Today is Day 3 of the Vernon Hershberger trial in Baraboo, Wisconsin. The day began with 3 hours of minutia about sales and licenses and types of products sold, and the totals of sales, the location of buyers, the purchase types (cash or credit), the price of shipping, the dates….Why not just read the phone book? It’s equally as productive and informative to the jury.
The State continues to embarrass itself by ignoring the moral issues at hand. They instead focus on arbitrary violations of “statutory law.” This “statutory law” has no connection to “common sense” law.
State witness and Investigator Jackie Owens testified all day, avoiding direct answers to questions, and actively obfuscating facts. The live-tweets of today’s events can be read below:
Trial of Vernon Hershberger Day 3 is beginning. Court room is filling up. Livestream at Justin.tv/FarmFoodFreedom
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
Judge Reynolds won’t permit discussion or insinuation of raw milk in front of jury but giving opportunity to make comment on record.
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
Defense: “We can’t leave the jury in the dark…” Judge: “Yes we can.”
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
Jury enters. Jackie Owens takes stand. Says holding order which she issued requires “the food” to stay where it is.
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
Jury returns. State plays video of raid. Owens identifies video of Agents sealing Hershberger’s freezers with tape. The food must not leave.
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
State Agent and Leader of the Raid Jackie Owens testifies that Vernon was calm and relaxed during the entirety of the raid.
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
Owens testifies that the conversation explaining holding order to Vernon was uncomfortable for her. Doesn’t like keeping food from people.
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
Owens testifies that Vernon would not allow Agents to check on the sealed-up food at later dates. Holding order then extended indefinitely.
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
State is asking witness about a “drop off point” as if talking about drug trafficking. We’re still talking about milk, eggs, & cheese right?
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
State bores all. Objection by Defense: “Are we going to go through 300 pages of this? This is really painful.”Overruled. #facepalm #stalling
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
Defense questioning witness Jackie Owens: She affirms farmers can grow and consume food/milk without license. #Dairy #Farmer #Food #Freedom
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
Trial Resumes after lunch. Defense asks, “Have you ever heard of a cowshare?”Witness responds, “Yes, it’s an illegal operation…”
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
Trial Resumes after lunch. Defense asks, “Have you ever heard of a cowshare?”Witness responds, “Yes, it’s an illegal operation…”
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
Defense cross-examines Owens. Witness evades. State objects to 90% questions. Judge sustains on reflex #KangarooCourt justin.tv/FarmFoodFreedom
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
Defense: “Did you recognize the product?”Owens: “A Raw Milk product.”Judge: “That will be stricken from the record. Jury, disregard that.”
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
Jury excused while State attempts to further gag Defense and obfuscate facts. Judge forbids mention of pertinent facts #RuleOfLaw #Justice
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
Jury excused while State attempts to further gag Defense and obfuscate facts. Judge forbids mention of pertinent facts #RuleOfLaw #Justice
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
State: The jury doesn’t decide the law; they decide the facts.Defense: DTCAP’s request for information is part of the story. It IS a fact.
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
Defense: “Judge, you’re cutting the Defense here into little pieces.”Judge: “What’s the purpose of this?”Defense: “They set him up, Judge”
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
Defense: “I need to be able to bring out the bias of every witness against Vernon. His life is on the line. I’m entitled to expose this.”
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
Judge: “I’m not going to permit reference to the last 4 pages (of raid document) or allow it into evidence.” So much for bringing out truth!
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
The art of evading questions and obfuscating the truth, by Jackie Owens: justin.tv/FarmFoodFreedom #VernonHershberger #RawMilk #Trial #Bias
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
Defense: “What is Progressive Compliance?”Owens: “The least amount of enforcement necessary to gain compliance.” #WhoOwnsYou #RawMilk
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
Defense: “When he lost his milk producer license, he went back to being a dairy farmer, correct?”Owens: “He was no longer a milk producer.”
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
Defense: After losing his license, did Vernon continued to milk his cows?Owens: YesDefense: He could give that to family, yes?OBJECTION!
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
Defense begins showing videos of #RawMilk Farm raid. Investigator Jackie Owens avoids answering basic yes/no questions, showing clear bias.
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
D: “It LOOKS like a retail store to you, but what people DO with the product is what makes it a retail store, true?” OBJECTION! (Sustained.)
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
Defense: “If Vernon took a stick of butter from one freezer and put it in another, that’s a violation of the hold order?”Owens: “It moved.”
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
Defense: “Mr Hershberger gave you his hard drive, did he not?”Owens: “No he didn’t. We took it.” #VernonHershberger #Criminal #Govt #Theft
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
Defense: “Did you advocate for 42 criminal counts against Mr Hershberger?”Owens: “I didn’t realize it was quite that few…” #KangarooCourt
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
Defense: “You were trying to send a message to this man by charging 42 counts?”Owens: “No.”Defense: “Then why not 1 count?”OBJECTION!!
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
Defense: “You want to see Mr Hershberger convicted, don’t you?”Owens: “Is that a personal question or professional question?” #State #Bias
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
Owens admits to placing dye in 2000 lbs of milk that could have been used by the Hershberger family, rendering it undrinkable by humans.
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
Defense: “Why couldn’t you let him keep his milk instead of destroying it?”Owens: “Because they didn’t ask, and we didn’t offer.” #RawMilk
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013
Day 3 of the Trial of #RawMilk #Farmer #VernonHershberger Court is in recess until tomorrow at 8:45am — watch live justin.tv/FarmFoodFreedom
— Derrick J. Freeman (@derrickjfreeman) May 22, 2013