Don't Know Yet: Wounded Vet arrested for stalking Westboro group

http://www.kansas.com/2010/12/03/161...-incident.html

"Ryan Newell is "Army to the bone," friends and family say of the decorated military veteran who joined the service at 17, lost both legs in an explosion in Afghanistan and now stands accused of stalking members of a controversial Topeka church.

Proud of his service and proud of his country, he never blamed anyone for his injuries and felt guilty, his grandmother said, that he survived when two of his brothers in combat did not.

Prosecutors charged Newell, 26, with five misdemeanors Thursday, including stalking and three counts of criminal use of a firearm in an incident involving the Phelps family of Topeka's Westboro Baptist Church. He also was charged with false impersonation of a law enforcement officer. "

Not sure which side he is on, although they've added a felony conspiracy charge now. We'll see what comes out.

If I ever had my car searched on the way to the range, I wonder how it would look written up in the paper? "Multiple handguns and rifles with high-capacity magazines and hundreds of rounds of ammunition..."

All I can say is....bad OPSEC....and if I was on a jury, "not guilty"

He should absolutely demand a jury trial. DO NOT plea bargain for anything.

There is no way on earth the prosecutor will find twelve people to convict him. The worst case will be a hung jury.

If they get a legal defense fund setup I will be happy to send a donation.

He impersonated an LEO, and said he was the security for the Westboro people. This will probably not go well for him. Sadly, I could be in his jury pool.

This is a good case for the Presidential Pardon I read a few threads ago!

It's pretty apparent he'll be in trouble for something- impersonating a law enforcement officer for sure. The other stuff I don't have enough detail on from this. The conspiracy charge is the most interesting one. This could end up being very bad.

I don't have one good word to say about those Westboro nutjobs. Calling themselves "Baptists"? They are no more a church than the KKK. They are a hate group, period.

Though I don't agree with his methods, I have nothing but sympathy for this soldier.

It is unfortunate that the Westboro people pushed this former soldier to act like this. Unfortunately, this is exactly what Westboro folks want because it gets attention in the media. Without attention, they would just be another small, radical fringe group that gets no air time.

They know what buttons to push to get folks angry at them. They are hard to ignore and it can be very easy to hate them, I know, I have entertained many a bad thought of them myself. There just doesn't seem to be an answer to them that we can all agree with.

I feel for the guy,but it sounds like he had some ulterior motives.as far as westboro baptist church If there bus went over a cliff I'd be really concerned if there were any empty seats

They all could benefit from a good ass kickin.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JohnK87

Prosecutors charged Newell, 26, with five misdemeanors Thursday, including stalking and three counts of criminal use of a firearm in an incident involving the Phelps family of Topeka's Westboro Baptist Church. He also was charged with false impersonation of a law enforcement officer. "

Not sure which side he is on, although they've added a felony conspiracy charge now. We'll see what comes out.

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Wow, that is amazing. Those crimes all sound like they should be felonies to me.

It would be most difficult for anyone to ever assassinate these crazy Westboro folks. Whenever they are protesting, there is usually a large number of Law Enforcement Officers protecting them.

How someone who has lost both of their legs could ever think that they could pull this off, amazes me.

Very sad that he made such a bad choice. I fear that he will get serious jail time too. Let's hope that he gets a good attorney.

This dude here had a pretty good response to these nut jobs:

http://towleroad.typepad.com/photos/...hatessigns.jpg

.

Quote:

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JoJoGunn
It is unfortunate that the Westboro people pushed this former soldier to act like this. Unfortunately, this is exactly what Westboro folks want because it gets attention in the media. Without attention, they would just be another small, radical fringe group that gets no air time.

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"Without attention, they would just be another small, LUNATIC fringe group that gets no air time."

There--fixed it for you :image035:

Sadly, if convicted, he stands to lose his VA benefits as well as his military disability pension.

I want to say, "Well, they are impersonating Christians." But, if he really was impersonating a cop, bad move.

What's the difference between what a private investigator does and "stalking", anyhow?

I hope you folks are not implying that laws should only protect those that we like and punish only those we disagree with.

Michael