July 26, 2000 Dear State Attorney McCabe, Regarding Case Number NAF00-00895-A (Richard Bernard hammer battery on Mark Bunker, caught on two cameras and witnessed by a man who called 911).
Now that your office has given the "go-ahead" for people to assault and batter others with hammers in the streets of Clearwater, I was wondering about some of the incidental issues surrounding this unprecedented license. There are a few questions I wish to ask to help clear up some of the residual legal issues.
#1 Does free reign with attacking people with a hammer only apply when it is a Scientologists doing the battery?
#2 Is it only legal to attack with hammers the people who criticize Scientology’s crimes and human rights abuses, or can anyone do it?
#3 Will the assaults and batteries via hammers be okay in the entire state of Florida, or just in Clearwater?
#4 May people use sticks, baseball bats, crow bars, and other blunt instruments of deadly force, or are only hammers allowed?
#5 Will your office be issuing warnings to tourists of Clearwater that your office does not arrest and prosecute attackers who wield hammers? If so, will those warnings occur before or after tourists arrive?
Thank you for your time.