Category: Bizarre

Bizarre, Criminal law

Newlywed Accused Of Pushing Husband Off Cliff

091013_ff_newlydead_640There is an intriguing case out of Montana this week where Jordan Linn Graham, 22, is accused of murdering her new husband Cody Lee Johnson, 25, by pushing him off a cliff at the Glacier National Park. There were no witnesses to the act but Graham left a trail of conflicting accounts and emails discussing how she was having second thoughts about the marriage after only a few days. She was the one who reported finding the body and said that she looked in a place that Johnson said he wanted to see before he died.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, Society

Federal Court Sentences Man To Eight Months In Jail For Advising People On How To Beat Lie Detectors

300px-Limestone_Technologies_Inc._-_Polygraph_TestThere is a troubling conviction in Alexandria, Virginia where Chad Dixon has been sentenced to eight months in jail for training people how to pass top-secret security polygraphs. The Administration prosecuted Dixon, a former Little League coach, obstruction and wire fraud for teaching between 70 and 100 people how to get past lie detector tests. He was paid $1000 a day and the Justice Department labelled him a “master of deceit.” However, if other people are actually giving false information or gaming the system, the question is whether this should be treated as a protected form of speech. It raises many of the same issues as the prosecution of people who encourage or advice others on how to commit suicide. [The picture is a file image of a test and not associated with Dixon or these underlying charges]

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Bizarre, Politics, Society

Iowa To Issue Gun Permits To The Blind

100px-Long_cane220px-Mamba_(pistol)There is a controversy in Iowa where the state has started a program to issue permits to carry guns in public to people who are legally blind. This includes people who are completely blind. Disability advocates insist that any denial of a permit for a gun to a blind person would violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

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Bizarre, International

Team Masseur Blocks Game Winning Goal In Brazil To Allow His Team To Advance To Finals

split-1-522x293I have previously discussed how I continue to be mystified by how international soccer is managed as with the long resistance to using basic technology to confirm goals. The recent controversy out of Brazil however leaves me stunned by how these rules often ignore the obvious. In this case, the team’s masseur with Aparecidence snuck on to the field and saved a certain score in a semi-final play-off — resulting in Aparacidence winning the game and moving on toward the finals.

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Bizarre, Congress, Constitutional Law, International, Military, Politics

Kerry Suggests Assad Has One Week To Avoid Attack While Promising Obama Only Wants An “Unbelievably Small” Military Campaign

220px-John_Kerry_official_Secretary_of_State_portraitWe previously discussed the curious step of President Obama seeking approval for a new war while insisting that he does not need such authorization to attack Syria. Now, Secretary of State John Kerry has referred to a one week period for Syria to comply with U.S. demands or presumably face an attack. It so happens that the Senate is set to vote this week, but opposition in this country is extremely high to yet another military intervention by the Administration. Moreover, unsuccessful in his earlier pitch for a free war, Kerry is now trying to sell the world on an “unbelievably small” military campaign. The U.S. seems to be saying that President Obama just needs the world to let him attack briefly to show that he cannot be dismissed or mocked in his earlier red line announcement.  However, Kerry suggested a new red line in turning over control of the weapons and Russia has now announced that it will ask Syria to put chemical weapons under international control. That would undermine further the U.S. rationale for war if Russia says that it is moving to comply with Kerry’s demand. However, State Department handlers are trying to again walk back from the Secretary’s public statements.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Lawyering

State Supreme Court Stops Montana Judge From Increasing Rapist’s Sentence After Public Outcry

article-2402937-1b7bd6a3000005dc-73_306x423We previously discussed the shocking sentence handed down by Montana Judge G. Todd Baugh to a teacher who raped a 14-year-old student. Stacey Rambold, 54, (left) was given just 30 days in jail after Baugh found that the victim was “older than her chronological age.” It produced an outcry on this blog and other sites. Baugh then magnified the concerns over his judicial judgment by responding to the outcry by trying to re-sentence Rambold. It left the impression of a judge seeking a longer sentence in direct response to public pressure. The Montana Supreme Court stepped in to order Baugh to cancel the resentencing hearing.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law

Ninth Circuit Reverses Federal Judge Who Ruled That False Statement Of Prosecutor In Closing Argument Was Harmless

118705gavel2The Ninth Circuit ruled last week that La Carl Mertez Dow deserves a new trial in reversing a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Phyllis Hamilton (left) in Oakland, California that it was harmless for a prosecutor to give false information to a jury that Dow was trying to hide a scar in a lineup. The fact that this case had to go to the federal court of appeals to be overturned is a chilling reminder of how our criminal justice system has been warped by the harmless error standard. Courts routinely find constitutional violations in federal cases only to dismiss them as harmless by saying that the defendant would likely have been convicted anyway. The case is Dow v. Virga, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 18468.

