CLaude Dallas

[DRAFTSTUD]

I read a bunch of posts that were made on MM about Claude Dallas, to some he was a villian and to some a victim. I read "Give a boy a Gun", a story about Claude years ago and since most of you are nearer to ground zero, what is your take on this fellow? John

 

[BuzzH]

Common murdering criminal, plain and simple.

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

No, I think he was or is a most un-common murdering criminal, plain and simple! His ability to hold people to his side was one of the things that I always thought weird when reading the book about him.

 

[BuzzH]

Theres probably a direct correlation between GW Bush being elected president, nascar being the number one watched sport in America, and Claude Dallas being able to hold people to his side of cold-blooded murder....

 

[Oak]

I'd be curious to hear how anyone could portray Claude Dallas as a victim.

Oak

 

[Calif. Hunter]

It is interesting (and gratifying!) to see that the posters here (so far) see through the charade of Clause Dallas as a mountain man or the last of the free spirits of the Wild West. He could not survive on his own, and had to have his friends bring him provisions, for God's sake! He was itching for a chance to have a gunfight. He is a poacher, liar and murderer. Plain and simple.

 

[BuzzH]

Whats really funny is Claude was caught at a 7-11 carrying a soda pop and a twinkie in his hands...

Definately a real life mountain man...living off the land and the bounty provided by a convienance store.

 

[cjcj]

I read a story about the scumbag.[Dallas] how in the hell could he have got away with cold blooded murder of the 2 game wardens [manslaughter] is what he was charged with. He put a 22 round in each wardens head after they were already down. And he was in the act of poaching.. the procecuter must have been a piss poor lawyer. IMO.

 

[huntinfool]

well if I was on the jury back then I would have gone for the max !! murder is murder no matter how or why it was done!! I don't understand how anyone can call him a victem either, but there are those that do!!

 

[JoseCuervo]

I read a story about the scumbag.[Dallas] how in the hell could he have got away with cold blooded murder of the 2 game wardens [manslaughter] is what he was charged with. He put a 22 round in each wardens head after they were already down. And he was in the act of poaching.. the procecuter must have been a piss poor lawyer. IMO.

CJ,
You don't know Jack about our judicial system. Bill Mauk was the Defense attorney and did an incredible job. It had nothing to do with the "piss poor" Prosecutor, it was brilliant defense work on Mauk's part. He almost got him off with no time.

While Dallas was awaiting sentancing, out on bail, he went down to the Steens in Oregon and poached a bighorn....

 

[SageGhost]

as an idahoan, Claude dallas represents The more Anti_government (black choppers are hovering over me) kind of fellla..When he responded to people calling him a mountain man
he said (they dont know me)!!! i called it right 2 weeks ago when i said that he would be moving back to nevada and he is..he is nothing more then a POACHER/MURDERER.

 

[FAIRCHASEBEN]

I'm kinda surprised that nobody is sticking up for old Claude !
I remember when this happened and after the trial he was quite the folk hero for awhile , I'll bet most of the old timers that knew him don't own computers yet .

You get into some back country bar in S. Idaho or N. Nevada and you'll hear stories about Claude Dallas , and they ain't what you saw on TV .

 

[cjcj]

CJ,
You don't know Jack about our judicial system. Bill Mauk was the Defense attorney and did an incredible job. It had nothing to do with the "piss poor" Prosecutor, it was brilliant defense work on Mauk's part. He almost got him off with no time.

While Dallas was awaiting sentancing, out on bail, he went down to the Steens in Oregon and poached a bighorn....

Gunner you are a "joke" The guy [dallas] is a murdering poacher and you "praise" his scumbag lawyer? Yea sounds like another "failed" lawyer syndrome. Hey were you the procecuter or something or maybe one of your buddies were in charge....I don`t care if Jerry Spence was his lawyer...he got off way,way to light...and as you say almost with "no time".... So tell me Gunner how good was the PROCECUTION? You left that part out.... I might believe a Bad Judge.... But i stand by the piss poor procecuter statement... lets see 2 dead Game Wardens/ A witness/Mountains of evidence / Ballistics etc etc.....Now tell me how prepared your D.A. was? hump

Better yet go tell the family of Conley Elms and Bill Pogue what a great job the Idaho justice system did with Dallas. Tell John Heggen of Idaho Game and Fish what a "great "job the procecution did. This prick[Claude Dallas] would have gotten fried and hung if this happened in Texas. . and you know who is from there. hump

 

[JoseCuervo]

CJ,

That is news to me that someone thought the prosecutor did a "piss poor" job. I guess you are a better analyst of legal proceedings....

