You did as I see what I was missing. Thanks Ant67 now I understand. I didn't read whole decision just the long thread and you clarified what I was missing. I was missing the part about a citizen in AL being able to make an arrest. Now I understand Your post.

So lets say a car backfires down the street from me and I think its a gun shot. I guess I can go arrest an elderly woman who is carrying a handgun and out for her evening walk and accuse her of shooting at (name the animal) and have her deal with two years of litigation and stress. Just because I heard what I thought was a gunshot.

That's attempted murder may be able to plea down to manslaughter

It seems So Skinny. Bizarre. Only heard of citizen's arrest in movies and now AL deer. If I block someone in their driveway in FL for something like you describe with an elderly lady on an evening walk, I'd be the one in trouble for impeding her right to move freely. Certainly no judge would sign a warrant. This was why I made point of asking for clarification of what I didn't understand about AL law. Whole thing is strange.

"Oh yeah, nothing to see here, just making your everyday citizens arrest and prosecuting off some obscure law to ruin three young people's lives".

LOL

The notion that if the situation were reversed, and any random citizen were to "citizen arrest" some "pillar of the rural community" and have charges stand in court is simply ridiculous. They would end up in jail themselves (or either get shot in the process)and a judge would laugh their argument out of the court room.

It is common sense obvious that the judge's ole buddy thought his service as a LEO was a lifetime appointment to do as he saw fit, and his good judge buddy wasn't about to embarrass him by failing to carry the process through.

I know the ol super GW and Judge are at fault. Didn't a crooked DA or someone have to decide to prosecute and also "play ball" with Roscoe and Boss Hogg of Lowndes Co?

Imagine how many perfectly innocent broke folk have spent time in prison because of those guys just because they did not have the means to fight it.

Sounds to me like retired GW and judge missed their calling.They both should seek jobs with Ringling Bros. Get an orange wig and big red nose ! They already have expewrience as being a couple of Clowns !

I can sort of believe in the concept of a citizens arrest in HIGHLY unusual circumstances like preventing physical injury or other felonious acts, but for a relatively less severe crime? And then then the only evidence is simply the word of a non-sworn-in citizen (not an active officer). So, the detaining/arresting person, the accuser, and the one providing the evidence are one in the same. It seems it's just a "he said he said", and without a sworn in officer's word, or other actual evidence, you would think it would be thrown out. Nope ... Not in good ole boy land.

Yep.

Wonder how many others have been screwed by the same ex-GW, same intersection, same stop sign??

I honestly don't know where a retired officer stands in this matter. Not that I intend to go out and search out crimes nowadays, but situations I may come across are one of the reasons I remain deputized and keep my certification current.

Poor judgment, yes, but does it rise to the level of a felony crime of Impersonating a peace Officer when you used to be one for 20+ years? I doubt you would find a prosecutor willing to go that route. I would certainly explore the civil route though because he will have certainly lost the limited immunity officers have. The judge will be absolutely immunized from a civil case, from my understanding of those issues, which I admit is limited.

I have a question for the OP. After the original court case did you realize the judge was the occasional poster and Aldeer member Augustus65? If you did, kudos to you for remaining civil and not making things worse. Not many of us could have done that.

I also feel like I need to apologize to you, because when this thread started, I didn't believe your story anymore than I believe in the tooth fairy , but there was something in the way you told the story and your conviction in pursuing it that kept me interested. I'm glad justice was served.

What if those boys told him to kiss their arse and opened the gate to go in whats his next move? If he pulled a gun or approached he could have got shot legally in my book.

Citizen arrest is for a felony that has occurred. This was not a citizen arrest in the sense some believe. They were let go and warrants sworn out afterwards unless I missed something.

Ant you are wrong, we don't have elites as elected officials, the judge is no better than any of the kids that were screwed. These were trumped up charges by a fool and his friend at best. Its innocent until PROVEN guilty. This never happened. Nobody really cares if they were posters here, they were wrong !

This is something unique to your state. If I did what retired did an assistant state attorney would tell me I was looney tunes and kick me out of their office.

Yes, I knew shortly after the original court appearance that August 65 was Judge Adrian Johnson.

We are emotionally invested in this case, but where ALDEER and the public are concerned only the Facts and not our emotions are pertinent to the case. I saw no need to sling mud at anyone. We felt like the simple facts, or lack of there of, is what was most important and we wanted true opinions no matter if they agreed with us or not.

It was also important to us for people to realize just how easy it is to be falsely accused and convicted, especially in a small town.

As we learned more about this and the conservation laws we were shocked to find that anyone driving a vehicle at night, with their headlights on, carrying a gun, in an area known to have protected wildlife can be charged with hunting at night. THIS IS RIDICULOUS!!!

I had a long conversation/discussion with the Department of Conservation about this trying to get some clarity and there was none. Headlights can be considered artificial light but it is a crime to drive at night without them.... GO FIGURE... If you are carrying a gun and in an area with protected wildlife you are committing a crime either way you go.

I appreciate your apology, but completely understand your skepticism. Had I not lived this myself and just heard the story I would not have believed it at first either. But do appreciate your apology.

So the ALDCNR did not help you a bit? Were they backing up the ex-gw who caused the problem to begin with?

Also it is my understanding (as told to me by a Lowndes county resident) that the retired game warden runs a private commercial for hire landowner / wildlife security business. It would be financially beneficial to him to capture 3 boys hunting after dark as he could tell potential clients of his success in the county when seeking paying customers for his services.