Category: Criminal law

Bizarre, Criminal law, Environment

Graffiti Artist Nocket Banned From All Federal Parks

casey.nocket.facebook.800We previously discussed the case of Casey Nocket, a New York-based graffiti artist, who proudly posted pictures of her defacing surfaces in at least six national parks: Death Valley, Colorado National Monument, Canyonlands, Zion and Crater Lake. Thanks to Reddit (one of my favorite sites), she was tracked down by irate viewers who helped the national park investigators. She has now been sentenced to 200 hours of community service but also banishment from all national parks and other federally administered lands. We earlier discussed the fine and probation as facially insufficient. The banishment element is an important advance, even if the lack of jail time is disappointing. For years, I have advocated such a ban for those who deface our national and state parks. Nocket is now banned from 20 percent of the United States and that is a good thing.

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Bizarre, Criminal law

D.C. Man Accused Of Committing Murder While Being Monitored With Ankle Bracelet . . . By Removing His Prosthetic Leg

220px-Low_cost_prosthetic_limbsIt was something out of a whodunit story. A man is murdered but a suspect was under constant surveillance at the time of the murder. The GPS placed on Quincy Green, 44, showed that he remained at home. However, the twist is that his leg remained at the home with the tracking device on it, but the leg was a prosthetic that he removed. According to police, he left the leg and limped to another location to murder Dana Hamilton.
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Academia, Criminal law, Society

Two Men Charged In Markel Murder-for-Hire As Police Continue To Investigate Ex-Wife’s Family

1405809806000-Dan-MarkelAlmost a year ago, the legal academy was shocked by the murder of Florida State Law Professor Dan Markel at his home. The police have now arrested Sigfredo Garcia, 34, and Luis Rivera, 33, and they have been indicted in the murders. The investigation is clearly not over. The police are suggesting that this was a contract killing tied to Markel’s divorce from his wife and former law professor, Wendi Adelson. The couple has two children.

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Criminal law, Society

Police Give New Bicycle To Boy Struck By Hit And Run Driver

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By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

A nine-year-old Moses Lake, Washington boy who fell victim to a hit and run driver found some new friends in the city police department.

Last Tuesday Christian Brokke was walking his bicycle in a crosswalk when he was allegedly struck by a 2004 Ford Escape driven by Suzette Brown. Brown reportedly ran a stop sign and struck the boy with enough force to tear the license plate from the vehicle.

Witnesses to the collision reported that Christian remained sprawled on the hood of the car while Brown attempted to flee the scene, falling to the street after fifteen to thirty feet. She then dragged the bicycle under the car for a block before leaving the area.

EMS transported Christian to a local hospital. He suffered head trauma and was later transferred to Sacred Heart Medical center in Spokane for additional treatment.

Fortunately, Christian recovered from his injuries. Officers from Moses Lake decided to go a step further than simply investigating the collision and together bought Christian a new helmet and something every nine-year-old boy wants–a new bicycle.

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Criminal law, Free Speech, Lawyering, Society

Ninth Circuit Upholds Sanctions Against Attorneys Who Ran Abusive Copyright Operation Over Downloaded Porn Movies

200px-US-CourtOfAppeals-9thCircuit-Seal.svgI have previously written about a large number of law firms on retainer to bring these actions and artists and companies that do little to limit them. The greatest problem is the success of this lobby in getting Congress and the Obama Administration to push through virtually any legislation that they demand — criminalizing violations, approving warrantless searches, and allowing for obscene awards. Every year it gets worse as companies claim ownership over common phrases and images — reinforced by these legal factory operations of bullying lawyers. We recently discussed the claim of Citigroup to ownership of “ThankYou.” Now in an all-too-rare ruling, The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has upheld an $81,000 sanction against three lawyers — John Steele, Paul Hansmeier and the late Paul Duffy — for being little more than legal trolls in harassing and threatening people into giving them money for downloading pornography. These three lawyers operated “Prenda law” which was little more than a disgraceful shakedown operation.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Environment, Media, Politics

California Woman Defaces Seven National Parks with Graffiti and Then Brags About Her Crimes On Social Media . . . Given Only Probation and Community Service

B0urbxhCEAAuM69We have previously discussed the increasing appearance of graffiti in our national and state parks. As is well known on his blog, hiking is my passion and there is nothing more crushing than to see juvenile carvings and writings on trees and rocks in parks. Indeed, today I am heading to New Mexico for a speech and hope to hike in the wonderful trails outside of the city. I have written that the scourge of graffiti is due to the low detection rate and even lower penalties for those committing these crimes. The most recent case demonstrates vividly how the government still treats the crime as a minor matter. Recently, Actress Vanessa Hudgens posted a picture of her carving of a heart into a red rock wall during a trip to Sedona, Arizona on federal park land. However, when nabbed by the federal government, they allowed her to walk with just $1000 donated to a charity. Now we have another egregious case of a San Diego woman, Casey Nocket, 23, who defaced a series of national parks with graffiti and bragged about on social media. Yet, Nocket was sentenced to only two years’ probation and 200 hours of community service. The laughable sentence vividly illustrates why the destruction of our parks continues without any meaningful deterrence.

