Criminal defense attorney and television commentator Robert Simels, 62, has been convicted in Brooklyn of plotting to kill witnesses. Also convicted was attorney Arienne Irving, 31, who was convicted of witness tampering. The jury only acquitted Simels on one count dealing with false statements after deliberating for seven days.
Continue reading “Two New York Criminal Defense Attorneys Convicted of Witness Tampering”
Category: Courts
We have been following questionable uses of tasers by police. This video from 2004 raises some disturbing questions where a former BYU professor Tom Lowery is tasered in court during a rambling argument. It is clear that the use of the force, in my view, was unnecessary and improper — particularly in a court of law.
Continue reading “Shock Video: BYU Professor Tasered in Court”
The Seventh Circuit continues to push the envelope on the recently recognized individual right to bear arms. In an interesting opinion by Judge Diana Wood, a three-judge panel ruled that the town of Cicero could still require gun registration without violating the Second Amendment. In the meantime, litigation is being planned over the Montana law claiming that guns in the state are exempt from federal jurisdiction and enforcement. Cicero businessman John Justice brought the challenge.
Continue reading “Justice Denied: Seventh Circuit Rejects Challenge to Gun Registration Law”
As we continue to pour money into the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, cities are continuing to shutdown for lack of money (here). The latest such story comes from Philadelphia where officials are facing a shutdown of the entire court system due to budget shortfalls. Mayor Michael Nutter is also threatening the cutting of 1000 police officers and 200 firefighters.
Continue reading “Nutter Threatens to Shutdown Court System and Cut Police Force”
Former Vogue cover model, Liskula Cohen, 36, has succeeded in her court case to find the identity of an anonymous critic who wrote bad things about her in a “Skanks in NYC” blog.
Continue reading “Former Vogue Model Succeeds in Forcing Google to Reveal Identity of Anonymous Critic”
In a major ruling, the Supreme Court on Monday ordered an evidentiary hearing on innocence claims of Troy Davis, who is on death row in Georgia for the 1989 murder of police officer Mark MacPhail. Not only did the Supreme Court stop the execution, but it created new law on the right of the defendant to present such evidence — a holding that drew the outrage of the conservative wing of the Court. While only a paragraph long, the unsigned opinion represents the first such order in decades for a new hearing to “receive testimony and make findings of fact”. Justice Scalia called it a “fool’s errand.”
Continue reading “Supreme Court Stays Execution and Says Evidence of Innocence Should Be Given Evidentiary Hearing”
Texas Judge Tom Head is under fire this week after he posted the pictures of nine people wearing Obama shirts. Seven of the nine men were black and the pictures were accompanied by material critical of Obama supports and suggesting that Republican voters are rarely arrested.
Continue reading “Head Case: Texas Judge Posted Pictures of Criminals with Obama Shirts”
It is not that Pace High School Principal Frank Lay and school athletic director Robert Freeman do not have a prayer, they had too many prayers. The two officials defied a settlement barring prayers on constitutional ground and now face six-month sentences — a matter of widespread protest among parents.
Continue reading “Florida High School Principal and Athletic Director Face Six Months Over Prayers”
Charles Circuit Court Judge Robert C. Nalley has been accused of letting the air out of a car of a part-time cleaning woman who works at the courthouse. Two officers from the county jail insist that they saw the judge let the air out of a 2004 Toyota Corolla that was parked outside of the La Plata courthouse at 3:45 pm in the afternoon. One claims to have a picture of the act.
Continue reading “Driven to Extremes: Maryland Judge Accused of Flattening Tire of Woman in Courthouse Parking Lot”
Amnesty International has confirmed that a Sharia court in Somalia executed a 13-year-old girl for having sex outside of marriage in Kismayo. Aisha Ibrahim Kuhulow was reported to be 23 year old, but her father has confirmed widespread reports that she was only 13.
Continue reading “Sharia Court in Somalia Stones to Death a Thirteen-Year-Old Girl For Premarital Sex”
Circuit Judge Daniel Rozak obviously does not like yawning in the courtroom. He sentenced Clifton Williams to six months in jail after he let out a loud yawn when his cousin was being sentenced on a felony drug charge. The cousin actually received probation.
Continue reading “Illinois Judge Sentences Man to Six Months in Jail for Yawning Loudly in Court”
Bernard Baran was 19 when he was accused of abusing children at a day care center — one of a spasm of such prosecutions in the 1980s. Baran was convicted on the testimony of the children despite the fact that videotapes showed children denying that he touched them and other referring to “prizes” promised for their confirming abuse.
Continue reading “Massachusetts Man Freed After 21 Years With Discovery of Withheld Exculpatory Evidence”
The Washington Post weighed in on the expanding controversy over the alleged misconduct of the Office of D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles and his staff in the litigation over the mass arrests during the World Bank/IMF protests of 2002. The Post is calling for the Court, rather than the City Council, to investigate the case.
Continue reading “Washington Post Raises Need for Judicial Investigation into Destruction of Evidence and Misconduct by District’s Office of the Attorney General”
Former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana was convicted Wednesday on 11 of the 16 corruption charges against him in Alexandria federal court. The conviction follows years of litigation and controversy – including an unconstitutional raid on a congressional office by the Bush Administration.
Continue reading “Former Rep. William Jefferson Convicted on 11 out of 16 Counts”
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ruled in favor of a Santeria priest — Jose Merced, 46 — who sacrificed goats in his Texas home in Euless. The court ruled that the prohibition on the ritual violated the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act (TRFRA).
Continue reading “Federal Appellate Court Rules in Favor of Santeria Priest in Home Sacrifices”