RIAA Wants Student Deposed On School Day

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "In a Houston, Texas, case, UMG v. Hightower, the RIAA has served a subpoena on the defendant's son, a high school student, on one day's notice, telling him to be at a lawyer's office at 9:00 a.m. the next day, a school day, for a deposition. The defendant's lawyer objected (PDF)."

Comments

Re:Prays?

[idesofmarch]

I think you overstate things with the "warm fuzzy feeling" bit. I am a Texan. Most people do not know or do not care about this provision. It is a hassle to change to Constitution, so there it stays. It does strike me as ridiculous and I wish it was not there, but not enough to campaign for it.

Re:Go figure - it doesn't matter

[blueforce]

How long will it be, before Judges and courtrooms are sick of these petty charges, and start only allowing the larger criminals who actually sell and distribute?

It doesn't matter how sick the judges and courtrooms get. As long as the law says what it says, they can do what they do.

In my opinion, which doesn't count except on ballot day, the whole criminal justice system is screwed up - largely due to fatuous and incongruous drug laws. There are a number of states that don't agree with the federal government on Marijuana laws or penalties to the point of contention over federal funds.

Take for example the case in Cleveland a few weeks ago: A girl accused her ex-boyfriend of rape. He's arrested, but the juvenile detention center was full, so he was placed under house arrest with a monitor. Instead of being in the detention center where he should have been, he was at home. He took a shotgun, left home, found his accuser, and shot her in the face.
http://www.newsnet5.com/news/11183624/detail.html

Full story line here: http://www.newsnet5.com/news/12188918/detail.html

Undoubtedly, there were kids in that detention center on drug related, and non-violent offences. But, the violent criminal gets sent home to attempt murder.

I'm not an actuary but I'd bet that this type of thing happens all across the country on a regular basis. The system is broken when this type of thing can happen.

Interestingly, two nights ago on the History channel there was a show about the history of recreational pharmaceuticals. (In fact, there are two volumes in the series: http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id= 70805 that said something to the effect of (paraphrasing from memory here) "if the politicians who passed the Harris act had any idea what the world looks like today, it would never have been passed." The history of Cocaine is fascinating, and how it came to be illegal. I recommend the History Channel videos if you haven't seen them.

In any case, Newton once contended that a change in the gravitional field in one region of the Universe would be felt instantaneously in every other part of the Universe. It's similar to how the "war on drugs" has that type of effect on every other part of society.

So, how does this relate to the *AA? It doesn't directly. It's more of an analogy to how absurd laws and differing opinions, even by high-level government officials, still results in the same apathy and ineffectual legislation, and inaction on the part of our elected representatives.