicial branch was accessed to help save it, or enhance it, or gain support, to curry favor, etc.

As most of you already know, that one issue haunts me. I have been working to find a remedy for citizens who have been charged with some kind of "constructive" criminal allegation, dragged into a court, tried and then imprisoned. The danger is that the prosecutor may be looking at a political career or maybe his boss is and needs wins in his column, and to accomplish this goal he needs media reporting what he is saying in order to curry favor for his attempted prosecution.

What I would like for you to consider is political action in courts, and how easy it is to confuse politics with law.

While there are many points which I could bring out for your consideration, I will just bring out one in the recent Florida Election and one in the Missouri 15 trial in 1996, showing how dangerous second thoughts are in law.

Florida Statute § 102.111 was and is the law, requiring election results to be tabulated within seven days of the election. That is the Legislative time table. After the loser filed a petition in the Florida Court, the Supreme Court had SECOND THOUGHTS about the seven day Legislative time table so they made new law and created a JUDICIAL TIMETABLE, enhancing the time to 19 days for tabulating votes. NEW LAW OR INTERPRETATION? The answer depended on who you were listening to. The letter of the law is clear, the court made new law.

Now lets look at just one point in the Missouri 15 case. Many Missouri and Illinois Citizens were politically active and began to draw the wrath of a judicial officer. That officer complained to the Missouri Legislators. Subsequently an Information was filed and Citizens were arrested and fifteen were tried in one trial. The Information plainly stated the "FIRST THOUGHT" that caused the arrest.

COMPLAINT or INFORMATION:

The Special Prosecuting Attorney of Lincoln County, State of Missouri, charges that the defendants, in violation of Section 565.084, RSMo, committed the class C felony of Tampering with a Judicial Officer, punishable upon conviction under Section 558.011.0(3) and 560.011 RSMo, in that on or about April 1, 1996, in the County of Lincoln, State of Missouri, the defendants, with the purpose to influence *************, a judicial officer, in the criminal trial of State v. ***************, an official proceeding, tampered with a judicial officer by engaging in conduct reasonable calculated to harass *************, namely, filing a lien with the Lincoln County Recorder of Deeds on the property of *************.

If we assume there is evidence to support the allegation that the defendant(s) did in fact file a lien, then the Information would probably be valid. But the prosecutor, like the Florida Supreme Court, had second thoughts.

>From the Trial Transcript:
"Your Honor, If I might, before Miss **** begins her cross, again in an effort to keep this process moving, the State would stipulate that, uhm, no defendant's name appears on State's Exhibits 2-A, 2-B and 3. And in addition we would stipulate that no defendant was present on April one, 1996 when the liens
were filed."

Now we have a SECOND THOUGHT. Your Honor they didn't actually file the liens but we want to prosecute them for filing the liens. None of the defendants names are on the alleged liens, none of them were present when they were filed. The judge was aware of what was happening and allowed the trial to continue.

The only way this prosecution can be carried out without an outcry of the people is to curry their favor. This is done by accessing the media.

Fred W. Lindecke reported the opposite in his Newspaper story when he stated that the Attorney General said:

"Nixon said that those who were charged had signed liens....."

Did they are didn't they? Depends on who you are listening to. It is as if the Sixth Amendment no longer existed.

SIXTH AMENDMENT
RIGHTS OF ACCUSED IN CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a
speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district
wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have
been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and
cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against
him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor,
and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.
--------------------------
Try defending your beliefs in court and you will lose, ask any of the Missouri and Illinois Citizens and they will confirm. One only needs to read the transcript and it is plain the defendants were defending beliefs while the state was prosecuting for an act, which the State stipulated in court they never did. Sound crazy..it is. To add insult to injury the prosecutor was allowed to belittle and ridicule the defendants and their beliefs. Add that to the intimidation in front of the jury and it was a done deal, the jury bought it, hook, line and sinker.

The Florida case, due to the great importance of the matter, was defended by many many well known lawyers. Right prevailed, the Judiciary is under close scrutiny and I can again hope and pray that someone will at last see that politics in the court room is not new and we have many prisoners that are in prison for what they believed, not for what they did. Anyone that is willing to take just a little time to investigate the facts and ignore the hype, will find many more SECOND THOUGHTS in the Missouri Trial, and many others around the Nation.

The Constitution did not become an innocent prisoner in the 2000 Election, however it was a close call. It was not so in the trial of fifteen Citizens in Missouri where the First Amendment was cut out and discarded in order to prosecute these Christians for their beliefs and political activities.

Let's use our prisons for people that commit violent crimes, and stop using them to house people that don't believe the same thing we do.

I close with a reminder. Many of these prisoners will spend yet another Christmas in prison separated from their family and friends. Christians are charged to remember the prisoners. I am always ready to assist anyone that will take a little time to write a few letters, ask a few questions, advocate to Congress, even address the issues with media. I make available everything I have on the Missouri case and another case which I am aware of that is Federal.

I challenge you to do something new for your New Year resolution. Won't you resolve this year to get involved? It is as easy as getting familiar with a case and writing a few letters and then following up on them. As for myself, I plan to resolve to do better, and to help me do that I hope to post all my letters to Congressmen so that others can view them and hopefully pick up a pen and write a letter asking the same questions that I am. One person can make a difference. Maybe you are that person. Watch this posting for the first letter which will be posted by New Years.

If you would like more information you can reach me at :

Donna Carol Raifsnider
P.O. Box 871
Godley, Texas 76044

Peace on earth - Goodwill towards man.

In His service,
Donna Carol Raifsnider
donnacarol@justice.com 

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