Category: Courts

Bizarre, Courts, Criminal law, Justice, Society

Designated Delinquent

Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

Not Exactly Robert Young

Given the temptations to imbibe in New Orleans and the benefits of a father-son weekend, Billy Joe Madden  of Mississippi probably thought he was doing the right thing taking his son along to serve as designated driver. Still, something looked odd to Louisiana Troopers as they  saw the  Hattiesburg resident passed out in the passenger seat of his pickup truck as it tooled erratically along Interstate 12 while he son “manned” the wheel  and as his unsuspecting daughter slept in the back seat.  Seems our responsible drinker and father of two felt it quite proper to let his eight-year old son drive the pickup to Dallas –as in Texas –even as his 4 year-old daughter slept. Troopers were not so sanguine and booked Billy Joe (you just can’t make this up) on two counts of child desertion, parent allowing a minor to drive, open container and two counts of no child restraint and no seatbelt. Both of Madden’s children were turned over to child welfare authorities and were awaiting the arrival of a family member who could take custody of them, police said. Billy Joe remains in jail in lieu of his $1,400.00 bond. Who’d bail him out for this anyway?

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Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Justice, Lawyering, Society

South Carolina To Try Citizen For Nutsy Display

Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

Bonneau is a quiet little town in the “Low Country” of South Carolina.   Boasting plenty of southern charm, it covers about 2.9 square miles and sports 354 residents. Not much going on except good red beans and rice and some pleasantly hot summer boat rides on Lake Moultrie. Pretty Mayberry-esque except  it’s also the epicenter for  a debate on South Carolina’s obscenity laws which prohibit motorists from  displaying bumper stickers, decals, or devices depicting “sexual acts, excretory functions, or parts of the human body in an offensive way as determined by contemporary community standards.”

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Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Justice, Politics

Can The Default “Crisis” Be Solved Unilaterally?

Respectfully Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty-Guest Blogger

Following up on the continuing saga of the debt default crisis and our earlier articles, I had a few more thoughts on how the crisis should be handled. The first suggested solution came from President Clinton who argued for it in a recent interview. Continue reading “Can The Default “Crisis” Be Solved Unilaterally?” →

Courts, Criminal law, Justice, Religion, Society

The Eternal Cluelessness of the Avenging Mind

Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger

Perhaps the real original sin of humanity is the concept of sin itself. There is of course evil in the world and there is good. To me there is little equivocation about some evils and I am hardly a moral relativist. Although these terms become subjective when viewed from the perspective of an individual, there is a wide general acceptance among diverse cultures as to general definitions. We consider murder in all cultures evil, as is robbery, assault, rape, and a host of familiar others. For at least five thousand years, cultures established legal systems to deal with bad behavior and with those systems came the need for punishment. The history of punishment has always been rather draconian and bloody throughout history. While today punishment is perhaps more humane in many places, it still caries with it significant cruelty in its application throughout humanity.

“A woman and her three children had just gotten off the bus at a stop across from their apartment building (in Marietta, Georgia) in October 2010 when her 4-year-old son, A.J., broke away from her and ran into the street. A car struck the boy, causing fatal injuries. Nelson (the woman) and one of her two daughters also suffered minor injuries. Nelson was charged with three misdemeanors: second-degree vehicular homicide, failing to cross at a cross walk and reckless conduct, according to court records. A jury convicted her this month. Although prosecutors did not recommend jail time, each count carried a potential sentence of one year in jail”. What is behind this prosecution? Who among us who has raised young children wouldn’t be chilled with the vision of this happening to them? Why do we see such prosecutorial zeal in our society to find someone to punish when accidents occur? Continue reading “The Eternal Cluelessness of the Avenging Mind” →

Constitutional Law, Courts, Society

Black Student Can’t Be Valedictorian

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

McGehee High School, southeast of Little Rock, Arkansas, would not let Kymberly Wimberly, 18 and black, be valedictorian even though she had the highest GPA. A white student was named as co-valedictorian even though the white student had a lower GPA. Wimberly’s mother, who works at the school as its certified media specialist, heard school personnel express concern that her daughter’s status as valedictorian might cause a “big mess.”

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Courts, Justice, Lawyering, Politics, Religion, Supreme Court

NY’s Marriage Equality Act Sees First Court Challenge

Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

In This Corner: NY Governor Andrew Cuomo ...

A coalition of conservative groups filed for an injunction in a Livingston County, New York Supreme Court (a trial court in NY parlance) asking the judge to overturn New York’s same-sex marriage law. New Yorker’s for Constitutional Freedom (NYCF) seek to enjoin operation of the law claiming that procedural requirements for the legislation were ignored, legislators were promised huge campaign contributions in exchange for their vote by NYC Mayor Bloomberg, and that Governor Andrew Cuomo violated the three-day review period by falsely issuing a “message of necessity” to the Legislature to speed up passage of the legislation. Through their lawyers, Liberty Counsel, the conservative action group also claims the public and lobbyists were shut out of the process.

