December Editorial Winner

Self-defense bill slap in prosecutor's face

By Kim Poindexter, Tahlequah Daily Press

Recent actions by the Legislature constitute a study in irony – if the assumption can be made that the “city slickers” taking up seats at the statehouse understand what that means. 
In the wake of Black Lives Matter protests – collectively called “riots” by some who paradoxically refuse to label storming the U.S. Capitol the same way – leftists shouted “Defund the police!” After all, they insisted, fascist cops and overzealous prosecutors who push every charge these agencies send their way are abusing their power. They don’t have the public’s best interest at heart, so they should pay the price. 
Predictably, there was pushback. Law enforcement advocates called for increased funding and weapons to beat back the unruly mob. Cops and prosecutors are heroes, this group said, taking seriously their mission to protect and serve. At least, cops and prosecutors were heroes until they tried to stop the insurrection at the Capitol and bring those responsible to justice. 
Comes now Broken Arrow Sen. Nathan Dahm, filing a bill that would require the state to shell out bucks to anyone charged with a heinous crime and found to be acting in self-defense. At first blush, Dahm seems to be one of those Republicans going against party plank, spoiling for more government, instead of less. An impartial observer might suspect him to be a liberal wolf wearing conservative wool. The law enforcement community apparently can’t be trusted to pursue justice without letting private agendas interfere. After all, facist cops and the overzealous prosecutors who push every charge these agencies send their way are abusing their power. They don’t have the public’s best interest at heart, so they should pay the price. 
Oh, wait... 
Something isn’t adding up, but many folks who respect the law enforcement community are offended. Our district attorney, Jack Thorp, is a standup guy. His party politics have no bearing on the cases he prosecutes. There may be murmuring against him among the criminal element, but no respectable person has accused him of setting someone up, concealing evidence that would help the defense, or manufacturing material to ensure a conviction. 
Dahm is trying to tar all prosecutors with the same brush wielded against the bunch that unsuccessfully tried Kyle Rittenhouse. He’s the teen who heard about a riot, went packing across the state border, and cried self-defense when he killed a couple of people. The jury may have acquitted him, but only the blindly partisan could convince themselves the kid didn’t go looking for trouble. Rittenhouse should have let Kenosha officers handle the rioters, but members of his newly annointed fan club seem to believe that police force is incompetent, and needed a teenager to show them how it’s done. 
It’s fair to ask whether Dahm understands how the court system works, or whether he is privy to details of the Rittenhouse case the rest of us aren’t. Guilty people are often acquitted, due to incompetent prosecutors, exceptional Donnie Baker-style defense attorneys, or juries with people who don’t understand the evidence or have their own axes to grind. That doesn’t mean the prosecutor or cops did anything wrong. Should Mr. Thorp be afraid to put evildoers on trial because he might lose and then get sued?
This attempt to exact punishment on the state’s law enforcement community and its taxpayers for something that happened in Wisconsin would be laughable, if it weren’t so alarming. Hopefully the Senate leadership will see the measure for what it is: pandering to a certain violent element that won’t be satisfied until anarchy and “frontier justice” reign supreme. They pay lip service to “Blue Lives Matter,” but their fealty is shallow and conditional.