What do you think?

Recently I’ve been thinking about an issue that has national implications but effected a family right here in WNY. I’m not sure just what to think about the issue and the results it has brought upon this Derby family, so I decided I would put the facts, as I know them, out there and see what your opinions might be.

As you all have figured out since I started this web site, I have become very conservative as I’ve gotten older. I believe in a libertarian political philosophy, mostly, and I agree with much of what Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson tried to do politically 200 years or so ago. If I had my way we would go back to the founding principals of our forefathers and toss out this liberal agenda that our country has gravitated towards since then.

That being said, one of the founding principals that this story is about deals with how our country applies its currency. 200 years ago their was no paper money. People paid with gold and silver and because of that the founding principals of earning your living was paramount. Only after paper money was introduced did the ability to apply vasts amounts of credit to individuals took place. Our country has since garnered a huge national debt, owed to our former enemies, and I believe this is a huge factor in why illegal immigrants are ignored. Our national leaders don’t want to piss off the world leaders we owe money to and then have that debt called in. So we inevitably turn the other cheek as we are invaded by people from all over the world.

Well, there are citizens in our country that feel the same way as I but they take the issue to an all new level. One of those families is the Buczek’s from Derby N.Y.  The Buczek’s have gone to further lengths by actually using gold and silver to make purchases around the country. Their is absolutely nothing wrong or illegal in doing that but because it is no longer a common practice our law enforcement agencies are ignorant in the application of law in this matter.

For those of you who don’t quite know, there is a company that sells silver coins for the purpose of trying to change the system of paper money by getting as many people as possible to use “hard” currency. These coins are commonly known as “Liberty Dollars”. I actually have a $20 Liberty Silver Coin as a memento that I use as a conversation piece.

Our story starts last year at a Buffalo Sabres game. During an intermission at this game the Buczek’s went to a beer vendor and asked if the vendor would accept “Liberty Dollars” as payment for a few beers. The vendor graciously accepted them and as far as the Buczek’s knew the matter wasn’t an issue and they went back to their seats for the next hockey period. Soon after the period started a security guard who witnessed the exchange of money tried to locate the Buczek’s in the audience. This security guard is an off duty Buffalo police Officer who mistakenly thought the Buczek’s had passed counterfeit money for their beverages.

This security guard found the Buczek’s and, in what has been described as a “loud and harassing manner”, removed them from their seats and took them into a stairwell for questioning. It’s been testified that the Buczek’s tried to explain what they did and why but this guard didn’t want to hear any of it. The Buczeks didn’t know the guard was an off duty police officer and they had enough of the interrogation and tried to return to their seats. As they attempted to leave the stairwell the guard stepped in front of them and blocked the doorway. As a result the guard was knocked out of the way as the Buczek’s left the stairwell.

Unfortunately for them, their now were several other security guards outside and they detained them physically. Now here is where this story takes a bit of a loony turn. Their were two Buczek’s involved in this exchange, a father and his son. Apparently when the security guard asked for some ID the son provided an apostle in a fold out credentials wallet with a shield declaring the son a “Christian soldier of god”, or something to that effect.

He allegedly displayed this in a manner that the guard described as impersonating an officer and after closer examination the decision was made to arrest the son. However the arrest wasn’t for impersonating an officer, it was for trying to pass counterfeit currency and both father and son were arrested. Only after they were handcuffed and taken down to the Buffalo holding center did the Buczek’s find out that the security guard was a Buffalo Cop and what charges they were facing.

Now this story gets even screwier. What happened next was the Secret Service was called in to investigate and the US attorneys office got involved as well. The Secret Service investigates all allegations of counterfeit currency but why the US attorney? After several days in jail the Buczek’s were let out on bail. Soon after, the US attorney dropped the charges because “hard” currency is the only legal currency and they didn’t have a case.

At this point you would think that’s the end of the story right? …. Wrong! Apparently the Buffalo Police Officer in question was so pissed off at that fact these guys got off that he filed new charges of impersonating an officer and resisting arrest against both the father and son even though the father didn’t display an apostle or shield. Now folks I can tell you that the law has a clause in it called “the fruit of the poisonous tree”. What this means is that if the initial investigation or arrest by a police officer is deemed false or insufficient then any fruit from that investigation or arrest is inadmissible in court. That law as you will see was ignored in the Buczek’s case.

We now jump forward several months, almost a year, and the Buczek’s have plead not guilty and are about to have their trail by jury. However during a pretrial hearing the judge inadvertently let it slip that he has had private communications with the prosecutor (ex-parte) and as a result the judge is removed from the case. The prosecutor is none other than Molly Musarra who just tried to run for NYS Supreme Court Judge. Their is no doubt she took on this case because she wanted to keep her name in the paper for her upcoming election.

Well the new judge assigned is Cheryl Lovallo and this is supposedly the first jury trial she ever has had. Cheryl by the way is the wife of former Buffalo Deputy Mayor Vincent Lovallo and she is very politically connected because of it. It further comes out that the Buczek’s used to work for the Musarra family and that relationship ended poorly with hard feelings. However Molly wasn’t required to recuse herself for a conflict of interest, which I find very interesting.

The defense attorney is none other than Jim Ostrowski, the famed creator of Free Buffalo and a very outspoken political critic. I sat through the three day trial and I couldn’t believe what took place. In a nut shell the judge wouldn’t let any evidence about the initial arrest ( passing counterfeit currency) into evidence and she allowed Musarra and the officer to use extreme hearsay to make their case. During final arguments the judge would shake her head yes to everything that Musarra said to the jury and she would either ignore the defences argument or shake her head no as Jim Ostrowski plead his case. Her actions and reactions were clearly in plain view of the jury at all times and I wonder how much it influenced their decision to convict on the charge of impersonating an officer for the son and resisting arrest for the father.

The father was convicted even though he didn’t do anything wrong. He received time served and a fine but the son went to county jail for several months. Both are appealing their convictions this month.

Now here is my take and I hope some of you reply with your thoughts. First of all the son is a dumb son of a bitch for displaying any form of ID that could implicate him for impersonating an officer. You just don’t do that kind of thing. The father should have been more cooperative with the guard and this may have ended with nothing more than a warning. But realistically the guard had no cause to arrest him because he never told them he was a cop. The DA and the officer had no right to file further charges and the judge should have dismissed all charges.

I think a huge miscarriage of justice has occurred and I think it happened because an Assistant DA was running for a Judgeship and she wanted her name in the paper even at the cost of innocent people. The judge was a close friend and politically motivated to hear the case instead of throwing it out. How do we as a society stop these kinds of abuses by our government? What do you think? Am I off base here? Let me know.