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Shelbyville, Tennessee ~ Monday, October 6, 2008
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The Bill of Rights - Amendment VI
Posted Monday, January 7, 2008, at 11:34 AM<< Previous | Read comments | Respond | Email link | Next >>
"In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence."
This Amendment guarantees the accused the right to a speedy trial and a trial by a jury from the same region in which the crime was committed. It also grants the accused the right to be informed of the accusation and to confront the witnesses against them and to have an attorney for his defense. Article I, Section 35f of the Tennessee Constitution, or "Blue Book", goes one further and grants the VICTIM the right to a speedy trial, which I like. Unfortunately one person's idea of a "speedy trial" is not necessarily another's. Some of these trials seem to take forever to even get a jury seated. Comments Showing comments in chronological order [Show most recent comments first] |
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Also, the accused to confront the witnesses has been ignored too.
Actually, for the most part, a witness is required to physically be there in the courtroom while they're testifying. A couple of situations where I would agree with using taped testimony are when children are the witnesses and they might be intimidated by the accused being in front of them in the courtroom, and if the witness is expected to die prior to the case coming to trial. In either case, there should at least be a requirement for the counsel of the accused to be present during these testimonies.
Actually Thom, there is a law, that allows others to accuse people in secrecy to HRS for really stupid things. For example, a few kids in Southside's afterschool program were drawing, 2 of the boys were drawing penis shaped things on elephants. Well, sadly, my 2 kids were nearby and were watching and laughing right along with them. HRS was called, when I asked what happened and what it was about, they were very vague, and when I asked who saw this happened, "I was told they are not allowed to tell me."
Now, someone came into my home, asked me and my wife a bunch of questions and can't tell me who said this?
You know damn well, kids will do stupid things, but how would any of that behavior like drawing private parts on animals would be a cause for concern? Hell I did it and laughed when I was that age, and I am law-abiding, tax-paying citizen just like any natural-borned legal citizen.
Basically, it is unconstitutional, it's retarded and is abusive. The HRS lady was really nice once she saw us, how we lived, and how the kids behaved.
In short, the Constitution is fading away.