Year: 2013

Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Justice, Lawyering, Media, Science, Society, Testimony, Uncategorized

Memory and Guilty Verdicts

Submitted By: Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger

400px-Elizabeth_Loftus-TAM_9-July_2011I’d only planned to write one guest blog this weekend, but this morning on Huffington Post I saw a video from a TED lecture. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TED_%28conference%29  The lecture was from Psychologist Elizabeth Loftus  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Loftus  who has been studying false memories since the 1970’s. She links what she discovered with one of the failings of our Criminal Justice System, with the false memories reported in court. This is an 18 minute lecture but it is well worth your time and bears directly on the topics we discuss here on the Law Blog. I must note that in it she is critical of certain psychotherapy techniques and I am a psychotherapist. Despite my training and profession I believe her critiques are on point and illustrate one of the problems inherent in some psychotherapies. For any readers that are interested in our legal system and who care about its problems, viewing this will represent time well spent.  My technical skills are such that I don’t know how to properly make the video appear in WordPress but if you click on the following link you will be able to see it:     Mystery of Memory 

Submitted by: Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger

Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Courts, Free Speech, Justice, Lawyering, Society

Tennessee Judge Who Renamed Child Now Facing Judicial Misconduct Charges

Submitted by Charlton Stanley (aka Otteray Scribe), Guest Blogger

Seal of TN JudiciaryLast August, this blog had the story of Cocke County, Tennessee child support Magistrate Judge Lu Ann Ballew who arbitrarily ordered parents to change the first name of their seven month old child.  Jaleesa Martin and Jawaan McCullough had decided on their child’s first name, but were not able to agree on whether his surname should be that of his mother or his father.  It was Judge Ballew who ordered the parents of seven month old Messiah McCullough Martin they had to change the child’s first name and change his birth certificate. Judge Ballew opined, “The word Messiah is a title, and it’s a title that has only been earned by one person, and that one person is Jesus Christ.”

In a rambling interview with local television, Judge Ballew tried to explain her reasoning. The reporter asked her what if the child had been named Jesus, a popular name in the Spanish speaking community. The judge stammered, finally declaring that to be irrelevant. The reporter did not press the issue and ask about the use of Mohammed/Muhammed by many Islamic families. Her answer to that would have been…..interesting. Here is the interview of Magistrate Judge Lu Ann Ballew with a reporter from a local TV station. This is almost painful to watch.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Supreme Court

Third Circuit Requires Warrant For GPS Tracking

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

3rd CircuitWe have previously discussed the unanimous Supreme Court decision in United States v. Jones, where the Court ruled that the installation of a GPS device constituted a “search” for Fourth Amendment purposes. In Jones, the Court did not rule that a search warrant was required to affix a GPS device to a car. In the case of United States v. Katzin, the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that the installation of a GPS tracking device without a warrant was unconstitutional.

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Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Environment, Free Speech, Justice, Lawyering, Media, Military, Politics, Religion, Science, Society, Supreme Court, Testimony, Uncategorized

The Private Prisons Profit on Youth

Submitted By: Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger

287px-Sing_SingWe have had a lot of discussions here about the ever growing private prison system in the United States, where our country has become the world leader in imprisoning its citizens. Many blogs have been written discussing our world prison leadership and the fact that it stems from the failed “War on Drugs”, which has tended to focus on people in poverty and/or people of color. The for-profit prison industry has had a growth spurt that can be directly traced to that aspect of the conservative movement that has disparaged government services and at the same time pushed for privatization of government services using the false concept that private industry can do it better and cheaper. It is an ideas that to me seems nonsensical on its face because of the absolute need that private industry turns a profit and in today’s economic scheme that profit has to continually rise as time passes. Business strategy, which by definition, must focus on profit has focused on cutting costs as a means of building profit. Cutting costs then devolves into hiring less skilled workers, cutting down on services provided and in a business like private prisons reducing the quality of care. When ot comes to reduction of services and diminishing of quality of care when it comes to the prison industry, I’m sure that the majority of public opinion would approve of even more draconian measures. After all those convicted of a crime are generally scorned and feared. Muscular fundamentalist philosophy has discarded the Jesus of turn the other cheek into a Jesus of vengeance and so there is even in some circles moral approval of treating prison inmates harshly. There is now a widespread use of solitary confinement as a tool of prison punishment and that confinement has stretched from weeks, too months and too years. We are after all, a society that has a majority of Americans for torture in our post 9/11 era.

In 2008 we saw the opening of a scandal in Pennsylvania where it was discovered that juvenile court judges were sentencing youths to prison for minor offenses because they had received money from sources in the private prison industry. Two judges were convicted in this case and it was seen that many youths were adversely affected and are now suing for unlawful imprisonment. It is this profiting on the imprisonment of youth that I would like to address broadly in this blog. For the most part my reference links will appear at its conclusion. This is a very disturbing problem that I think cuts to the heart of what kind of society we want to live in and I would hope that others find this as disturbing as I do. Continue reading “The Private Prisons Profit on Youth” →

Bizarre, Columns

University of Colorado-Boulder Tells Students Not To Dress As Cowboys, Indians, or Other “Offensive” Outfits

hallocostumes005Students at the University of Colorado at Boulder have been told this year that some standard costumes are now deemed “offensive” and are unacceptable. This includes costumes as cowboys, indians and anything involving a sombrero. Once again, I am concerned that these rules based on tolerance values are intruding into the speech rights of students and wrongly assumes that all such outfits are derogatory to a particular race or culture.

