Latest / Ask the Lawyer / 07/30/2026 Ask the Lawyer with Harvey Peyton

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07/30/2026 Ask the Lawyer with Harvey Peyton · Ask the Lawyer

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Speaker 1: The views and opinions expressed on this program do not
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Speaker 1: necessarily reflect the views and opinions of five ad w
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Speaker 1: c HS it's employees or WVRC Media.
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Speaker 2: O Court.
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Speaker 3: Oh Created equal.
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Speaker 2: Were last come here in a katy I can.
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Speaker 1: Rock up tops on.
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Speaker 4: And good morning to you. You're listening to It's Bob
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Speaker 4: ad w c HS, the Voice of Charleston on a
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Speaker 4: Thursday morning, and I'd like to welcome into the studio
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Speaker 4: for this Thursday morning, it is Harvey Payton from the
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Speaker 4: Peyton Law Froom. Harvey, good morning, how you doing this morning.
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Speaker 3: I'm doing quite well, Hoop. It's always a pleasure to
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Speaker 3: be here. And I this is the third week in
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Speaker 3: a row, actually, which for a person, you know, I'm
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Speaker 3: like the dinosaur blinking at the sun waiting for the
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Speaker 3: big media were to strike. But Tom and I were
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Speaker 3: here together three weeks ago and then he's been away
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Speaker 3: for some pretty much needed time off. He's been working
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Speaker 3: really hard these last three or four months and said
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Speaker 3: he's coming back tomorrow and I think probably will insist
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Speaker 3: on putting me back out the pasture so you can
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Speaker 3: make solo appearances for the next the rest of the summer.
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Speaker 3: But it's always good to be here, you know. You
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Speaker 3: start thinking, start thinking through the week of well, what
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Speaker 3: sort of a topic can we speak about? One of
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Speaker 3: the things that it's kind of been on my mind
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Speaker 3: because you know, we've had this really terrible situation I
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Speaker 3: think it's in Fayette County with the legislator. He was
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Speaker 3: arrested on a warrant based upon a criminal complaint and
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Speaker 3: remains in custody in Kentucky awaiting charges which involve use
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Speaker 3: of interstate commerce the internet to apparently groom and later
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Speaker 3: have allegedly some sort of sexual contact with a fifteen
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Speaker 3: year old who may or may not have been a
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Speaker 3: student of here. There was a student at a school
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Speaker 3: where he was employed, but I'm not sure that I
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Speaker 3: haven't seen the criminal complaint. Well, it led to a
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Speaker 3: great deal of activity. The Speaker of the House of
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Speaker 3: Delegates immediately removed the man from all of his committees
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Speaker 3: and responsibilities and his leadership permission. There was a human
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Speaker 3: craft from both sides of the aisle for his immediate resignation. Appropriately,
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Speaker 3: as they do in all cases where there are allegations
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Speaker 3: of sexual misconduct by an educator, the State Board of
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Speaker 3: Education immediately suspended Now they haven't revoked the man's teaching certificate,
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Speaker 3: but it is suspended pending an outcome. And then the
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Speaker 3: state Republican Party, and I guess the Fayette County Executive
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Speaker 3: Committee moved to simply just throw him out of the party.
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Speaker 3: Now the issue is whether the state Elections Commission can
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Speaker 3: remove his name from the ballot and allow the Republican
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Speaker 3: Executive Committee to replace him. Fairness would seem to indicate
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Speaker 3: absentute law that was passed last year that you're going
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Speaker 3: to leave the name of a of a person charged
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Speaker 3: with a serious fellony on the ballot to be unfair
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Speaker 3: to the party. Really, I mean, I'm a solid Democrat,
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Speaker 3: but fairness is fairness. They ought to you know, I
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Speaker 3: would hope that they'd be Republicans to be able to
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Speaker 3: put somebody up their us. Otherwise, what do you have?
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Speaker 3: How do the people Fat County know what they're getting?
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Speaker 3: You know, they're they're voting for somebody because of who
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Speaker 3: he's not as opposed to who he's for. And the
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Speaker 3: question arose I've heard, you know, I listen to the
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Speaker 3: radio a lot on when you get texts about what
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Speaker 3: about this man is innocent until proven guilty? And I
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Speaker 3: heard Danny Jones on Dave's show the other day, and
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Speaker 3: Danny pointed out correctly, well, he's presumed innocent. You know,
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Speaker 3: it's one of those things that we all take so
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Speaker 3: much for granted. But pick up the Bill of Rights,
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Speaker 3: pick up the Constitution in the United States, read it
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Speaker 3: through and through beginning to end, Read every amendment to
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Speaker 3: the Constitution, and then show me the words presumed innocent.
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Speaker 3: Show me the words beyond a reasonable doubt. Well, you
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Speaker 3: can't because they're not there. It's like one man, one vote,
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Speaker 3: it's not there either. But I mean, it's been firmly
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Speaker 3: established in the United States that the presumption of innocence
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Speaker 3: and the burden of proof on the state, whether it
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Speaker 3: be the federal government or under the four deeenth Amendment,
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Speaker 3: state and local governments, is proof beyond reasonable doubt sufficient
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Speaker 3: to overcome. First of all, the state has to overcome
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Speaker 3: the presumption that the defendant is innocent. And in a
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Speaker 3: criminal trial, and I've tried plenty of them, the court
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Speaker 3: tells the jury, you know that the defendant, as he
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Speaker 3: or she sits here is presumed entirely a presumption in
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Speaker 3: your mind that they are innocent. Now, that's not evidence.
