We often joke about the “evil twin defense” and have seen a few actual cases (here and here and here and here). However, I just came across a case from earlier this year where Richard Anthony Jones (left) had an apparent twin who was no relation but a dead ringer for the man. So similar that the Kansas man spent 17 years in prison for a 1999 robbery that he may not have committed.
Month: December 2017
I have been critical of the representation afforded by Gloria Allred and her daughter Lisa Bloom in past cases, including the rapid calling of press conferences at the height of news cycles. Most recently I was critical of Allred’s handling of Roy Moore accuser Beverly Nelson, the press conference has not only resulted in her being nationally ridiculed but she was accused of falsifying Moore’s signature on a yearbook. Allred’s defense of her client on the charge has been so anemic and uncertain that many have taken it as a concession. Allred’s eagerness to hold press conferences gave Moore exactly what he hoped to find: a basis for challenging the veracity of his accusers. After numerous evasive interviews that played into Moore’s hand, Allred called another press event and admitted that Nelson did indeed write some of the words attributed to Moore in the yearbook. Now Moore can go into the final stretch of the election claiming that the victim’s evidence was not what she had claimed. It would have been better to have admitted this weeks ago, but Allred waited for the Friday before the election to bury her own gross negligence in the news cycle. This does not alter my view that the allegations against Moore are credible and disqualifying (including another witness who came forward this week), but rather than the blunder played into the hands of those who are struggling to ignore the moral hazard that is Roy Moore.
Continue reading “Allred Admits That Client Wrote Some Of The Words Attributed To Moore In Yearbook”
Actress Lena Dunham has gone public with an allegation that she warned Hillary Clinton’s campaign that Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein was a known rapist and saying that it was wrong to use him as a core fundraiser for Clinton. Dunham accused Clinton campaign deputy communications manager Kristina Schake and Clinton campaign member spokeswoman Adrienne Elrod of being expressly warned about Weinstein. Given the renewed questions over the treatment of women allegedly assaulted by Bill Clinton, the allegation fulfilled a perception of Clinton as claiming to fight for women while giving campaign interests priority in dealing with sex offenders within her inner circle. Clinton is still haunted by her reference to women accusing her husband as “bimbo eruptions.” Schake and Elrod have basically called Dunham a liar and said that she never made such a warning.
Davenport (FL.) Mayor Darlene Bradley, 60, faces an allegation this week that is politically and legally devastating. Police allege that she has been using the placards of dead people to park in handicapped spots at city hall. This is the type of allegation that would be radioactive before either jurors or voters. Unless there is a serious misunderstanding (and police have videotapes), a plea would seem a wise move.
This week the National Football League (NFL) owners finally confirmed what was long understood but never concretely confirmed: their utter contempt for football fans. Despite the open hatred shown by fans for Commissioner Roger Goodell for years, the owners agreed to a five-year contract extension worth nearly $40 million a year. It has long been assumed that Goodell was a handy shill for the owners in taking actions that were distinctly anti-fan. Goodell has taken the criticism while the owners kept their distance. Now however they have established that they were behind Goodell’s unpopular actions all along and cemented the NFL as the most hostile business toward its own customers in the world. As a lifelong football (Bears) fan, I have been torn between my growing dissatisfaction with the NFL and my love for the game. Like many fans, this move at least brings clarity to the position of the owners.
Continue reading “Goodell Gets His Contract And NFL Owners Give Fans The One-Finger Salute”
Sen. Al Franken (D., Minn) will resign in light of the increasing number of women alleging sexual harassment and assault. It is the end of a remarkable career that took Franken from Saturday Night Live to the most exclusive club in Washington.
The resignation reminded me of a column that I wrote when Franken first ran. I wrote about the striking difference between Franken and Peter Agre, a nobel prize winning humanitarian respected around the world. As I discussed in the column, the result seemed inevitable in American politics as voters decided between the cheap shot celebrity and the world renown scientist. Franken would respond to my column and went on to trounce Agre who would have doubled the IQ of the Senate by simply joining it.
As the governor of Minnesota looks for a replacement, it is worth noting that Agre is still available and still the more qualified candidate. In case Gov. Mark Dayton has lost his number, here is his academic email and site.
The 2007 column is below:
Below is my column in USA Today on the ethical and practical implications of the controversial tweet sent out by Trump counsel John Dowd. In my view, Dowd should now remove himself from the litigation. Notably, the failure to remove or fail Dowd will likely fuel theories that he is covering for Trump. If Trump did not know that Flynn had lied to the FBI before speaking with Comey, the Dowd tweet would usually result in a quick and rather angry response to a lawyer compromising his client in this fashion. However, various media sources are reporting that White House Counsel Don McGahn did inform Trump that Flynn likely misled the FBI in his interview before Trump spoke with Comey. Whatever the truth of the matter, the Dowd tweet could not be worse in its timing and content.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “Death By Tweet: Questions Linger Over Flynn Tweet and the Role of Trump Counsel”
We recently discussed the bizarre defense of Roy Moore earlier this month from Orthodox Rabbi Noson Shmuel Leiter. Leiter declared that “Democratic and Republican homosexualists” were attacking Moore because he is standing up to “homosexualist gay terrorists” and “the LGBT transgender mafia.” It appears however that Leiter would fare little better in the Moore world of self-righteous bigotry. In a new released statement, Moore is shown denouncing George Soros, who is Jewish and noting that Jewish people will all go to Hell: “He’s still going to the same place that people who don’t recognize God and morality and accept his salvation are going. And that’s not a good place.” No that is not a nice place but would be the destination (in Moore’s view) of everyone from Leiter to Jared Kushner to Ivanka Trump to conservative donor Sheldon Gary Adelson.
