Driving my car is not illegal. Driving my car over someone is, possibly even if I don’t intentionally do it.
He was giving them a citation. You’re argument here is so pitifully weak, it’s embarrassing.
You are making all sorts of unsupported assertions, many of which are entirely subjective from your own viewpoint and generalizing to the wider population concerning laws in a state where you don’t even live. From the assertion that “everyone knows” you can’t refuse a citation from a traffic cop, to the idea that if you don’t know something is a law then you can’t be prosecuted for it. How on earth is a prosecutor supposed to prove that you knew something was a law?
It’s not necessarily a willful obstruction of duties. If there is no knowledge that they are preventing the LOE from performing a duty, then there is no crime. Once again, you can’t resist arrest if you have no idea you are under arrest.
So what? It still has to be demonstrate that they knew they were preventing him from writing a citation by closing the door. At what point did they know they were under arrest and at what point were they supposed to know they were resisting arrest?
(bolding mine)
You keep raising the issue of knowledge, which is not part of the requirement.
“Willful” refers to the action, not knowledge of the commission of a crime. Example: If I am pulled over for driving 60 in a 45 mph zone, it is not a defense that I didn’t know I was speeding or know what the speed limit was. I was willfully driving 60 mph (i.e. the accelerator on my car was not broken), and that speed was in excess of the speed limit.
Question again for lawyers, or LOEs:
What would happen if these people close the door (without the cop being in the way) and then the cop continues to knock and ring the bell, but they refuse to answer or open the door. I asume that he’d call for some back-up and then at some point they would break the door down or something to gain access? Correct?
If so, would the people be guilty of some crime? If so, what?
What has to be “willful” here is the obstruction of an officer in his duties, not the closing of the door.
I agree with that. The officer was trying to issue a citation, and they put a door in his path. Whether or not they thought they were entitled to do so irrelevant.
Right, a closed door is no obstruction whatsoever. Unless you are trying to do something like communicate that fact that you are issuing a citation, then it’s sort of, well, an obstruction. How are you supposed to get them to sign the citation through a closed door?
Once AGAIN… Officer threatens citation (should be pretty clear there that he is performing his duty) Citizen slams door.
Honestly man, if the sheriff shows up at your door to give you a jury summons, what do you think will happen if you slam the door in his face?
Do you have any cites that the constitution explicitly states that you have to honor a jury summons? Didn’t think so. So the cop has no business at his door in the first place and slamming the door is his civic duty. Damn.
Uhm, right after they specifically asked him…?
Besides, it appears that their own defense attorney disagrees with you on whether or not they were resisting arrest:
This is getting ridiculous. Do you really believe that the Sheriff can’t arrest you for a failing to appear on a jury? Are you registered to vote?
This thread has gotten so far afield… and I’m amused.
I see you have the sarcas-o-meter set to 0.
It doesn’t prevent him from writing it.
Who the hell signs citations?
Fair enough. Maybe it has crawled that low, but in my defense, look at what I’m dealing with. Some of the people in this thread actually mean shit like that. It’s hard to tell the difference.
As far as I’m concerned, I think they’d be found guilty regardless – you don’t close the door in the face of an officer writing you a citation with the expectation that he’ll just put it in your mailbox. But if you’re really hung up on finding cause, I believe the officer was asking for identification so he could fill the citation out properly when they closed the door.
I see you’ve never been issued a (non parking) ticket, very commendable.
After the officer writes the citation, he presents it to you to sign. Signing it is NOT an admission of guilt (there is a disclaimer to that effect just below the line you sign on). You sign it. Well, you theoretically sign it if you haven’t done something to obstruct the officer from obtaining the signature, like rolling up your window, driving away, or slamming your door on him.
ETA: If you don’t sign, 3 guesses what the officer does.
Took me a second to see the sarcasm as well. Problem is what you said with sarcasm, Dio has been saying in all seriousness. 
From the Washington State Bar Association website(just the first comprehensive hit, I think it’s basically the same for all states).