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Speaker 3: That's just a presumption, and it only applies in the
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Speaker 3: court room. It's not a restriction on the ability of,
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Speaker 3: for instance, a political party to act on its belief
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Speaker 3: that the person is guilty a it's not really a
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Speaker 3: prohibition on the ability to oppress to report. Now, what happened.
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Speaker 3: I'm old enough to remember the Manson murders, and really
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Speaker 3: the root source of the allegedly this and allegedly did
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Speaker 3: that is the Manson trial.
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Speaker 4: I know it is that right.
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Speaker 3: President Nixon and a statement to the press just professed
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Speaker 3: his belief they're guilty. Pretty fair belief. He was entitled
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Speaker 3: to that belief. I mean, I believe aj Simpson's guilty
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Speaker 3: of double murder. But you know that's not what the
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Speaker 3: jury said. They didn't say it was anacynth. They said
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Speaker 3: he wasn't proven guilty.
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Speaker 4: And it used to be frowned upon for presidents to
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Speaker 4: make declarations like that.
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Speaker 3: At one point, Well, what happens. Then the Manson girls
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Speaker 3: get their hands on the newspaper, the La Times, which
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Speaker 3: has got a big block headline. Nixon says Manson guilty
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Speaker 3: and however they did it secure to get up in
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Speaker 3: the courtroom in front of the jury the next day
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Speaker 3: and hold up the newspapers and start disrupting the court,
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Speaker 3: calling attention to himselves with Nixon pronounces them guilty, that
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Speaker 3: what they're seeking is a mistrial. Well, it did create
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Speaker 3: a hubbub, as I recall it in the press, and
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Speaker 3: you know then it was then the standard matter became
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Speaker 3: he shouldn't say guilty. It's allegedly, you know, even if
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Speaker 3: you're reporting an indictment, it is alleged. Well, that seems fair,
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Speaker 3: But it's a change. It's a seventy year it's a
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Speaker 3: sixty year, fifty plus year process that has led us
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Speaker 3: to that. And I think correctly, as Mayor Jones noted,
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Speaker 3: it's a legal presumption and because of decisions about the
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Speaker 3: United States Supreme Court, even though you don't see those
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Speaker 3: words presumption of innocence, presumed innocent, or proof beyond a
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Speaker 3: reasonable doubt in the Constitution as far back as like
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Speaker 3: eighteen ninety five, everybody in law school that takes a
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Speaker 3: criminal law class learns about Coffin the US, it was
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Speaker 3: a case out of Indiana. It wasn't decided until the
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Speaker 3: eighteen nineties in which the United States Supreme Court for
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Speaker 3: the first time said, you know, the presumption of innocence
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Speaker 3: and the burden of proof are fundamental rights under the
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Speaker 3: law of the land, historic precedent, and a part of
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Speaker 3: the due process that's guaranteed by the Fifth and fourteenth Amendments.
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Speaker 3: So now, at that time the court said, it's evidence
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Speaker 3: of innocence. Well, it's not evidence of innocence anymore. It's
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Speaker 3: a presumption of innocence. But the judge tells the jury,
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Speaker 3: and if you're a defense lawyer, you pay attention to
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Speaker 3: what the jury's doing when he said, you know, it's
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Speaker 3: a presumption. It's more than a mere fiction. It's more
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Speaker 3: than a mere legal standard. It is a fundamental right.
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Speaker 3: And you cannot find the defendant guilty. And less number one,
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Speaker 3: you first find that the state has overcome that presumption.
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Speaker 3: They have to put on enough evidence. Well he's presumed innocent.
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Speaker 3: Well I've seen enough evidence to show me that he's
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Speaker 3: probably guilty. But that's not enough. Then you have to
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Speaker 3: go beyond that, from probable guilt to guilt beyond a
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Speaker 3: reasonable doubt. Now there's always a question about what that means.
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Speaker 3: It means what a jerry says it means. You know,
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Speaker 3: it means what convinces a person in their mind, not
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Speaker 3: of absolute proof, because there is no such thing in
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Speaker 3: a you know, a human proceeding. None of us are infallible,
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Speaker 3: and everybody makes mistakes and sees things in a different way.
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Speaker 3: But proof beyond a reasonable doubt. My old metaphor when
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Speaker 3: I was trying cases was it's like the turtle in
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Speaker 3: the road. You know, it's a foggy, cool morning like
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Speaker 3: this morning, but it's gonna warm up. It was warm yesterday,
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Speaker 3: so the little turtle is like to crawl out on
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Speaker 3: the black top pavement where it's warm. You come around
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Speaker 3: the curve in the road and there's one of the
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Speaker 3: little fellows moving his little feet crossing the road, and
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Speaker 3: you swerve to miss him, and you go down there. Anything.
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Speaker 3: I wonder, did he make it? I wish he had.
