Alabama preacher Orlando Bethel and his wife Glynis appear to like render upon Caesar what is Caesar’s in the form of a continual stream of lawsuits. Now the Baldwin County’s school board has asked a judge block further lawsuits. The Bethels responded, you guessed it, by filing another lawsuit for $5 million.
Category: Courts
This week is ending with a bang with the Supreme Court reversing a decision of the Sixth Circuit that ordered Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to produce the list of mismatched voters — as many as 200,000. The Obama camp went on the offensive has called for the current special prosecutor to investigate the alleged coordination between the FBI investigation and the McCain campaign — a connection that has some obvious similarities to what occurred in 2006. The Rachel Maddow show last night to discuss the Obama call for an expanded investigation.
The trial of former Superior Court Judge, Michael T. Joyce, on criminal fraud is now set but will be held in Pittsburgh in a venue change. The case, involving claims of false insurance claims, presents an interesting intersection between torts and criminal law — as well as judicial ethics.
Continue reading “Former Pennsylvania Judge Michael Joyce Faces Criminal Fraud Trial”
David Grigorian really loves his marmoset monkey. In January, Grigorian was arrested for shouting criminal threats in front of a house — a practice common among marmoset monkeys but less tolerated in Van Nuys, California. They soon found that he had a monkey named Cheeta but no monkey permit (yes, there appears to be a “monkey permit”). When ordered to turn over the monkey, Grigorian took an idea for countless kidnap movies: he showed a picture of Cheeta holding a Mexican newspaper with Mexican decorations to prove that he was now in Mexico. The Court did not buy it and Grigorian, 43, admitted that Cheeta was hiding out in an undisclosed location in Los Angeles.
Continue reading “Monkey Business: California Man Stages Mexican Picture to Hide Marmoset”
Details have emerged of the expanding scandal that may have compelled Chief Judge Edward Nottingham to resign. A prostitute from the Bada Bing Club in Denver has reportedly given evidence that Nottingham was not only a regular customer but asked her to lie to cover up their relationship. Continue reading “Bad Times at the Bada Bing: Chief Judge Nottingham Accused of Trying to Get a Prostitute From the Bada Bing to Lie”
The on-going (never-ending?) prosecution of former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has taken a bizarre twist as a serious disagreement between justices has broken into the open. Justice Jan Patterson, a Democrat, is asking the Texas Supreme Court to intervene after she accused Chief Justice Ken Law, a Republican (first picture), of refusing to file her dissent in a case looking at the possible bias of fellow Justice Alan Waldrop, also a Republican (third picture).
When the military tribunals were being created at Guantanamo Bay, some of us publicly stated that we would not take cases because the rules written by the Administration were fundamentally unfair and did not recognize core principles of due process. Since then, there have been a steady stream of prosecutors and defense lawyers in the military who have resigned in protest. The latest is Lt. Col. Darrel J. Vandeveld, who decided that he could no longer live with himself as a person or an attorney to participate in such a sham legal system.
In the appropriately named Bayonet Point, Florida, Joseph Prudente, 66, is in jail indefinitely for the failure to sod his grass. The good (and fully lawned) people of the Beacon Woods Civic Association secured the contempt order because Prudente is required to keep his lawn with a full and healthy display of grass. The problem is that Prudente is on a fixed income, recently had his car repossessed, and cannot afford it. The association lawyer, however, says that such jailing is merely the sign of a fair and serious legal system.
Continue reading “Putting the Prude Back Into Prudente: Florida Man Jailed for Failure to Sod Lawn”
The United States Court of Appeals has ruled that 700 Ivory Coast farm workers cannot establish that exposure to a U.S.-made pesticide, known as DBCP for dibromochloropropane, constituted genocide. The court ruled that there was no evidence that Amvac Chemical Corp. of Newport Beach, Dole Food Co. of Westlake Village, Dow Chemical Co. and Shell Oil Co. intended to harm the farm workers.
Continue reading “Ninth Circuit Rules That U.S. Companies Not Guilty of Genocide in Use of Pesticides in Ivory Coast”
Former Oklahoma District Judge Donald Thompson, 61, has been disbarred by the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Thompson was convicted in June 2006 of using a “penis pump” in court under his robes and served prison time on that conviction.
Continue reading “Oklahoma Supreme Court Disbars Judge Over Use of Sex Device in Court”
The ongoing sage of suspended Nevada District Judge Elizabeth Halverson just got stranger. On Thursday night, her husband Edward Halverson, 49, was arrested and charged with attempted murder and battery her with a frying pan. He has a long criminal record. Judge Halverson was known to berate and ridicule her husband in court, referring to him as “Evil Ed.”
Continue reading “Nevada Judge Halverson Allegedly Attacked by Husband with Frying Pan”
This is what Texas Gov. Rick Perry seems to view a close call. He has said that he is still mulling over whether the stay an execution of Charles Dean Hood for 30 days after it was disclosed the his judge, former District Judge Verla Sue Holland, and his prosecutor, former Collin County District Attorney Tom O’Connell, at trial had an affair — and a hearing on the issue is currently scheduled for after his execution. Despite the compelling evidence of ménage à trial, the issue appears to still be undecided despite requests from twenty-two former federal and state judges and prosecutors calling for the stay.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent became the first federal judge in history to be indicted for sex crimes, specifically abusive sexual contact and attempted aggravated sexual abuse of case manager Cathy McBroom. This ignoble moment will likely be followed by impeachment in Congress, though traditionally the House will wait for the conclusion of the criminal prosecution.
Continue reading “Federal Judge Samuel Kent Indicted for Sex Crimes”
In an important decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has struck down Temple University’s prior sexual harassment policy as unconstitutional as a limit on the free-speech right of students. Christian DeJohn, a member of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, sued the university, its former president, David Adamany, and two professors, for preventing him from expressing his views about the role of women in the military. Adamany and the school were rightfully found guilty in the dispute and Temple University is an example of how educators have abandoned free speech tenets and have denied the free expression required for students to have a full and unfettered education.
Today, the New York Times ran a book review that I wrote on The Challenge: Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and the Fight Over Presidential Power by Jonathan Mahler. The book details the development of the Hamdan case, which ultimately ended in the Supreme Court with a defeat for the Bush Administration.
Continue reading “How a Jihadist Curtailed a President’s Authority”