Judge Pamela North of Maryland recently ruled that an inmate has a right to protect himself if he feels like he might be threatened. Evidently, protection includes FIRST DEGREE MURDER!
Judge North ruled that the inmate could not be charged with 1st Degree Murder for the stabbing of another because he had a right to protect himself?
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2006/11_05-37/OPN
Several weeks ago a memorably strange ruling came down from our Circuit Court bench. In a death penalty case involving the fatal stabbing of one prison inmate by another, Judge Pamela North instructed the jury that a person may arm himself "in reasonable anticipation of an attack."
After hearing that, the jury acquitted Robert McFarlin of first-degree murder in the 2004 death of Damon Bowie, who was stabbed five times on the sidelines of a basketball game at the Maryland House of Correction in Jessup.
McFarlin claimed he armed himself with a knife because he believed there was a "hit" out on him. The jury convicted him of the lesser crime of second-degree murder, which doesn't carry the death penalty.
We try to tread lightly in criticizing judges, who are vastly more knowledgeable about the law than we can ever be. But this is flat-out illogical. So now, no matter what prison rules say, it can be OK for jailed felons to carry weapons?
McFarlin didn't get away with murder - but he beat the death penalty, perhaps the only penalty offering a serious deterrent to someone who was already serving 100 years for crimes committed in Prince George's County.
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