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Speaker 3: I'd like to think he did now, but I'm not
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Speaker 3: sure though. So what do you do to then prove
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Speaker 3: beyond a reasonable doubt if he didn't make it? You
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Speaker 3: get a traffic count on the road, you talk about
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Speaker 3: the weather conditions. Maybe you call somebody in from the
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Speaker 3: Department of Highways. One of the workers said he's find
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Speaker 3: a dead turtle in the road. They clean them up
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Speaker 3: a lot of times, you know. So there's other evidence
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Speaker 3: that's circumstantial in nature, that can prove beyond reasonable doubt otherwise,
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Speaker 3: and that circumstance, I think anybody, if you were trying
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Speaker 3: somebody based upon whether he made it that little purp
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Speaker 3: and made it across you found I'm not guilty. I mean,
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Speaker 3: I've had literally dur wars, and it's not a matter
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Speaker 3: of tricking anybody. I mean, I've had sure wus who
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Speaker 3: I knew to be solid citizens came up to me.
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Speaker 3: We tried a case I can remember was that it
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Speaker 3: was a receiving stolen property case and the jury turned
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Speaker 3: the fellow loose. One of them was a murder case.
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Speaker 3: There was a felony murder allegedly that this person killed
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Speaker 3: the guy in the commission of a felony while somebody else,
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Speaker 3: one of his accomplices, was committing a felony, and that
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Speaker 3: became the real issue, and said, you know, we all
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Speaker 3: thought he probably did that, but we just couldn't say
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Speaker 3: we didn't have a doubt about it at least, so
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Speaker 3: they turned them loose. I mean, jurors, people can undersell
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Speaker 3: the ability of jury wars you know, the jury trial
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Speaker 3: is in the right to a trial by jury is
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Speaker 3: in the Bill of Rights twice. I mean it's in
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Speaker 3: criminal proceedings in the Fifth Amendment and in civil proceedings
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Speaker 3: in the sixth. And the reason right to the jury
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Speaker 3: travel and civil proceedings is there is because George Mason,
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Speaker 3: for whom Mason County is named, a representative from Virginia
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Speaker 3: at the Constitutional well after the Constitution was adopted, but
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Speaker 3: at the meetings that led to the Bill of Rights insisted,
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Speaker 3: you know that that's the big equalizer. And we're an
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Speaker 3: egalitarian country where at largely rural and agricultural, we want
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Speaker 3: to get completely away from kings and elites who can
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Speaker 3: control judicial procedure, particularly civil trials, which were ruled by
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Speaker 3: these arcane rules of the pipeout or courts in England.
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Speaker 3: The rich people are generally won. So you're always going
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Speaker 3: to have a right to a trial by jury unless
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Speaker 3: you wave it, which is one of the big in
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Speaker 3: a criminal case. You can wave your right to a
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Speaker 3: trial bys You can wave any constitutional right you have,
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Speaker 3: so long as it's a knowing, an informed waiver. And
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Speaker 3: there's a lot of interrogation of criminal defendants if you
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Speaker 3: wave a right, we wave your right. If you've interpleeaved guilty,
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Speaker 3: you're essentially waiving you know, essentially you're actually literally waiving
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Speaker 3: your Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination. You're saying I'm guilty.
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Speaker 3: So but I thought, you know, I just wanted to
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Speaker 3: address that because it's inappropriate to look at the state
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Speaker 3: executive republican state executive committee, or the Speaker of the House.
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Speaker 3: I mean, individuals and private entities, even plays on governmental
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Speaker 3: entities such as political parties, that are authorized by law
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Speaker 3: outside the criminal context, are free to make whatever conclusions
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Speaker 3: they can logically draw from a set of circumstances. So
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Speaker 3: there it is. That was my little talk for this morning.
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Speaker 4: There's a couple of things about that. First of all,
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Speaker 4: it seems like if you just extend things that we
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Speaker 4: see every day. For example, people that work for movie
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Speaker 4: studios back tearing me too, who never got charged for anything,
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Speaker 4: but suddenly nobody was hiring them for movies anymore worthy,
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Speaker 4: you couldn't get into anything. Some of these people even
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Speaker 4: later had trials where they were found. Kevin Spacey was
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Speaker 4: never charged with anything. In the one trial that he had,
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Speaker 4: he was found, but he doesn't get a lot of
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Speaker 4: work anymore. Well, and there's nothing illegal about them not
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Speaker 4: allowing him to work for him. That's their choice as
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Speaker 4: a private entity. And the political parties are much the
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Speaker 4: same way in that way.
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Speaker 3: And you wondered what Tony Romo. Yeah, right, it's a
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Speaker 3: pretty good broadcast, right, former Hall of Fame quarterback Dallas Cowboys.
