More on Judge Rochester's Son

Yesterday I posted about Circuit Court Judge John Rochester's son, John Alexander Rochester, being charged with drug trafficking in Ashland, AL. According to the Ashland police department Rochester is charged with Trafficking in Cocaine, Possession of Controlled substance, Possession of Marijuana first degree, Unlawful distribution of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and trafficking in illegal drugs.

Those are some very serious charges.

It just so happens that Ashland, AL is my hometown. I grew up there and know virtually everyone. Three people are currently feeding me information on the case and all are watching to see if the judges son gets special treatment. My sources are telling me that John Alexander Rochester will turn states evidence and that arrangements are being sought for a treatment bed for him.

Rochester's son should not get special treatment because of who he is or because his daddy can afford to buy him a slot in a treatment center. If he does then I will organize a very rowdy protest on the steps of the Clay County Courthouse along with some or perhaps all of the following people and anyone else I can round up. Should be quite a crowd seeing as about half the population of Clay Co. has had someone sent to prison by Judge Rochester for drugs.

The kid I went to church with who got a five year prison sentence from Judge Rochester for possessing one Xanax. He wasn't trafficking. His family will attend too. They are well respected.

My brother, who Rochester has sentenced twice, ten years each, for being an alcoholic. He has never been a trafficker.

My sister-in-law, who is in jail with Judge Rochester's son. She is accused of having pills without a prescription. She has never been a trafficker

This is a chance to expose the blatant hypocrisy that is the criminal justice system. It will show that you can have about as much justice as you can afford in this country.

I think drug use/sales of any kind between consenting adults shouldn't be a crime and please don't think I am advocating for jail or prison for the young Rochester or the Yates kid. I am not. But, if one deserves a shot at a treatment bed then they all do and it shouldn't be based on how much money one has, and if it is then it is unconstitutional because it is discriminatory in nature. Only the rich can get in. The poor go to jail.

I'll keep everyone posted on new developments and if you are reading from Clay County then start rounding up folks that have felt the wrath of Judge Rochester to join in our potential protest.







del.icio.us
Google
Yahoo

Judge John Rochester's Son Arrested on Trafficking Charges

Oh...how the mighty have fallen!!

Judges son arrested

The son of a Clay county circuit court judge is in the Clay County jail on multiple drug charges. According to Ashland Police, John Alexander Rochester, son of circuit court judge John Rochester and Kyle Tyler Yates were both arrested in an Ashland park by police. Rochester is charged with Traffficking in Cocaine, Possession of Controlled substance, Possession of Marijuana first degree, Unlawful distribution of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and trafficking in illegal drugs. Yates has been charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. Both men remain in the Clay county jail.

Here is the beauty of this thing. I have sat in Judge Rochester's court room many times since I was a kid. Never been before him myself...but other family members and friends have and were placed in prison for YEARS for simple possession charges. Trafficking brought unbelievable sentences from Judge Rochester. It has been rumored for a long time by various sources that Judge Rochester is a big fan of nose candy himself....but I have never been able to confirm that. If he toot's he never offered me a bump.

And now his precious boy resides in the Clay County jail for trafficking. Interestingly enough...my sister-in-law is also in that same jail because she is a chronic pain patient who has no insurance and has to acquire her medications from the street. She is facing 15 years right now for that very thing. At least she has a legitimate need for doing what she is accused of if she actually did it.

I had a friend call me a few weeks ago to tell me that he is about to go before Rochester for trafficking cocaine. They have him on wire talking to an undercover and the undercover asks, "How much can I get for this?" and "You got that?" Specific drugs are never mentioned. He asked me if there was anything I could do to help him. I sent him a text message few minutes ago with this information about Rochester's son. That should help.

Now, I assume that Rochester will recuse himself from this case. I also assume he will use every available power that he has to keep his 'precious' out of the horrible Alabama prison system that he has so unceremoniously sent other people's precious kids to for the same or lesser crimes. I bet he might even try to get him in drug court...but traffickers are not eligible for drug court. When that fails he'll start looking for treatment for his kid...while he denied it to so many others, and maybe he will learn first hand about the appalling lack of treatment beds in this state.

I love it when officials kids make them look like fools. They parade around town acting holier-than-thou, wielding their power without regard for others...never thinking that one day it will be their kid.

Poetic Fucking Justice BABY!!

I LOVE IT!



del.icio.us
Google
Yahoo

A Little Mass DISSENT Anyone?

There is an excellent piece posted over at TIME Magazine written by the writer's of HBO's 'The Wire'. I don't have HBO and have never watched the show but they have hit the drug war between the eyes with this piece.

They say from here on out if they are asked to serve on the jury of a non-violent drug offender they will practice Jury Nullification. I am a big fan of such dissent tactics. It is extremely unlikely that I will ever be picked to serve on the jury in a non-violent drug case....but if I were picked I would employ jury nullification.

If you are picked to serve on the jury of a non-violent drug case I would ask that you do the same. If you are on trial then have people stand outside the courthouse on jury picking day and HAND OUT JURY NULLIFICATION INFORMATION to prospective jurors. It's legal and it is your right!

Here is just a snippet

Yet this war grinds on, flooding our prisons, devouring resources, turning city neighborhoods into free-fire zones. To what end? State and federal prisons are packed with victims of the drug conflict. A new report by the Pew Center shows that 1 of every 100 adults in the U.S. — and 1 in 15 black men over 18 — is currently incarcerated. That's the world's highest rate of imprisonment.

The drug war has ravaged law enforcement too. In cities where police agencies commit the most resources to arresting their way out of their drug problems, the arrest rates for violent crime — murder, rape, aggravated assault — have declined. In Baltimore, where we set The Wire, drug arrests have skyrocketed over the past three decades, yet in that same span, arrest rates for murder have gone from 80% and 90% to half that. Lost in an unwinnable drug war, a new generation of law officers is no longer capable of investigating crime properly, having learned only to make court pay by grabbing cheap, meaningless drug arrests off the nearest corner.

If asked to serve on a jury deliberating a violation of state or federal drug laws, we will vote to acquit, regardless of the evidence presented. Save for a prosecution in which acts of violence or intended violence are alleged, we will — to borrow Justice Harry Blackmun's manifesto against the death penalty — no longer tinker with the machinery of the drug war. No longer can we collaborate with a government that uses nonviolent drug offenses to fill prisons with its poorest, most damaged and most desperate citizens.

GO READ THE REST!!

Also visit Fully Informed Jury Association and educate yourself on this most noble form of dissent!





del.icio.us
Google
Yahoo