Stella Awards – The Escapist Mentality

As some of you may know I am a great proponent of tort reform. Frivolous lawsuits just irritate me beyond belief. So I subscribed to the Stella Awards News letter, and occasionally I like to publish some of the better ones (I would just provide a link, but these stories do not appear online). This one is great because it involves two of my favorite subjects, stupid criminals, and an idiotic lawsuit. Well, I�ll let Randy Casdsingham tell the rest of the story.

THE ESCAPIST MENTALITY
by Randy Cassingham

Scott Bolton had bad luck in cell mates. Accused of stealing several all-terrain vehicles, Bolton was awaiting trial at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility in Pennsylvania in October 2003. His cell mate, Hugo Selenski, was awaiting trial on homicide charges — the sort of charge any inmate would want to escape from.

And Selenski did just that, climbing down a rope fashioned of sheets tied together. Selenski, Bolton claims, beat him to near unconsciousness in order to stuff his body through the cell block window. That, Bolton says, caused him to fall several storeys to the ground, leaving him comatose for several weeks, confined to a wheelchair for life, and with damage to his brain, spinal cord, nerves and internal organs.

Bolton was found and rushed to the hospital by air ambulance, and he survived.
Selenski escaped, but turned himself in three days later.

Bolton filed suit over the escape attempt in U.S. District Court — for “civil rights” violations. His suit names Selenski as the primary defendant, but murder suspects aren’t exactly typically flush with cash. So the suit also names Warden Gene Fischi and Deputy Warden Rowland Roberts, eight guards, two County Prison Board members, and three County Commissioners.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” says Warden Fischi. “I guess it’s like the old saying: If someone robs your house and slips on a roller skate going out, they’re going to sue you.”

Fischi paints a very different portrait of what happened. He says Bolton was a willing participant in the escape, and was climbing down the makeshift rope when he lost his grip and fell. And why did he lose his grip? Apparently Bolton wasn’t moving fast enough for his co-conspirator, so Selenski pushed him, another inmate says. (Tip: always let the alleged murderer go first!)

The county commissioners are particularly perplexed at being named in the suit, which Bolton filed without the aid of an attorney.

“It’s very hard to be responsible for something that occurred three months before we took office,” says Commissioner Todd Vonderheid. “Somebody is incarcerated because they broke the law, then agrees to be a party to an escape, then is dumb enough to act as a human mattress for
[Selenski], and they’re not responsible for their actions? It’s repulsive. Is no one responsible for themselves in this society?” Call it escapism from reality.

The amusing part of the whole case is the basis for Bolton’s lawsuit: he says his injuries are due
to the prison guards’ failure to patrol the cell block, and therefore to discover that the window to the cell Bolton and Selenski shared had been pried open, and only that allowed Selenski to “viciously assault” him to “near unconsciousness” and then push him from their cell window, as if
anyone trying to escape a murder rap would take the time to do that on his way out.

And, of course, those would be the same “failures” the escapees had relied on to escape in the first place. So he counts on these guards not to do their jobs to the letter, then blames them when they behave as he expected and things turn sour.

His suit seeks a minimum of $1,000 for attorney fees (even though he doesn’t have an attorney), plus payment of all past and future medical bills, plus $10,000 in compensatory damages,
plus $25,000 in punitive damages, all court costs, plus “any and all other relief” that the jury
sees “fit, necessary or required.”

Commissioner Vonderheid has something to say about Bolton not using an attorney for his suit: “Maybe if he hired a lawyer he would know who to sue.” Maybe, but it’s not likely Bolton wants to sue the person who is actually responsible for the injuries he sustained during his commission
of a crime: himself.

Bolton, who has now been moved to a state prison, has since initiated a second lawsuit against the Luzerne County Correctional Facility in Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas, the details
of which are sketchy. It’s also not clear whether he was charged in connection with the botched escape. If not, perhaps we can expect yet another lawsuit for that failure. As an inmate, he has all the time in the world to create problems for other people; just because he’s in prison — or a wheelchair — doesn’t mean he can’t continue to find victims to taunt.

SOURCES:
1) “Man Hurt in Escape Sues Selenski”, Times Leader, 29 September 2005 http://StellaAwards.com/cgi-bin/redirect5.pl?68a

2) Lawsuit Filing, Scott Allen Bolton v. Hugo Selensky, et al., U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania (3:CV 05-1947), 27 September 2005 (PDF scan, 460K) http://StellaAwards.com/cases/bolton.pdf

That Reminds me of a saying… A man who acts as his own attorney has a fool for a client.

Check out Randy�s Website for more details and to sign up for the newsletter yourself.

Ask the Soldiers

Great blog! Ask your questions about the military to some military guys. Of course, here at Liberty Just in Case, you can just ask Matt. Great site nonetheless.

And thanks Timmer, for leading me to AubreyJ.org. An excellent blog, one I’ll return to again and again.

The Strategy for Victory

This isn’t really any different from what the President has been saying for months now. But, now its on paper, in an unclassified document for all to see. I’ll spend some time on it over the coming days. But one thing I will say now; if you oppose the Iraqi front of this war, you need to read this document before making another comment. To do anything else is simply acting out of ignorance.

Another Democrat Speaks Out on Iraq

I have just returned from my fourth trip to Iraq in the past 17 months and can report real progress there. More work needs to be done, of course, but the Iraqi people are in reach of a watershed transformation from the primitive, killing tyranny of Saddam to modern, self-governing, self-securing nationhood–unless the great American military that has given them and us this unexpected opportunity is prematurely withdrawn.

