You may recall the story of Anthony Gruber. In July of this year he was speeding down a highway. An undercover police officer pulled a gun on him to stop him. Gruber was videotaping his joy ride and decided to post the video on YouTube, a decision that ultimately lead to his arrest and being charged for a violation of Maryland’s wiretapping law. Gruber faced up to 16 years if convicted.
Well it turns out common sense has prevailed and a judge has thrown out the wiretapping charges against Gruber, leaving only the moving violations for him to face. In his decision, the judge made perfect sense:
“Those of us who are public officials and are entrusted with the power of the state are ultimately accountable to the public,” the judge wrote. “When we exercise that power in public fora, we should not expect our actions to be shielded from public observation.”
Isn’t it a shame that those who enforce the law can’t use the same type of common logic when deciding who to charge and who not to charge?