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I have a new Defense

by Whaleoil on March 17, 2010

Thanks to the Waihopai case I now have a new legal defense.

In his closing arguments today, Leason’s lawyer Michael Knowles said the men were driven by a belief that the satellite caused human suffering and their actions to shut it down, if only temporarily, were lawful.

“That belief doesn’t have to be correct,” he said.

“They had a belief in a higher law, a law for protecting people.”

Murnane said he believed the satellite aided crimes against humanity.

“I had to do this, it was necessary for me,” he said.

Land’s lawyer, Tony Shaw, said his client genuinely believed his actions were lawful, and he should be acquitted.

And so they’re Not Guilty. Sweeeet! I’ve now got a nice defense because I have a belief in a higher law, a law for protecting people from paedos, rapists, wife bashers and thugs.

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  • Ciaron

    Nah, won’t work for you…. You’re not a dumb-fuck lefty.

  • http://booktragic.blogspot.com pauleastbay

    This verdict is a fucking disgrace. Hopefully the Crown will have the nuts to appeal.

    Unbloody believeable

  • harpoon

    WHALE: “I have a belief in a higher law, a law for pro­tect­ing peo­ple from pae­dos, rapists, wife bash­ers and thugs.”

    … even if the people you say are “pae­dos, rapists, wife bash­ers and thugs” have only been ACCUSED of these offences, not yet found guilty.

    get over yourself.

  • granny

    Unfortunately Whale, you’re not entitled to the benefit of a jury which is can deliver whatever verdict it likes, and in cases like these usually does!

  • granny

    @harpoon, I think you’d find that at least one of “the people” pleaded guilty (in Wellington), while another has a record of convictions (ie was found “guilty”) sufficient to call his eligibility to represent New Zealand into question.

  • gaskranken

    The jury recognising that they also are tools of the same SYSTEM trying the 3 hippies had one brief moment where they were able to strike out at the SYSTEM – you know have a wee flex…

    Now they all go back to the boxes they live in, the boxes they work in, the boxes they eventually get buried in pleased with themselves that they struck out, albeit very briefly, at the SYSTEM.

    Unfortunately Cam as Granny points out you get JUDGED by a single contractor whose income is provided for by the SYSTEM, good defense though bloody good defense if only Dominique and Alain had thought of that….

  • harpoon

    @granny, Notwithstanding your point, I think you’d find that many of of the peo­ple Cameron declares to be “pae­dos, rapists, wife bash­ers and thugs” are not in fact guilty in law at the time that he writes this stuff. They have only been ACCUSED of these offences, not yet at the time of publication found guilty.

    @granny, instances of a proportion of Cameron’s target pleading guilty do not justify all of his other published angry expostulation.

    Also, even if a person has a record of con­vic­tions as long as your arm, it does not mean s/he is automatically guilty of all further offences s/he is accused of.

    As for your point about “eli­gi­bil­ity to rep­re­sent New Zealand”, what point of law are you talking about?

  • wallyanchor

    Just because they haven’t been found guilty, doesn’t mean they aren’t.
    They can ‘only be accused’ and still be guilty, just no found guilty.
    Of course, they may only be accused, and not guilty at all…. But just because they haven’t been found guilty doesn’t mean they’re not.

  • grizz

    When I heard this verdict, I just wanted to give a big “fuck you!” to the NZ justice system and blatently reveal all the names of people who think they can hide behind name suppression.

    Honestly, if the Courts can let these people can get away with blatent vandalism then Peter Wadams’ balls should be exposed to the world!

  • jimdemighty

    Even though they haven’t yet been found guilty, they often get PERMANENT name suppression, regardless of the outcome of the trial.

    Plus, it seems like it’s a lot easier for a “comedian” or “former olympian” to get name suppression than for an average person to get it.

