Liberty Minute November 20, 2013

A California Highway Patrol officer avenged a courtroom loss by stealing three years of an innocent man?s  life.

In January 2007, CHP Officer Mark Magrann stopped a driver who was traveling at more than 100 miles per hour. The driver, who had a United Kingdom driver?s license, disappeared. At a trial six months later, Magrann claimed he was ?98 percent sure? that Kendell Wilkinson was the driver. Wilkinson produced a driver?s license documenting that he was not the speeder, and was acquitted.

Magrann, offended by what he called Wilkinson?s ?arrogance,? obtained a search warrant for the man?s home, determined to find the UK driver?s license. The search proved fruitless ? but the officer and his comrades didn?t relent. They persuaded the Orange County DA to charge Wilkinson with perjury. In the second trial, Wilkinson was able to prove that he wasn?t in California on the date of the incident, and that the driver was actually a distant relative. But Magrann brow-beat a credulous jury into believing that Wilkinson must be guilty because of previous traffic tickets on his record. He was sentenced to 45 days in jail and three years? probation.

The verdict was eventually reversed on the grounds of double jeopardy ? but only after a lengthy, expensive, and unwarranted ordeal.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.