Topic: Stacy McCain, blogger aka "The Other McCain" ...

[IronDioPriest]

Notice they're targeting bloggers, and not politicians or big-shooters like Limbaugh. They want to intimidate, and they're picking what they believe to be the softest target; to either get these people to stop telling the truth and move on to something else, or to live in fear for continuing to do what they do.

This will be a test for the conservative blogosphere, and I suspect the Leftists are watching this very closely. If they can continue to do that and get away with it without consequences, then it will only get worse. The job for the good guys is to band together and not let it drop no matter what.

This would be a good cause for Bill O'Reilly. He's a blowhard, but on things like this, he does better than ANYONE else at getting an outrage against decency into the news, demanding justice, and keeping it in the news until justice is done. If he is not in the loop on this yet, someone needs to bring him into it.

[Pandora]

Beck's been on top of this, and if he and O'Reilly are still on good terms, then O'Reilly's been informed.

Kimberlin is, or was, the death beneficiary of a couple of rich old women; one, an Aunt, I think.

He needs to be stopped in a manner that leaves the watching-Left agape and stunned.  And fearful.

[ToddF]

They want to intimidate, and they're picking what they believe to be the softest target; to either get these people to stop telling the truth and move on to something else, or to live in fear for continuing to do what they do.

Yep.  That exactly why the Soros/Kerry/Streisand moronic alliance is funding a terrorist to go after the political opposition that's at the bottom of the food chain. 

[ToddF]

Breaking: Domestic Terrorist Kimberlin Has Conservative Blogger Arrested

One person who attended the hearing in Montgomery County District Court said that Kimberlin asserted that Walker’s continued blogging represented a violation of a “peace order” Kimberlin had obtained against the Virginia attorney, who says Kimberlin tried to “frame” him for assault earlier this year.

 

[IronDioPriest]

Good Lord. This can't be allowed to stand. I don't care if the frikkin judge needs to be taken into the street and hung by his heels, and whatever jail Walker is held in dismantled by a mob of 100,000 brick by brick. This cannot stand.

[Libertas]

What IDP said.

Activate the Maryland Sons of Liberty already!!!

[Alphabet Soup]

During the course of the hearing — which reportedly lasted about an hour — Judge C.J. Vaughey appeared to become increasingly hostile toward Walker, who was taken into custody when the hearing concluded.

I really hope that someone who was at the hearing reports what went down. I sounds like Walker pissed off the judge (which is generally a counter-productive tactic).



Trust me on this: There's nothing "just" about the justice system.

[Weisshaupt]

During the course of the hearing — which reportedly lasted about an hour — Judge C.J. Vaughey appeared to become increasingly hostile toward Walker, who was taken into custody when the hearing concluded.

Here is such a report

Sounds like Walker lost it. Even if you are a lawyer, get representation. If you are too emotionally  involved in the case ( which you will be if you are the plaintiff or the defendant)  you need someone impartial there who can keep his/her cool and deal with characters like this judge. It sounds like BK was pushing walkers buttons the entire time ( he is a psychopath after all- they can do that well)  and Walker responded accordingly, bringing on the wrath of the judge, who like a parent, is more interested in quiet and order in his courtroom  than in actual justice.  I suspect if Walker had kept his cool or let someone else represent him, the relevant facts would have come to light.  Judges ALWAYS, ALWAYS , ALWAYS have a chip on their shoulder.  They dislike people representing themselves, partially because of the lawyer fraternity, and partially because things just go smoother without the drama of emotional outbursts. That isn't to say the Judge was right, but I have a hard time feeling sorry for Walker if he was inviting contempt charges by his behavior and pushing a "retired" ( as in no consequences)  judge at that.
 

[Libertas]

I can't get the link to work so I'll have to explore this later.

[Alphabet Soup]

I hope that Munsey doesn't mind but I'm posting the report...

