Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue of North Carolina raised some eyebrows in the South when she not only lashed out at her own citizens for an anti-same-sex marriage ban but adding that the measure made the state “look like Mississippi.” People in Mississippi were understandably put out by the notion that they are now an interchangable synonym with “backward,” “prejudiced,” and “frighteningly homophobic.”
Category: Bizarre
If you go to celebrity trials just to watch the cars crash, former NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Jeremy Mayfield will not disappoint you. Mayfield has been hit with a $1 million damage award in favor of postal worker Mary E. Bolton who was attacked by Mayfield’s five dog, pit bull/Labrador mixes. It is an interesting case and one more problem for Mayfield who is facing a major drug prosecution.
Iran has long been flog-happy in its imposition of medieval Sharia laws. Now, it has sentenced cartoonist Mahmoud Shokraye to receive 25 lashes for drawing a caricature of Iranian MP, Ahmad Lotfi Ashtiani, that the MP found insulting. As you can see, it is a pretty mild cartoon but Iranian officials stand by the punishment.
Continue reading “Iran Sentences Cartoonist To Be Flogged For Insulting Politician”
Our Lady of Sorrows Academy, a conservative Catholic school, has forfeited its team rather than compete in the state championships because the second baseman for Mesa Preparatory Academy is no man at all. Second baseman Paige Sultzbach is a girl and, according to this report, Our Lady of Sorrows has religious objections to its boys playing with a girl.
President Obama faced his toughest competitor in West Virginia this week and barely came out ahead. Mitt Romney? Guess again. Keith Judd won 10 counties in West Virginia and 41 percent of the vote against Obama. He was not on hand, however, for interviews because Judd is Federal Inmate No. 11593-051 and was sitting in his prison cell for the duration of the campaign.
Continue reading “Meet Keith Judd: The Man Who Almost Beat Obama In West Virginia”
In our trial practice classes, our students are trained on how to move the court for procedural and evidentiary rulings. Next year we should post this picture for students to learn the perfect pleading pose. It came to mind after reading the charges against a public defender Therese Cesar Garza who was accused of yelling at judges who ruled against her on motions and saying “shit” in court.
Cheryl Bormann, counsel for defendant Walid bin Attash, has created a stir over wearing a hijab to the military tribunal and asking other women to cover up out of respect of the Muslim sensibilities for the defendants. I have received a fair number of calls on this from reporters and lawyers due to my past representation of Muslims in national security cases. I believe the display was a professional and tactical mistake and I would not want someone on my team to try to make such an extreme accommodation to a client.
Police in Springfield, Massachusetts are looking for a man caught on camera who attempted to rob and then stabbed a mother outside of a store. I may be a bit judgmental on this one but the video shows the mother saving herself and her purse by running away from the man . . . while leaving her four-year-old daughter with the knife-wielding maniac. I realize that this is a panic situation, but it seems an odd reaction for a parent like a “Sophie’s Choice” without the second kid.
Continue reading “Attack on Mother and Girl Captured on Video in Massachusetts”
There is an interesting challenge to the conviction of John Goodman, the creepy multimillionaire who killed a man in a drunken driving accident. He became even more infamous when he adopted his girlfriend to try to protect his wealth from court-ordered damages. Now, his lawyer is seeking to overturn the conviction after a juror, Dennis DeMartin of Delray Beach, wrote a self-published book detailing his experience in the trial. The book includes DeMartin’s account of how he got drunk on the night before the guilty verdict to see how the alcohol would have affected Goodman.
In the last couple of years, there have been periodic articles about a Chinese industry selling powdered human flesh — usually ground up babies — as a stamina booster. Now, there is a report of South Korean agents seizing drug capsules filled with powdered human flesh. This follows other reports on testing showing endangered animals in various Chinese products, including endangered porpoises. I was unaware however of the allegations of the consumption of human remains. I guess Soylent Green (set in 2022) was just off by ten years.
Amed Villa, 46, has learned the wisdom of the recycling slogan “Don’t throw it away, it can be used in some other way.” In his case, police used one of his water bottles left at a crime scene to bust him and his brother in an $80 million drug conspiracy. Once again, as many defense attorneys remind their clients, recycle, recycle, recycle. Nine out of ten successful criminals remove their job-related trash.
George Washington Law School was rocked this afternoon by allegations of threats and ethnic profiling after Contracts Law Professor and former acting Dean Gregory Maggs received fish wrapped in a newspaper with a note of cut out newspaper print reading: “Its Curtains For You. Sign a Donor Card.” With the much heralded Torts versus Contracts Paintball competition scheduled for Friday, accusing fingers have been pointed at me based on the most flimsy circumstantial evidence and obvious suspicion raised by my Italian heritage.
Continue reading “GW Law School Rocked After Professor Receives Dead Fish and Threatening Note”
For years, I have warned clients of the dangers of parakeets and their ability to give evidence against you. We have an example of this testimonial capability out of Sagamihara, Japan, though with a happy ending. Piko-chan was lost and simply gave police his address.
Continue reading “A Little Bird Told Me: Parakeet Supplies Police With Address To Be Returned Home”
You know those nut jobs in Times Square proclaiming the end of the world is coming? It appears they have company. A lot of company. According to a worldwide polls, nearly 15 percent of people believe the world will end during their lifetime while 10 percent believe that the Mayan calendar shows that it will end in 2012. Once again, I will simply note that sea otters appear far more advanced than humans in every meaningful way.
North Carolina pastor Sean Harris is being featured on many gay rights blogs this week due to his lesson on parenting to his congregation, including his advice that parents should punch and slap the gay out of children.
Continue reading “Parenting 101 With Pastor Harris: Slap The Gay Out Of Your Children”