Trial today
 

This morning Sean Bradshaw will stand trial for various charges related to the illegal possession and sale of striped bass. As a result of these charges OTW DQ'd Bradshaw from their tournament before he had his day in court. I will update interested parties when I am informed of the results.

so in your opinion , is that a bad decision or a fair one? Sounds similar to the NFL suspending Pacman Jones for all the bonehead moves he made off the field.
They busted the guy for poaching, they clearly must have had a good case or they would not have charged the guy. Poachers suck
So did he get a slap on the wrist or what?

had a friend of mine do 6 mo. in conn. jail back in the early 70's. thames river. first 2 times big fines. third time was the charm. no probation. just the 6 mo. term. they only caught him probably 1 out of 100. he did make some huge money.

How much huge money is 6 months worth?

OR felony conviction?

:hs:

all these f'n scumbags should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. like others have said, how many times has he done this in the past before he got caught? i'm sure the evidence will be pretty overwhelming...

I agree.
he got caught way above the legal limit of striped bass, after commercial season.
:cens:

The sick part is that after getting away with it as many times as he did, he probably felt "justified" in doing so, since there weren't many times overall where he was caught.
It's a little like the acoholic that will claim they haven't got a problem, and can quit whenever he/she wants, only they quit when the problem gets them into trouble.

I agree...nail them to the full extent of the law.
Although incarceration may not be the way to go, heavy fines that follow them along with the conviction might help.

Unless I am mistaken, you are allowed to be in possession of as many fish as you want. However, there is a limit to how many you can cach in one day. My undersanding is those fish were meant for the freezer at some point. Nothing beats a nice filet in the middle of winter.

Chris,
1. Last time I checked it is a possesion limit
2. How many of the 40+ bass siezed were your friends.

Not trying to jump on him,, BUT he wasn't caught with one fish over the limit.
I have a freezer full of fillets, and I never exceeded my limit I could keep.

:lurk:

How many rapists, robbers, drug dealers, etc do you want to give a pass to in order to free up some jail space for guys who violate fisheries laws?

You know, the jails only have so much space, and even if states in our area had the money to build more jails---which they don't--where do you want them built? No one wants one in their own back yard.

Let's keep what this guy is accused of doing in some kind of reasonable perspective.

Good Point Mike P

maybe the equivalent of community service should be his punishment... not joking

and he should have to clean up all the beaches

is this the guy who was caught transporting a chit ton of bass from CT on his way to Mass when the Mass Com season was open???

give me a %$%$%$%$ing break. do you always have to jump on my ass? get a life for christ's sake. no one cares about your holier than thou, " i'm a lawyer" atttitude. catch a big fish then talk a little more...

Oh yea it's winter..:conf:
:rumble:

I don't expect the guy to go to jail, but IMHO if some one is caught with 40 bass, then his truck, boat etc should be confiscated immediately until it can be heard before some legal authority.

Serious fines at the minimum, enough that it is prohibitive from others or the accused doing the same again.

Tis the season.

Uhmm, I don't know if this has gone down this road before but Mike's response was reasonable.

If he is found guilty of this I think he should be fined heavily. I also think clear and distinct ramifications must be laid out in advance so that there is no question what will happen when one breaks those laws. Sadly, you can whimper a bit and the judge that is more worried about the "rapists, robbers, drug dealers, etc" and slaps the the offender with a $100 fine :wall: .

To be jolly lalalalal:cheers2:

Couldnt resist.

LET'S TRY AND BE CIVIL
 

SLOW DOWN YOUNG FELLER, LETS'S KEEP IT CLEAN AND FRIENDLY. MIKE WAS VOICING HIS OPINION AND YOU VOICED YOURS

i dnot think jail time is right , they should fine him the first time , second time up the fines to like 200 a fish , third time 500 a fish ....just keep upping the price ...eventually hell stop......some of u people are a little wacky........kill him ,hang him cause the 40 fish he stole is going to wipe out the whole species , then i wont beable to weigh in a fish at the local b&t .....

Take a deep breath everyone.....

So, getting back to the reason for this thread, did anyone hear what happend to Sean Bradshaw in court?

About thirty years ago a lobster poacher/short taker was brought beforte a good friend of mine, a fair judge and a friend to all. The EPO's who presented the case told the judge that they and the defendent had an agreed upon disposition. The judge asked what that was? The EPO said the fine would be $25.00 your honor. The judge shrugged and said o.k. does the defendent have $25.00 to pay that today. The epo's spoke up and said that is $25.00 a piece judge. O.K. then what does that add up to. It was something like $4000.00 plus. And the poacher was happy he got to keep his license. Lobsterman paid the fine and walked out of court. You'd never see that in 2008. Not that this mentality applies in the R.I. SB case, but times have changed. Nothing is

So what happened?

I have been waiting also. Must not be good.:pats:

Yeah, he's been down a few roads with me before. Here and at SOL.

Easy killer......Others have opinions too...deal with it...WTF