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Speaker 3: He still has a charge's now pending against him. It'll
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Speaker 3: be brought on for hearing this fall drunk driving. I
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Speaker 3: think it's in either Michigan or Minnesota what he was
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Speaker 3: doing up there. But well, he's entirely of a presumption
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Speaker 3: of innocence Before he can be proud of his life
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Speaker 3: for liberty and a criminal proceeding, the state has to
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Speaker 3: prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he did it. But
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Speaker 3: if ESPN or Fox or whoever whatever network he works for,
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Speaker 3: U says, well, Tony, we can't put you on the
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Speaker 3: air free to do so. Well, we had, unfortunately an
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Speaker 3: experience here at the station, you know, back in the
15:06
Speaker 3: early two thousands, and like Agnello was, I thought a
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Speaker 3: pretty good on air personality. People liked him. I didn't
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Speaker 3: agree with him, sure, but he was a good friend
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Speaker 3: of mine and you know, he had a couple of
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Speaker 3: the UIs and that was it. But and I don't
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Speaker 3: know what everything happened to the charges. He may have
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Speaker 3: been acquitted, I don't know.
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Speaker 4: Bob Hawkins was dismissed before there was any litigation or anything.
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Speaker 3: He was well was he resigned right right?
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Speaker 4: But the pressure was one for it for the same
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Speaker 4: type of thing.
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Speaker 3: Well and but well, I think Huggins and I feel
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Speaker 3: bad for Bob Huwkins. I don't know him well. I
15:39
Speaker 3: mean I've met him and talked to him a couple
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Speaker 3: of times.
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Speaker 1: You know.
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Speaker 3: Had it been one occurrence like what happened down in
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Speaker 3: Cincinnata on the air, which I am convinced in my heart,
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Speaker 3: although I don't know, it was probably related alcohol consumption chat,
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Speaker 3: which I think would have led to his dismissal at
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Speaker 3: ninety nine percent of other institutions in the United States,
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Speaker 3: rightfully or wrongfully. But we went out on the line
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Speaker 3: and defended one of our own, and then you know,
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Speaker 3: within six weeks you've got the subsequent charge. It's a
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Speaker 3: shame to see a great career in that way. There's
16:23
Speaker 3: always live in hope that things will get patched up
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Speaker 3: and sometime in the near future, we're going to have
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Speaker 3: a Huggin's Day at the Colise.
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Speaker 4: You would like to see that, wouldn't something like.
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Speaker 3: A statue or a plaque or something for the.
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Speaker 4: Other thing I wanted to bring up there for what
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Speaker 4: you were talking about, just as a layperson that doesn't
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Speaker 4: know anything about the law except for what I learned
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Speaker 4: on this show and how it applies to me as
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Speaker 4: a general system. But I've always found such great power
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Speaker 4: and reasonable doubt, and when you talk about that from
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Speaker 4: a legal perspective, and you almost have to understand be
16:57
Speaker 4: willing to understand the law and what it means for
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Speaker 4: even like you were talking about with the Jawors earlier,
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Speaker 4: where they came to you and said, you know, this
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Speaker 4: guy probably was guilty, but we couldn't get over that
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Speaker 4: reasonable doubt. Somebody out there listening might be like, well,
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Speaker 4: that's what's wrong with the with the with with the law,
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Speaker 4: But really that's what's right with it because you don't
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Speaker 4: you don't want and sure maybe some bad people get
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Speaker 4: off every once in a while and nobody wants that,
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Speaker 4: but also you do not want somebody who is innocent
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Speaker 4: who just has basically marketing against them or whatever it
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Speaker 4: might be.
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Speaker 3: I mean, way better for a guilty demand to go
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Speaker 3: free for an innocent man or woman to be imprisoned
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Speaker 3: or killed by the state, you know. And yesterday, of course,
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Speaker 3: I guess doctor Fauci appeared for a committee chaired by
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Speaker 3: Ran Paul and invoked his rights under the Fifth Amendment
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Speaker 3: a hundred times. What's meant with fire and brimstone For
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Speaker 3: most of the Republican members of the committee except for one.
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Speaker 3: He said, you know, doctor Frauchi, I appreciate you appearing
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Speaker 3: here today and understand that regardless what I asked, you're
17:59
Speaker 3: going to book, he writes under the Fifth Amendment, which
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Speaker 3: you have a perfect right to do. And that's that
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Speaker 3: was it. I mean, I think his lawyers gave him
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Speaker 3: good advice. You know, back during the Big Branch, the
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Speaker 3: whole hubbub about that and investigations led up to the
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Speaker 3: there were people, some of them are pretty good, you know.
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Speaker 3: One of them is a friend of mine. The lawyers
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Speaker 3: that took the Fifth they said, well, our lawyer just said,
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Speaker 3: don't say anything. If the FBI came to talk to me,
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Speaker 3: that's what I would tell him. I'm not going to
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Speaker 3: sit in my office and talk to you period, and
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Speaker 3: I think anybody good, We've got a call.
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Speaker 4: Maybe we have a caller that's just called in this morning.
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Speaker 4: We'll get and go to that caller. What's your first name, Hey, Bob,
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Speaker 4: what's going on? What's your question for Harvey?
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Speaker 2: Uh? Wanted to ask him about college football. It looks
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Speaker 2: like the SEC and the Big Ten want to form
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Speaker 2: their own organization. Of course, the idea is to take
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Speaker 2: all of the money available from media rights and everything.
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Speaker 2: And I'm wondering, if they get to the point where
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Speaker 2: they just take all of the money, aren't they treading
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Speaker 2: on antitrust laws themselves?
