Lawyers and judges need to honor the Constitution

Letter to the Editor:

I recently read an article in the Daily Inter Lake about a Bigfork man being denied a trial by jury for killing three grizzly bears. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of six months in prison and a $25,000 fine on each of the three counts.

The court ruled that these are petty offenses and do not require a jury trial. It doesn’t sound petty, but petty or not, every American citizen has the right to a trial by jury under the Constitution of the United States of America.

The Seventh Amendment reads: “In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall not exceed 20 dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United States than according to the rules of the common law.”

The Eighth Amendment states: “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”

It sounds pretty cut and dry. Where’s the confusion?

Have this judge and the lawyers involved read the Constitution?

Maybe they should. I thought people who take those positions also take an oath to uphold the Constitution.

There seems to be a spreading problem of disconnect and disrespect for the United States Constitution. Maybe it’s time that we the people remind them that their lawlessness is unacceptable. That includes the president, Republican and Democratic politicians, judges, lawyers and law enforcement.

Our freedoms are being dismantled at an alarming rate and, if not stopped, tyranny will reign and this republic will die.

It’s not what our founders envisioned. Through fear, force, fees and penalties we’re being held in bondage.

When one person or a group of alike-thinking people choose the fate of the many, or just one, to me that would be considered a tyrannical dictatorship.

We do have rights under our republic through our Consitution.

The 1972 Webster dictionary defines a republic: “A state or nation in which the supreme power rests in all the citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives elected by them.”

This was a good system that was created by our founders which now has gone astray. It’s time to hold our representatives accountable and bring this country home.

— Dan Misuik, Libby