Prejudiced CA Admits Ignorance of the Law

[Pat McGarrity]

Media Bias of Citizen Shooting Carjacker Part 2.

Sgt. Jim Williams educates an anti-gun biased reporter for the Communist Appeal:

"The morning CA on 10/30/07 contained a lead article (p.1, sec. B) stating the carjacker
victim's son had "taken the law into his own hands" by arresting the carjacker.

I phoned the CA reporter early and left my number. When she returned my call at 4pm, she stated that the DA here had just announced that they would NOT prosecute the son for shooting his arrestee, but would join Mississippi in prosecuting the carjacker for the crimes he committed respectively in each state. She stated that she guessed that I knew that would be the outcome, and I told her she was correct.

Before concluding the call, I asked CA reporter Toni Lepeska if she was aware that
citizen's arrests were legal in Tennessee. She surprised me by her candor and honesty
by admitting that she did know that it was legal for private citizens to arrest anyone.
I referred her to get a copy of Tennessee Code Annotated # 40-7-109 and see for
herself; she thanked me and stated that she would look it up at the Library. I told
her that I had my own annual copies of the Tennessee Code sitting on my coffee table,
having been on automatic mailout from the legal publishers for the last 35 years since
I first joined the Memphis Police pver 40 years ago, purchased yearly at my own expense.
I understood then and now how important it is to enforce the law that is and not the law that was. Of course, the Commercial Appeal supplies no such resource direct to its reporters.

I suspect now that virtually none of the media have any idea what Tennessee laws
allow on this topic, or they might not be so stupid to accuse "taking the law into
their own hands" whenever a citizen is fully in compliance with Tennessee criminal laws.

Jim"