SmarterthanYou
rebel
http://bostonherald.com/news/opinion/op_ed/view/20220113crime_victim_still_takes_it_on_the_chin
Here’s the final outcome of the Anthony McKay case:
If you defend your family and property from a knife-wielding druggie in Massachusetts, you’d better be prepared to also defend yourself from the justice system, too.
McKay is the young father who, seeing a local druggie breaking into his truck and stealing the tools he uses to pay the bills, confronted him, subdued him and held him for the police. When the police arrived, they found the bad guy had a knife, a billy club and — thanks to the unarmed McKay — a broken jaw.
Instead of thanking McKay for helping get an armed criminal off the streets, Swampscott officials charged him with a felony. As a Swampscott police spokesman said at the time, “We don’t urge anybody to fight back. We want them to call us.”
Thanks to pressure from readers of the Boston Herald and others, McKay will not be prosecuted. But the Essex County District Attorney’s office has made it clear that they are not supporting your right to self defense.
The Lynn Daily Item yesterday reported that the Essex DA insists the decision to nol pros — decline to prosecute — the case does not mean they think the police were wrong in arresting McKay. “It was not meant to Monday morning quarterback,” said spokesperson Carrie Kimball Monahan.
McKay’s pro bono attorney, Richard Chambers, was told the same thing. “The Essex DA’s office said they are able to prosecute some cases and not others, and this is one of those that they are not going to prosecute.”
In other words, McKay is lucky that the media made an issue out of this outrageous prosecution. Otherwise he could have spent five years in prison instead of working and paying the bills for his three young children.
Who can possibly think this is the right way to run a state? Well, Martha Coakley once said, “In Massachusetts we try and discourage . . . self-help.”
If Essex DA Jon Blodgett had dropped the charges and acknowledged McKay had done nothing wrong, that would send the message to future crooks that the law is on the good guy’s side.
Instead, Blodgett refused take sides. He and his spokesman have also refused repeated requests to answer questions about this case. All of which leaves us wondering:
If I see someone breaking into my car or garage, or stealing my property right out of my yard, am I supposed to call the police and just watch them steal my stuff?
I put that question to three local attorneys and got three different answers:
Wendy Murphy told me, “The standard in Massachusetts is you cannot defend yourself unless you’re going to die.” She also said this standard is “ridiculous,” and that “if the police tell you to do nothing as your livelihood is stolen, I’d be tempted to sue them.”
Joe Flaherty told me, “You have the right to confront them and stop them . . . but you don’t have the right to use force.” When I asked what I could do under Massachusetts law, he said, “You could scream and yell at them.”
Yeah, that’ll work.
Meanwhile, former Governor’s Council candidate Bob Jubinville said, “If it’s me, I grab a baseball bat and head out. But if a client asked me what to do, I’d say ‘Call the cops and hope they show up fast.’ ”
So, I asked him, if I’m a crime victim trying to protect my property in Massachusetts, is the state on my side?
“Absolutely not.”
Here’s the final outcome of the Anthony McKay case:
If you defend your family and property from a knife-wielding druggie in Massachusetts, you’d better be prepared to also defend yourself from the justice system, too.
McKay is the young father who, seeing a local druggie breaking into his truck and stealing the tools he uses to pay the bills, confronted him, subdued him and held him for the police. When the police arrived, they found the bad guy had a knife, a billy club and — thanks to the unarmed McKay — a broken jaw.
Instead of thanking McKay for helping get an armed criminal off the streets, Swampscott officials charged him with a felony. As a Swampscott police spokesman said at the time, “We don’t urge anybody to fight back. We want them to call us.”
Thanks to pressure from readers of the Boston Herald and others, McKay will not be prosecuted. But the Essex County District Attorney’s office has made it clear that they are not supporting your right to self defense.
The Lynn Daily Item yesterday reported that the Essex DA insists the decision to nol pros — decline to prosecute — the case does not mean they think the police were wrong in arresting McKay. “It was not meant to Monday morning quarterback,” said spokesperson Carrie Kimball Monahan.
McKay’s pro bono attorney, Richard Chambers, was told the same thing. “The Essex DA’s office said they are able to prosecute some cases and not others, and this is one of those that they are not going to prosecute.”
In other words, McKay is lucky that the media made an issue out of this outrageous prosecution. Otherwise he could have spent five years in prison instead of working and paying the bills for his three young children.
Who can possibly think this is the right way to run a state? Well, Martha Coakley once said, “In Massachusetts we try and discourage . . . self-help.”
If Essex DA Jon Blodgett had dropped the charges and acknowledged McKay had done nothing wrong, that would send the message to future crooks that the law is on the good guy’s side.
Instead, Blodgett refused take sides. He and his spokesman have also refused repeated requests to answer questions about this case. All of which leaves us wondering:
If I see someone breaking into my car or garage, or stealing my property right out of my yard, am I supposed to call the police and just watch them steal my stuff?
I put that question to three local attorneys and got three different answers:
Wendy Murphy told me, “The standard in Massachusetts is you cannot defend yourself unless you’re going to die.” She also said this standard is “ridiculous,” and that “if the police tell you to do nothing as your livelihood is stolen, I’d be tempted to sue them.”
Joe Flaherty told me, “You have the right to confront them and stop them . . . but you don’t have the right to use force.” When I asked what I could do under Massachusetts law, he said, “You could scream and yell at them.”
Yeah, that’ll work.
Meanwhile, former Governor’s Council candidate Bob Jubinville said, “If it’s me, I grab a baseball bat and head out. But if a client asked me what to do, I’d say ‘Call the cops and hope they show up fast.’ ”
So, I asked him, if I’m a crime victim trying to protect my property in Massachusetts, is the state on my side?
“Absolutely not.”
