Thursday, August 23, 2012
Update: Brandon Raub Being Transferred to Veterans Hospital Psych Ward in Salem, Va.
The agenda appears to be to hide him from the people, and to complicate things for his lawyers and family when they want to contact him
Special Justice Walter Douglass Stokes for the General District Court for the City of Hopewell, Va., has denied an emergency motion filed by attorneys for The Rutherford Institute to stop former Marine Brandon Raub from being forcibly transferred to a psychiatric facility more than three hours away from his family, friends and legal team.
Raub, who was arrested, detained indefinitely in a psych ward and forced to undergo psychological evaluations based solely on the controversial nature of lines from song lyrics, political messages and virtual card games which he posted to his private Facebook page, is being transferred from John Randolph Psychiatric Medical Hospital in Hopewell to the Veterans Hospital in Salem, Va., on the other side of the state.
“This is not how justice in America is supposed to work—with Americans being arrested for doing nothing more than exercising their First Amendment rights, forced to undergo psychological evaluations, detained against their will and isolated from their family, friends and attorneys. This is a scary new chapter in our history,” said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. “Brandon Raub is no different from the majority of Americans who use their private Facebook pages to post a variety of content, ranging from song lyrics and political hyperbole to trash talking their neighbors, friends and government leaders.”
In a hearing before Special Justice Walter Douglass Stokes on August 20, government officials again pointed to Raub’s Facebook posts as the sole reason for their concern and for his continued incarceration. Ignoring Raub’s explanations about the fact that the FB posts were being read out of context and his attorney’s First Amendment defense, Stokes sentenced the former Marine to up to 30 days’ further confinement in a psych ward and signed a court order for Raub’s involuntary admission to the Veterans Hospital in Salem. Rutherford Institute attorneys are in the process of filing various emergency motions and procedural appeals to challenge Raub’s detention.
Source
It is an exquisite irony that Salem, VA. is the venue for something not too different from what once happened in Salem, MA. It is indeed another witch hunt.
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13 comments:
Good thing he and others put their lives on the line for free speech.. oh .. wait, nevermind. There is no free speech, especially of the political kind.
Still think this is a free country? The only freedom you have is that which "they" allow you to have.
The chances are good that America will implode because of this election. We are a country that started out great, but as time went on, we lacked the strength and the will to keep it great. Maybe they'll get it right next time around. Then again, Americans have never been known for learning from our mistakes.
While from the little I know I am concerned that this man has been held involuntarily because of some statements he made, and while I have some misgivings about the correctness of the decision, I reiterate that this man appears to have been afforded due process of law.
The due process of a just law or political interference for the so called public good? Unless in court it can be proven that he is suffering from PTSD and that is causing his current mental condition then there can be no valid legal reason to transfer him to a military hospital for civil offences that may or may not have been committed.
I still say that if this guy is a psycho, I don't want him on the streets. He wasn't just complaining about government. He was making threats, and people that viewed those threats, meaning people that were friends with him on facebook, were worried enough to call the police.
I say let people complain all they want about the government and politicians. But if someone says that they can't stand it and they are going to go shoot up a government building, I have no problem with the police investigating threats. Most of the time those threats will just be someone blowing off steam, but sometimes the person will be a real nutcase.
I think we will all have a better idea of the truth in time.
Anon 12:37 - Could you please enlighten us with the specific threats and the nature of those threats? These days, there is some confusion about what a "specific threat" is, and many people equate "someone ought to blow up the pentagon" with "I am going to blow up the pentagon." If the statements were of the former type, they are not threats but opinion (and could barely rise to the level of exhortation to violence if a reasonable jury heard them). If they were of the latter, then he needs to be criminally charged, not "evaluated."
Anon 7:10, you obviously have not been paying attention. Is being dragged out of your home, in handcuffs, without being charged with a crime, and without anyone telling you that you are under arrest, and why, without any Constitutionaly-mandated Miranda warnings, without any notification to family members, and without being brought before a judge, also mandated by the Constitution, your idea of due process?
Might you be a distant relative of Heinrich Himmler?
Obama is like all socualism slimeballs cruah all decent to their ulterior plans
He's released. A huge problem appears to be the first judge. He was supposed to be the check on the police. He should have interviewed the guy and then told the police to release him, as well as possibly admonishing them. Instead he was just a rubber stamp.
@9:57, it sounds as if the judge was also really old and hard of hearing. Still no real comfort in defense of freedom.
Liberals totaly reject the U.S. CONSTITUTION and want it replaced by world law and treaties
Conservatives totaly reject the U.S. CONSTITUTION and want it replaced by Bible Law and Reagan words of wisdom..
Most revolutions every where in the world just demonstrate George Orwell's classic "Animal Farm" scenario, where the new governments just become like the old ones - old medicine in new bottles!
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