Kurt Martin, Attorney At Law

11/06/2021

https://www.thedailybeast.com/gregory-mcmichael-ahmaud-arberys-killer-was-stripped-of-power-to-arrest-after-skipping-use-of-force-courses

Now, does anybody see an element of "karma" in the fact that a guy who refused to attend classes on the use of force and deadly force in defense or self or others IS NOW BEING TRIED for murder when he WRONGLY used a gun in a confrontation where it was not justified? But you just can't reach some people-- they think they know it all, and a class on the law is a waste of their time (so they think!)

P.S. Every now and then I give low-cost lectures on Georgia gun laws and use-of-force in our state. Stay tuned for the next date and location when one's coming up.

Gregory McMichael, a former detective, repeatedly failed to complete firearm and use-of-force courses, finally losing his law enforcement certification last February.

11/23/2020

The Constitution sets limits on federal power and preserves the general "police power" (make all laws useful for the public welfare, peace, safety, and good order) for the STATES. Why won't any Democrat politicians, including the runoff candidates for both of Georgia's seats in the U.S. senate, acknowledge this?
What gives Congress the authority to force consumers to buy a product they don't want?
Especially now that the law has been amended to remove the taxation angle --no more penalty or "tax " for failing to buy the product Congress wants you to buy.

11/15/2020

Yesterday I presented a 2-hour lecture on Georgia gun laws, 40 bullet points covered, 2 hours total, at Wild West Traders gun store in shooting range in Marietta.
We will do it again December 12th, at 2 p.m.
Cost is $10. You can register at the wild west traders website.

10/21/2020

So a McDonalds customer was mugged as she was leaving a McDonald's in Florida, and McDonald's refused to turn over security video evidence to the state prosecutors office. Why is McDonald's taking the side of the criminal in this case, and hiding evidence that the state can use to prosecute the mugger???

In Georgia, as in Florida, the power of the court can be used to subpoena documents, photographs, video recordings, and other evidence from witnesses. Even neutral third-party witnesses who are not otherwise involved in the crime.

07/06/2020

This woman called 911 and falsely reported that a black man was threatening her life. She lied. She was just upset about the guy's dog being off-leash in a public park.
Now she's been charged under New York law with the crime of making a false police report this would also be a crime in Georgia called making a false report of a crime --Georgia code section 16-10- 26. Like New York's corresponding law, it's a misdemeanor that carries up to a year in jail as a penalty along with fines and fees that could be over $1000.
As the saying goes-- "Play stupid games, win stupid prizes."

01/25/2020

So, suppose you are pulling up to a line of stopped traffic at a red light, on a hill. You're all facing uphill. You stop with your bumper about 2 feet from the vehicle in front of you. When the light turns green and the line of cars start to move, that vehicle in front of you has its engine rev up high RPM, but doesn't move forward. It slowly rolls backward two feet and bumps your vehicle. You didn't move yet yourself. WHO IS AT FAULT? Did the front driver commit the crime of improper backing under Code section 10-6-240? Or did that driver commit an act of negligence that's not a crime or violation of any part of the motor vehicle codes or traffic laws of Georgia?

What about you, in the rearmost vehicle. Did you commit the offense of Following Too Closely under Code section 40-6-49? That code section explicitly says it applies to how you drive with regard to vehicles stopped in front of you. But it doesn't specifically address how far back you should stop. Are you expected to contemplate that some people will still be driving manual transmissions today, in 2020, and that such people tend to roll back a little bit when starting to move uphill?

What do you folks think. Post your opinion-- with or without any citations to law or court cases.

12/28/2019

A few months ago, the Court of Appeals of Georgia confirmed what we all thought was true-- probationers can have their probation revoked with an expedited process that has less "due process" and less "notice" to the offender than would be due to a regular citizen not on probation (or parole, for that matter). The Court ruled that it was not necessary for the State to be very specific in its petition to revoke this woman's probation. It didn't have to describe in detail the method by which she committed forgery while trying to obtain more RX controlled substances (the same offense for which she had already been convicted and was on probation). The State's petition to the Court only listed the name of the new offense, the date she allegedly did it, and the county. It didn't name the pharmacy or doctor's office, and it didn't describe the note or signature that she allegedly forged. IN PRACTICE, SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN TOLD ALL THOSE DETAILS BY HER PROBATION OFFICER, who would have met her and told her what the cops said abut the incident, what they wrote in their report, or what they wrote in an arrest warrant affidavit. Then the probation officer would have asked if she would stipulate or agree that she was in violation of her probation for doing that new offense, to make a probation revocation hearing unnecessary. She could either agree to the amount of time to be revoked, or should could simply stipulate to the violation but still ask the judge not to revoke her probation, or to revoke her for a shorter time than what the State (probation officer) recommends. BOTTOM LINE: This case is probably a big nothing-burger, in that she likely knew all the key details of what the State thinks she did to violate her probation. If she wanted to fight it at a contested hearing, she knew what the State was going to say, and she would be able to prepare a rebuttal to it.

https://law.justia.com/cases/georgia/court-of-appeals/2019/a19a1601.html

11/09/2019

The Georgia Weapons Laws book is soon to be arriving at Wild West Traders in Marietta. I've got a case in hand that I'll be delivering to them soon.

11/09/2019

Did you know that last year Georgia enacted a new law that makes it a separate crime to use an emergency exit door to leave a store following the crime of shoplifting? Yeah, now the shoplifter can get an additional year in jail for just that act, aside from whatever the shoplifter gets for the theft itself. See Code section 16-11-40. I like this, because when criminals use emergency exits in their crimes, this gives the business owners an incentive to block those doors or lock them shut, which is unsafe, and usually illegal too.

09/27/2019

Tomorrow, at Wild West Traders gun store & shooting range, I'll be doing a presentation on Georgia gun laws, with an emphasis on carrying with or without a carry license (GWL), changes in the laws over the last several years, and the laws on self defense and use of deadly force. The cost of the seminar is only $10 but I think you do have to register and pay online. There's a link at the Wild West Traders website.
http://www.wwtguns.com/classes.html
See the course description for my class about 3/4 of the way down the page.

08/04/2019

I don't know how or where the El Paso Walmart mass-shooter got his AK-47 type rifle, but the last mass shooting, at the garlic festival in California, involved an AK-47 copy (WASR) that was bought in neighboring Nevada, from an FFL licensed gun shop.
News reports say the sale of this "assault weapon" (as defined by CA law) was legal in NV, even though the gun dealer must've known that the purchaser was not a resident of Nevada but was a resident of California, and the type of rifle he was buying in Nevada had long been banned in California .

The news got it wrong. It's a crime for even an FFL dealer to sell a long gun to a resident of a different state UNLESS that sale, for that kind of gun, is legal in both the dealer's state AND the buyer's home state. Yes, dealers are expected to know the published gun control laws and gun restrictions in the states from which they're out-of-state customers come.

See Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 922(b)(3).

06/22/2019

Everyone knows you need to turn your headlights on when you're driving at night, or in the rain, right? But did you know it's not just your "headlights" that must be on? Yeah, it's also the other lights that your vehicle is equipped with, such as tail-lights for regular cars and clearance lights or side-marker lights for trucks and buses. This means that you can't count on your "daytime running lights" to avoid a ticket-- even if your headlights always stay on (low brightness) when you drive, your tail lights won't be on like they should be. See O.C.G.A., Code section 40-8-20.