When our Senators are afoul of Law

No sooner had the ink dried on my editorial (Winchester Star, August 28) than I see Virginia’s Senate provides a textbook example of lawmakers violating the very law about which I wrote.

I cannot fault the Senators for not having read my editorial.  But Senate Bill 5032 provides clear evidence that neither did these legislators read a law school textbook before crafting the bill.

The 21 senators who voted in favor of that bill will become felons when their encouragement results in an attack upon a police officer.

“The Virginia Senate approved legislation on Wednesday that would downgrade the legal penalty for a suspect found guilty of assaulting a police officer.  Senate Bill 5032 would if signed into law, eliminate the state’s six-month mandatory minimum prison sentence for assaulting an officer,” reports National Review.

That bill is the textbook definition of aiding and abetting a criminal.  Why?  See my editorial (below).

We frequently hear these days, “No one is above the law.”  Yet we behave as if these six words are meaningless.

Let’s consider a few city mayors and state governors whose actions – or lack thereof – meet every definition of criminality.  These civic leaders flout the very law they have sworn to uphold.

A quick visit to the Cornell Law School web page will illustrate the point.  We need only review four very basic legal definitions: aid, abet, accomplice, accessory.  These words describe actions and persons who assist or encourage those who commit crimes.

Giving assistance or encouragement to someone engaged in the commission of a crime is itself a crime.  And such aiding and abetting is criminally liable under the law to the same extent as the principle, that is, the person committing the crime.

If, for example, a mayor assists or encourages someone engaged in felony assault, aggravated assault, or assault and battery, that mayor is likewise liable for the same crime.

For instance, a defendant convicted of committing first-degree felony assault in Texas can receive a prison sentence ranging between anywhere from 5 years to life, plus a fine of $10,000 or more.   Hence, a mayor aiding that defendant in that crime could receive that same punishment.

If truly “No one is above the law,” this might be an optimum time to ask ourselves why certain mayors and governors and not being charged with violation of the law.

Do any such mayors or governors in recent months come to mind?  Your list might differ slightly from mine.  But mine would include Mayor Ted Wheeler of Portland, Oregon, and Governor Kate Brown of that same state.  My list would include Jay Robert Inslee, Washington State Governor, and Seattle Mayor Jenny A. Durkan.   Yours might include Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.

By any reasonable standard, these civic leaders have encouraged, and assisted persons engaged in criminal assault and battery.  They have restrained their own law enforcement officers from protecting their citizens while knowingly giving free-reign to thugs and mobs engaged in the destruction of both public and private property.   Moreover, these elected civic leaders have failed to accept offered assistance in responding to this rampant criminal behavior.

These actions and lack of actions are the very definition of aid, abet, accomplice, and accessory — the words describing actions and persons who assist or encourage those who commit a crime.

Citizens must either use the law to bring these mayors and governors before the courts or must be prepared for more of the illegal activity we are now permitting.