Last Saturday, a man was arrested after climbing into the grizzly bear enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo. Nobody--human or ursine--was hurt. And no, we have no word on why he did it. We did, however, hear on the news this morning that the man was going to plead not guilty to charges of. . . of. . . Well, OK, we don't know exactly what he was charged with--criminal trespass, we suppose. Or annoying bears. But we were struck by the audacity of a "Not guilty" plea: What's his defense? "I wasn't actually IN the grizzly bear enclosure. You're mistaking me for one of the dozens of other people rounded up in the mass grizzly-bear-enclosure raid!"
"Seriously," we said to WOS, "shouldn't this guy just plead 'No contest,' and move on?"
Then we started to think about what we had just said.
(Digression: Someday we're going to have to start thinking about things we're GOING to say. EOD)
To plead "No contest." That's one of those words and phrases that everybody's heard and many people have probably used, but whose meaning is often marginally understood at best. We knew (or at any rate, suspected) that pleading no contest--no lo contendere in the more satisfyingly legalistic Latin--essentially amounted to saying, "Yeah, I did it"--"It's a fair cop" in the more satisfyingly Python-esque British English. But we also knew (or at any rate, suspected) that it MUST somehow be different from pleading "Guilty."
Well it is! So here, Sloppists, for your edification--and, y'know, perhaps for your use (hey, we don't know what kind of illicit activities you all get up to!)--a minor disquisition on the "No contest" plea:
According to West's Encyclopedia of American Law, nolo contendere is "a plea made by a defendant in a criminal action that is substantially but not technically an admission of guilt." In other words, the defendant does not dispute the facts against him, but, since he has not technically admitted guilt, these facts may (may, not must) not be used against him in other criminal proceedings. We understand that this sort of plea may also not be considered a "strike" under some "Three Strikes"-type laws.
It would seem to us, then, that grizzlyhugger probably SHOULD, in fact, plead "No contest" (assuming he is given that option--some states have no provision for such pleas, and some judges may not accept one). We think that "No contest" is the perfect plea for crimes that are essentially harmless in their effects, and on which municipal attorneys would presumably not wish to spend much time.
Well, y'know, unless the bears are adamant about seeing justice done.
We too find this story interesting, from the people-grizzly interaction point of view. I teach bear & moose safety up here in Alaska, where encounters are real possibilities, and certainly the most basic lesson is "Don't get into the animal's personal space!"
ReplyDeleteI do believe there was a case in Anchorage not too long ago where somebody was charged & fined for petting a wild moose -- because, basically, it is just plain stupid to approach wildlife, endangering himself and others (there was a soccer game going on nearby, if I remember correctly).
Legally, do we have a right to self-hazardous behavior? If we feel like driving a car without a seatbelt or a motorcycle without a helmet -- should we be allowed to do that? Arguably no, because society (and the individual) ends up paying the price if we end up a paraplegic!
The law is there to protects the common good.
There's also the argument that the state/law is there to help protect us ("for our own good"), and then there's the state/law protecting that which cannot protect itself, in this case nature/wildlife.
I, for one, do feel that bears and moose have a right to their own personal space, and need some protection from stupid humans.
Just for the record, "may not" in legalese, means it can't be used against him. It is not a conditional. Oh, and I saw your "Cat" poster: consider this, wise guy: T.S. Eliot wrote a whole book of poems about cats, but no cat has EVER written a single word about T.S. Eliot... so there!
ReplyDeleteYou had us at "I teach bear and moose safety."
ReplyDelete