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Speaker 3: Well, I think so, and I mean that thought has
19:29
Speaker 3: run through my mind. But you know, this week, Senator
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Speaker 3: Capito made a public statement and somewhat in support of
19:37
Speaker 3: the Safe College Sports Act. I mean, I don't that's
19:40
Speaker 3: the name of it, but it's a bipartisan proposal in
19:44
Speaker 3: Congress to partially exempt the NCAA and college football from
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Speaker 3: anti trust violations, which would solve a lot of the
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Speaker 3: issue they have in dealing with players and limitation on transfers.
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Speaker 3: She has some hope that that'll pass, and then I'm thinking, well,
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Speaker 3: the reason it may not pass is because senators from
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Speaker 3: what the sixteen states, most less than sixteen states, because
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Speaker 3: you've got two Big ten schools in at least well
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Speaker 3: two states that I know of, and in the south
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Speaker 3: of the SEC. Their congressional delegations are probably firmly against
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Speaker 3: this because I think you're right that is the long
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Speaker 3: term goal from coast to coast for these two conferences
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Speaker 3: to simply control everything and use their clout to coerce
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Speaker 3: the networks and to marginalize the Atlantic Coast Conference and
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Speaker 3: the Big Twelve. And that may well, indeed, if that's
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Speaker 3: their plan, and they can be caught somehow colluding to
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Speaker 3: achieve that purpose. Yeah, I think it is an anti
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Speaker 3: trust viole and they're going to get sued. Now. That said,
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Speaker 3: I think regardless of what Congress does, you've got to
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Speaker 3: look at reality. I don't like reality in this regard.
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Speaker 3: But you know, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, those
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Speaker 3: teams have been powers in college football since the twenties. Likewise,
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Speaker 3: with Michigan, Minnesota, Southern cal Ohio State just what it is,
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Speaker 3: and they are going to continue to attract bigger paydays
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Speaker 3: I think, in bigger contracts because those people who aren't
21:43
Speaker 3: affiliated with any particular fan base want to watch. They
21:46
Speaker 3: would rather see Penn State play Indiana than West Virginia
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Speaker 3: play Oklahoma State. It's just reality. But yeah, I don't
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Speaker 3: agree with you, Bob. I think it would be approaching
21:56
Speaker 3: anti trust actionable anti trust fill I.
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Speaker 2: Just want I'm Bob, your fellow graduate was of Fairview
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Speaker 2: Grade School.
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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I remember.
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Speaker 4: That's three of us.
22:08
Speaker 2: How's the He'll talk for too, And we've heard all
22:12
Speaker 2: of our lives. You see articles every day or every
22:16
Speaker 2: month or ever so often in the paper. How in
22:21
Speaker 2: society in general, how awful it is that the rich
22:26
Speaker 2: get rich and the poor get poor. And I wonder
22:30
Speaker 2: why that doesn't apply in college football.
22:34
Speaker 3: Well, I think it probably does. And I think you know, Bob,
22:39
Speaker 3: if you look at it objectively, that's the true ism
22:44
Speaker 3: that's held since time immemorial. And folks who are possessed
22:51
Speaker 3: with assets. You know, if you remember, there was a
22:56
Speaker 3: marked difference in the student body that you and I
23:00
Speaker 3: I attended school with at Fairview Grade School and children
23:04
Speaker 3: who attended Central Grade School who lived over town and
23:07
Speaker 3: whose families lived up on the hill and swam at
23:11
Speaker 3: the Walnut Hills or the Highland Swim Club and we
23:14
Speaker 3: went out the cold river and splashed around. It just
23:18
Speaker 3: is what it is, and I hate to say it.
23:21
Speaker 3: You know, it's getting worse, as it has tended to
23:25
Speaker 3: and a lot of societies over the course of history.
23:27
Speaker 3: But it'll be. It can only get so bad. I mean,
23:31
Speaker 3: there's a point that comes when the people on the
23:34
Speaker 3: lower end of the spectrum wake up and say, you
23:37
Speaker 3: know that we've just had enough of this. Now it's
23:41
Speaker 3: hopefully in the United States will come in like revisions
23:44
Speaker 3: of the tax laws. Now, when we had a ninety
23:48
Speaker 3: percent maximum tax rate on our and income in the
23:52
Speaker 3: fifties and sixties, there were a lot less mansions being
23:55
Speaker 3: built and a lot more decent single family homes. Uh.
24:02
Speaker 3: Even under the second term of Clinton, when the tax
24:05
Speaker 3: rates were increased and more money was directed towards the
24:12
Speaker 3: lower eighty percent of the residence of the United States,
24:16
Speaker 3: you saw more retirement accounts puffed up. And it was
24:22
Speaker 3: completely turned that on. It said, with two really budget
24:27
Speaker 3: busting tax bills for the renewal of the Bush tax
24:30
Speaker 3: cuts and then the big beautiful bill, it's just it's
24:33
Speaker 3: going to reach point we realize we have to do something.
