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ht/wirecutter / wisco Dave
Michigan is routinely classified as an open carry state; however, it’s discretionary if you are not white. If you are not white and the police officer (Detroit Police Officer James Taylor in this case) decides that non whites shouldn’t have guns, then you get arrested for concealed carry and the prosecutor and judge can play along and even bar the attorney’s from mentioning that open carry is legal during the trial.
No, this case was not argued in the Central Court of North Korea in Pyongyang, this case was argued in Detroit, Michigan. Although it is hard to tell the difference after hearing about this case.
Fortunately, two attorney’s came to the victim’s defense. Here is the synopsis from one of the attorneys.
Synopsis by Jim Makowski, Esq.
PEOPLE v. WOODY AAR
On September 13, 2014, Elijah Woody, Jr., a 24 y.o., African-American male, was hanging out chatting with 4-5 friends on the sidewalk of an inner city neighborhood in Detroit. WOODY was open carrying a Glock 23 in a Blackhawk SERPA OWB holster and wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and a light jacket buttoned all the way up.
At approximately 7:50p, a car containing three officers from the Detroit Police Department’s Tactical Response Unit, rounded the corner and approached the group. The TRU officers dress in BDUs and typically act in a paramilitary fashion.
As everyone in Detroit knows but most of us from the suburbs do not, it is common for DPD officers to stop, frisk, demand identification and conduct illegal, unconstitutional searches of any group of black males on public property. If they find anything illegal or questionable they will then lie as to how they learned of the offense.
True to form, the officers stopped the car, jumped out and demanded everyone produce ID. Officer James Taylor went straight to WOODY and asked him “you got some bullshit on you there,” referring to the Glock. WOODY is immediately disarmed, cuffed and placed in the back of the squad car. The officers did not inquire whether he had a CPL until after transporting him to the Detroit Detention Facility, and charging him with the five-year felony of Carrying a Concealed Weapon.
When the police wrote their report they had to come up with a story to justify their encounter with WOODY. The officers claimed they observed the group drinking from red Solo cups and, as they drove up they “smelled the strong odor of burning marijuana” from a moving car about 15’ away (must be some bloodhound genes there). Officer Taylor claimed that when WOODY noticed their approach he “bladed” his body to limit their ability to see his right hip and started “backpedaling.” Taylor claimed that WOODY then turned full face on, lifted the right side of his jacket and exposed the Glock hidden under his jacket, stating he was “open carrying.”
Shortly after the arrest I was contacted and advised about this gross abuse of WOODY’s rights. I reached out to my good friend Terry Johnson, a fellow 2A defense lawyer, to see if he was interested in jointly defending WOODY. He agreed so we took the case.
http://www.miopencarry.org/new/2015/01/michigan-is-an-open-carry-state-if-you-are-white
Starvin Larry 