imported post
http://www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m1d22-Breaking-news-Olofson-attorney-on-Lou-Dobbs
I've just received word from Historic Arms LLC President Len Savage, who is an expert witness in the case of
David Olofson, convicted of transferring a machine gun after his semiautomatic firearm that he had loaned malfunctioned at the range.
One of Olofson's attorney's, Herb Titus, will be interviewed live tonight on
Lou Dobbs. The program airs at 7:00 pm EST on CNN, so check your local listings in your time zone. I'm told significant information will be disclosed, and hope to have an update to this story soon to include documents just made public.
Gun Owners of America, which has been providing
legal support for the case, has established the
Olofson Relief Fund to assist his family. Your help is urgently requested.
I'm anticipating receiving documents today. Please check back later for updates. In the mean time, please spread the word to all interested gun rights activists you know to
watch Lou Dobbs tonight.
UPDATE
Link to MP3 of oral arguments.
Click here to access "oral argument" link.
UPDATE 2
Per
Larry Pratt, via email:
Herb Titus just called us to say that he will not be on live, but the reporter Bill Tucker will be giving a report of the hearing today before the appeals court in Chicago.
UPDATE 3
Saw it. Good stuff, except for Lou's opinion that ATF generally does good work. Dobbs and Tucker made a special point of questioning NRA's "arm's length" approach to the case, and credited GOA for their leadership on this case. Their conclusion is that Olofson has been "railroaded."
In re attorney Titus not appearing as was originally expected, Len Savage chalks it up to a "fluid situation."
The crux of the report focused on an argument not new to those closely following the situation, meaning it was for 99+% of the viewing audience. The discrepancy arises from the government using a definition of "automatically" that conflicted with the definition set forth in prior case law. By withholding that from the jury, the defense argues their client was denied "a fair trial." This was raised in the appellant brief, which you can
read here.
I'll do a follow-up report tomorrow, including links to the Dobbs site. If they follow past practices, I should be able to link you to a video of the report. As for significant new information, I'm still waiting on some documents I hope to be able to provide when I next weigh in on this.
Per Len:
Still waiting on PDF's of the two documents made public today that were withheld by ATF during Olofson's trial.
I am told they are forthcoming...I say sometime tomorrow...just a hunch.
Stay tuned.
UPDATE 4
Len Savage shared with me that the Titus interview had been scheduled, but CNN needed to cancel it because the story was overshadowed by developments in the Ramos and Compean commutation. Such is the nature of television, and such is the nature of bringing developments to readers as the situation unfolds. If you
go to my latest post, you'll find a link to the transcript for last night's Olofson segment.
