Rowan clerk could face criminal prosecution

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Lexington Courier-Journal, Kentucky.com

Andrew Wolfson
[phone]
[e-mail]
@adwolfson
1:07 p.m. EDT August 31, 2015

Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis is headed toward her day of reckoning, and it may include time behind bars. ... The Kentucky Attorney General is mulling whether to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate whether she violated the state official misconduct statute when her office refused to issue a license to a Rowan County gay couple.

Official misconduct is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 365 days in jail. ... A public servant is guilty of it when, “with intent to deprive another person of a benefit,” he or she refrains “from performing a duty imposed upon by law or clearly inherent in the nature” of his office or “violates any statute or lawfully adopted rule or regulation” relating to it.

James Yates and Will Smith have been denied a marriage license three times, according to their lawyer, William Kash Stilz Jr., including the day after the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week denied Davis’ request for a stay.

Yates and Smith Friday asked Rowan County Attorney Cecil Watkins to prosecute Davis, a request he referred to Attorney General Jack Conway’s office because Watkins is defending two suits filed against the county.


Read more: http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2015/08/31/clerk-could-face-criminal-prosecution/71463078/

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Other links:

KENTUCKY: Barring Action From SCOTUS, Kim Davis Must Issue Marriage Licenses By The End Of Today

August 31, 2015

Unless the US Supreme Court acts on her stay demand, Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis must begin issuing marriage licenses to all qualified couples by the end of today’s business day.

If Davis defies the Sixth Circuit, she faces contempt of court charges in addition to the official misconduct charge filed on Friday. Supporters of Davis held a prayer vigil outside her office this morning.

Davis Has Until End Of Business Day To Issue Marriage Licenses

[allan01]

1. whistles first few bars of the dragnet theme .

very interistink , the definition of civil misconduct.

[HassleCat]

3. The Dan Akroyd routine

What was that movie where Akroyd imitated Joe Friday? Anyway, he makes this rapid-fire speech about throwing someone in a desolate gray-green cell, etc. I think we should find a clip of that and send it to Kim Davis.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

8. Um.... Dragnet?

[HassleCat]

10. Yes, it was

I tricked myself out of the correct answer. I was thinking "Dragnet," also thinking, "No. That's not right. That's too easy."

[csziggy]

23. Who needs to whistle when we've got YouTube?

[FuzzyRabbit]

25. Dragnet theme was a hit record in 1953

MusicProf78 wrote on YouTube:

MOMENTS TO REMEMBER for JUNE 3 - “The story you’re about to hear is true....only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.” On June 3rd, 1949, NBC Radio premiered the new weekly Jack Webb crime drama series DRAGNET. With its unique style, quotable dialogue, and fascinating behind-the-scenes look at actual police case files, “Dragnet” soon became a hugely successful program on both radio and (later) TV. Walter Schumann’s ‘dum-da-dum-dum’ musical signature can legitimately be labelled as ‘iconic;’ and in 1953 it was featured on no fewer than four popular recordings: three of them were Stan Freberg “Dragnet” parodies and the fourth was this serious big band instrumental by Ray Anthony, which reached #3 on Billboard’s best-sellers chart during the autumn months.

[csziggy]

28. I almost posted the 1951 TV theme version

But the announcer was just not what I remembered. The later one is the one I can remember hearing for most of my life!

[HassleCat]

2. Day of reckoning?

I thought only Jesus could do that. I expect Ms. Davis will be found guilty, and proclaim herself innocent in the eyes of God. If she's smart, she'll pray on it, and Jesus will tell her gays are good people, and she should repent of her prideful ways. Then she can go into court and tell the judge about her change of heart.

[4lbs]

4. She should have been behind bars already. She refused to follow a federal court order.

That is federal contempt of court.

I always thought people were jailed and fined when they were found to be in contempt of court.

[NutmegYankee]

5. I hope the contempt hearing is swiftly held.

[Stonepounder]

6. I love this quote from U.S District Court Bunning:

“Our form of government will not survive unless we, as a society, agree to respect the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions, regardless of our personal opinions,” he said. “Davis is certainly free to disagree with the court’s opinion, as many Americans likely do, but that does not excuse her from complying with it.”

