Don’t know whose worse;

**Piggybank Cop** · 09-14-06, 01:42 PM

The pos store owner or the pos judge.

Appeals court backs man convicted of selling donated water after Florida hurricane

ASSOCIATED PRESS

BARTOW, Fla., Sept. 14 — A convenience store owner convicted of selling donated water intended for hurricane victims committed no crime and should be released from probation, an appeals court ruled.

Last year, a judge found Salah Darwish guilty of cheating by false pretenses for selling bottled water that had been distributed free at a Hurricane Charley relief center in 2004.
But the 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled Wednesday that the charge was unproven because Darwish didn't clearly lie to officials at the distribution center about what he was going to do with the water.
The court noted that Darwish wasn't required to state how he planned to use the water and did not do so.
At one point when picking up water, Darwish laughed and told a firefighter that, ''it's not like I'm going to sell it out of my store,'' the court said. But it added the timing of the comment was vague and that prosecutors failed to show that the statement induced the firefighter to give him the water.
''In this case, we expect that many people would find Mr. Darwish's conduct to be offensive from an ethical point of view,'' the three-judge panel wrote. ''But the question before us is not one of morality.''
Darwish's attorney, Jeff Holmes, said Darwish had offered to make repayment for taking the water.
''It was wrong and reprehensible,'' Holmes said. ''He acknowledged that, but he didn't commit a crime.''
Darwish, 41, was arrested after an angry customer e-mailed Gov. Jeb Bush about her suspicions about the water at Darwish's store, which was around the corner from the relief center.
He was sentenced to five years of probation in May 2005.

On the Net:
Opinion: http://www.2dca.org/september1306.htm