Several weeks after his roadside arrest for possession and trafficking of cannabis in Warren County, Ohio, Cop Block founder Ademo Freeman is out of jail! He announced the exciting news on last night’s Free Talk Live (click to listen to his call) that his bail had been reduced from $75,000 to $5,000, he’s finally been indicted, and one of his felony charges for possession was dropped. He is now facing two felonies, but the early charge removal and recent plea deal offer suggest that the prosecution does not want to take this matter to trial.
Now that he’s out of jail on bond, he’ll be able to better prepare for his trial, unless they offer him an even better plea deal, which he has indicated he’d be willing to negotiate. Stay tuned here to Free Keene for the latest.
Virgil Vaduva and Ademo Freeman, After Ademo’s Release!
Amazingly, he’s already been offered a one year prison term plea deal, despite the fact that the grand jury has yet to even return an indictment! Now, it’s highly likely that they will hand down an indictment, but regardless – it’s pretty clear that the prosecution doesn’t want to have to take this to trial. While Ademo had said previously he’d accept a plea of six months (he’s already done one awaiting trial), it doesn’t sound like he’s willing to take the year deal without having seen discovery or even the indictment. Otherwise, he’s doing alright in the jail. You can listen to the full interview here – the link jumps you straight to that part of our Saturday show.
Ademo would love to hear from you. Here’s the address at which you can send him mail. Sorry, the backwards-ass jail in Warren County won’t let you send him books.
Warren County Jail
C/O Adam Mueller – 61437
P.O. Box 309
Lebanon, Ohio 45036
Ademo would love to hear from you. Here’s the address at which you can send him mail. Sorry, the backwards-ass jail in Warren County won’t let you send him books.
Warren County Jail
C/O Adam Mueller – 61437
P.O. Box 309
Lebanon, Ohio 45036
Cop Block founder and Free Keene blogger Ademo Freeman has been arrested while driving in Lebanon, Ohio by Ohio State Police. Despite Ademo not consenting to a search, trooper Jeffrey Martin claimed that because he allegedly smelled the odor of cannabis, that he had probable cause to search.
Ademo was placed into a cruiser, then the trooper(s) broke open a lock on a suitcase. They asked him how much marijuana he had, so presumably that’s what they found inside – at this point we can’t know for sure. Ademo was placed under arrest and taken to the Warren County Jail, all while asking trooper Martin his thoughts about victimless crimes. All of this is heard on a 40+ minute video recorded and live streamed on Ademo’s cell phone to his facebook page.
I’ve taken the time to edit the video down to less than 15 minutes as well as boost the audio levels. I included portions that I couldn’t make out what was being said, in case you can. Here’s the edited video, which does not have long periods of silence and noise of cars passing:
According to Ademo’s jail record, he’s expected to be arraigned at Warren Municipal Court in front of judge Robert S. Fischer on Tuesday, February 14th. He’s facing three charges including “trafficking in drugs“, a third degree felony, and two counts of “possession of drugs“, one a third degree and the other a fifth degree felony. Ohio actually has their criminal court case records online and you can see Ademo’s case record here. (The jail record says the other count of possession is class three, but the court record says class five.) He’s also been charged with a burnt-out tail light. (more…)
Once again, the liberty community is divided, this time over the issues about age of consent that have been raised by the recent arrest of state representative Kyle Tasker for allegedly soliciting a 14-year-old teen for sex.
Purported libertarians are on the warpath against those of us who believe teens are humans who can make decisions. The opinions that people in the community seem to hold are one or more of the following:
People under some arbitrary, government-selected age are just children, and cannot consent. Anyone who is attracted to teenagers is a pedophile and deserves to die, go to prison, or be severely beaten.
Kyle, like any accused, deserves the presumption of innocence. Reactionary libertarians should know better than to believe the police.
If the allegations against Kyle are true, what he did was inappropriate, but he did not create a victim and does not belong in jail.
The first group is driven by emotion and fear and have dropped all pretense of being principled libertarians in favor of piling-on against Kyle and anyone else who doesn’t jump on their violent bandwagon. Their belief that teens are children is insulting to young people everywhere who are mature enough to make decisions for themselves. Further, they equate attraction to teens with pedophilia, which is just plain wrong. It’s an emotional, ignorant viewpoint. Here’s more on the difference between ephebophilia, hebephilia, and pedophilia.
We discussed the issues of age of consent and relationships with people under the legal age of consent on Friday night’s episode of Free Talk Live. It got real when Rich Paul revealed his first relationship was at age 13 with a 23-year-old woman. Not only did he consent but he pursued having the relationship in the first place, something that the ageists do not believe is possible. They would tell Rich that he was a victim and that his partner belonged in prison or worse. Calling teens children is a true insult that disempowers young people who just want to be respected as equals.
Here’s the full archive from Friday night’s show if you want to hear a rational, calm discussion on these matters. This link will jump you to the beginning of the second hour of the show where we began the discussion in earnest, though the first hour covers some ideas of independence for young people:
