April 2012 Print E-mail

President’s Message

by Marty Hayes

This month, I want to share with you the story of Douglas Burns. Doug is one of us, not a member of the Network, but a fellow armed citizen. At least he WAS an armed citizen until February 18, 1994, when he was assaulted by a man who stood over 6 feet tall and weighed over 300 pounds. Doug was, at the time, 5-6 and 140 pounds. According to the accounts I read about the incident and speaking to Doug, this is what occurred–

Doug had been in the same public place as the 300-pounder, minding his own business, when he and the 300-pounder crossed paths, and the 300-pounder told him “get the f*** out of my way” and slammed into him. Doug admits his mistake was telling the fellow that “there’s no call for that” at which time the fellow came at him aggressively.

Disparity of force? Yes, it appears it was present. Previous assault? Yep. Was there a need to draw the firearm and warn the big bruiser to back off? In my playbook it was the logical choice. So, Burns first said, “Halt where you are, I am a licensed firearms owner.” He had not drawn his firearm yet, but that warning didn’t stop the fellow. When he did draw his firearm, the bruiser stopped in his tracks. Police were called, and someone went to jail. But, not the right someone! It was Doug who was hauled off to jail, prosecuted and ultimately convicted of assault. You see the big bruiser of whom Doug legitimately felt in fear was an off-duty sheriff’s deputy. Hmmm, the plot thickens…

Doug, a calligrapher by trade, also lived in about the worse place on the planet for armed self defense: Massachusetts. The fact that he had a legitimate concealed carry license in Massachusetts speaks volumes for his character. I also know him to have been well trained to handle himself and his firearm, and nothing in the record indicates to me he did anything wrong. But, he had a sworn deputy sheriff as the chief witness against him, a guy who had a career to protect.

This event happened in a public place, with several uninvolved witnesses. When police arrived though, it is reported that the witnesses were told that they weren’t needed and told to go away. Did I mention that the bruiser was a local deputy sheriff?

Two separate charges were filed against Doug, the first for simple assault, because apparently Doug had touched the bruiser at some point, and the second charge was felony assault with a firearm. No charges were filed against the off-duty deputy. Doug fired his first attorney who was unresponsive to his case, but by the time the second attorney came on board, the 9-1-1 tapes had apparently been erased. Even so, Doug was found innocent of the simple assault charge and was declared innocent by five out of six jurors on the felony assault charge, with the sixth juror refusing to vote because she didn’t believe in firearms ownership.

Now, one would think that this would suffice to preclude a second prosecution, but remember this occurred in Boston. Doug was eventually prosecuted again and this time convicted of assault with a firearm, although attorneys in the courtroom contacted him immediately after the verdict and told him he had gotten a raw deal, and offered to help him with an appeal.

I could go on, giving separate accounts of the five different attorneys who have all worked on Doug’s case and their ineffectiveness and incompetence to do anything meaningful for the guy. But, suffice it to say that I am convinced he got a raw deal, and continues to this day to get jerked around in whatever system of justice Massachusetts purports to have.

Doug contacted me several months ago when he was again looking for another appellate attorney to attempt to get his case reviewed by the Massachusetts Supreme Court. We talked about his case and I offered him a name or two of attorneys he could talk to, but another problem came up: he has run out of money to hire a good appellate attorney. With a felony record, it is also difficult to get work in his trade. Recently, he re-contacted me with some good news: he has found legal counsel to push forward the case to clear his name. Because I feel strongly about injustices such as the ones against Doug, I agreed to run his case by the members of the Network to see if we could collectively raise some money for him. I will be clicking on this link to a non-profit foundation set up for assisting people like Doug in Massachusetts and I invite you to join me in helping Doug.

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