Well, I guess a clear answer is not enough for some

so I am going to have to "up" the ante with regard to the judge commissioner.

Because it seems people either don't want to understand the matter at hand or are just dumb insulting people who know nothing about common decency. Usually those people post under an anonymous tag so that they can spout their hatred without ever standing up for what they apparently believe.

This is one such low life found in the comment section of Michelle's blog:

At Thu Dec 14, 09:46:13 AM EST, Anonymous said...

Great work Freebirds!!
And FINALLY!!! Ramm called on his baloney!! THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

Big difference Ramm in what the Provision states and YOUR interpretation..."He was SUPPOSED" to be there.

Some of us are really getting tired of your attempt at insulting our intelligence!!

And PLEASE!!!! "Almost certainly" at the homes of the security guards??!! WOW..that was your best bag of bullsh*t yet!!

Gotta run and get my sh*t boots.

You do more damage than the nuts at the hate sites!! You PRETEND that you are for Justice for Natalee...but the majority of us see right through your BS Ramm!!

Sorry for the language Michelle...but this guy's arrogance, twisting of the facts, negativity and BS has finally got the best of me!!

Keep up the great work Michelle!!

All I can say here, if you have the guts to have an opinion, don't hide under the anonymous tag, it is not a very brave thing to do.



But now back to what I wanted to say to begin with, the actual truth about judges commissioners like Bob Wit and house searches.

The Lawbook

To start here is the dutch article of law about the judge commissioner:

Art. 110. Wetboek van strafrecht

1. De rechter-commissaris kan, op vordering van de officier van justitie en in het gerechtelijk vooronderzoek tevens ambtshalve, ter inbeslagneming elke plaats doorzoeken. Hij kan zich daarbij doen vergezellen van bepaalde door hem aangewezen personen. De vordering vermeldt het strafbare feit en indien bekend de naam of anders een zo nauwkeurig mogelijke omschrijving van de verdachte, alsmede de feiten of omstandigheden waaruit blijkt dat de wettelijke voorwaarden voor uitoefening van de bevoegdheid zijn vervuld.
2. Het doorzoeken van plaatsen overeenkomstig het bepaalde in het eerste lid geschiedt onder leiding van de rechter-commissaris in tegenwoordigheid van de officier van justitie of, in geval van diens verhindering, van een hulpofficier van justitie.

Art. 110. penal law code book 2

1. The examining judge can, on the request of the district attorney and in the course of a judicial pre-inquest in his function as judge, search any place in order to confiscation. He can choose to be accompanied by specific people he chooses. The request mentions the criminal offense/act and if known the name or an as accurate as possible description of the suspect, as well as the facts or circumstances which show that the legal requirements for the judge to exercise this power have been met.
2. The searching of places, as mentioned in the first section of this article happens under the leadership of the examining judge, in the presence of the district attorney, or when the DA is unable to attend, an assistant district attorney.

Wikipedia article

And here is the dutch wikipedia article about the "rechter commissaris" (including the English translation):

rechter-commissaris (in strafzaken) is een rechter die aangewezen is door de president van de rechtbank om tijdens het opsporingsonderzoek dat door de politie plaats vindt, beslissingen te nemen over zaken waarvoor de Officier van Justitie geen bevoegdheden heeft. Denk hierbij bijvoorbeeld aan het aftappen van telefoonlijnen, het inbewaringstellen van verdachten, en het doorzoeken van woningen. Voor dit laatste is in beginsel vereist dat de rechter-commissaris samen met zijn griffier aanwezig is bij deze doorzoekingen, om daar feitelijk leiding aan te geven. Verder moet de rechter-commissaris daar ter plaatse beslissen wat er wel en niet in beslag mag worden genomen, en is de rechter-commissaris gemachtigd tot het treffen van ordemaatregelen.

wikipedia article

judge-commissioner (in criminal cases) is a judge that has been appointed by the president of the court to, during the duration of the police-investigation that is being performed by the police, take decisions that the district attorney is not competent to make. Decisions like tapping phone-lines, incarcerating suspects, and searching houses. For this last function, it is in principle mandatory* that the judge commissioner together with his court clerk, is present at the scene of the house search, to be in factuality the person in charge of the search.
The judge commissioner has to decide at the scene of the search, what can and cannot be impounded/seized from the property, and the judge commissioner is authorized to take measures to keep the peace at the scene of the search.

* in principle means here, that are ways in which the police can search a house without the judge commissioner being present but those are "danger for life and safety" and drugs/weapon-offenses are suspected, and have the stipulation that the suspect must be at home when they want to get into the house. Entering a house/premises when the occupant is out, can only be done with the judge commissioner present.

