There is a highly disturbing criminal case out of Mecosta, Michigan where Keith Wood, 39, has been charged with a felony for obstruction of justice and misdemeanor of tampering with a jury. His felonious conduct? Passing out fliers about jury nullification rights on the sidewalk of the Mecosta County courthouse. The fliers from the Fully Informed Jury Association describe juror rights that some complain are omitted by judges and prosecutors in explaining jury service before trial.
Category: Criminal law
Like most of the world, we have watched the rapid decline of civil liberties in Turkey after the election of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his coalition of Islamic parties. Just last month, we discussed the arrest of Mehmet Emin Altunses, 16, who allegedly committed the crime of “insulting” Erdoğan. calling people who use birth control “traitors” and saying Muslims discovered America, you are not allowed to be disrespectful or insulting in discussing Erdoğan. Then there was the prosecution of model and former Miss Turkey Merve Buyuksarac, 26, for criticizing Erdogan for quoting a few lines from a poem called the “Master’s Poem” from weekly Turkish satirical magazine Uykusuz. Erdogan’s totalitarian measures have earned him the nickname “Buyuk Usta” (the Big Master). The fact is that censorship and repressions is that it tends to become increasing absurd as leaders try to punish those who would insult them or question their leadership. This week is another case in point for Erdoğan. His government is investigating physician Dr. Bilgin Çiftçi for allegedly insulting Erdoğan after sharing a meme comparing Erdoğan’s facial expressions to the Gollum character in the “The Lord of the Rings” movies. Now here is the truly wonderful part: a court has reportedly demanded an expert examination by two experts to determine if a comparison to Gollum’s character would be an insult.
The University of Missouri has been battered by protests over racial relations on the campus for weeks, including the recent resignation of a faculty member who tried to silence a student reporter. Now, an assistant professor at the University of Missouri is under arrest on suspicion of child abuse after Benghazi native Youssif Z. Omar reportedly attacked a female 14-year-old relative for not wearing a hijab to Hickman High School. The University says that Omar has not worked at the university for months. Students were reportedly not fond of Omar and some noted his explosive temper, yelling at students, and poor English.
We have often discussed the various protests, often violent, in Islamic countries over alleged blasphemous statements or images. These usually involve depictions of Mohammad or religious symbols. In Mumbai, however, Muslim protesters found a new blasphemous symbol: the use of a piggy bank to show where ISIS gets its money to conduct worldwide terror campaigns. This is a standard illustration of a “piggy bank” to show the savings of a group or person. Yet, some took this from a different perspective.
Chicago police believe that they have arrested the man who they believe executed a 9-year-old boy, Tyshawn Lee. Police believe that Corey Morgan, 27, lured Tyshawn into an alley in retaliation for the murder of his brother. Police have been struggling to solve the case due to what they say has been a refusal of Tyshawn’s father (reportedly also a gang member) to cooperate with police. Police believed that Pierre Stokes had critical information on the murderers of his son but refused to share it.
Continue reading “Chicago Police Arrest Alleged Killer Of Nine-Year-Old Tyshawn Lee”
We recently discussed the bizarre report that the Saudi Arabian government was going to sue a Twitter user for a tweet where he compared the death sentence given poet Ashraf Fayadh to ISIS executions. It appears that decapitations of non-believers ordered under Sharia are materially different from decapitations of nonbelievers ordered by ISIS under Sharia law. Now, as if struggling to bring home the absurd distinction, another Saudi Sharia court has sentenced a Saudi Arabian woman to death by stoning for adultery. The man? He gets 100 lashes.
This week, China has once again shown the world that there is nothing quite so ugly as its ongoing struggle to bar basic rights and freedoms to its people. The authoritarian government’s effort took a particularly bizarre turn when it reportedly stopped Canada’s China-born Miss World, Anastasia Lin, 25, from boarding a flight to the beauty pageant finals in China. Lin is a member of the repressed Falun Gong movement and just testified in Congress on Chinese repression in July.
