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It makes no sense

| September 15, 2004 11:00 PM

It's not often that we're stunned here at the Hungry Horse News. We see a lot of strange things and odd circumstances, but last week's Montana Supreme Court ruling that gives a creep like Joe Aceto another trial makes no sense.

We remember Aceto's outbursts. The swearing and cussing and throwing things. He left his victim in tears and the courtroom rattled. He deserved to be thrown out and never brought back. Sure, Aceto later apologized, but an apology from a guy like Aceto, whose violent criminal history dates back to the 1970s, is as hollow as the heart wood of a North Fork cottonwood.

Supreme Court justices we interviewed admitted they never looked at his history. They just looked at the letter of the law which, apparently and unfortunately, gives creeps like Aceto more rights than his victims. Something is seriously wrong when our criminal justice system erodes to that point. It needs to be fixed.