Not usually. That might help at sentencing, but usually the only time you can escape criminal liability after following bad advice is if the advice comes from the government. As with everything, there are exceptions.humblescribe wrote: ↑Thu Jun 23, 2022 4:18 pmRemember this is an accountant speaking. This may be antithetical to the legal profession.Maybenaut wrote: ↑Wed Jun 22, 2022 7:24 pm I dunno. If for some reason the cops came around here asking about weapons, I’d show them the gun safe, but it probably wouldn’t occur to me to show them knives and axes, although we have plenty of those. I mean, I know that they can be used as weapons, but I tend to think of them as tools.
Having said that, I don’t know what’s in this “overseas cargo shipment.”
But I also don’t think it’s any accident that the DOJ used that language. “Overseas cargo shipment” sounds a lot scarier than “Dude ordered stuff on Amazon and it’s coming from China.”
If I were arrested for a crime of violence, and I were placed on some sort of house arrest with restrictions, I would make gosh darn sure that I did not do anything stoopid during my pre-release period to piss off the prosecution and the judge. I am yellow enough to realize that if I am convicted at trial, or agree to a plea bargain that any bonehead move that I make would enhance the sentencing that I would receive.
I would have asked my lawyer whether I could order these knives and axes. (I presume this discussion with counsel is privileged.) If my lawyer said that it was a bad idea, I'd wait. If my lawyer said go ahead, then I would. Presumably there is some relief if I follow counsel's advice and that advice is wrong.
But I think these Neanderthals try to get away with as much as they can, because freedumb and all that.
Personally, I think that knives and axes are tools too, but they double as weapons. Lotsa stabbings each year. And we all remember Lizzie Borden, despite her acquittal.
I agree these people are stupid and this guy in particular shouldn’t be buying knives and axes. Nor am I going to feel bad if the judge decides to revoke his bail, or whatever. I just get annoyed at all the breathless reporting sometimes.