Too many folks don't understand the concept of 'Freedom', either freedom of speech or freedom of religion. You are free to disagree with the government in public, you can say nasty things about a politician, but you can't advocate the violent overthrow of the government. Your freedom of speech does not extend into private spaces. If you tell your boss he's a SOB, he can fire you. You are free to say it, but you have to accept the consequences.

Same with freedom of religion. Nobody is telling Davis that her beliefs are wrong or that they are not 'sincerely held'. She has a perfect right to believe that gay marriage is wrong. Hell, she is free to believe that blacks should still be slaves, or that all people of Hispanic descent should be deported whether they are citizens or not. Nobody can prosecute her for those beliefs. However, if she tries to act on some of those beliefs, in contravention of the law, she may have to pay a price - which could include prison.

Part of the Oath of Office for Ky County Clerks and Deputies reads: "... and that I will not
knowingly or willingly commit any malfeasance of office, and will faithfully execute the
duties of my office without favor, affection or partiality..."

That's the part that too many 'religious freedom' nuts don't get. You are free to believe and worship at the church of your choice, but you are not free to exercise those beliefs if they contravene the law.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

9. She's already proved she won't faithfully execute the duties of her office without favor, affection

or partiality.

Fire her ass. NOW.

[Stonepounder]

14. How many times do I have to say this? You CANNOT fire an elected official!

You can (perhaps) recall them, but that requires a special election. You can (perhaps) impeach them, but the County Commissioners have already said they won't do that. You can prosecute them for 'malfeasance in office', but that requires a trial. Our best bet will be for her to be found in contempt of court (and I don't think there would need to be a contempt hearing, just a ruling by the judge) and keep her locked up until she agrees to either quit or do her duty.

[starroute]

19. So she swore an oath "so help me God" and is now violating it

Doesn't sound very religious to me.

http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Statutes/statute.aspx?id=21176

30A.020 Oath of clerk and deputies.

Every clerk and deputy, in addition to the oath prescribed by Section 228 of the
Constitution, shall, before entering on the duties of his office, take the following oath in
presence of the Circuit Court: "I, ....., do swear that I will well and truly discharge the
duties of the office of .............. County Circuit Court clerk, according to the best of my
skill and judgment, making the due entries and records of all orders, judgments, decrees,
opinions and proceedings of the court, and carefully filing and preserving in my office all
books and papers which come to my possession by virtue of my office; and that I will not
knowingly or willingly commit any malfeasance of office, and will faithfully execute the
duties of my office without favor, affection or partiality, so help me God." The fact that
the oath has been administered shall be entered on the record of the Circuit Court.

Effective: January 2, 1978
History: Created 1976 (1st Extra. Sess.) Ky. Acts ch. 21, sec. 2, effective January 2,
1978.

[oldandhappy]

7. Glad this finally got noticed.

[Cosmic Dancer]

11. If she refused to issue a gun permit she'd be in jail already!

[NutmegYankee]

13. Extremely unlikely.

The court process would probably in actuality move even slower in a case like that. The marriage case is very cut and dry but court actions take time. She'll get to the contempt phase within the next few weeks.

[nichomachus]

12. Oh, crap

A martyr. That will just fuel more idiots to do the same thing. Christians love martyrdom. Sometimes, they demand it.

Back in the day, there was a Roman governor is one of the provinces. He really didn't give a shit about Christians and pretty much left them alone. A bunch of them marched down to his office and demanded to be martyred. He told them he had other things to worry about and please screw off. They kept coming and coming. Finally, just to shut them up, he had them killed -- and they are considered "saints."

[rurallib]

20. Martyrdom will not only rally the troops

but will fill up the old coin purse on gofundme. Could be a great career move.

[turbinetree]

15. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD...........................

she is not above the rule of law
Either perform and hand out the documents or go to jail-------simple

[libodem]

16. Martyr/Hero complex

Expect a go fund me page and life long speaking engagements. Cha-ching.

