A sad day for Justice

(The Judge contradicts his own Ruling, as well as well as rules BLM can declare anything!)

A sad day for Justice

Posted on July 23, 2015 • By Ron

David Justice sentenced to 30 days in jail, two years supervised probation

GRAND JUNCTION- A smiling but handcuffed David Justice was escorted July 21 from the Wayne N. Aspinall federal courthouse by U.S. marshalls following a sentence of 30 days in jail and two years of supervised probation, issued by federal Judge Robert Blackburn, for his role in removing Bureau of Land Management barriers from Cushman Creek Road.
Justice is serving his time at the Mesa County Detention Facility. His sentencing came exactly two years to the day after he was photographed by the Western Slope Watchdog wielding a long log he was using to pry the barrier from the road near Olathe.
The federal prosecution subpoeaned Watchdog publisher Ron Bain – the only non-particpating witness – and forced him to testify against Justice, who was assisted that day by 22 road access activists.
Reaction in the packed courtroom was hostile and angry. Wally Smith, a Montrose resident, approached a uniformed security guard after the sentencing and remarked, “Trash. You’re nothing but trash.”
Justice, a paralegal, was acting pro se – without a lawyer – during the sentencing hearing. In December 2014, he fired his lawyer, Gary Fielder, from last year’s jury trial because, Justice said, he was “extremely disappointed at my representation at trial.”
The court sent Justice’s pre-sentencing report to Fielder despite his firing, so Judge Blackburn recessed the hearing for 30 minutes to give Justice a chance to read the pre-sentencing report, which he told the judge he objected to on several grounds.
“The BLM had encroached upon” a county-owned road, he said, but the pre-sentencing report continued the “presumption that the BLM owns the barricades and right-of-way. I don’t concede that position.”
Justice argued that Cushman Creek Road had an “historic and traditional scope,” and that it’s “not federal government property. I do not remorse over the activity performed. The BLM has taken the position of closing rights-of-way that they don’t own. Throughout the course of the proceeding, there was denial that there was even a road there.”
Before pronouncing sentence, Judge Blackburn stated, “This was a protest. They wanted to send a message.”
The judge said that the recommended sentence of 30 days in jail and two years of supervised probation would serve the purpose of “deterring Mr. Justice and deterring the people who were out there with him.”
Judge Blackburn cited Justice’s refusal to obtain a driver’s license or car insurance as showing “a disrespect of our legal system. No citizen has the right or duty to break the law to reach a higher call of duty. We would have nothing but lawlessness, nothing but anarchy.”
Justice was also ordered to pay $4,264 in restitution after Judge Blackburn said, “No fine will be imposed.”
Justice has 14 days to file an appeal of his sentence. He filed a motion for a stay of execution the day of the sentencing hearing.
The judge offered to appoint Justice an attorney if he could not afford one.

http://westernslopewatchdog.com/2015/07/a-sad-day-for-justice/