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Marsupial Madness in Municipal Mansions?

Lexington Courts Examiner Christopher Hignite

In this series of articles we will explore the term 'Kangaroo Court' and I'll give examples from Lexington's Municipal Mansions otherwise known as the courthouse complex. We'll take a trip to the courthouses and discuss particular cases, particular courtrooms and we'll even discuss some of the judges and attorneys that

have come to not only rely on but make a pretty penny from this Marsupial Madness.

http://www.phrases.org defines a Kangaroo court and the origins:

Kangaroo courts are sham legal proceedings which are set-up in order to give theimpression of a fair legal process. In fact, they offer no impartial justice asthe verdict, invariably to the detriment of the accused, is decided in advance.Such courts are associated with groups who have found a need to dispense a roug

h and ready form of justice but are, temporarily at least, outside the bounds offormal judicial processes. For example, inmates in jail, soldiers at war, settl

ers of lands where no jurisdiction has yet been established.The origin of 'kangaroo court' is unknown, although, given that kangaroos are native nowhere else, we might expect the term to have originated in Australia. Asalways, a lack of a definite origin encourages speculative claims, which may bean appropriate word in this context as one frequently repeated supposed derivation relates to 'claim jumping' in the California Gold Rush - hence the allusion to kangaroos. That's quite a plausible notion. Kangaroos and their claim to fame,

so to speak, i.e. jumping, were known in the USA by the early 1800s, so there'sno reason to limit the derivation to Australia. Also, the earliest known citati

on of the term is American and appears in a collection of magazine articles by Philip Paxton (the pen name of Samuel Adams Hammett), which were published in 1853 under the title of A stray Yankee in Texas:

"By a unanimous vote, Judge G-- was elected to the bench and the 'Mestang' or 'Kangaroo Court' regularly organized."

In my last article I mentioned the corruption and lies from current and past administrations. I also mentioned that Mayor Jim Newberry had stated, in response to a question about a prostitute who might have been murdered by police officers,

that some lives go unnoticed and don't matter much, while police officers livesmatter.

This past spring on WLAP AM 630's Sunday night show with 'Officer Don' and 'Raythe D.A.', otherwise known as Lexington's Commonwealth Attorney Ray Larson, Lars

on made a statement similar to Newberry's in callousness with a touch of elitismfor spite. Larson stated to Officer Don that a widely known secret among the legal community, known to judges, prosecutors, attorneys, police officers and thelike is 99% of everyone arrested or accused of a crime is guilty. The problem that we have, he stated, is that we have this darn legal system that allows defense attorneys to twist the laws so that their clients get plea bargains or don't get as much time and even sometimes get off. Give the show a listen, one night,and you'll also hear him discuss individuals and cases by name while calling the

accused names like thug, gangster, trash, jerks and the list goes on.

The National District Attorney Association has this to say about Ray Larson:

I would hate to be the next criminal Ray Larson of Lexington, Kentucky, faces. Not only is he hard on those who choose to commit crimes, but he s also in a particularly bad mood since his Kentucky Wildcats lost in a late round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. In a state where the entire populace cries and bleeds blue

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when the team falters, Larson is still considered a huge University of Kentuckybasketball fan.

But no time is a good time to commit crime in Lexington, Kentucky. Ray Larson, Fayette Countys commonwealths attorney, is a criminals worst nightmare. For as

clever and witty as Ray Larson is, he sees nothing funny in criminal activity.His many state and national awards and honors bear him out to be a prosecutor who is as tough on crime as he is dedicated to the fair treatment of victims. I dont apologize for enabling criminals to send themselves to prison, says Larson. Indeed, he feels that prosecutors are elected to take a stand against hoodlums

who are criminals. As he sees it, one of the fundamental roles of government officials is to do all we can to guarantee the safety of citizens. We protect law-abiding citizens from criminals by incarcerating people.

If Mr. Larson

s stated views on WLAP and Mayor Newberry

s quotes are the attitude and position of those at the very top of our local government and this attitude filters down through the ranks it

s not hard to imagine why getting a fair trial in Lexington isn

t as easy as just being innocent.

From Ray Larson

s Website:Guess What?INCARCERATION WORKS !!!

When the Incarceration Rate goes up,the Crime Rate goes down.

The OUTRAGE is that the anti-punishment gang and their accomplices in the liberal media have convinced our elected leaders, in the face of dramatic proof to the

contrary, that incarceration doesnt work.

The "Letem Out Gang" shouts from the safety of their mostly white and crime-fre

e neighborhoods that our government cannot afford to send prolific, predatory repeat offenders to prison and keep them there.

How do you get a fair trial in Lexington? Don

t get arrested. Sadly, for some innocent people, that

s easier said than done. Follow this series of articles as Idelve more deeply into the legal system of Lexington. Future articles in this s

eries will talk about the eviction court, family court, plea-bargaining and we

ll discuss why African-American males make up so much of the jail and prison population. Does money, or lack thereof, have anything to do with whether you

ll wind up with a criminal record? You bet it does and we

ll discuss why 95% of Americans in jail accepted a plea bargain. We

ll discuss why in America you get as much justice as you can pay for. The final article in the series will discuss why the more technology the police have, the fancier the courthouses and the higher the paychecks those in municipal mansions earn directly reflects how many arrests

and fines must be given to support the cost of running government.

Follow along as we unlock some of the secrets of the city while keeping an eye on the courtrooms and attempt to highlight good work when deserved and expose corruption when found.