It’s a Democrat. Really. Why, this Democrat was Algore’s running mate in 2000! And, there’s more from Joe Lieberman:

It is a war between 27 million and 10,000; 27 million Iraqis who want to live lives of freedom, opportunity and prosperity and roughly 10,000 terrorists who are either Saddam revanchists, Iraqi Islamic extremists or al Qaeda foreign fighters who know their wretched causes will be set back if Iraq becomes free and modern. The terrorists are intent on stopping this by instigating a civil war to produce the chaos that will allow Iraq to replace Afghanistan as the base for their fanatical war-making. We are fighting on the side of the 27 million because the outcome of this war is critically important to the security and freedom of America. If the terrorists win, they will be emboldened to strike us directly again and to further undermine the growing stability and progress in the Middle East, which has long been a major American national and economic security priority.

If you are on the left, please read this editorial from Senator Joseph Lieberman. He’s bucking his Party in saying these things. He’s making himself a target for the Mainstream Media. He’s telling the truth.

Changes, and a Need For Feedback

Okay, the new template is up and running, thanks to a yeoman effort by Matt. Tell us what you think of the new design, what would you like to see changed, etc.

My wish was for three columns, which I just love!

Give us your feedback, if you would be so kind…

Mother Sheehan Without an Audience

Okay, I admit it. I love this photograph!

Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan waits for people to show up at her book signing near President Bush’s ranch on Saturday, Nov. 26, 2005 in Crawford, Texas. Sheehan, whose 24-year-old Casey died in Iraq, called for anti-war activists to return to Crawford this week as Bush celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

She held a book signing…in Crawford?!? After the mess she made of that town of 700 in August? She lucky she wasn’t run out of town…by sheepdogs. (Scroll down to get the joke.)

Urban Legends of the Iraq War

A great list of Urban Legends, and downright lies, about Iraq. Of course, your favorite Liberal won’t believe it because it doesn’t “feel” like the truth.
Sometimes.
Feelings.
Lie.

It’s Not 1969 Anymore: Glen Reynolds

This is an important post from Instapundit. I’ll be honest. I don’t post alot of Glenn Reynold’s stuff. He’s just too, well, big, and certainly needs no linking from me. But this post makes a strong case, which he calls a Reverse Vietnam. He’s right on the money with his analysis. Each of his links is worth a separate post all on its own.

The Third Temple: Plans in the Making

In preparing my Sunday School lesson for tomorrow, I came across this remarkable site from Israel. There are plans to build a new temple in Jerusalem. This site not only reveals those plans, but also is a fascinating and beautiful chronicle of Jewish history, and the history of both the first and second temples.

The eerie photo shopped image of what could be if these people have their way is worth considering. In place of the Muslim Dome of the Rock stands the Third Temple, with the modern skyline of Jerusalem in the background. It is prepared for the Messiah, and the sacrifice of the tenth Red Heifer.

A Look Back, and a Look Ahead

Liberty Just in Case began as an email list at a former job of mine. I’d send around links to Peggy Noonan, Walter Williams, or a great editorial I’d just read at National Review. September 11th changed us all, and changed the email list too. It grew from 4 or 5 employees to several dozen, some of whom were my boss’s boss’s boss’s boss, and requested to be blind copied for anonymity.

I moved to the blogosphere because the list got bigger and bigger, including alot of people outside the company, and corporate policies were changing regarding employee use of the internet. My first real post for what was then called The Gang was May 31st, 2002. It was, of course, a Peggy Noonan piece.

I continued to blog on my own for over a year. A co-worker and friend named Jon read The Gang, and commented frequently. Jon is the polar opposite of me in most every way, and when he became my blog partner in 2003, he brought a fresh, liberal perspective to The Gang. It was Jon that sent me a list of names for the site, which included Liberty Just in Case. Jon was a big part of keeping LJiC running for over a year.

In early August of 2004, I developed a severe breathing disorder. This forced me to the basement, the only part of the house I could breathe in, and to the computer for full-time blogging. After much conversation, Jon and I decided to part ways in the blogosphere, though he remains a good friend, and a semi-frequent commenter here at LJiC. I took LJiC in a decidedly conservative, pro-war, pro-military direction. It will remain so in the future.

My health problems have begun to resolve, which means I can soon resume full-time employment. This will limit my blogging time, and the frequency of posting. About the time I began to realize this, Matt wrote to ask if we could form a partnership. His email couldn’t have come at a better time.

I’ve known Matt as Zaphriel (surely you’ve guessed that by now) for a long time , and have been deeply impressed with his blogs since he started them. He quickly moved Birth of a Neocon from zero to highly influential in a few short weeks. And his work as a founder of Balance of Power has few equals. His abilities as a blogger are only matched by his artistry at designing new blog templates. You will see that artistry very soon here at LJiC, with ongoing changes coming fast and furious in the future.

One thing that won’t change is our committment to the war. Rather you call it the Global War on Terrorism, or the more accurate World War IV, Matt and I are firmly committed to doing whatever needs to be done to win it, period. Matt’s military experience will shine as we continue to stay true to our mission statement:

An ongoing dialogue about Politics, Culture, Religion and the Universe in general in the September 12th World.

We continue to live in a September 12th, 2001 world. The shock, and the resolve of that time will remain our primary focus, the backdrop upon which all other dialogue is penned. The phrase “Never Forget” will remain the motto for Matt and myself.

Liberty. Just in case another attack comes. Just in case you need a reminder. Just in case you need courage. Just in case you forget.

Let’s Roll.