Pubdate: Mon, 22 Dec 2003 Source: Macon Telegraph (GA) Copyright: 2003 The Macon Telegraph Publishing Company Contact: http://www.macontelegraph.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/667 Author: Harry Stewart Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1925/a06.html Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1905/a09.html IT'S ABOUT CRIME, NOT COP Rick Waller recently responded to a letter of mine. The subject was the Boyce case, which was overturned by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. In this case, Boyce was found with 10,000 ecstasy pills and two large containers of marijuana. No one disputes this fact. The guilt of Mr. Boyce doesn't seem to matter. All that matters is what the police did. The officer was in a difficult position, evidenced by the fact that the decision to overturn was made by a circuit court. A district court had already decided the officer's actions were legal. Unlike the officer, both courts had more time, better surroundings, and superior legal training to help them ponder the situation. How can we expect the officer to make the constitutionally correct choice when two courts can't even agree what's right? So let's assume there were indeed two illegal acts on I-95 that night. One by a police officer and the other by a drug courier. Which is more dangerous to a law-abiding society? Recently, a former local newscaster was found guilty of being under the influence of drugs in a traffic accident that killed an woman. We'll never know whether Boyce ever delivered drugs that resulted in death or not. We do know that a police officer tried to stop a drug courier, and the 11th Circuit Court let him go free. Boyce was guilty. Whether the cop was right or wrong will never change that fact. Harry Stewart Warner Robins - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin