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Science Fiction Writer to be jailed over questioning authority — Let me summarize. A guy is in his car at the border and gets out to find out what the delay is. He asks some a-hole working the border as to what’s going on. The border guy tells him to get back into his car. The guy does not rush back to his car as ordered and gets arrested for a bogus felony. This is just the sort of thing we need for good relationships with our Canadian neighbor. Reading the various reports (below) about this and you’ll know immediately who is in the right and who is in the wrong. But that apparently means nothing.
Didn’t work out that way. Because, there is this statute – that essentially criminalizes non-compliance to such a broad degree that asking a question (as Peter did) before complying with an order from a border guard is a felony. In terms of the sentence one might serve – well, Peter might as well have choked Beaudry. It amounts to the same thing.
As Peter explains on his blog:The press has frequently characterized the charge against me as “assaulting a federal officer”. The alleged (and discredited) “choking” episode has been repeated ad nauseum. Here at the Sarnia Best Western I don’t have the actual statute in front of me but it includes a lengthy grab-bag of actions, things like “assault”, “resist”, “impede”, “threaten”, “obstruct” — hell, “contradict” might be in there for all I know. And under “obstruct” is “failure to comply with a lawful order”, and it’s explicitly stated that violence on the part of the perp is not necessary for a conviction. Basically, everything from asking “Why?” right up to chain-saw attack falls under the same charge. And it’s all a felony.
Found by Micah Phillips.
Not an expert on US jurisprudence – do they now extradite the guy or do you just send up a predator drone to drop a couple of hellfire missiles on his last known address?
We sometimes get a bit confused at your big city ways down there.
You see we are brought up to say please and thank you and be friendly and helpful to our neighbours.
Of course our food is a little bland and so we do appreciate your attempts to add a little pepper now and agains.
Thank you, Canuck. It was very nice of you to post that link.
Putting aside the blog posts’ outrage atthe conviction of their friend, and putting aside the various reports of Canad or USA border guards being assholes, I just have to wonder why? Why do we even bother to mount a big border inspection program with Canada. Last I heard there were no real immigration problems between our countries. I can understant the big rigs being checked for since there will always be trade issues but it just seems to me individuals ought to be able to move freely back and forth. I know, I’m a bit naive about this. I admit is has been many years since I last visited Canada but I remember the experience as telling a polite Mountie I was going to visit friends and being wished a nice trip. Then the return: a languid border guard on the US side would take a cursory look at my driver’s license and say, “Welcome home.” I lived in the southwest and going back and forth to Mexico wasn’t much worse. And I’m not talking fifty years ago. The last time I visited Canada was about 15 years ago. Mexico about ten.
I have always had problems at the Port Huron/Sarnia border crossing. They seem to have more time to harass you at this border or think you are trying to bypass the busier border crossings because you are hiding something. They wave you through with much less hassle at the Detroit/Windsor crossing so I just go through here even though I don’t like traveling through Detroit. Avoid the less busy border crossings because they will always harass you more at them.
It’s delayed revenge for the Underground Railway. Millions struggled for centuries to gain equality, but now that Homeland Security has been elected Überführer, their message is “Yup, you’re all equal now, you’re all n*ggers.”
Seems that some of the jurors (who voted guilty in the Watts trial) were more concerned about being good “Sheeple” than standing up for justice. Well, maybe justice does not count in the US anymore. Then on the other-hand, maybe the apologetic jurors just have this problem:
“http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7530701744597358451&hl=en#”
PS – isn’t this kind of like how the Iron Curten got started. You know, the one that kept people in, not out.
@Animby
Voters are scared, at the moment they are scared of terrorists so something has to be done. As a politician the more you do the better you look.
Eventually the attitude filters down to the minions on the front line, they used to be just there to check your drivers license – now they are an elite force of warriors on the front line against terror – or so their mission statement says.
That has an effect on how they act – it’s no different from school principles over-reaction to zero tolerance drug policies (except these people have guns)
The key here is “Lawful Order”. Can the border guards order people to get back in their cars? Is that a lawful order; if not then he did not break the law. It would seem to me that ordering someone to get in their car would be like putting someone in house arrest without them committing any crime. Your car is legally the same as your house when it comes to searches and private property laws so I am not being flippant about this. If the statute require you to follow any lawful order then the defense should focus on whether the order is lawful!!! please get this message to the defense! I constantly notice things that competent professionals completely miss so please don’t assume that the defense already pursued this route!
@TheMAXX
I think the problem is that pretty much anything a border guard wants to do is legal. They can take you laptop without a reason, stop you and ask for ID 200miles from the border and arrest you for asking why.
The courts have ruled that the US constitution pretty much doesn’t apply at the border – I’m not sure if it isn’t technically legal for a border guard to simply shoot a foreigner for fun.
SHUT UP SLAVES!
There should be no borders or countries. They are figments of men’s imaginations.
#24 said “I can understand the big rigs being checked for since there will always be trade issues…”
I can fully understand inspection of trucks and cargo entering a country. What I question is why the US border agents are inspecting the trucks leaving the US. They have no enforcement powers regarding speeding, weight, hours of service, etc. These are the jurisdiction of state and local law enforcement agencies, but I keep seeing US ICE vehicles with a couple of big trucks just past the toll booths. And with NAFTA all the info on their load that is given to Canadian customs is available to the US, so why are they always pulling them over at this one crossing (Port Hron/Sarnia)?
I’ve crossed the border quite a bit and found since 911 on both sides the border guards are dressed for intimidation. On the US side they are all in swat black and full of attitude (not all) and I’d say on the Canadian side the guards are starting that way too. I don’t mess around when crossing and leave my attitude firmly locked away. Yes we are only seeing one side of the story here but why the hell did this guy get out if his car? Questioning authority (yeah I know it’s a spark for escalation) but you just don’t mess around at the border.
@Questioning authority
Give him a break, he’s from Canada – he probably pictures police as nice friendly mounties.
He had probably never visited East Germany.