9th Circuit Court Does It Again!

Did You Hear the One About the Armed Robber Who??
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Morning Editor
May 23, 2003

(CNSNews.com) – A pro-Second Amendment group says the Ninth Circuit
Court of Appeals has “lost its marbles,” after throwing out the
conviction of an armed robber who didn’t mean to show his loaded gun
to a bank teller.

The federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled that although
Deshon Rene Odom was carrying a loaded revolver when he robbed a Los
Angeles bank, he “never intentionally displayed the gun,” and
therefore he should not stand convicted of armed robbery.

The ruling struck many people as ridiculous.

The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms issued a
statement calling the ruling outrageous and irresponsible: “This is
the same court that insists law-abiding Americans have no right to
own guns, but now says an armed bank robber shouldn’t get the
maximum punishment because he never intended that anyone see his
illegally-carried handgun,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb.

The ruling – written by Judge Richard Clifton of Hawai – noted, “Can
a bank robber with a concealed gun who never mentions or insinuates
having one, but who displays it inadvertently, be convicted of armed
bank robbery? We believe the answer is no…”

Odom and his accomplice were both arrested outside the bank and both
were carrying loaded guns.

“I thought the Ninth Circuit had hit bottom when it ruled the Pledge
of Allegiance unconstitutional, and said the Second Amendment does
not protect an individual right [to bear arms],” but I was wrong,”
Gottlieb said. “I suspected this court had lost its bearing, but now
it appears the judges have lost their marbles.”

Gottlieb said the Ninth Circuit Court needs a thorough house-
cleaning: “With goofy rulings like this, it is no wonder they call
this bunch the ‘Ninth Circus Court,’ and it has a record of being
the most overturned appeals court in the nation. When common sense
was handed out, the Ninth Circuit was obviously out to lunch, and it
stayed there,” he said.