Month: March 2009

Courts, Criminal law, International, Military, Politics, Society

International Red Cross Defines Bush Interrogations As Torture

torture -abu ghraib220px-barack_obamaThe International Committee of the Red Cross added its considerable authority and voice to those who have called the Bush interrogation policies torture under international law. Now, Bush officials, bar groups, countless experts, and leading international organizations have all agreed that Bush ran a torture program prohibited under a variety of treaties. Those treaties require the United States to investigate and prosecute such acts as war crimes. Yet, President Barack Obama continues to block any such investigation in flagrant violation of international law.

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Criminal law, International, Society

Prosecutors Charge American Exchange Student With Slander After Claim of Police Abuse

foxy-knoxy-machine-gunThere is an interesting twist in the Italian trial of Amanda Knox. The American exchange student Meredith Kercher facing murder charges has claimed that she was struck by police and otherwise abused during her interrogation. Now, Italian prosecutors have added a slander charge due to her in court statements.

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Bizarre, Politics, Religion, Society

Texas Legislation To Facilitate the Creation of An Advanced Creation Science Degree

TexasThis may seem like a bit of an contradiction to some, but Texas legislators are sponsoring a bill to facilitate the creation of a master’s degree in Creation Science. While these degrees are traditionally called Divinity degrees, Texas politicians fighting against evolution theory want to help the Institute for Creation Research.
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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

Natural or Enhanced? Vermont Hunter Jailed for Shooting Doe and Then Bolting Antlers To Her Head

250px-white-tailed_deerFor criminal defense attorneys, regional differences can often produce localized forms of practice. The attorney for Marcel Fournier, 19, has one such case in Burlington, Vermont. Fournier was arrested for bolting antlers on the head of a dead doe to conceal game violations.
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Constitutional Law, Politics, Religion, Society

Look, Honey, He Has Your Ectoderm! Georgia Legislators Pass Law Allowing Adoption of Embryos

images2This week, the Georgia state House of Representatives voted 96-66 to adopt a bill allowing for people to legally adopt as parents embryos that can be implanted in in vitro fertilization procedures. The legislation is defended by Clarke Forsythe, senior counsel of Americans United for Life, as responsive to “the need to humanize the embryonic human at a time when at the federal level embryonic stem cell research is being promoted.”

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

Don’t Mess With Texican English: Texas Police Arrested New Yorker For Potty Mouth

nicubunu_open_mouthHouston police and prosecutors are arresting people for potty-mouths. The Texans were shocked when New Yorker Abraham Urquizo, 35, used the “F-word” twice while arguing with his girlfriend at Salsa’s Mexican and Seafood Restaurant. They are clearly unaware that the word can be used as an adjective, noun, verb, adverb, participle, and a gerund in New York.
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Bizarre, Criminal law

Oklahoma Prison Puts Inmate Into The Same Cell With The Murderer Who He Testified Against a Trial– And Is Promptly Beaten To Death

mediumgallery_photoNow, this should make for an interesting torts case. Oklahoma State Penitentiary moved prisoner, Paul Duran Jr., 23 (left), after he had a fight with another cellmate. They choose Jessie James Dalton (right), who not only has a name for crime but happens to be the very man that Duran testified against in a murder case (resulting in his being given a life sentence without parole). Dalton allegedly beat Duran to death within 15 minutes.
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Academia, Bizarre, Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Environment, International, Justice, Lawyering, Media, Military, Politics, Religion, Society, Supreme Court

HAPPY Pi DAY!!!

140px-pi-symbolsvgIt was only recently that many of us put away our Square Root Day decorations. Yet, it is now time to celebrate Pi day in all of its irrational glory. The irrational number is rounded off to 3.14, making March 14th the special day for all math geeks — and circle circumference fanatics.
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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Politics, Society

Man Guilty of Possession of Child Pornography For Downloading Sexual Cartoons of Simpson and Pokemon Characters

250px-simpsons_familypictureAustralian Glenn Phillip McGuire, 28, has pleaded guilty of possession of child pornography after downloading six images of cartoon characters from The Simpsons and Pokemon in sexual scenes.
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Bizarre, Criminal law, Politics, Society

Guitar Hero? Former Cook County GOP Chairman Beaten By Wife With Electric Guitar After Allegedly Finding Him With Two Prostitutes In Children’s Nursery

150px-guitarnerFormer Cook County Republican Chairman Gary Skoien, 55, is in the midst of a bizarre criminal case. He accused his wife, Eni Skoien, 36, with battery for allegedly beating him with her fists and an electric guitar. Police report that Skoien admitted that his wife found him in his children’s playroom with two prostitutes early Sunday morning.

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Bizarre, Society, Torts

Twit: “Juror Jonathan” Throws Verdict Into Doubt With Improper Tweets

200px-twitterRussell Wright and his company, Stoam Holdings has a novel ground to challenge the $12.6 million verdict against them. They have given the court proof that a juror posted messages on Twitter.com that show bias. The allegedly incriminating eight “tweets” of juror Johnathan Powell were sent to a micro-blogging Web site via his cellular phone.
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Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Justice, Military, Politics, Society

Obama Administration Drops Enemy Combatant Status as Basis for Holding Detainees

holderericIn a new filing, President Barack Obama has dropped “enemy combatant” status as an express standard for holding detainees at Guantanamo Bay. In the press release below, Attorney General Eric Holder has also informed a federal court in Washington, D.C. that it will no longer rely on the President’s independent authority as Commander-in-Chief — the basis for many of former President Bush’s most extreme claims. I discussed the change on this segment of the Rachel Maddow Show.
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Criminal law, Lawyering, Media

Anna Nicole Smith Attorney and Partner Charged on Drug Charges With Two Doctors

picture-2Lawyer Howard K. Stern and two doctors were charged Thursday with giving thousands of prescription drugs to Anna Nicole Smith for years before her death. Stern, who was also romantically involved with Smith, was charged with doctors Sandeep Kapoor and Khristine Eroshevich on criminal conspiracy charges and the delivery of fraudulent prescriptions. These illegal prescriptions continued until two weeks before her death.
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