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Bizarre, Criminal law

Maine Musik: Rapper Arrested After Making Anti-Trump Video Featuring Stolen Guns From Reality Show

1465571086051We have another arrest brought about by social media . . . and breathtaking stupidity. Demarcus Davis, 22, a local rapper who goes by “Maine Musik,” decided to do an anti-Trump video and posted it on Instragam. Davis’ Instagram account has 53,000 followers and, in the video, Davis waves around various guns like a total thug. The former “Sons of Guns” reality TV star Joe Meaux happened to see the videotape. Meaux owns a Baton Rouge store, Meaux Guns and Ammo, that was burglarized in July, 2015. He recognized the distinctive, custom-made guns in the video (and later identified a Ruger 10/22 Krinker Plinker that Davis showed on his Facebook account) and called police. His call however did not start the investigation since the Secret Service had already seen the videotape and was investigating Davis for threatening a presidential candidate. He has now been arrested and faces a long stretch in prison.

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Criminal law, Religion, Society

Orlando Killer Identified As Muslim Extremist Who Pledged Allegiance To ISIS

352EF38500000578-3637414-image-a-131_1465749094436As the country mourns the massacre in Orlando, the police have identified the murderer as Omar Mateen, 29, from Port St. Lucie in Florida. He was born to Afghan parents who came to this country in the 1980s. He is responsible for the largest massacre of people in U.S. history after killed at least 50 people at a gay nightclub called Pulse in Orlando. Mateen reportedly called 911 shortly before the shooting and swore allegiance to the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Media, Politics, Society

Embracing Mob Rule: Columnist Calls For Violence Against Trump Supporters

800px-1891_New_Orleans_Italian_lynchingAs many on this blog know, I have been highly critical of Donald Trump. However, there has been a campaign of violence against Trump supporters that is highly unnerving and dangerous. While there were a few incidents of Trump supporters acting violently, there has not been the same level of outrage at the widespread violence against Trump supporters and police at these events. Now, a liberal Huffington Post columnist Jesse Benn has defended the “violent response” to Trump — a reckless and provocative column that seeks to legitimate mob justice. What Benn is describing is not democracy but ochlocracy — a sad statement of the state of affairs in our country. While I recently wrote about liberals finding “their inner Nixon,” this seems to be a case of finding Benn’s inner Mao.  Benn insists “Violent resistance matters. Riots can led to major change.”  Perhaps but what is certain is that violent resistance always leads to violence.
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Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Media

Venezuela Supreme Court Bans Media From Showing Lynchings In Latest Denial Of Free Speech and Free Press Protections

images-2We have been discussing the rapid decline of civil liberties in Venezuela after the socialist takeover by Hugo Chavez and his successor, Nicolas Maduro. The denial of free speech and free press protections only increased as Chavez/Maduro destroyed one of the most productive economies in Latin America and turned it into an economic basket case. Now, the “red revolution” can take credit for reducing the judicial system to a virtual caricature of itself. The Venezuela’s Supreme Court ruled this week that the media cannot publish videos of lynchings because such true images would produce “anxiety and uncertainty” among citizens. The Maduro government has been trying to prevent citizens from seeing such images as it denies the social and economic meltdown in the country.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, International

English Student Given 15 Months For False Rape Claim

PrisonCellBritish student Natasha Uttamsingh, 22, has been found guilty of lying about being raped by her boyfriend and sentenced to jail for 15 months. We have previously discussed how false rape accounts are often not punished (as in the case of the infamous Duke Lacrosse rape case) or lightly punished. There has been a variation of sentences for false rape charges but they vary greatly, including just a few weekends in jail. (here; here; here; here; here; here; here; here; and here).

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Environment, Society

Warrants Issued For Members of “Full of Life” Who Have Videotaped Their Damaging National Park Areas

Screen Shot 2016-06-08 at 11.09.30 PMWe have been discussing the growing number of idiots who are leaving graffiti and destroying national and state parks. now, a group of infamous Canadian juveniles who called themselves “High on Life” are under investigation after videotaping themselves water skiing behind an RV on the Booneville Salt Flats. This is an area that strictly prohibits vehicles during periods when the area is wet because of the damage to the area. What is particularly disturbing is that this group has repeatedly violated such rules at national parks with little punishment or sign of reform. We previously discussed how our rules protecting national parks are meaningless due to the lack of enforcement or serious punishment. We need to pursue a formal banishment law for our parks to apply to such individuals.

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