When Your Honor, This Man Is a Convicted Domestic Terrorist Is Not Enough

This morning, I attended the hearing over a protective order sought by Brett Kimberlin against Aaron Walker in Rockville, MD. There were only a few people there. The actual hearing was first in the regular room for DV/Peace orders, so we had about an hour of, you know, couldn’t-service-him, my ex-threatened-my-property stuff.

Then the case was moved to a different courtroom, and the trial commenced fairly quickly.

Walker, the defendant, if you will–and I apologize for getting any terminology wrong, I don’t have a lot of experience with peace orders, as my thorough pre-adoption criminal background check shows–had to represent himself. Kimberlin had an attorney present, who issued a few objections, nearly inaudible to me.

The Judge, and I haven’t confirmed this, but I believe he was former Montgomery County Chief Justice James Vaughan–a guy who retired in ’04, and still takes the odd shift when stuff gets busy or there are vacations. In an earlier matter, Judge Vaughan mentioned he lived in the Caribbean, so pretty sure that’s the guy.–update, man’s named was Vaughey, not Vaughan. Is still retired, taking the odd shift.

It went bad for Walker pretty quickly. If you’ve followed the matter, and I know not a lot of people have, Walker, who is an attorney, acted in an advisory capacity for another blogger who had dealings with Kimberlin. Kimberlin later accused Walker of assault; those charges were null-processed; Walker wrote about things like you’ll read on Kimberlin’s wikipedia page, as well as his own dealings with Kimberlin.

Judge Vaughey had read up on the matter, knew Kimberlin’s history of felony convictions, but clearly was technically ignorant of even basic facts about what Twitter is, in one instance point saying “He Googled you 500,000 times” through the Tubes or whatever. The Judge had identified himself, earlier, as being “of the Royal Typewriter Generation,” and at another point, when confronted with the voluminous material from both sides, asked “don’t people have jobs, who reads this stuff?”

That said, Judge Vaughey did know a lot about the kind of respect a Judge is owed. He also, again, knew all about Kimberlin, saying “even a prostitute is entitled to protection.”

And Walker pissed him off. So did Kimberlin, but Walker identified himself as a Yale-trained lawyer, albeit one who was representing himself. Kimberlin made any number of allegations–essentially, everything that was said about his side–issuing death threats, harming business interests, summoning SWAT teams to the home–was said by Kimberlin to have been done by Walker’s side.

The pair went back and forth, back and forth, with Walker getting increasingly flustered, and the Judge finally asking, “what did they tell you in Yale Law School about interrupting a judge?” And later advising Walker to sit down, grip a pencil, and whenever he was tempted to speak over the Judge (or Kimberlin, but mostly over the Judge), to instead grip the pencil.

At one point, when Walker again interrupted Kimberlin, an attorney who was “advising” Walker–i.e.,. sitting in the coutroom, but not actually at Walker’s table, signaled to the plaintiff that he ought to “zip it.” This process amused Kimberlin, obviously.

For the Judge’s faults, he really did try to let Walker make his case. When Walker was able to question Kimberlin–not about everything, but merely the facts that had occurred in the last 30 days (which is all that’s relevant in a Peace Order Hearing), it became clear that Kimberlin would unravel under any kind of competent examination. The guy’s story changed 3 times in 5 minutes. First it was that Walker had issued 14k tweets against him–which the Judge assumed were to Kimberlin’s account, and by Walker. Then it was 54 pages of 10 tweets each actually by Walker. Then it was 15k tweets about Muslims or something.

Walker was also able to introduce for the record–again, Peace Order, it’s only about the last 30 days–Kimberlin’s convictions for bombings from I guess 1980, his revocation of parole in 1998, and even something where Kimberlin was convicted of perjury in 1973… ish. Then, when it came to actual convictions, there was one moment when Kimberlin came up with a defense about the judge being convicted of bribery, so he didn’t feel that those particular verdicts should be discussed, but that turned out to be an unrelated civil matter, and Judge Vaughey then insisted that the convictions remained in the record.