24:36
Speaker 3: We can't run a country for Elon Musk and his ilk,
24:41
Speaker 3: the billionaires from from Silicon Valley. I think people are
24:48
Speaker 3: gonna wake up to that. We're going to see so
24:49
Speaker 3: we got to tak Hey, listen, Bob, it's always good
24:51
Speaker 3: talking to you. We got to take a break here
24:53
Speaker 3: right now. Okay, appreciate it, Bob, thanks for calling in.
24:56
Speaker 3: It's going to take a break. If you want to
24:57
Speaker 3: get the way in and talk to Harvey, you're welcome
24:58
Speaker 3: to take that line that was just vacated, Bob. Threes
25:00
Speaker 3: are a four three four five fifty fifty eight three
25:02
Speaker 3: four five fifty to fifty eight.
25:03
Speaker 4: You can text. Threes are four non three five five
25:05
Speaker 4: zero zero eight. I'll check those during the break here
25:06
Speaker 4: if you want to get something in Threes are four
25:08
Speaker 4: non three five five zero zero eight. More information online
25:11
Speaker 4: Paytentonlawfirm dot com, Paydentlawfirm dot com, and Nitro West Virginia
25:14
Speaker 4: p e Y t you in Payton Law Firm dot com.
25:16
Speaker 4: We'll take a break and be backright after this. You're
25:18
Speaker 4: listening to ask the lawyer with Harvey Payton from the
25:20
Speaker 4: Paython Law Firm on five eight wchs the voice of Charles.
25:23
Speaker 5: Your Putnam County Assessor's Office is mandated to ensure your
25:26
Speaker 5: real estate is evaluated properly and fairly. This year, their
25:30
Speaker 5: field personnel will be in the Winfield town first and
25:34
Speaker 5: then move to Scott District to revisit homeowners. Plus new
25:38
Speaker 5: construction in the county will be assessed. They will be
25:41
Speaker 5: in marked vehicles and will have photo ID and business cards.
25:44
Speaker 5: If you have any questions about this process, visit their
25:47
Speaker 5: website at putnamco Assessor dot com.
25:50
Speaker 1: That's Putnam Cooassessor dot com. You worked, card, You've saved.
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26:43
Speaker 4: It is eleven minutes to the top of the hour.
26:45
Speaker 4: You're listening to the voice of Charles and five ADWCCHS
26:48
Speaker 4: and this is Ask the Lawyer. You can get online
26:50
Speaker 4: with Harvey Payton from the Patent Law Firm. Three zero
26:52
Speaker 4: four three four five fifty to fifty eight. Three zero four,
26:54
Speaker 4: three four five fifty to fifty eight is our number
26:56
Speaker 4: this morning where you can weigh in and give us
26:58
Speaker 4: a call. You can also text three zero four non
26:59
Speaker 4: three five five zero zero eight. Threes are a four
27:02
Speaker 4: nine three five five zeros er eight no text in
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Speaker 4: right now. You can give us a text real quick
27:06
Speaker 4: three zero four nine three five five zeros er eight
27:08
Speaker 4: or call. Threes are four three four five fifty fifty
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Speaker 4: eight on line take them off from dot com.
27:12
Speaker 3: Hey, I would like to say, of course I heard
27:14
Speaker 3: Hoppy's commentary on the way in this morning, which I'm
27:18
Speaker 3: sure will be the topic of conversation texts and emails
27:23
Speaker 3: and phone calls, because Hoppy is a is a blunt person,
27:31
Speaker 3: and he's quite smart, and he does a lot of research,
27:33
Speaker 3: and when he decides a thing is a thing, he
27:36
Speaker 3: doesn't hesitate to say it. And it was his commentary
27:39
Speaker 3: for those who haven't seen it as quite critical of
27:42
Speaker 3: President Trump. I wanted to say one thing this morning. However,
27:46
Speaker 3: nobody is wrong about everything, and yesterday President Trump announced
27:51
Speaker 3: a twenty two billion dollar rebuild of Dulles Airport, and
27:57
Speaker 3: he is absolutely right about that. I mean, it doesn't
28:00
Speaker 3: follow the line of the Reflecting Pool or the East Wing.
28:05
Speaker 3: But for those people who travel abroad, and I've done some,
28:10
Speaker 3: it is really shameful the condition of our entry public facilities, airports,
28:19
Speaker 3: train stations for people that come into and out of
28:21
Speaker 3: this country. Dalls was built sixty eight years ago, and
28:28
Speaker 3: it really is. If you've gone through Dallas, you've had
28:30
Speaker 3: to get in these people movers. There's no way to
28:33
Speaker 3: go from one terminal to another without riding in this
28:37
Speaker 3: pod that looks like something out of Star Wars. It'll
28:41
Speaker 3: be a really good thing for the United States, and
28:43
Speaker 3: iplaud the President for taking the bull by the horns
28:46
Speaker 3: places needed rebuilds for twenty years now. It did play
28:51
Speaker 3: a role in what I believe is I are now
28:53
Speaker 3: sagging economy in West Virginia because when it was proposed
28:58
Speaker 3: in the nineteen sixties that Kanawha, Putnam and Cabal counties
29:03
Speaker 3: joined forces and built a more than seven thousand foot
29:08
Speaker 3: runway modern airport in Putnam County to serve all three communities.
