Yet another judge I've taken a liking to
Dr. Mordrid
A judge who disagreed with his colleagues on the Pennsylvania state Supreme Court was inspired to write his dissent in verse – to the theme song of "Mister Ed."
Justice Michael Eakin, who is fond of writing rhyming opinions, didn't agree when his fellow justices ruled that a drunken driving law can't be enforced against people on horseback.
Keith Travis, 41, and Richard Noel, 49, were riding horses when they were charged with drunken driving, as was a man in a pickup truck who allegedly rear-ended the horse Travis was riding.
All three men failed field sobriety tests, police said, but a judge threw out the charges against Noel and Travis after they argued that the word "vehicles" in the state's drunken-driving law doesn't apply to horses.
Prosecutors said the code includes people riding animals. But the Supreme Court justices cited a similar case in Utah, where judges said such a statute is too vague and thus let the horse-riders off.
Justice Eakin, however, dissented with two stanzas mimicking the theme song of "Mister Ed,";
A horse is a horse, of course, of course,
but the Vehicle Code does not divorce
its application from, perforce,
a steed as my colleagues said.
'It's not vague,' I'll say until I'm hoarse,
and whether a car, a truck or horse
this law applies with equal force,
and I'd reverse instead.
Justice Michael Eakin, who is fond of writing rhyming opinions, didn't agree when his fellow justices ruled that a drunken driving law can't be enforced against people on horseback.
Keith Travis, 41, and Richard Noel, 49, were riding horses when they were charged with drunken driving, as was a man in a pickup truck who allegedly rear-ended the horse Travis was riding.
All three men failed field sobriety tests, police said, but a judge threw out the charges against Noel and Travis after they argued that the word "vehicles" in the state's drunken-driving law doesn't apply to horses.
Prosecutors said the code includes people riding animals. But the Supreme Court justices cited a similar case in Utah, where judges said such a statute is too vague and thus let the horse-riders off.
Justice Eakin, however, dissented with two stanzas mimicking the theme song of "Mister Ed,";
A horse is a horse, of course, of course,
but the Vehicle Code does not divorce
its application from, perforce,
a steed as my colleagues said.
'It's not vague,' I'll say until I'm hoarse,
and whether a car, a truck or horse
this law applies with equal force,
and I'd reverse instead.
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