It doesn't matter if Dallas was guilty or innocent, a "scumbag or a Prince", Mauk did what he was hired to do (by the State), and he did a brilliant job. Look at your comments, you would have "fried" Dallas, and Mauk got him a 22 year place to have a cot, a plate of beans, and a job making license plates. Tell me that Mauk didn't do his job well.

 

[cjcj]

Well i will tell you this he selected a piss poor jury [most important] 10 women 2 men....Then Dallas breaks out of prison in 1986 and gets acquitted again?. Something is wrong.

 

[JoseCuervo]

CJ,

The original prosecutor would not have been involved in the escape trial. Again, brilliant defense work. Somebody brings pliers into a prison, gives them to Dallas, who then cuts the fence and gets into a waiting car. And he is found not guilty of escape??? How is that anything other than brilliant defense work?

 

[TheTone]

He's a worthless turd and should have been flushed long ago. He was let out early for good behavior even and thats with his escape from prison and spending about a year on the run. I hope today was the last time he ever sets foot in this state. In our paper they had an article today and they had talked to the jury foreman who said they probably would have let him off all together if he hadn't shot both officers in the head with his 22 after he'd already shot them. Unbelievable, sad case. I hope we never have a similar case again.

 

[whitedeer]

"But one of Dallas' lawyers, Bill Mauk, still sees Dallas as a victim:" " He fired on the officers after his privacy had been violated and after he was threatened by government agents enforcing game laws he didn't believe applied to him."

Another example of a "brilliant" trial lawyer. Isn't it strange that most of them are Democrats, or have strong liberal stances?

 

[Erik in AK]

CJ,

"...Somebody brings pliers into a prison, gives them to Dallas, who then cuts the fence and gets into a waiting car. And he is found not guilty of escape??? How is that anything other than brilliant defense work?

Leave it to a lawyer to put the cart before the horse and make it the horse's fault. Gunner, I have come to realize from the last few threads I've been following, that you are an attorney(please correct me if I am mistaken), if this is so then please help me understand something...at what point did the right to an attorney and competent representation vis a vis' a vigorous defense, become a quest to see the guilty aquitted? I'm not talking about Claude Dallas specifically here. You stated he got 22 years so I assume the jury returned a guilty verdict for a lesser charge (M-2 or MS?) but then we are talking about a man who deliberately killed two uniformed wardens to protect his "right" to continue to steal deer...and you sing his lawyers praises. For what? Some innovative legal weasletry in subverting the system? Why are trials more about the lawyers and their egos then about seeing justice served?

Constitutional guarantees were supposed to prevent sham trials, not provide sufficient semantic ambiguity for crafty lawyers to manufacture "reasonable doubt" where non exists.

I do not want to see the innocent convicted but your profession has a rich history of knowingly setting the dangerous free to rape, murder, rob and molest again, all the while hiding behind attorney-client priviledge.

Thur's what right and thur's whats legal an' n'er the twain shall meet
Sad, and yet its still the fairest, most just justice system ever devised.

"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers".
King Henry the Sixth, Part II- (Act IV, Scene II).

 

[cjcj]

Great post Eric....I cannot understand how Gunner would think like this,, OK lets say the Defense Lawyer was "Brilliant"...So lets all be happy that This guy Dallas is still breathing? Dallas is 54 yrs. old and has some good years of his life ahead of him. Officers Elms and Pogue are dead and had everything taken from them. Dallas did "easy" time I.M.O. and is now a free bird. He will probably get a book/movie deal along with the "brilliant" scumbag who got him off easy. Guys like Dallas should get the death penalty. So i have to put alot of the blame on the procecution....they could have at least tried him on everything. poaching/Ag.Assault etc. and a higher murder charge. but they got beat in the courtroom by some slick, brilliant, lawyer? Gunner you still haven`t told us how great the "Procecution" was. They failed. I feel sorry for the Idaho G&F and the family`s of Elm`s and Pogue, who will watch Dallas become a free man.