The recent video of an officer melting down in a traffic stop and abusing a driver should serve to draw attention to this form of abuse. The officer taunts the driver that he can just make up a violation and send him to jail. I have had a steady stream of such complaints from citizens who are arrested for merely objecting to policy conduct. They are thrown into jail and the charges eventually dropped. The officers are never punished in such cases. Perhaps this officer will be different. There is no reason why this individual would be allowed to remain on the force. For the video, click here
Month: September 2007
A Florida judge has agreed to sentence a man to 25 years if he has a surgical castration in the next eight days. Bobby James Allen pleaded guilty to three counts of armed sexual battery and other charges. Continue reading “Florida Judge Allows Defendant to Avoid Life Sentence in Exchange for Castration”
A shocking case with racist elements has emerged from West Virginia where a white family held an African-American women captive for a week during which she time she was repeatedly torture and assaulted. The case would allow for both criminal and tort charges. Continue reading “Woman Tortured and Assaulted Over a Week by West Virginia Family”
September 11, 2007 Los Angeles Times
In his closing argument last week in the murder trial of pop music legend Phil Spector, prosecutor Alan Jackson encouraged jurors to ignore the experts who testified for the defense because, he said, “if you hire enough lawyers who hire enough experts who are paid enough money, you can get them to say anything.” He went on to inform the jury that “Phil Spector thinks if he throws enough money at a problem, he can solve the problem.”
It was a highly unprofessional argument that encouraged jurors to dismiss the opinions of any experts who appear on behalf of wealthy defendants as, in effect, purchased testimony. Yet the fact is that such witnesses are not only available to the rich; even a public defender is allowed to call such witnesses, at public expense, who would probably have made the same arguments. Continue reading “The Spector of Celebrity Trial”
Jason Atkins, creator of ToughSportLive, has gone to court to seek to strike down a 1999 law banning the creation, possession or transmission of materials depicting animal cruelty. Continue reading “Lawsuit Seeks to Clear the Way for Video Cock Fighting”
The trial of music legend Phil Spector for murder has gone to the jury. Continue reading “Spector Goes to Jury After Improper Prosecution Arguments Over Celebrity Justice”
Philadelphia criminal defense attorney Larry Charles was found by security naked with a minor in the lawyers lounge of the Courthouse. He has pleaded no contest to the charges and stands accused of repeated cases of statutory rape with various underaged girls. For the story, click here Given the common increases for aggravating factors such as the abuse of positions of authority, Charles is looking at some very serious time.
In what could be a very significant torts case, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a trial judge and found that the University of Colorado can be sued for the alleged gang rape by football recruits. Continue reading “University of Colorado to Face Trial for Alleged Off-Campus Gang-Rape”
The papers of Craig to withdraw his guilty plea are now public. For the papers, click here As expected, they argue that Craig’s decision (despite many days of consideration) was made without counsel and sufficient thought. This falls under the category of more stupidity and manifest injustice. The officers clearly misled Craig on the strength of the evidence but Craig is now trying to address a self-inflicted wound.
In a disturbing case out of Florida, an owner tried to get construction workers to bury his horse alive, according to police reports. The bulldozer operator refused. At most the owner could be charged with animal neglect for leaving the horse in the sun without water or food, a second-degree misdemeanor. For the story, click here.
In the endless saga of Sen. Craig, his attorneys are now prepared to file as early as this week for the withdrawal of his plea. Continue reading “Craig Reportedly Ready to File to Withdraw Plea”
A recent study has indicated that melting ice from global warming will kill off half of the polar bear population by 2050 and could wipe out the species in the wild. For the story, click here
In what appears to be a clear case of abusive by a police officer, a women was arrested at a McDonald’s after serving a police officer a burger that was over-salted. The officer said that he became sick and accused the woman of adding the salt and pepper on purpose. She spent the night in jail despite the fact that she explained that an entire batch was oversalted by accident. The arrest of an individual out of personal outrage is a classic form of police abuse. The fact that the arrestee spent the nighti in jail shows how a citizen can be punished by an angry officer even without a meritorious charge. For the story, click here
The opening of the controversal arabic-centered public school in New York, once again, raises the issue of the reintroduction of separate but equal principles in America.
A prior column addressed this problem in a different context in Chicago: Continue reading “America’s Separate But Equal School System”
There has always been an uneasy compromise between environmentalists and native groups over whaling. Various groups with cultural histories of whaling and a need for the food have been allowed to kill a small number of whales each year. Now, authorities have discovered that one tribe shot a harpooned whale with a 50-caliber machine — hardly a traditional whaling technique. Criminal charges are possible. For the story, click here