W.Va. teen who wore NRA shirt won’t be charged, judge says

[premium]

A West Virginian eighth-grader who was arrested after refusing school staffers’ demands to remove his pro-NRA T-shirt will not be charged with any crime after all, a court ruled. All charges have been dropped.

Jared Marcum, 14, the Logan Middle School student who defied school staff and refused to take off his National Rifle Association shirt, and who was subsequently arrested, won’t face a year in jail or a $500 fine, said Logan County Circuit Judge Eric O'Briant, The Associated Press reported.



The judge signed an order dismissing all charges. The obstruction charge came after a police officer, called to help the school administrators during the April 18 standoff, said Jared refused to stop talking — and in effect, hindered his investigation.

The case received nationwide attention because of its First Amendment root and its tie to the gun issue.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jun/28/wva-teen-who-wore-nra-shirt-wont-be-charged-judge-/#ixzz2XZ5n0lbQ

He should have never been arrested in the first place. Judge did the correct thing.

[Curmudgeoness]

1. You are right, he never should have been arrested.

Since when is it a crime to "refuse to stop talking" when the cops are questioning you? I thought they loved someone who ran their mouths, and sooner or later they will incriminate themselves, right?

But the first thing I thought was----if it was a pro-Planned Parenthood shirt, would it have been the same outcome???

[Eleanors38]

26. If he had worn a Planned Parenthood shirt, he should

not have been treated as he was in this instance. But he can blab away just the same!

[Hoyt]

2. Patents are probably bigoted gun nuts. Guess it's not illegal, but poor kid.

Hope he doesn't grow up like NRA Prez's son and land in prison for shooting a motorist in road rage incident.

[1-Old-Man]

3. What gives you that information?

[Hoyt]

4. NRA is a right wing organization, with a bigoted board and membership.

Whay makes you think otherwise?

[premium]

7. Someone who runs around constantly calling parents of kids bigots

when they know nothing about the family are usually what they call other people.

[Hoyt]

8. Wearing an NRA tshirt to school is about as bad as wearing a confederate flag.

[premium]

11. Yeah, right Hoyt.

Get a grip Hoyt, it's a fricken T-Shirt, not a dangerous weapon.

[Hoyt]

14. It's a school, not a bunch of yahoos out shooting targets that resemble humans.

[premium]

21. Man, I must be blind as a bat.

Maybe you can hi-lite where in the article it says that a bunch of "yahoos" were out shooting targets that resemble humans at school?
I'd really appreciate it, thanks.

[Eleanors38]

27. Tell that to Whoopi Goldberg.

[Hoyt]

30. Maybe you could enlighten me since I don't hangout at Free Republic, NRA, Stormfront, etc.

[premium]

31. Whoopie Goldberg hangs out at Free Republic, NRA, Stormfront, etc.?

Does Whoopie know this? I think it would be a big surprise to her.

[Eleanors38]

32. Don't hang out? Those names rolled out so routinely, Hoyt...

Google up Whoopi Goldberg NRA. Enjoy! Enjoy!

[Hoyt]

38. Those are the right wing sites that would have an orgasm because one or two black celebrities are

members, as if it makes them any less of a right wing organization.

[premium]

39. Yeah, but you sure seem to know them pretty well. nt.

[Hoyt]

41. Yes, you see a lot of disguised posts from right wing sites in the gungeon.

[Eleanors38]

46. So, you gonna tell Whoopi about hangin' out in a racist organization?

[Hoyt]

48. I suspect she would know that if she attended a convention, don't you think?

[Eleanors38]

49. I have no idea.

[premium]

34. This will blow your mind Hoyt.

Whoopie Goldberg, Karl Malone and James Earl Jones are members of the NRA.
So, are they bigots also?

[Hoyt]

35. No, but the fact you keep up with such BS makes me wonder

[premium]

36. Makes you wonder what?

That you can be so consistently wrong?

Haven't you consistently said that members of the NRA are RW bigots?

Note: I am not now, nor have I ever been, a member of the NRA.

