Anthony Stokes became a cause célèbre in 2013 when he was turned down for a heart transplant because of his “history of non-compliance” from juvenile delinquency to low grades to other bad habits. A public campaign led to a reversal of the decision and he received the heart transplant recently. He is now dead after going on a crime spree, including the attempted shooting of an elderly woman and running over a pedestrian.
Category: Criminal law
Detective Patrick Cherry, a member of the elite Joint Terrorism Task Force, will not be fired over his notorious scene with a New York cabbie who honked at him for attempting to park on the West Side Highway without signaling. The tirade was captured by a sympathetic passenger of the Uber driver and posted on YouTube. The video is below. The police has said that the use of the car’s lights and sirens — and the abusive yelling at the cabbie — is not a firing offense.
Continue reading “New York Detective Will Not Be Fired Over Tirade Captured on YouTube”
Indiana resident DelRea Good probably thought she was doing what police often recommend. When she saw the lights of Porter County Sheriff’s Department Patrolman William Marshall, she opted not to stop on a dark country road at night but drove to a lit area less than a mile away. For that decision, Marshall charged her with a felony of resisting arrest.
There is an interesting case out of Coral Springs, Florida where a woman on probation allegedly videotaped her rape by former parole officer Zachary Thomas Bailey, 50. The brazen criminal conduct alleged in the case has led police to search for more victims. It may also raise collateral civil litigation over whether the state officials knew or should have known of the actions of this man.
Continue reading “Florida Parole Officer Charged After Parolee Films Alleged Rapes In Home”
There is an interesting case out of Pennsylvania where a former partner at a Pennsylvania law firm and former county bar association president has been revealed as never having attended law school. Kimberly Kitchen, 45, allegedly forged her law license as well as her bar examination results and her attendance at Duquesne University. Kitchen is now facing criminal charges, though some have objected that she is being let off lightly.
We recently discussed the savage murder of Avijit Roy, a Bangladesh-born U.S. citizen, in Bangladesh by Islamic extremists. Now, another blogger who wrote about Islamic extremism has been hacked to death. Washiqur Rahman Mishu, 27, was hacked and stabbed to by the Islamists in broad day light in Tejgaon Industrial area of Dhaka.
Continue reading “Second Blogger Murder In Broad Daylight By Islamic Extremists in Bangladesh”
We previously discussed the terrible case of Sureshbhai Patel who was seriously injured after former Madison (Alabama) police officer Eric Sloan Parker slammed him face first into the ground during a confrontation. Parker is now charged on the state level and facing a civil lawsuit. Now he has been charged with violating Patel’s civil rights. As we have discussed before, the question is whether such federal charges are necessary or warranted. Obviously, while based on the same conduct as the state charges, the charges are different. On the state level, it is assault while on the federal level it is the denial of federal rights. The Supreme Court has rejected double jeopardy attacks on such back-to-back charges, but these cases still raise the same concerns of multiplication of charges.
There is a bizarre criminal case in the making in Alabama where an aunt was having trouble speaking with her 19-year-old niece who had barred her from access to Facebook where she was connecting with strange men. The aunt proceeded to gain access by friending her as a fictional man. To her horror, her niece proceeded to try to get her (in her role as a man named Tre “Topdog” Ellis) to kill her and her family, including the family dog. The aunt went to the police and Marissa Williams is now in jail.
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
In what hopefully will become the conclusion of an oppressive years long ordeal, Italy’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, overturned the murder convictions against Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito.
The news came as somewhat a surprise considering the zeal at which the prosecution fought to ensure the defendants be imprisoned for over two decades. The subsequent court drama and media circuses made it seem an almost foregone conclusion her fate would ultimately rest upon an extradition hearing within the purview of American courts.
Continue reading “Italian High Court Acquits Amanda Knox And Raffaele Sollecito”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
In an injustice to both the liberty of a Kurdish man and free speech in general a court in Turkey handed down thirteen year sentence to a defendant accused of removing a Turkish flag at a military base near Diyarbakir, Turkey. The disproportionate sentence followed an outraged Recep Erdogan who declared after the act, “[w]e don’t care if he is a child. Even if a child dares to take down our sacred flag both him and those who send him there will pay a price.”
Continue reading “Court Sentences Man To 13 Years For Removing Turkish Flag”
While the rest of the country has been trying to find a way to deter the savage game known as “knock out” (where men randomly punch pedestrians to see if they can knock them out), Judge William Mays in Quincy Illinois appears less than steadfast in his approach of the “game.” Mays had Lamar Coulter, 21, in his courtroom and a compelling record of what appeared two knock out crimes. Nevertheless, Mays let Coulter go without prison time — giving him probation instead.
Continue reading “Illinois Judge Rejects Prison Time For Defendant In Alleged Knock Out Attacks”
The Bergdahl case will raise some considerable challenges for the defense in what could be one of the most notable desertion cases in modern U.S. history. That is, if it goes to trial. This would seem a case where everyone may prefer a plea. The evidence is strong against Bergdahl, though there is clearly a great deal of evidence that has yet to be released. Cases always appear stronger for the government at the time of indictment. However, what we know is pretty bad for the defense. On the other side, the Obama Administration would clearly prefer a plea to a trial that would highlight Bergdahl’s actions and the possible loss of U.S. personnel looking for a deserter (who was later traded for five blood-soaked Taliban leaders with terrorist ties). Such issues would be obvious for prosecutors to raise when discussing the appropriate punishment, if Bergdahl is convicted. However, it could be an argument that the Administration would not want pursued by prosecutors. While such interference is prohibited as “command influence” on a military case, there have been allegations of such influence in past high-profile cases, including controversies in this Administration. In this case, the pressure is likely to be considerable for prosecutors to accept a plea, though such a plea could fuel previously accusations that the case was being manipulated to avoid embarrassment for the Administration.
Below is the longer version of my column that ran in print this morning in USA Today.
Continue reading “The Bergdahl Trial: A Desertion Trial In Search of A Defense”
After months of alleged delay for political reasons until after the elections, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, 28, has been charged with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy.
There is a bizarre story out of Los Angeles where the Los Angeles Police Department spent $22,000 (and had 38 LAPD employees work 320 hours) to bring Rene “Boxer” Enriquez, the infamous ex-Mexican Mafia leader, to an exclusive dinner for private executives. He was featured as a secret, surprise speaker for the well-heeled group called the Young Presidents’ Organization, which describes itself as “the world’s premier peer network of chief executives and business leaders.” Making things worse was the use of an invalid prior order to justify the excursion of “Boxer” Enriquez to entertain the wealthy patrons.
Attorney Matt McLaughlin, an attorney in Huntington Beach, California, is facing a call for disbarment after he filed for a statewide resolution that would legalize the execution of gay people and make it a crime to support gay rights in the state. Anyone can file such papers and, for just $200, force the attorney general to prepare a title and a summary for the proposed new law. The question is whether this despicable act can or should be used for a bar action as conduct that shows that he is not of “good moral character.”