Of all the statements I’ve every hear made my a jurist, this is perhaps the worst.
“Do not bring the Second Amendment into this courtroom. It doesn’t exist here. So you can’t argue Second Amendment. This is New York.”
I am pretty sure the Second Amendment exists in New York.
There was recently, an entire Supreme Court decision explicitly stating that the Second Amendment applied in New York.
For background:
A Brooklyn man has been convicted of 13 weapons charges after having been arrested and charged in 2022 for building his own firearms.
Taylor, a 52-year-old New York native and a software engineer, discovered the world of gunsmithing years ago. He decided to take it up as a hobby and possibly turn it into a business later. However, when a joint ATF/NYPD task force discovered he was legally buying parts from various companies, they opened up an investigation that led to a SWAT raid and arrest.
During an interview with Vinoo Varghese, Taylor’s defense lawyer, he detailed how Taylor’s trial proceeded and highlighted a distinct bias in favor of the prosecution.
Varghese described how Taylor became fascinated by weapon science during the COVID-19 lockdowns, which inspired him to take up his gunsmithing hobby. “He ended up building, I believe it was eight pistols and five rifles or six rifles, AR-style rifles, and then eight or nine Glock pistols that he built,” Varghese said.
From the beginning of Taylor’s trial, it was evident that the court would be biased against the defendant, according to Varghese, who explained that two judges presided over his case before the current official, Judge Abena Darkeh, took over.
The judge disrupted Varghese’s opening statement multiple times as he tried to set the stage for Taylor’s defense. Even further, she admonished the defense to refrain from mentioning the Second Amendment during the trial. Varghese told RedState:
She told us, ‘Do not bring the Second Amendment into this courtroom. It doesn’t exist here. So you can’t argue Second Amendment. This is New York.’
I would suspect that such a statement would be grounds for appeal.
A judge outright denying a Constitutional right in court as the basis for a defense is not something that should not be allowed to stand.
I’m sure she shouldn’t be allowed to be a judge anymore for saying something so egregious.
This does go to show you that New Yorkers do not think of themselves as Americans, but something superior to the rest of the country.
well, fuck that high houey. she should be stuffing build-a-bears at the mall somewhere…
a few years ago here we had a retired Marine who bought property and built a shooting range. his neighbor who was this liberal from maryland and happened to be the tax collector for the town spun up and went crazy. We the People went to the selectmen meeting. the head selectmen says before the meeting- “ this isn’t a 2nd Amendment issue”.. I promptly interupped him and said BULLSHIT it isn’t. they wernt expecting that. this town had a “noise ordanence” where forestry and agriculture were exempted… I confused them when I told them forestry and agriculture are NOT protected by the 2nd Amendment… liberals stupidity is everywhere
There’s little doubt – as in none at all – that this verdict will stand. Whether another NY court overturns it, unlikely but possible, or a federal apellate court does it, or it requires the Supremes stomp it into oblivion, it will be overturned.
In the meantime, however, Taylor’s life will be turned into unrecognizable mush thanks to a thoroughly incompetent and heavily biased jurist and corrupt judicial system. Simply overturning the original verdict is in my opinion, absolutely inadequate because “Time is non-refundable.”
There has to be sufficient recourse to not just reversal of the verdict but to make amends as much as possible; Taylor will not get back the months/years/decades spent going through the state’s grinder, but simply overturning the verdict will not send a message to The System that such behavior on, around or before the bench is unacceptable. And, yes, I’m also thinking of Bragg’s and James’ actions against Trump because their anger, and bias, will not be sated whatever the outcome, Trump is merely the first, and largest, target.
It is these sort of shenanigans that can, and will, absolutely destroy a civilized society; when it goes beyond just “no confidence in any sort of fairness” to full expectation of complete and ruthless bias funded and supported by The State, it leads to the sound of bolts closing on chambered rounds, something that any sane person should very strongly seek to avoid.
Clearly that so-called “judge” needs to be impeached, and then charged minimally with perjury and probably with treason, convicted, and thrown in jail for a very long time.
Kinda fits with the rest of our Overlords in NYC, don’t it?
She told us, “Do not bring the Fifth Amendment into this courtroom. It doesn’t exist here. So you can’t plead the Fifth Amendment. This is New York.”
.
See how long the verdict would stand if she had said THAT.
.
It’s yet another example of how Blue states view the 2nd Amendment as a second-class right, fit to be ignored wherever and whenever convenient.
.
Mr. Taylor’s appeal “should be” cut-and-dry (given that “should be” does not equal “is”), but that’s not the point, is it? The point is that he has to pay for litigation and go through the process. “The process is the punishment.” And the judge faces zero consequences for this blatant violation of basic Constitutional rights — she should be impeached and disbarred for this, at minimum, but that will never happen, not in New York — so you can be 100% sure she’ll do it again if she gets the chance.
In an honest, rational, sane world that statement should see his convictions automatically vacated on appeal. Sadly we no longer live in an honest, rational, sane world.