Anyone hear anything about this? The accused, Joe Franco, has quite the web site.

http://www.lakevillesucks.bravehost.com/

I am so confused. His wesite did not help.

Was he making meth or not?

I'm guessing he was no more guilty of making meth than the average handloader is guilty of making bombs, despite the modest amount of "bomb making supplies" in their reloading room.

Chemistry equipment doesn't necessarily equal meth lab, nor does it equal "child endangerment".

If we're expected to give these police agencies the benefit of the doubt for their outrageous/borderline illegal behavior, shouldn't we expect similar courtesy for our behavior that *isn't* outrageous/borderline illegal?

Nitromethane . . . I can think of some reasons to have some of that around, mostly involving gas tanks and vehicle speed. Seems like some gas powered remote control cars use it too.

I don't know. . . looks like a mess .. . looks like they bought a fixer-upper. . . . and it looks like there are elements of the warrant executed there that will be helpful in my case.

He claims to have possessed no meth precursors, and have no meth residue anywhere in his house.

Looking here:

http://pa.courts.state.mn.us/CaseDetail ... =760516380

Meth charges aside, Mr. Franco was sentenced on Friday 07/24/2008 for

2nd Degree Assault
Possession of a controlled substance

He may not have been manufacturing or preparing to manufacture, but he certainly ain't a saint.

I have heard a bit about this case. while he was no saint, he was clearly not the loose cannon that the lakeville PD tried to make him out to be.

From my understanding, the second degree assault resulted from them arresting him on meth charges, and him trying to prove there was no meth..... a friend who has knowledge says this whole thing stinks.....and he generally works from the LE side of things. The biggest problem is the refusal of the defendant to accept qualified legal help. Had he done so, he could have claimed that anything discovered was inadmissible because there were serious errors in the search warrant.

I have often said, when someone tells me that they can't afford an attorney:

"You can't afford NOT to have one."

I've also met several people who were definitely "way too smart" to need an attorney. They are either: sitting in prison; or trying to figure out how to pay for the judgments against them; or wondering why their kids live with mom.