[Nobby] CLARK
"Regimental Geezer"
Membership Level: Full
Posts: 892
Status: Offline | Good - not before time for some of the ’Walts’. I was reading that this sort of crime in the States carries up to a years prison sentence, however...
"DENVER -- The U.S. Justice Department will appeal two court decisions that said a federal law making it illegal to lie about being a war hero is unconstitutional.
Federal prosecutors in Colorado said Friday they will appeal a ruling by a federal judge in Denver that the Stolen Valor Act violates free speech.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, ruling in a California case, also found the law unconstitutional. Late Thursday, prosecutors asked that court to reconsider.
The law makes it a crime punishable by up to a year in jail to falsely claim to have received a military medal.
Opponents say the law puts too much power in government hands, and that lying for financial gain is already covered by fraud statutes.
In the California case, Xavier Alvarez, a local water board official from Pomona, was indicted in 2007 after saying at a public forum that he was a retired Marine who received the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military decoration.
Alvarez apparently never served in the military. He pleaded guilty on condition that he be allowed to appeal on First Amendment grounds. A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit ruled 2-1 in his favor in August".
(http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/2766992,CST-NWS-medal03.article)
Of course if such a 12 month sentence was handed down here in the UK, the ’Oomin Rites’ lobby would screeching and wailing like banshees, and the thunder of heavy booted ’Oomin Rites’ Lawyers would be heard crashing down the corridors of Justice....  |
"Hero & Warrior of This nation 1960s thru 1970s (So it was alleged). Duvet Therapist, Drinker of ’Costa Coffee’, Bed Tester Extroadinaire.
"I have an ’Ology’, so must be very intellectual?"
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