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Bizarre, International, Politics, Society

Playing Chicken With Consumers: U.S. To Allow Chinese Chicken Sold Without Origin Labels In U.S. While Handing Over Inspections To Industry

220px-MIN_Rungis_volailleWith the continuing stories of contaminated or mislabeled food coming from China, many people have actively sought to avoid Chinese products. The United States Department of Agriculture (long the enemy of the consumer and friend of agribusiness) has come up with a solution: Chinese chicken imports will be sold without telling people that they are from China. In an apparent effort to bring our standards to Chinese levels, the Administration is also planning to hand over key inspection posts to industry.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Politics, Society

Guile For The Camera: Seattle Spends Five Million On Surveillance System It Cannot Decide How To Use

Submitted by Darren Smith, Guest Blogger

Seal of the City of Seattle

In another shining example of “The White Elephant in the room might go away” the City Council of Seattle approved, in an 11 minute consultation, to proceed with acting to implement a large surveillance system on Seattle waterways before a five million dollar Homeland Security grant would be forfeited due to a “use it or lose it” clause.  And so far, nobody has decided how to use it.

The system originated from the city seeking and being approved for a five million dollar federal grant to purportedly prevent terrorist acts on the popular waterfront areas of Puget Sound.  The system operated 28 cameras connected by a wireless network.  It seems the hunger for free money was to be quickly satisfied before any sort of plan or discussion as to the privacy or constitutional implications was considered.  The council none-the-less snapped at the money unanimously but now is in disarray as to what to do with this new system.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Justice, Media, Politics, Society

Good for Goose and Gander? Or Just Foul Play? – The Bush Doctrine Redux

by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger

Ex-goose. Presumed cooked.
Ex-goose. Missing.
Presumed cooked.

There is an old adage, “What’s good for the goose is [not] sauce for the gander” or as phrased today “What’s good for the goose is [not] good for the gander”. The implication being that what is good for one is good for all or not good for all if stated in the negated form.  A case out of Florida provides a perfect example to give this adage a workout.

The goose is former President George W. Bush. 

The member of the gander in this case is William T. Woodward of Titusville, Florida. Woodward is charged with shooting three of his neighbors, two of them fatally, over the 2012 Labor Day weekend. 

His defense? The sauce.

Woodward’s attorneys are asserting Florida’s “Stand Your Ground’ law and the Bush Doctrine.

Let’s examine this case in the light of the history and consequences of “Stand Your Ground”, the Bush Doctrine and how an equally controversial foreign policy stance might impact a domestic criminal proceeding.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, International, Military, Politics, Religion

Diplomacy By Rape: Prominent Iranian Warns That Daughters Of American Officials Will Be Kidnapped And Raped In Retaliation For Syrian Attack

250px-flag_of_iransvgVarious news sites are reporting that Alireza Forghani, prominent Khamenei strategist and former governor of southern Iran’s Kish Province, has warned that the daughters of American officials will be kidnapped and raped by Muslims in response to any Syrian attack. He would presumably include President Obama’s daughters in a latest insight into the twisted religious fanaticism of Iranian officials. The quote is all-too-believable for Forghani who previously called for the eradication of Jews in Israel. He also previously proclaimed “In the name of Allah, Iran must attack Israel by 2014.”

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Bizarre, Congress, Media, Military, Politics

NYT: Rebel Forces Composed Of Increasing Criminal and Extremist Forces

Rebels-thumbWide-v3A New York Times story is challenging the image advanced by the White House that the rebels forces are largely moderates who are worthy of yet another military intervention by the United States. The story recounts the latest massacre of captured Syrian soldiers as a commander reads a menacing prayer over their clearly beaten bodies before executing them in violation of international law.

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Academia, Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Media, Politics, Society

Michigan State University Professor Under Fire After Student Posted Video Of Anti-Republican Rave

Penn_WSThe video below of Michigan State University Professor William Penn on the first day of his creative writing class has triggered an investigation by the university into a diatribe against Republicans. A student filmed the comments (and it was released by a conservative group) where Penn is heard attacking Republicans for “raping” America and refusing to pay taxes. The case will pit values of academic freedom against the need for an open and welcoming environment for students at universities.

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