wiegie Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 Mom says Patriot Act stripped son of due processPosted: Apr. 29, 2009 Oxford, N.C. — Sixteen-year-old Ashton Lundeby's bedroom in his mother's Granville County home is nothing, if not patriotic. Images of American flags are everywhere – on the bed, on the floor, on the wall. But according to the United States government, the tenth-grade home-schooler is being held on a criminal complaint that he made a bomb threat from his home on the night of Feb. 15. The family was at a church function that night, his mother, Annette Lundeby, said. "Undoubtedly, they were given false information, or they would not have had 12 agents in my house with a widow and two children and three cats," Lundeby said. Around 10 p.m. on March 5, Lundeby said, armed FBI agents along with three local law enforcement officers stormed her home looking for her son. They handcuffed him and presented her with a search warrant. "I was terrified," Lundeby's mother said. "There were guns, and I don't allow guns around my children. I don't believe in guns." Lundeby told the officers that someone had hacked into her son's IP address and was using it to make crank calls connected through the Internet, making it look like the calls had originated from her home when they did not. Her argument was ignored, she said. Agents seized a computer, a cell phone, gaming console, routers, bank statements and school records, according to federal search warrants. "There were no bomb-making materials, not even a blasting cap, not even a wire," Lundeby said. Ashton now sits in a juvenile facility in South Bend, Ind. His mother has had little access to him since his arrest. She has gone to her state representatives as well as attorneys, seeking assistance, but, she said, there is nothing she can do. Lundeby said the USA Patriot Act stripped her son of his due process rights. "We have no rights under the Patriot Act to even defend them, because the Patriot Act basically supersedes the Constitution," she said. "It wasn't intended to drag your barely 16-year-old, 120-pound son out in the middle of the night on a charge that we can't even defend." Passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S., the Patriot Act allows federal agents to investigate suspected cases of terrorism swiftly to better protect the country. In part, it gives the federal government more latitude to search telephone records, e-mails and other records. "They're saying that 'We feel this individual is a terrorist or an enemy combatant against the United States, and we're going to suspend all of those due process rights because this person is an enemy of the United States," said Dan Boyce, a defense attorney and former U.S. attorney not connected to the Lundeby case. Critics of the statute say it threatens the most basic of liberties. "There's nothing a matter of public record," Boyce said "All those normal rights are just suspended in the air." In a bi-partisan effort, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., last month introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives a bill that would narrow subpoena power in a provision of the Patriot Act, called the National Security Letters, to curb what some consider to be abuse of power by federal law enforcement officers. Boyce said the Patriot Act was written with good intentions, but he said he believes it has gone too far in some cases. Lundeby's might be one of them, he said. "It very well could be a case of overreaction, where an agent leaped to certain conclusions or has made certain assumptions about this individual and about how serious the threat really is," Boyce said. Because a federal judge issued a gag order in the case, the U.S. attorney in Indiana cannot comment on the case, nor can the FBI. The North Carolina Highway Patrol did confirm that officers assisted with the FBI operation at the Lundeby home on March 5. "Never in my worst nightmare did I ever think that it would be my own government that I would have to protect my children from," Lundeby said. "This is the United States, and I feel like I live in a third world country now." Lundeby said she does not think this type of case is what the Patriot Act was intended for. Boyce agrees. "It was to protect the public, but what we need to do is to make sure there are checks and balances to make sure those new laws are not abused," he said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cre8tiff Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 Holy crap, The kid has been locked up since March 5th, with little contact allowed to his parents? Man, I'd be beside myself if that were my kid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H8tank Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 Yes, I am sure her side of the story is without fault or exaggeration. I sure wish cr8tin would get a promotion so she couldn't post so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westvirginia Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 Holy crap, The kid has been locked up since March 5th, with little contact allowed to his parents? Man, I'd be beside myself if that were my kid. +1,000,000,000 Anyone who was or is in favor of the patriot act doesn't deserve freedom, as per Ben Franklin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caveman_Nick Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 Disgusting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big John Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 +1,000,000,000 Anyone who was or is in favor of the patriot act doesn't deserve freedom, as per Ben Franklin. yea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perchoutofwater Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 That is bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cre8tiff Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 (edited) I sure wish cr8tin would get a promotion so she couldn't post so much. Annoying you adds spice to my day, sugar. Edited May 6, 2009 by cre8tiff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muck Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 +1,000,000,000 Anyone who was or is in favor of the patriot act doesn't deserve freedom, as per Ben Franklin. this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmarc117 Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 that kids middle name is trouble with a capital T!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polksalet Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 That is change we can believe in. There is a special place in hell for racists like him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clubfoothead Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 Didn't see that coming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polksalet Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 Didn't see that coming. word boo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Irish Doggy Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 What's the problem? Our government has identified an enemy of the US. He should be sent to a foreign nation and repeatedly tortured until he comes clean about his accomplices. Yea, security. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avernus Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 what a wonderful future we have in store when someone can impersonate a kid over the internet and land them in jail for even a few months... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westvirginia Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 what a wonderful future we have in store when someone can impersonate a kid over the internet and land them in jail for even a few months... It's a brave new world, komrade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azazello1313 Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 I am strongly in favor of racially profiling redheaded males. if it takes a little enhanced interrogation to get them to talk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azazello1313 Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 seriously, it sounds pretty bad, but I might like to hear one or two other sides of the story before jumping to any conclusions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cre8tiff Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 I am strongly in favor of racially profiling redheaded males. if it takes a little enhanced interrogation to get them to talk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westvirginia Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 I am strongly in favor of racially profiling redheaded males. if it takes a little enhanced interrogation to get them to talk Some of those people might be "atomic"... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pope Flick Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 seriously, it sounds pretty bad, but I might like to hear one or two other sides of the story before jumping to any conclusions. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/05/b...riot-act-claim/ How about the mother doesn't know what she's talking about? Yet another Have to agree here! but where were you guys during Jose Padilla? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtomicCEO Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 Some of those people might be "atomic"... That's right, Iceman... I am dangerous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H8tank Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 The claim that the boy is a victim of USA PATRIOT, though, appears to have been cut from whole cloth. How cute wedgie is posting forwarded emails. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaP'N GRuNGe Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 Anybody else find it a bit odd that the mother says something like "they didn't even find blasting caps or wire"? It's raining men! Hallelulah! It's raining men! does she know about blasting caps? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avernus Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 It's a brave new world, komrade. si, conquistador... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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