Continue reading “University of Colorado-Boulder Tells Students Not To Dress As Cowboys, Indians, or Other “Offensive” Outfits” →

Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Politics, Religion, Society

New York Theater Announces That It Will Ignore NC-17 Rating For Lesbian Film And Allow Minors To See Film

11174299_detThere could be an interesting conflict brewing in New York where IFC Center in Greenwich Village has declared that it will not impose the NC-17 rating for Abdellatif Kechiche’s three-hour long lesbian drama “Blue Is the Warmest Color”. In other words, it will allow in teenage viewers in violation of the rating. The case could force a confrontation over the voluntary system of ratings. This was a compromise with politicians and some groups that want to regulate films for obscenity or violence or sexual content. If theaters refuse to comply with the ratings, there may be a move to re-introduce legislation imposing direct government regulation — raising obvious free speech issues.

Continue reading “New York Theater Announces That It Will Ignore NC-17 Rating For Lesbian Film And Allow Minors To See Film” →

Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law

Dallas Man Accuses Police Of Opening Fire On Him After He Opened His Front Door After He Previously Refused To Be Questioned

n-DAVID-BLAIR-largeThere is a troubling case out of Dallas where David Blair said that he opened the door to his apartment only to be met with a hail of gunfire from police. The Dallas Police Department reportedly told him that he caused the response by shining of flashlight and having a door that made a popping sound. Apparently, you have to either get some WD40 or face a barrage of lead in Texas.

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Constitutional Law, Free Speech, International, Politics, Religion

Iran Reportedly Orders Flogging For Christians While U.N. Report Blasts Crackdown On Non-Muslims

350px-Última_Cena_-_Juan_de_JuanesVarious news sites are reporting that four Christians have been sentenced in Iran to 80 lashes each for drinking communion wine at services and possessing a satellite antenna. Behzad Taalipasand, Mehdi Reza Omidi (Youhan), Mehdi Dadkhah (Danial) and Amir Hatemi (Youhanna) were reportedly arrested during a house service in December. These house services are efforts of Iranian Christians to practice their faith in the face of the continued Iranian crackdown on non-Muslims. The cases have been made public in the aftermath of a United Nations report criticizing the denial of religious freedom in Iran.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Lawyering, Media

Michael Skakel Granted New Trial Due To Ineffective Counsel

skakelmugKennedy family member Michael Skakel has long sought a new trial in the killing of Martha Moxley, a neighbor bludgeoned to death by a golf club in 1975. In a surprise ruling, Judge Thomas Bishop found that Skakel was denied a fair trial due to ineffective counsel. Bishop’s opinion slams Skakel’s original legal counsel, Michael Sherman, as failing basic expectations of a lawyer and suggests, as the family has argued, that he was obsessed or blinded by the media attention in the case.

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Bizarre, International, Military, Politics, Society

Self-Serve: U.S. Government Paid $500 Per Gallon To Afghan Contractor

220px-HAZMAT_Class_3_GasolineWe have become accustomed to reports of unimaginable corruption and waste in Afghanistan from bags of money delivered to President Karzai to constructing huge buildings to be immediately torn down to buying aircraft that cannot be used. The common element to the stories is the absence of any reported prosecution or even discipline for those responsible. You can simply waste hundreds of millions of dollars and continue in your government position. This week’s outrage comes from a report of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR). Among huge examples of waste and delay is this little ditty: USAid paid a $300,000 charge for 600 gallons of diesel fuel. That is $500/gallon to a contractor.

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Academia, Bizarre, Criminal law

Police Officer Who Pepper Sprayed Cal-Davis Students Given Workers’ Compensation For Depression

ifc763849da7450807c8eb73c51310993_lt.-john-pike.siYou may recall John Pike, a 40-year-old former officer with University of California-Davis, who became infamous due to the videotape below in which he calmly sprayed kneeling students with pepper spray during a Nov. 2011 protest. He was fired for his conduct by the university. However, he has now been awarded $38,059 in workers’ compensation for depression and anxiety in dealing with the controversy.

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Criminal law, International, Society

English Couple Keeps Disabled Pakistani Girl In Confinement Where She Is Repeatedly Raped . . . Given Just 13 Years For A Decade Of Abuse

_70523816_slaveWe have often discussed the relatively low sentences handed out in some English cases. While our country goes to the opposite extreme, it sometimes shocks the conscience to see disproportionately light sentences. One such case is that of Ilyas and Tallat Ashar who brought a 10-year-old girl to England where she was repeatedly raped, kept in appalling conditions against her will, and used as more of a slave than a servant. That was roughly a decade of abuse. However, Ilyas Ashar, 84, who was found guilty of 13 counts of rape, was jailed for 13 years. That is roughly a year for year of confinement, rape, and abuse. Tallat Ashar, 68, convicted of benefit fraud and trafficking, got only five years.

Continue reading “English Couple Keeps Disabled Pakistani Girl In Confinement Where She Is Repeatedly Raped . . . Given Just 13 Years For A Decade Of Abuse” →

Animals, Politics, Society

Chinese Dog Treats Linked To Hundreds of Deaths and Thousands of Sick Animals

0-2China’s lack of food controls have previously taken its toll on its own citizens and the global markets. Last week, however, our veterinarian advised us not to give our dog Luna any dog treats made in China. It turns out that over 600 dogs are dead and thousands are sickened by Chinese dog treats. This story also allows me to post a recent picture of Luna at four months. Continue reading “Chinese Dog Treats Linked To Hundreds of Deaths and Thousands of Sick Animals” →