Judge Stuns Court by Whipping Out Knife in Front of Teen Defendant
Friday, July 25, 2008
A British judge trying a knife-crime case stunned the court by pulling out a blade.
Campaign groups blasted Judge Roger Connor after he brandished a knife in front of a teenage defendant charged with wounding someone with a blade.
The 16-year-old’s lawyer asked Connor if he was committing an offense — and was told it was acceptable because the blade was less than 3 inches long.
Connor got out the folding black-handled knife at Oxford Crown Court to show how it worked. The boy, who denies wounding with intent and assault, had admitted using a knife and claimed he needed only one hand to open it.
Connor asked: “It happens I have a folding knife in my pocket. You need two hands to open it, don’t you?”
Under English and Welsh law it is an offense to carry in public a blade longer than 3 inches without good reason.
Furious anti-knife crime campaigners called last night for the judge to be fired.
“He should lose his job. One teenager a week is being murdered on the streets of Britain and here he is brandishing a knife,” Lyn Costello, co-founder of the Mothers Against Murder and Aggression campaign group, said.
“Enough is enough – we need to get tough on knives in this country and our judges should be handing out tough sentences, not brandishing their own.”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,391241,00.html
This is absolutele hysteria. I am off to Scotland for my honeymoon on August 9th, and unfortunately my Benchmade 942 will not be making the trip with us. Funny thing is, the Benchmade has been around longer than the new wife!
Friday, July 25, 2008
A British judge trying a knife-crime case stunned the court by pulling out a blade.
Campaign groups blasted Judge Roger Connor after he brandished a knife in front of a teenage defendant charged with wounding someone with a blade.
The 16-year-old’s lawyer asked Connor if he was committing an offense — and was told it was acceptable because the blade was less than 3 inches long.
Connor got out the folding black-handled knife at Oxford Crown Court to show how it worked. The boy, who denies wounding with intent and assault, had admitted using a knife and claimed he needed only one hand to open it.
Connor asked: “It happens I have a folding knife in my pocket. You need two hands to open it, don’t you?”
Under English and Welsh law it is an offense to carry in public a blade longer than 3 inches without good reason.
Furious anti-knife crime campaigners called last night for the judge to be fired.
“He should lose his job. One teenager a week is being murdered on the streets of Britain and here he is brandishing a knife,” Lyn Costello, co-founder of the Mothers Against Murder and Aggression campaign group, said.
“Enough is enough – we need to get tough on knives in this country and our judges should be handing out tough sentences, not brandishing their own.”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,391241,00.html
This is absolutele hysteria. I am off to Scotland for my honeymoon on August 9th, and unfortunately my Benchmade 942 will not be making the trip with us. Funny thing is, the Benchmade has been around longer than the new wife!
