There may be a ‘war on drugs,’ but this is ridiculous

June 8, 2005

I realize that prosecutors have grown overzealous about going after drug users, but this story, brought to my attention by Carpetbagger regular PWalker, shows that sometimes a district attorney’s office can go a little too far.

Jason Warner was killed last fall, but that didn’t stop Fulton County prosecutors from bringing drug charges against the Atlanta man this spring.

“Judge, I think he’s dead,” a probation officer said when Warner’s marijuana possession case was called before Judge Alford Dempsey last week.

Dempsey shook his head and said, “I guess we’re indicting the dead now.”

The judge ordered the case “dead docketed,” a legal status akin to being in permanent limbo.

For all the talk from conservatives about taxing the dead through estate taxes, it’s a shame there isn’t more concern about prosecuting the dead. I guess “death indictments” doesn’t have the same flair as “death tax.”

“When you start indicting dead people, it would indicate to me the power is not being used prudently,” [Mike Mears, director of the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council] said. “That certainly indicates there’s been a lack of attention to the people. It’s out of control.”

Shamelessly stolen from http://www.karenlyster.com/trial.html

Cadaver Trial : Pope Formosus’s Corpse Found Guilty

One of the most bizarre historical accounts involving the papacy involves an event known as the Cadaver Synod. Stephen, made pope in 896, ordered the exhumation of his predecessor, Pope Formosus, and had him tried for alleged crimes against the church. Formosus had only been dead for about nine months. Stephen dressed Formosus’ corpse in papal robes and sat it in a chair. Stephen presided over the trial.

“E.R. Chamberline writes, ‘The corpse was provided with a council, who wisely kept silent while Pope Stephen raved and screamed his insults at it. The pretext for the trial was that Formosus, contrary to canon law, had accepted the bishopric of Rome while he was still bishop of another diocese.

“‘But few, if any, in the council chamber, were impressed by the charge. The real crime of Formosus was that he had been a member of the opposite faction and had crowned ’emperor’ one of the numerous illegitimate descendants of Charlemagne after having performed the same office for the candidate favored by Pope Stephen’s party.’ (The Bad Popes, 1969, p. 209)

“Formosus was declared guilty. His remains were dragged through the streets of Rome and then thrown in the Tiber. The effect of the Cadever Synod backfired on Stephen. Formosus’ supporters, appalled by Stephen’s macabre trial, rebelled. He was deposed, imprisoned and strangled to death.”

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