But, Walker didn’t press the credibility of Kimberlin enough. He was too easily sidetracked by the latter’s machinations, and every time Walker veered off, the Judge got madder.

Last portion of the trial, once the Judge decided he’d heard enough, came when Walker was asked, repeatedly, when does this all end? Judge cited his own upbringing in Brooklyn, where when guys had disagreements like these two did, somebody’d get picked up in a truck and they’d go have it out near the East River or words to that effect.

Walker at this point stated what he wanted was for Kimberlin to be tried by the State’s Attorney for perjury related to that earlier assault thing. Judge kept pressing Walker on this, stating that it’s entirely the Government’s business to decide who to punish (Libertarians might disagree), asking if the uproar could end, bringing up the concept of “Too Much Justice,” asking if Walker was aware of this–the latter indicated he was. Then the Judge and Walker swapped precedents for a little while, with the Judge… unimpressed.

Then the Judge ruled. He upheld the Peace Order, and he further stated that Walker was in no way allowed to harm Kimberlin–and by harm or contact the Judge sending blog posts or tweets. The latter was justified, in the Judge’s opinion, on Walker’s supposed “mob” having issued “death threats” to Kimberlin.

I left at that point. But apparently, Walker couldn’t quit while he was ahead, kept talking, and was arrested for, I assume, contempt. I hope contempt, and that he didn’t lose it further.

One other thing, besides technical illiteracy that may have motivated the Judge. MoCo is a notoriously timid place. There was a recent case where the authorities “didn’t do enough” in another peace order/DV matter. By all accounts, the burden of proof lies, in the extreme, with the defendants in such matters, and it’s likely the MoCo Judge was even more circumspect than usual.

[LadyVirginia]

 

[IronDioPriest]

[IronDioPriest]

Every breath Kimberlin draws is unjust, and undeserved.

[IronDioPriest]

Is it Aaron Walker or Aaron Worthing?

I'm seeing reports that the guys who was arrested is named Aaron Worthing, not Aaron Walker.

[Pandora]

Is it Aaron Walker or Aaron Worthing?

I'm seeing reports that the guys who was arrested is named Aaron Worthing, not Aaron Walker.

Same guy; Aaron Worthing is the name under which he posted (@ Patterico and elsewhere).  Aaron Walker is his real name.

[Libertas]

It seems to me the judge identified himself pretty early of being ignorant of the digital age and as such how this clown drew this duty is a reflection of the poor quality to choose from in this neck of the woods.  As such Walker ought to have kept that in mind and laid low.  As it is I don't know what avenues exist beyond this, but on its face it appears this judge finds the concept of protecting the rights of a dirtbag paramount to the free discourse of factual verifiable information.  That said information is negative and unflattering should not matter a damn if it is accurate.  The world is an effed up place.

[Pandora]

Gonna have to go to Plan B.

[IronDioPriest]

Gonna have to go to Plan B.

If the above report of Walker's actions in the courtroom are accurate, he couldn't have picked a more important moment to screw up and act like a douchebag. It seems to me this was the one chance to smack Kimberlin down according to the law, holding justice and the standard of civility up against Kimberlin's naked abuse of law enforcement and the judicial system. Instead, Walker failed to understand the import of the moment, and fumbled the ball.

At least that's my read, regardless of how right he is, how wrong the judge is, or what has gone before. This needed to be handled right.

[AlanS]

If the above report of Walker's actions in the courtroom are accurate, he couldn't have picked a more important moment to screw up and act like a douchebag. It seems to me this was the one chance to smack Kimberlin down according to the law, holding justice and the standard of civility up against Kimberlin's naked abuse of law enforcement and the judicial system. Instead, Walker failed to understand the import of the moment, and fumbled the ball.

At least that's my read, regardless of how right he is, how wrong the judge is, or what has gone before. This needed to be handled right.

Sounds like a fair summation. What's plan B?

[Libertas]

Plan B - Resist we much?