Monday, October 29, 2007   Mike Mette  Self-defense is,
inexplicably, no defense  Two years ago Mike Mette, an off duty
Chicago police officer visiting his brother in Dubuque, Iowa,
was under assault. John Kass comments: So Mike did what anyone
would do. He threw a punch. One punch. The victim went down.
Unconscious. There was no testimony that he did anything other
than throw that one punch. Prosecutors spinning their local
paper talk about the victim being kicked, but even the victim's
friend wouldn't testify to that. The victim was released from
the hospital four days later. A month went by, and Mike was
charged with assault causing serious injury, which carries a
mandatory five-year term The Dubuque Telegraph Herald (my
emphasis) reports: A brief filed Sept. 19 with the court by
Mette's attorney disputes Ackley's ruling, stating the trial
court erred in rejecting Mette's defense of self-defense and
erred in finding Jake Gothard suffered serious injury.  The
seriousness of the injury and Mette's failure to