Below is my column in the Hill on the latest twitter controversy. While Trump counsel John Dowd has insisted that he merely used “sloppy” drafting, news organizations are reporting that White House Counsel Don McGahn told Trump (before the firing of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn) that Flynn had misled FBI agents in his interview. In yesterday’s press conference, Sarah Sanders refused to say when Trump first learned that Flynn had lied to the FBI. That brings us back to Dowd and the breathtakingly dumb mistake in sending out a tweet to millions with an admission against interest under the President’s name.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “TwitterGate: What Did Trump Tweet And When Did He Tweet It?”
As spokesperson for Roy Moore, Janey Porter may have hit on a brilliant strategy to distract people from the bizarre statements of your candidates . . . make even more bizarre statements. Porter was on CNN this week when she told pregnant anchor Poppy Harlow that Moore’s opponent Doug Jones basically wanted to kill her eight-month old unborn baby. Now there’s a catchy campaign slogan: Vote Moore Or Jones Will Kill Your Baby.
She also shocked many by calling all of the women accusing Moore “criminals.” That’s right, criminals for alleging sexual assault or molestation.
Continue reading “Moore Spokesperson To CNN Anchor: Jones Support Killing Your Unborn Baby”
It is not clear what Justin Thompson, 29, has struggled with more: guilt or gravity. When police came to his girlfriend’s house on a warrant for assault and harassment, Thompson hid in the ceiling . . . only to fall in front of the officer in his kitchen. What was notable (beyond the means of apprehension) was one of the crimes charged against Thompson.
Continue reading “Scranton Man Hides From Police In Ceiling Before Falling In Front Of Officer”
Roy Moore has been dodging media in his race to finish the Alabama campaign without a minimum of discussion of the allegations from nine women about his pursuit of him as young girls as young as 14 while he was a prosecutor in his 30s. Former neighbors, colleagues, and security staff have also come forward with similar accounts. The allegations in The Post included those of Leigh Corfman, who said she was sexually assault at 14. Moore initially admitted that he knew some of the women and called women like Debbie Wesson Gibson a “good girl.” (He also remembered Gloria Thacker Deason). Then recently he abruptly did a 180 turn and said that he did not know any of the women. Gibson has been quiet since coming forward but has grown tired of the attacks and denials from the Moore camp. Thus, when he suddenly said that he did not know her, she searched her attic and produced a graduation card signed “Happy graduation Debbie. I wanted to give you this card myself. I know that you’ll be a success in anything you do. Roy.” She says that More gave her the card personally at the Etowah High School graduation ceremony in Attalla, Ala.,
Yesterday, the Trump Administration secured two clear victories after the United States Supreme Court issued two orders lifting the lower court injunctions imposed on the travel ban. I have written repeatedly on the travel ban (here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here) and my view that the case law supported the Trump Administration. I thought that the appeal that reached the Supreme Court on the second round seemed likely to succeed while the third round was even stronger for the Administration. The Administration had already secured an order with the Ninth Circuit reversing the trial courts in critical respects. Now the Supreme Court restored the travel ban in its entirety pending appeal. The orders issued shortly before appellate arguments on the merits this week is a further indication that the Administration is likely to prevail on the merits. Indeed, while the orders do not dictate an outcome, they send a strong message to the lower courts on the skepticism of the Court.Continue reading “Supreme Court Reinstates The Trump Travel Ban In Full Depending Appeal”
Former Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has reportedly scuttled his own deal to secure release from home confinement under a deal Manafort with prosecutors. Prosecutors learned (from an unspecified source) that Manafort was working with a ghostwriter on an opinion piece on his case. The second man reportedly had ties to Russian intelligence — hardly ideal for a man at the center of the Russian investigation. The work was deemed to be in violation of a court order for all parties to refrain from “trying the case in the press.” However, the order raises a long-standing question of the need and constitutionality of orders limiting the free speech of defendants and counsel. While once the exception, gag orders have become the rule with many judges. Yet, Manafort is presumed innocent and the order prevents him from responding to those questioning his loyalty and honesty.
There is an interesting criminal case this week in Port St. Joe, Florida where Robert Paul Alexander Edwards, 33, is facing criminal charges for drawing a “disturbing” picture (shown below) on a student’s homework assignment. The interesting thing is that the police acknowledge that they do not believe that Edwards intended to take any violent action but they criminally charged him because the picture was “disturbing.” Of course, his mugshot shows that he is relatively indiscriminate on where he puts random pictures.
Continue reading “Florida Man Arrested For Drawing Violent Picture On Student’s Homework”