Ninth Circuit Nut Cases

The following post is from my wife's Voice of the Victims blog. I couldn't agree more.

Regular readers know my concern is about drugs that harm our families. I just don't want there to be any more victims of the heartbreak drugs can cause.

Of course, there are victims of other crimes, and my heart goes out to them, too. That's why this story, from the San Jose Mercury News, so infuriated me:

Federal court reverses 1995 murder conviction
FAMILY PHOTO BUTTONS CALLED INFLAMMATORY

By Howard Mintz

Mercury News
The appeals court ruling stems from a fatal May 1994 confrontation in the driveway of Pamela Musladin's mother's home in South San Jose. At the time, Pamela Musladin had been separated for months from her husband and had been living there with the Musladins' 3-year-old son and Studer, a 31-year-old plumber and her fiance.

A federal appeals court on Friday overturned a 10-year-old San Jose murder conviction, finding the defendant did not receive a fair trial because the victim's family was allowed to sit each day in the front row of the courtroom wearing buttons bearing photographs of the victim.

In a 2-1 decision, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Mathew Musladin is entitled to a new trial for the 1994 killing of his estranged wife's boyfriend outside a Blossom Valley home. Musladin, 45, is currently serving a life prison term for the first-degree murder of Thomas Allen Studer and the attempted murder of his now ex-wife, Pamela. ...

Musladin will remain in prison while the case proceeds. ...

Mathew Musladin arrived at the home to pick up his 3-year-old son for a weekend visitation when an argument broke out in front of the house. Court records show that Musladin fired shots at Pamela and Studer, hitting Studer in the shoulder and then in the head with a bullet that ricocheted off the pavement. [Note: O'Reilly said Studer was shot from behind.]

Musladin admitted shooting Studer, but claimed that he believed Studer had a gun and that another man at the house had a machete. He testified that he feared for his life when he fired the shots. ...

The Ninth Circuit has proved, once again, that it is capable of making the most bizarre decisions imaginable. My heart goes out to the Studer family. They should not have to live through the pain of this trial again.