This was the case for example in a appeals case in front of the dutch supreme court where the owner of a drug-plantation was petitioning the court to throw out the evidence found at his home by the police because of an illegal search and seizure of said drugs-plantation.

The events happened as follows (first dutch, then the English translation):

- dat klachten over een sterke weedlucht en de constatering daarvan aanleiding waren een machtiging ter opsporing van strafbare feiten zonder toestemming van de bewoner van de woning aan [a-straat 1] te [plaats A] af te geven.
- dat -na de onrechtmatige binnentreding- door de politie op de vloer van die woning weed werd aangetroffen en softdrugsgerelateerde goederen.
dat vervolgens verder zoeken wordt gestaakt, de rechter-commissaris wordt ingelicht en op rechtmatige wijze huiszoeking wordt verricht,

- the complaints of a strong odor of weed, which the two officers indeed ascertained for themselves were grounds to get/and receive a warrant to find criminal offenses without needing the permission of the owner.
- that -after the illegal entrance into the house- the police found weed and soft-drugs related paraphernalia on the floor of the house and immediately halted their search, the judge commissioner got informed and a legal search of the house was performed

A few lines below the court writes that the original court that handled the case did not find the search performed by the judge commissioner illegal (while it did find the original police-search to be illegal) and that the evidence gathered by the judge commissioner could be used at trial.

This is what the dutch supreme court had to say about that:

3.5.2. Het middel faalt derhalve voorzover het er over klaagt dat het aantreffen van de verdovende middelen nadat de doorzoeking onder leiding van de Rechter-Commissaris een aanvang had genomen, niet tot het bewijs had mogen worden gebezigd.

3.5.2. The petition fails with regard to the complaint, that the narcotics that were found after the judge commissioner had started a search under his direction/leadership, should be excluded as evidence from the court case.

court-case file (in dutch)


More articles regarding the presence of judge commissioner

There is ample evidence to prove that the judge commissioner is indeed present/leads/conducts as I wrote in my piece from yesterday.

Here goes:

1. De inbeslagneming van de bestanden met de afbeeldingen, die in de telastelegging zijn vermeld, heeft later plaatsgevonden tijdens een doorzoeking op 13 juni 2000 onder leiding van de de rechter-commissaris.

The seizing of the files with the pictures, as mentioned in the formal charges, took place at a later date during the search on June 13th 2000, lead by the judge commissioner

article

2. Op vrijdag 2 juni 2006 heeft de Inlichtingen- en Opsporingsdienst van het Ministerie van VROM (VROM-IOD) samen met het Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu (RIVM), onder leiding van het Functioneel Parket van het Openbaar Ministerie in aanwezigheid van een rechter-commissaris te Utrecht een doorzoeking gedaan in een woning in Baarn.

On Friday June 2nd 2006, the intelligence and detection department of the Ministry of VROM, together with the Government institute for public health and enviroment (RIVM), under the leadership of the Functional Office of the Public Prosecution, in attendance of a judge commissioner, have performed a house search on a property in Baarn.

article

3. Op zaterdagavond 15 mei jongstleden vond op vordering van de officier van justitie onder leiding van de Rechter-Commissaris een doorzoeking plaats in een woning in de gemeente Horst in het kader van een onderzoek.

De Rechter-Commissaris heeft tijdens de doorzoeking een groot aantal videobanden met kinderporno, administratieve gegevens en computerapparatuur in beslag genomen.

On Saturday night, May 15th 2004, on the request of the DA, a judge commissioner lead a house search in a property in the city of Horst during an investigation

The judge commissioner, during the search, seized a large number of video-tapes with child pornography, seized the administration and computer equipment.

article

4. Diezelfde ochtend is onder leiding van de rechter-commissaris huiszoeking gedaan in twee woningen in Arnhem.

That same morning, lead by the judge commissioner, two houses in Arnhem were searched

article

5. Onder leiding van de Rechter Commissaris is daarom vandaag huiszoeking gedaan op het bedrijf en zijn 14 runderen in beslag genomen en afgevoerd ter destructie.

Lead by the judge commissioner today there was a search of the property, the company and during that search 14 heads of cattle were seized.

article

6. and there are many more articles of the same type, all stating the presence of the judge commissioner during searches of property. The Judge Commissioner HAS to be present because he and he alone can decide what gets seized and what may stay. You cannot do that from an island away, to decide what to seize and what to search it is imperative and legally obligatory to have the examining judge present at the scene.



Rammstein