[Hoyt]

42. You might be a free-rider, but you definitely support their agenda.

[premium]

45. I support their agenda?

That would be news to the NRA, considering I've been pretty consistently on record going against many of the NRA's policy.

[Mojorabbit]

37. That is hogwash

When I was his age we were being sent home for wearing maxi dresses and guys were being suspended for having long hair. We were not arrested. He should be allowed to wear his t shirt.

[Hoyt]

40. The arrest was wrong. Prohibiting promotion of guns and the right wing agenda at school makes sense

The gun nuts, would be OK with the kid wearing the official "man card" logo of the assault weapon used at Sandy Hook.

[premium]

43. He was promoting guns and RW agenda at school?

Musta missed that in the article also, it seems I missed reading most of that article.

I never realized that a simple tee shirt could be so dangerous.

[Mojorabbit]

44. Nah, if he is an advocate for gun rights he

should be able to wear his tee same as kids who are against should be able to wear their tee. It was stupid when they did this in the late sixties and it is stupid now.

[Lizzie Poppet]

54. Oh shush, you!

You don't want to ruin a perfectly good (and breathtakingly ironic) bigoted rant, do you?

[premium]

55. Ahhh, ya know, it's just this thing I have,

I just can't resist calling out bigots when they call people they know nothing about bigots.
Just a bad fault of mine.

[premium]

5. It's parents Hoyt, not patents and you have not idea what his

parents are like. This is one of the stupidest posts yet.

#implied%20facepalm%20640x496

[Hoyt]

6. And neither do you. Guns and right wing BS have no place in school.

[premium]

9. That's funny, I read and re-read the article,

Last edited Sat Jun 29, 2013, 01:10 AM - Edit history (1)

could you please point out where it says he had a gun in school? Maybe I missed it, I know I'm getting old and have to wear glasses now, but I swear I can't find where it says he brought a gun to school.

Your right, I don't know what his parents are like, but, unlike you, I don't immediately call them bigots, like you did.

[Hoyt]

10. Premium, I got tired of explaining everything to you when you posted

under other names. "Promotion of guns" has no place in school. Does that make sense to you?

[premium]

13. Under other names Hoyt?

What other names? Enlighten us please.
Maybe you can point out where he was promoting guns in school? I seemed to have missed that also.

[WVU]

16. Who gives a fuck?

Wearing a shirt that promotes that violent, racist shit is arguably worse than the gun itself.

He is spreading LaPpeehead's NRA horseshit and influencing other young people to buy into this 2nd amendment "rights" BS.

Let the little genius go and see how far he get's with bigoted parents and a G.E.D., if that.

The battle for safe schools and neighborhoods is an ideological one, and shit like this shirt stunt stands in the way of progress.

[premium]

19. Really gets your goat that the kid won, huh? nt.

[NutmegYankee]

23. What progress is that?

An authoritarian state? Free speech is free speech for ALL.

Thank God for the First Amendment!

[hughee99]

25. Speech is "arguably" worse than a dangerous weapon?

Sure, but that argument is a loser, certainly when using this example.

[Eleanors38]

28. Jeeez. Going after a 14-yr-old? It's down to that?

[arely staircase]

12. I think the case law on that is basically:

the school admin. can ban shirts and other stuff only if it is interfering with the business of teaching and running the school, not just because a teacher or administrator, even rightly, finds it offensive. So the kids have first Amend. rights but they are weighed against the running of the school.

Anyways - an actual lawyer can describe it better.

[premium]

15. Apparently a teacher took offense at the shirt this kid was wearing

and told him to change it, he refused, rightly because school dress code didn't expressly forbid it, when he refused, cops were called and kid refused to talk to cops, so he was arrested for obstruction.
Fucking stupid of the school and cops to escalate this thing into a national story.

[arely staircase]

18. yeah, i don't think that meets the standard

I fucking despise the NRA btw. Now had kids been getting in fights over it or it was causing some sort of disruption in the class, then the admin. could have banned it. Now that's based on 1 year of law school, having lawyer parents and a lawyer partner. So take my legal analysis with a bag of salt.

[premium]

20. I detest the NRA also,

unfortunately, the cops and school fucked up royally and made it about them.

