15 year armed standoff in Texas ends

[chuckybrown]

These guys were directly across the river from a deer lease I was on for 16 years:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nati ... /78553518/

I don't agree with the dropping of charges, but I suppose it's better than the alternative.

[nightmare69]

I hope that this doesn't become habit.

[Javier730]

There had to be more to the story. This man broke the law (whether you agree he had the right to carry at the time) by assaulting an officer, locked himself up on his property where he had firepower and manpower to prevent law enforcement from getting him? This can not be the whole story...

[gdanaher]

He was effectively under house arrest for that time and was out of everyone's hair, so perhaps they view this as having paid his debt, but it is still troubling that the group is still so distrustful that they will continue to sequestor themselves on the property. Well on second thought, maybe this is a good thing.

[nightmare69]

There had to be more to the story. This man broke the law (whether you agree he had the right to carry at the time) by assaulting an officer, locked himself up on his property where he had firepower and manpower to prevent law enforcement from getting him? This can not be the whole story...

He was arrested for UCW in 1999 and assault on a peace officer. He bit the trooper who arrested him. He never went to court and instead held up and never left his 47 acre compound. Charges were dropped 14yrs later when the DA left office. He got away with it because the Sheriff determined it was too risky to try to bring him to justice. This is a victory for the criminal and those who oppose no-knock warrants.

[drjoker]

Sheriff Nutt is an elected official. That's why he did not use Nazi tactics like Waco nor Ruby Ridge to get this guy. Notice how you are more likely to get crooked cops in jurisdictions where the Sheriff is not elected but hired. What these hired sheriffs fail to realise is that they are supposed to SERVE the communities that they work in, not the other way around. Having elected sheriffs also prevent all these ridiculous excess of force shootings you see on T.V. prompting "black lives matter" protests (where are the protests for other lives?!) I would like to say that it's not a race thing and ALL lives matter. No knock warrants are color blind.

No, there isn't "more" to this story. Read the story, the scumbag was using his GRANDCHILDREN as human shields. He had kiddos on armed patrol duty on his compound. Dead kiddos would've been a P.R. nightmare for Sheriff Nutt so he kept the old coot on house arrest for 14 years instead. If a HIRED sheriff were in charge instead of an elected one, then there most likely would've been an armed raid similar to Ruby Ridge or Branch Davidian Waco.

All L.E. positions should be elected positions.

[Abraham]

"All L.E. positions should be elected positions."

All?

[cbunt1]

"All L.E. positions should be elected positions."

All?

Well, at least the heads of the departments, i think.

I've long thought that the difference between being appointed vs. Elected is the difference between serving and controlling a population.

It's an extreme position, and the control aspect rarely plays out as described,but the direct accountability to those served is significant, conceptually.

Somewhere in the middle is workable reailty, but the distinction is worth noting and recognizing.

[Javier730]

There had to be more to the story. This man broke the law (whether you agree he had the right to carry at the time) by assaulting an officer, locked himself up on his property where he had firepower and manpower to prevent law enforcement from getting him? This can not be the whole story...

He was arrested for UCW in 1999 and assault on a peace officer. He bit the trooper who arrested him. He never went to court and instead held up and never left his 47 acre compound. Charges were dropped 14yrs later when the DA left office. He got away with it because the Sheriff determined it was too risky to try to bring him to justice. This is a victory for the criminal and those who oppose no-knock warrants.

That sheriff should of not been sheriff in the first place. Victory for the criminal yes but I don't see a connection to no knock warrants.

[WildBill]

There had to be more to the story. This man broke the law (whether you agree he had the right to carry at the time) by assaulting an officer, locked himself up on his property where he had firepower and manpower to prevent law enforcement from getting him? This can not be the whole story...

There is always more to the story. If he actually had gone to court some of that story would have been told.

[JALLEN]

Elections aren't the be all and end all, especially where the voters are not up to the job, and do not require integrity as a requirement for public office.

Look at Illinois, where Former Governors Association meetings are held in the penitentiary. Look at Congress, where, to name one example, Alcee Hastings has served 22 years after being impeached and removed from office as a District Court Judge, for bribery, for crying out loud! Often, where elected locals are tainted, it's an entire culture of corruption, dishonesty where integrity unheard of.

45 years ago, I learned from a lawyer at a large stock brokerage that you can hire 2 kinds of clerks for the cashiering section, handling the money and stock transfers, dumb ones who lose it and smart ones who steal it.

The service academies have honor codes, "I will not lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate those who do." There isn't anything that hard about living like this, but many would rather be marinated in sheep poop than do so. "You can't make me!" ought to be on modern money instead of "In God we trust."

[Javier730]

There had to be more to the story. This man broke the law (whether you agree he had the right to carry at the time) by assaulting an officer, locked himself up on his property where he had firepower and manpower to prevent law enforcement from getting him? This can not be the whole story...

There is always more to the story. If he actually had gone to court some of that story would have been told.

When I said more to the story, I did not mean the interaction with the man and the arresting officer, I meant the sheriff who refused to come pick him up. How is someone to dangerous to arrest? That is ridiculous. They must have been buddies or something.

[The Annoyed Man]

"It wasn't worth it,” the sheriff said. “Joe Gray has been in prison out there himself, in my opinion, for 14 years."

It was justice served, the sheriff suggested, in a felony case that never went to court.

Interesting perspective.

[tomtexan]

The charges against the man (John Joe Gray) were from Anderson County, which is where the incident occurred. Sheriff Nutt is the Sheriff for Henderson County, where the suspect lived. I'm just guessing that the DA (Doug Lowe) from Anderson County never forwarded a warrant to Sheriff Nutt to serve. I really have no idea how all that works, but I would imagine a warrant would have to originate from the county where the charges were filed.
http://www.kltv.com/clip/12127062/httpw ... a-year-ago

[chuckybrown]

I can share first hand that law enforcement involvement went well above the county level.