29:13
Speaker 3: That was solidly opposed by the Kanaw County Commission, who
29:17
Speaker 3: has always sued people they controlled the newspapers. And one
29:20
Speaker 3: of the county commissioners, who happened to be some celebrity
29:25
Speaker 3: in the flight business, went over to d C. I'm
29:28
Speaker 3: sure he flew over free on a National Guard flight,
29:31
Speaker 3: landed at National and took what he described as an
29:34
Speaker 3: exorbitant five dollars cab ride. Think of that, out from
29:37
Speaker 3: d C to Dallas. Came back and got an article
29:41
Speaker 3: in the gazette about it's in the middle of nowhere.
29:44
Speaker 3: This is an airport that's going no place. It's a boondoggle.
29:49
Speaker 3: It's fight you's you know, twelve miles out of the city.
29:53
Speaker 3: You get south, it's south of Falls Church. This is
29:57
Speaker 3: just what this is. Boon doog is going to be
29:59
Speaker 3: in Putnam County. And of course that contributed to the
30:02
Speaker 3: defeat of the airport vote here in Kanawa County, another
30:07
Speaker 3: one that was engineered by the County Commission to guarantee defeat.
30:11
Speaker 3: Now now look, Charleston now has about forty percent of
30:17
Speaker 3: the population it had when that County commissioner wrote his
30:22
Speaker 3: story with that great vision about the cow Pasture Airport.
30:28
Speaker 3: The gas company's gone, the phone company's gone, Ashland Oil's gone,
30:32
Speaker 3: Carboy's gone, Monsanta is gone, DuPont's gone. People drivet two
30:38
Speaker 3: and a half hours to go to Columbus if they
30:39
Speaker 3: want to make convenient connecting flights and save some money,
30:45
Speaker 3: and are you know? And Dallas Airport is the center
30:49
Speaker 3: of tremendous growth all the way from DC through Falsters
30:54
Speaker 3: to the entire area of northern Virginia's an international gateway
30:58
Speaker 3: to the country sixty years later, which I guess just
31:02
Speaker 3: it shows probably why we are where we are. Had
31:06
Speaker 3: to mention that. The other thing I wanted to talk
31:07
Speaker 3: about in the judicial context, there's a story this morning
31:11
Speaker 3: that if you go online, and you really should, anybody
31:14
Speaker 3: who's listening go online to metron is Brad Michaelhaney, who
31:17
Speaker 3: is I mean, he's a true journalist. He was with
31:21
Speaker 3: the Daily Mail for years. I'm not down playing the
31:25
Speaker 3: other news staff here, but he has another story about
31:27
Speaker 3: the ongoing Greenbrier debacle to day where Judge Frank Volk
31:32
Speaker 3: received an next party communication that is a communic case
31:36
Speaker 3: that came to him from an individual outside the context
31:40
Speaker 3: of the case, but relevant, perhaps relevant to the case
31:45
Speaker 3: of who's going to get the green Drier. Now, the
31:51
Speaker 3: important thing to remember is the fact that Judge Volk
31:53
Speaker 3: entered an order filing that document does not indicate that
31:57
Speaker 3: he agrees or disagrees with the contents of that email,
32:02
Speaker 3: or that it is anything other than just what it is.
32:06
Speaker 3: It's an email. The parties can make what they want
32:09
Speaker 3: of it, but as a judicial officer, he is bound
32:13
Speaker 3: by the code of conduct that applies to the judiciary
32:17
Speaker 3: to disclose, at least to the parties this expart take communication,
32:24
Speaker 3: and he chose to disclose to the public by filing
32:26
Speaker 3: it and making a public document. It's an email from
32:30
Speaker 3: someone who, well, everything at the at the club area
32:37
Speaker 3: around the Sam Steed golf Course at the Greenbrier is expensive.
32:41
Speaker 3: I mean it's a place where rich and very successful
32:44
Speaker 3: people have homes and second homes. I will say this
32:49
Speaker 3: that I looked at the email. It's very very critical
32:52
Speaker 3: of the current management. And then I looked at the
32:56
Speaker 3: signature line and it's Doug Vanscoy And I will say
33:02
Speaker 3: from my personal knowledge that that is an extremely credible
33:05
Speaker 3: source Dov Vanskoye and Morgan Tad. His nickname was Tooty
33:10
Speaker 3: Tuty Vanskoy. I think he was a five sig even
33:14
Speaker 3: extremely successful and has been you know, in the hospitality
33:19
Speaker 3: business and investment counseling. When I saw the email, though,
33:24
Speaker 3: I'll pay attention to that because if Doug Vanskoy is
33:27
Speaker 3: saying this, I'm thinking it's true. Now, whatever the judge
33:30
Speaker 3: makes of it, of the parties make of it, it
33:33
Speaker 3: is an eye opener. I would encourage those who are
33:35
Speaker 3: on the fence about how this Greenbrier Hotel litigation may
33:40
Speaker 3: come out, take a look at that and judge for yourself.
33:45
Speaker 3: Regardless how that litigation comes out, which one of these
33:49
Speaker 3: parties will be better for the state of West Virginia.