[arely staircase]

22. they seem to have

and arresting the kid seems pretty far over the line. why couldn't they just have suspended him? the parents still would have won in the end. but the whole arrest thing seems way out of hand. I would like to hear the other side of what led to the arrest. But it sounds like some teachers and administrators got their pride bruised - and hey, I am a teacher and have to deal with unreasonable parents all the time. and they are very often unreasonable. but say some kid wore an "Obama is a Communist" shirt to my class, I wouldn't say shit. If I couldn't get my class under control because kids were arguing about it, then I could rightly request the campus admin do something about it.

[premium]

24. This area of W.V. is extremely pro 2A

and very red. Hunting is a way of life there, so that leads me to believe that the only ones upset were the teachers, who caused the initial ruckus and it went downhill from there.

[TransitJohn]

57. If a school can ban "bong hits for jesus" OFF-CAMPUS, why can't they

ban this shirt on campus?

[premium]

59. They can, the problem was that

the school didn't specifically ban the it and, apparently, the teacher and school officials didn't even know their own dress code.

[Just Saying]

17. We had a dress code in my school

And I'm not old. My boys wear uniforms but on dress down days still have a dress code.

I'm not sure if he should have been arrested but he showed a complete lack of respect for his school, teachers and it sounds like the cops.

Good luck in life kid.

[madinmaryland]

29. He should not have been arrested, but he should have been suspended for wearing

a shirt that supports bigotry and racism. There is no need for that shit in schools.

[TheKentuckian]

56. A suspension would be a notch or two less stupid but still quite foolish and lawsuit bait.

I think it is a free speech issue and wouldn't support any sanction anymore than I would a PETA shirt, which is not at all.

[Skip Intro]

33. That's some scary stuff. Wtf?

Is this still America?

He won't be charged?

For "talking too much"

Some have decided they can forcibly shut people up because they don't like what is being said, and have taken it upon themselves to eradicate, by any means, evidently, any expression of the forbidden point of view.

I got a big hardy Fuck You for those censorship-happy, self-deluded morons who think they can dictate what can and cannot be said, what views can and cannot be expressed.

[NaturalHigh]

47. But he likes guns!

Surely he must be a psychopath! Lock him up right friggin now!!!

[RandiFan1290]

50. IOW

Idiot county creates their own lil soap opera.


It says the punk was arrested because he wouldn't stop talking when the police were investigating the call and trying to talk to him. Had nothing to do with the silly schmatta he was wearing.

[premium]

51. So he wouldn't stop talking,

that's a reason to arrest a 14 yo boy? And why call him a punk? County didn't create the problem, it was the idiot teacher, school officials, and the cops.
None of this would have happened if the teacher and school officials had known their own dress code.

[RandiFan1290]

52. Dumb school, dumb kid, dumb cops

Dumb county

Police get away with beating kids and innocent people everyday in this country. It's not that big of a deal if some kid gets a ride to the station for being a smartass.

This cop breaks a girls arm for talking back to him by forcing it behind her back and up to her neck.

[premium]

53. I'm with you 100% on that.

Ya know, I spent 30+ years as a Federal Law Enforcement Officer and I'm appalled by what I see these days from these young, steroid induced, badge heavy thugs masquerading as cops. Some of the shit I see astounds me, and the only reason we're now seeing this crap is because of the proliferation of cell phone cameras/video, before that, the general public never saw the brutality of cops, it was usually he said, she said and the PTB's usually sided with the cops. (sighs in wonder and shakes head.)

[tularetom]

58. The kid appears to be a dope but so were a lot of us at age 14

I would hope the "adults" in this situation would have acted with a bit more maturity and dignity.

First of all so what if he wore this shirt to school. Did it say "fuck" on it or actually advocate violence against anybody?

And good for him for not backing down. and shame on the school "authorities" and the cops for allowing the situation to escalate into what it became.

The kid should have shut his piehole at that point. He was winning the argument until he insisted on talking over the cop.

There's blame on both sides, but most of it on the school administration and a police officer who waaay overreacted.