Nobody finally recovers garden tool from state!

For those who have not seen it, here is the video of the resolution of the machete case.

I’d like to address two criticisms that I heard:

1) “Your license was suspended, so they should have arrested you, why are you complaining?”

If they had just arrested me for Operating while Suspended, the case would be no big deal.

But charging me with a felony while knowing I was innocent is dirty pool, and it has to be addressed.

2) “You knew they might arrest you for the machete. Why did you have it in your trunk?”

Yes, I knew they might arrest me for the machete. I’m sure this happens to people all the time. Many of those people were probably intimidated into taking a plea and doing 3 months in jail, as they tried to do to me.

But I was not breaking the law, and it is their job to know what the the law says and to enforce it. It is not “enforcing the law” when you prosecute someone you know to be innocent.

Also, to prosecute me for a machete implies that they could prosecute me for using a sharp knife while eating a steak .. or for doing my job, since at the time I worked as a dishwasher in a steakhouse, and if you go with their “You cannot have anything hard, heavy, or sharp” interpretation of the law, I could never handle ANY tool … not even a car!