  • marybelle

    Today we have seen that there is really no right and no wrong anymore. From now on if you have a personal belief in a higher law, then you are justified to do whatever you like to something (or someone) because in your mind, it (or they) are “wrong” and against what you believe the reality to be. So Whale go for it! These men admitted they had done wrong so how can they be “Not Guilty”. It is unbelievable that they were able to use “Claim of Right” in the defense of why they damaged government property. They knew exactly what they were doing…………………… and then to compare themselves to a firefighter is insulting to firefighters. “Claim of Right” has no clear guidelines. It is subjective and relies on a commonsense judgment – which did not appear to prevail in this case. (I hope these men didn’t use legal aid either.) This judgment has now set a precedent for other would be offenders to do the same, if they happen to feel that their offending was not unlawful.
    How much damage did these three men cause? The three men should be paying for this damage. Why should the tax payer pay?

  • harpoon

    @wallyan­chor: all true, and so what? None of what you said justifies criminalising them in the court of public opinion if they are not yet found guilty. Or do you belive the justice system should be based on a principle of ‘guilty until proven innocent”? If so, you’re a complete and utter plonker.

    @jimdemighty: who in the Waihopai spy base case thought they could “hide behind name suppression”?

    @mary­belle: your final point is well made. But the case in point was a criminal law case, not a civil case.

  • jimdemighty

    No, harpoon, you’re missing the point. Go back to 4chan.

  • titanuranus

    The selective morality of these three 1/2wits is a wonder to behold.
    Being dirty fucking hippies they really don`t give a shit that it`s the NZ taxpayer that picks up the tab for their pathetic attempt at attention seeking.
    Now they will probably be offered positions on the Green party list.
    Of course it a bit too hard to protest at the real horrors being perpetrated by the Islamic jihadists,but then again they all believe in the same fucking god.

  • cass

    Granny makes a good point – it was a jury trial and the jury either didn’t care or didn’t think that these guys were leftist, hippie half-wits. The verdict was their decision not that of a judge (possibly) out of touch with the sentiments of the populace

    For these reasons, I think it scary that the government wants judicial reform to remove jury trials for cases where charges have a sentencing possibility of less than 3 years imprisonment as we shouldn’t always put our trust in police or crown prosecutors bringing cases to court

  • oliveri

    Trevor has just got a new, pragmatic, and thought out post..

    http://blog.labour.org.nz/index.php/2010/03/17/great-one-liner/

    Name calling…

  • jerimiahthebullfrog

    Whale, Id like to hear you talk to Mike Laws about this, it IS a perfect defense for you.
    Not necessarily a jury situation, any judge must see that the names are released as a result of it being for the greater good – a higher law, that of protecting the people!!

  • kalyx

    First you would have to prove NAMING an accused is for the greater good, as its not a physical action like the spy-base accused, and for a blog that seems to promote open dialog, and freedom of speech I like how your wee community like to vote down any dissenting opinions.

  • deejay

    What the public, or more the jury it seems needs to know is that these people are little more the deluded conspiracy theorists.
    To use the defence that the communications that the satalites recieves is resposible for bombs being dropped on innocent civilians in iraq and afghanistan is completely obsurd.
    The base is New Zealand government property, and is operated by hard working and honest New Zealanders who care about this countries security. These people actually stand for peace, the same can not be said for ‘the great unwashed’.

    http://www.3news.co.nz/Protesters-gather-outside-Waihopai-spy-base/tabid/309/articleID/138505/Default.aspx
    Greg is ex-military, switched on, hard working and honest farmer from seddon.

  • andrewcarrot

    Was one of the defendants a catholic monk? If so, can we go trash catholic churches and abbeys on the grounds that such acts would be for the greater good?

    Personally, I wish to trash IRD. But if I did I’d have no clients.

  • titanuranus

    A shame that Murnane won`t put his conscience to something worthwhile like trying to stop his buddies in the catholic church from raping children and buggering altar boys.

  • Burtons Balls

    http://maps.google.co.nz/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=-41.313661,174.710426&spn=0.058408,0.110378&t=h&z=13

    Funny thing is I look out my window across Wellington harbour and can see some strange inflated dome on these hills. But I look on GooglyMaps and voila it disappears…look out window there it is, GooglyMaps…gone

    My vision gets better as I use binoculars….wait…omg its just a 60foot high puff mushroom, panic over nothing to see here!