It is just a bad idea to have your picture on Facebook with a gun.

This is a story about the trouble with the obvious.

If you happen to be a convicted felon, like Joseph Dillard, (Dillard v. State, announced 12/12/12), and on probation, you probably don't want to have a picture on Facebook, captioned "Joe Dirty Deedse," showing you holding a shotgun.  As the prosecutor argued, “here he was in the same room with this weapon at the time of his arrest and he was a convicted felon. Case closed.” And so the trial court revoked probation.  

You'd think that would end it.  But our system does not operate on the simple, on the obvious.  It requires some amount of process.  The written charge seeking to revoke probation made no mention of Joe Dirty Deedse; the Judge's oral order did not agree with the written order; on the whole, everyone appeared to be so focused on the obviousness of the outcome, no one bothered to document it correctly.  Thus, the Court of Appeals sent it back down for further proceedings.

Look, I know everyone wants to see the Joe Dirty Deedse's of the world put in places where the risk of "them" harming "us" is minimized.  But cases like this are what establish our basic freedoms.  So cherish the process.