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Constitutional Law, Courts, Justice, Lawyering, Religion, Society

Lessons from Roe in the Brown Polygamy Case

Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

Rarely do I disagree with our host, but on the Brown polygamy case we do. And not so much on the merits of the case as on the timing of it. I’ve said before I would decriminalize the practice of polygamy and regulate it much as we do other human relationships where there exists real risk of overreaching or exploitation. I think this approach serves the interests of the important right of privacy and protects the vulnerable.

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Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Free Speech, Politics, Religion, Society, Supreme Court

Privacy Without Politics: Why The Sister Wives Lawsuit Is About Privacy Not Polygamy

Here is my column this morning in the New York Times. As is the case (even on my own paper, USA Today), the writer does not select the titles. In this case, “One Big, Happy Polygamous Family” seems a bit mocking. Thus, I have added my own title.
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Bizarre, Courts, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Justice, Media, Society

Method Of Modern Love: Twitter-Style

Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

The Happy Couple: Farthing For Your Thoughts Mrs. Puddick?

London plumber, Ian Puddick, was aghast after reading a text message on his wife’s cell phone. It seems  Leena, was having an affair with Tim Haynes, an insurance broker at one of London’s hoary financial houses and a City Director. The affair began at a company Christmas Party (don’t they all) and continued for ten years.   Rather than an immediate face-to-face confrontation with all the messiness that involves, Puddick set up several websites and then began to Twitter the racy cyber-dialog between the illicit lovers. One read, “Where do you want to have sex next? The office, al fresco, the flat or all three you greedy girl?”  He supplemented the shorthand with videos and a blog– all dedicated to the affair.

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Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Justice, Politics, Society

How Should A Civilized Society Deal With Criminals?

Contributed by: Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger

All society’s see themselves as “civilized” which connotes that they are humane in their treatment of all within their purview. One society will compare their society towards another, disparagingly in most cases, seeing the “other” as less “civilized” and more barbaric. We all know the clichés about the cruelties of Mexican, or Turkish prisons for instance and our American tendency is to look down our noses upon the barbarity of those countries in dealing with all prisoners, not just felons. How smug we are in our self-satisfaction that America is a modern culture with no hint of the backwardness and barbarism of less modern cultures. In my view this has been merely the legerdemain of mass delusion. I say delusion because the sad truth we all know is that many of our prisons and many of our Jails are “hellholes”, perhaps only degrees better than certain other more “barbarous” Nations are. Our literature and media have for years dealt with the harshness of our prison system. Indeed our gallows humor puts forth the hardly clichéd image of prison rape as a fit punishment for some. A current story conveys our dilemma in seeing the truth of our own lack of civilization, dealing with those who commit crimes both of heinous and victimless nature. Continue reading “How Should A Civilized Society Deal With Criminals?” →

Bizarre, Courts, Criminal law, Lawyering, Politics

Pennsylvania Judge Under Fire For Dismissing Her Own Parking Tickets

When Kelly Ballentine was given several parking tickets, she lucked out by getting a lenient judge: herself. The Lancaster Magisterial District Judge dismissed a no-parking ticket and an expired registration ticket in December and a no-parking ticket in January.
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Constitutional Law, Courts, Supreme Court

DOJ: Decrypt Your Files Or Go To Jail

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

With the Fourth Amendment a mere shadow of its former self, its time to apply the same erosional process to the Fifth Amendment. The Justice Department has asked a federal judge to compel Ramona Fricosu, charged with bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering related to a mortgage scam, to decrypt the files on a laptop found during a raid on her home. Fricosu now faces the cruel trilemma: perjure herself by claiming she doesn’t know the passphrase, incriminate herself by decrypting the files, or face contempt of court for refusing to decrypt.

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Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Free Speech, Lawyering, Media, Politics, Religion, Society

Brown Family Challenges Utah’s Polygamy Law

Today, we filed the complaint below in the challenge to Utah’s criminal polygamy law. I am still in Salt Lake City for the filing. With me today is our local counsel Adam Alba, an outstanding young attorney and one of my former students. As noted earlier, the lawsuit is on behalf of my clients, the Brown family. The Browns are featured in the TLC program Sister Wives as an openly polygamous family.
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Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Free Speech, Justice, Politics, Religion, Society

Brown Family To File Challenge To The Criminalization of Polygamy In Utah

As reported by The New York Times and National Public Radio, I will be traveling to Salt Lake City today to file (on Wednesday) a challenge to the Utah statute criminalizing bigamy and cohabitation. The lawsuit will be filed on behalf of my clients, the Brown family. The Browns are featured in the TLC program Sister Wives as an openly polygamous family.
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Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Supreme Court

The Interior Of Your Car Is A Public Place

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

In Indiana, an intoxicated passenger in a car pulled over by police, is guilty of public intoxication.

Indiana code defines public intoxication as being “in a public place or a place of public resort in a state of intoxication caused by . . . use of alcohol . . . .”

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