I recently raised concerns on PBS Newshour about a lawsuit by Israelis who are suing in the United States to force Facebook to take down violent, anti-Jewish sites. While I believe Facebook can and should take down the sites, the use of the government to close such sites raise serious free speech questions in where to draw the line on such censorship or regulation of speech. I noted that such lawsuits like the recent successful action against Twitter by Jewish students are part of a comprehensive attack on free speech that uses such civil actions as a form of speech regulation or retaliation. Saudi Arabia has again stepped forward to make this point more powerfully that I could ever hope to. The Saudi justice ministry has announced that it will sue a Twitter user who compared the death sentence handed down on Friday to a Palestinian poet to the punishments meted out by Islamic State. I have drawn the same obvious comparison in the case of Ashraf Fayadh as have readers on this site and other sites. Rather than stop acting like ISIS (which would require a greater recognition of due process and human rights in the Kingdom), Saudi Arabia is seeking to threaten people to stop them from making the analogy. However, the beheadings of nonbelievers will continue. For many, the Saudi Foreign Ministry sounds like it is putting out the word “if you say we are like ISIS again, we will behead you.”
We have previously discussed the dilemma of how to deal with men who continue to have children without child support. The latest case in point is Armond Curry, 36, (known as “Money G Allstar Mack”) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin who is being sought by police after failing to support 17 children. Despite the warrant for arrest and worst deadbeat dad status in Wisconsin, one of the mothers insists “He’s not a bad father, he’s a great father.”
We have previously discussed people who simply do not know how to take a mugshot . . . and some who appear long prepared for their close up. Sarah Elizabeth Furay, 19, is one of the photo-ready alleged felons. Dubbed the “happiest mugshot” by the Houston Chronicle, Furay seems like she has been selected for a free exotic cruise rather than a slew of drug charges in College Station, Texas. Indeed, this smiling individual has been described by media as an alleged “drug kingpin.” I hardly see the basis for that distinction but the police certainly hit a treasure trove of drugs and evidence.
Continue reading “Furay Into Criminal Stardom: Texas Teenager’s Mugshot Goes Viral”
The Russians appear to be moving in the aftermath of Turkey shooting down one of its fighters: it has targeted Turkish history in a new and abusive criminal law. Russian lawmaker Sergei Mironov said that his Just Russia party has proposed a bill that criminalizes the denial that the 1915 killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces was a “genocide.” I previously wrote about a similar law passed in France as not just a denial of free speech but academic freedom. The law was later struck down. The Russians are moving just weeks after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Switzerland also violation freedom of speech for its criminalization of the denial of the killings of Armenians as genocide.
If the allegations are proven, Hayley Oates, 25, have succeeded in combining virtually every bad trait into one dysfunctional personality. Oates allegedly wanted to drive home drunk but was sober enough to worry about a DUI stop. While most people would opt to take a cab or order coffee, Oates decided to call 911 to report an assault in another location to draw officers away from her route home. She then added stupidity to dishonesty and dipsomania by taunting the police on social media with a message “lmao.. 2 mins later the cop peals out.. silly piggies tricks r for u.” No, dear Oates, tricks are for you . . . it appears that police read social media.
David Corazza, 47, was the very image of the international jet-setting lawyer with postings highlighting his Harvard education, offices in cities around the world, and even photos with Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler. The problem is that this Harvard-trained lawyer was neither a graduate of Harvard or a lawyer. Indeed, he does not even appear to be named Corazza.
Continue reading ““Harvard-Trained Lawyer” Arrested For Fraud In Boston”
We have another outrage against women in Afghanistan where Shirin Gul, 26, was reportedly flogged to death in the Shahrak district of Ghor after being accused of running away from home. What is fascinating is how the greatest concern is not that a woman can be publicly flogged but whether the flogging proved too excessive under Islamic law. Recently, a 19-year-old woman was stoned to death in Ghor.
Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke has been charged with first-degree murder in his shooting of Laquan McDonald, 17, on Oct. 20, 2014. The videotape below challenges a claim that Van Dyke was defending himself or others in shooting McDonald 16 times. While McDonald was armed with a knife, he was walking away from the officers. There are defenses that can be made but the videotape presents a considerable hurdle for defense counsel.
Continue reading “Chicago Police Officer Charged With Murder In 2014 Shooting Of Black Teenager”