[rocktivity]

17. Just fire her!

Public servants who don't want to serve the public should replaced with people who DO want to serve the public!


rocktivity

[Glimmer of Hope]

27. I think she was elected? Tax payers shouldn't have to foot the legal bill for her nonsense.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

18. Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis Files Another Appeal

Hat tip, Joe.My.God: Another Stalling Tactic: Kim Davis Re-Appeals

August 31, 2015

There’s less than an hour to go in the business day in Kentucky and county clerk Kim Davis has filed yet another notice of appeal. I can’t even tell what this one is really about. Below is a screen shot from Equality Case Files.
{snip}

Equality Case Files

Equality Case Files ‏@EQCF · 33 minutes ago
#KimDavis appealing Bunning's court order that halted briefing on her motion for preliminary injunction

[mahatmakanejeeves]

21. Is Kentucky’s Infamous Anti-Gay Clerk Getting Taken for a Ride by Her Lawyers?

Is Kentucky’s Infamous Anti-Gay Clerk Getting Taken for a Ride by Her Lawyers?

Aug. 31 2015 1:58 PM
By Mark Joseph Stern

....
It would be easy to write a story mocking the application’s histrionics and thinly veiled animus. But quite frankly, I’m growing a bit concerned about Davis’ lawyers. Davis is being represented by the Liberty Counsel, a far-right fringe group that specializes in anti-gay litigation. (Naturally, it is also a Christian ministry and a tax-exempt nonprofit.) Founder and Chairman Mathew D. Staver has used Davis’ case to raise money and boost publicity for his group, going so far as to hold a rally for Davis. In his spare time, Staver has continued to participate in the Faith and Freedom radio show; in recent weeks, he has described the newly gay-tolerant Boy Scouts as “a playground for pedophiles” and compared acceptance of Obergefell to turning over a Jew to the Nazis.

Law firms regularly use sexy cases to increase their own profiles, and it’s perfectly fine to bandy about your client to further a constitutional cause. (Gay rights litigators do it all the time.) But Staver is taking things too far. The first sign of trouble arose early in the case: When a federal judge ordered Davis to issue licenses or be held in contempt of court, the Liberty Counsel advised her to disobey the ruling. Good lawyers don’t usually tell their clients to defy lawful court orders, especially when jail time is a real possibility. Yet the Liberty Counsel didn’t mind putting their client at risk—perhaps because the idea of a middle-aged woman being hauled off to jail for purportedly following her conscience would send thousands of anti-gay Americans reaching for their pitchforks (and checkbooks).

Now the Liberty Counsel has filed an angry, rambling application to the Supreme Court that is little more than an anti-Obergefell rant dressed up as a legal document. The fact that Davis’ lawyers couldn’t tone down the animus for long enough to pen the application is distressing but not surprising. More and more, it’s beginning to look like the Liberty Counsel is taking Davis for a ride, using her doomed case to promote itself and its extremist principles. Davis has certainly humiliated and degraded the gay couples whom she turned away. But I wonder if, on some level, she isn’t a victim, too.

[tanyev]

22. I figured the Liberty Counsel was calling the shots by now.

They're probably salivating at the idea of having her 'jailed for her faith'. They'd be able to raise a lot of money off of that.

[DebbieCDC]

24. Good, throw her ass in jail

and tack on a contempt fine for every day she sits there unwilling to do her job

[tularetom]

26. She's gonna become a fixture on Fox "news", right wing radio and tea party rallies

There's nothing these nutcases love more than victimhood.

There's money to be made from the suckers.

Look at Sarah Palin. George Zimmerman.

[bigwillq]

29. I hope so (nt)

[City Lights]

30. My fingers are crossed! nt

[scarletwoman]

31. She apparently never read the part of the Gospels where Jesus said:

"Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's..."

The backstory to that quote - if I remember correctly (it's been over 50 years since my Catholic schooldays) - was that one of his followers asked why should he pay taxes when he wanted only to devote himself to a spiritual life. Jesus asked the guy to show him a coin. When the guy did so, Jesus asked him, "Whose image is on this coin?" It was a portrait of Caesar, of course - hence the quote.

The basic point of that particular teaching is: yeah, do your spiritual thing - and good on you, go for it - but it doesn't give you a pass from the laws and rules of the secular world; you don't get to not do what the government says you must do. That's a separate thing from your spiritual life.

[niyad]

32. I want her to refund every penny of the salary she has gotten for not doing her job, too.