33:52
Speaker 3: H And I tend to agree with Vanskoy. I don't
33:54
Speaker 3: know because I don't live up there. I don't have
33:56
Speaker 3: that kind of money. But if he says the place
33:58
Speaker 3: is behind in maintenance and that local merchants are being
34:03
Speaker 3: bankrupted by the failure of the Justice family to pay
34:07
Speaker 3: their bills and that services are diminishing, I believe in
34:12
Speaker 3: now what that will have to do with the lawsuit,
34:14
Speaker 3: I don't.
34:15
Speaker 4: Know I do want to inject here. Brad shared that
34:17
Speaker 4: story this morning, but it looks like that from what
34:20
Speaker 4: I can tell to ay, Maddy Spurling from WWK broke
34:22
Speaker 4: that story. I just want to make sure I got
34:24
Speaker 4: that because I told you wrong. We were talking about
34:26
Speaker 4: it and I saw where Brad shared it, but it
34:28
Speaker 4: was not his story.
34:30
Speaker 3: Well let's see, let's talk a little bit about the
34:32
Speaker 3: Peyton Law Firm. I had a really nice experience for
34:35
Speaker 3: the law firm. Well, last week I posted on our
34:40
Speaker 3: on my Facebook page, which my son Tom then shared
34:43
Speaker 3: the statement of our support for Teamster's Local one seventy
34:46
Speaker 3: five and an ongoing labor dispute with I think it's
34:51
Speaker 3: called the beverage market. That was capital distributing. It was
34:53
Speaker 3: the company that was owned locally for like ninety years.
34:58
Speaker 3: For some reason, after change of ownership, the new owners
35:01
Speaker 3: have just decided that people who work like dogs all
35:05
Speaker 3: day driving trucks over all the rural roads in West Virginia,
35:09
Speaker 3: loading and unloading tons and tons of beverages and stocking
35:12
Speaker 3: shells and braving the weather and waiting in parking lots
35:17
Speaker 3: for people to come and let them in, well, they're
35:19
Speaker 3: just making too much money and I'd like to make
35:22
Speaker 3: a little more. So they just won't negotiate with these people.
35:25
Speaker 3: I don't know what the hang up is, but my
35:27
Speaker 3: understanding is that the ownership just says, well, here's our offer,
35:30
Speaker 3: and we're not going to talk to you. Won't come
35:32
Speaker 3: to the negotiating table. And we've made our money. At
35:36
Speaker 3: the Payton Law Firm, I've represented hundreds of railroad workers, bricklayers,
35:41
Speaker 3: pipe fitters, iron workers, electricians. I mean, we've never made
35:47
Speaker 3: a real living represent any banks or insurance companies or
35:53
Speaker 3: big business. That's just not the way we are. My
35:55
Speaker 3: father was a mailman, a union mailman, which allowed my
35:59
Speaker 3: mother to live in her retirement with dignity and great insurance,
36:03
Speaker 3: even though my father died thirty years before she did,
36:07
Speaker 3: and I had the great privilege. On Monday, I actually my
36:10
Speaker 3: picture was in the Did you see my picture?
36:13
Speaker 4: No, I don't think.
36:13
Speaker 3: I don't know they had the picture that you had
36:15
Speaker 3: on metro Dude, Okay, yeah, yeah, there's an old, gray
36:19
Speaker 3: haired guy wearing a white hat in the middle holding
36:21
Speaker 3: a sign, and that would be me on the picket
36:24
Speaker 3: line out at the So. Anyway, keep in mind, uncal
36:28
Speaker 3: one seventy five. Can you decide where you're gonna pick
36:30
Speaker 3: and what you're gonna drink? Be on the side of
36:34
Speaker 3: good and up the side of darkness. Remember the Peyton
36:37
Speaker 3: Law Firm.
36:38
Speaker 4: That's good stuff.
36:39
Speaker 3: Yes, sir, come on down to Nitro. We can help you.
36:42
Speaker 3: If I can help you, we'll favorite get in.
36:44
Speaker 4: That's Harvey Peyton from the Peyton Law Firm online Peyton
36:46
Speaker 4: Law Firm dot com. Py t you inn Peyton Law
36:48
Speaker 4: Firm dot Com in Nitro, West Virginia. Threes are of
36:50
Speaker 4: four seven five five fifty five fifty six. Threes are
36:53
Speaker 4: a four seven five five fifty five fifty six seven
36:55
Speaker 4: five five fifty five fifty six. Harvey will see you
36:58
Speaker 4: were Tom. Probably Tom back here next week. Oh it
37:00
Speaker 4: might even be both of us, or maybe both of
37:02
Speaker 4: you getting addicted to that. I don't think he likes
37:04
Speaker 4: here in the stage. I'm still the master.
37:08
Speaker 1: Of the ship.
37:08
Speaker 3: In a way.
37:09
Speaker 4: There we go. We would love having you both by
37:11
Speaker 4: Harvey Peyton or Tom Payton next week. One ask the
37:14
Speaker 4: lawyer right here on five AD w chs the Voice
37:16
Speaker 4: and Charleston Dave Allen's up next.
37:17
Speaker 3: Have a great day.
37:18
Speaker 4: Everyone listening to five AD w CHS find WHS a
37:25
Speaker 4: m ninty six point five Charleston one oh four point
37:27
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