When is stealing not really stealing?
I guess these guys have a countersuit against the government for Insurance Fraud. Time to fire more judges for being to darn stupid to hold his/her post. When will our judiciary system pull their heads out of the sand and get a clue? Sure there are laws that say you cannot steal, be it public or private property, but these idiot judges seem to think that there should be a law stating that the government has to identify, categorize, and place a monetary value on every square inch of the state, or it's ok loot at will. Ridiculous!
Quote:
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Two men who stole Native American rock carvings from a Nevada mountainside dodged punishment when a U.S. appeals court ruled Tuesday prosecutors did not properly document the value of the carvings.
A jury found John Ligon and Carroll Mizell guilty of excavating the carvings, known as petroglyphs, from the mountain in Reno, but they sought acquittal because the prosecution did not present evidence of the petroglyphs' value.
A district court denied their motion, but the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said Tuesday the men should be acquitted as the government never presented a report estimating the retail value of the petroglyphs at $800-$900.
"It is clear that Ligon and Mizell stole the petroglyphs. It is equally clear that the petroglyphs had a market value." William Fletcher wrote for a three-judge panel.
"But the government did not introduce that report into evidence, or indeed anything else that might have served as evidence of 'value'," he wrote. "We therefore are constrained to reverse the district court's denial."
