Category: Criminal law

Bizarre, Criminal law, Media

Ice Ice Baby: Rapper Vanilla Ice Charged With Burglary and Grand Theft

Robert Matthew Van Winkle, known as Vanilla Ice, is facing burglary and grand theft charges in a case that could raise the liability or responsibility of production companies in reality shows. The rapper who gained fame in the 90s was reportedly stealing items form a residence as part of a reality show. That presumably created not just a clear record of the crime but would also lead to questions about the role of the company.

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Bizarre, Criminal law

Liar, Liar: Oregon Man Sues Police For Jailhouse Beating . . . Police Then Produce Videotape Of Man Beating Himself Black and Blue In Cell

25C656B600000578-2957716-image-a-14_1424239970435Not since the movie “Liar, Liar” has a man been shown making such a thorough effort at kicking his own butt. In this case, however, Aleksander Robin Tomaszewski, 33, did not come clean like Jim Carey. Instead, he sued the sheriff’s department for the beating only to find out later that his cell was under video surveillance. The result is evidence of his own self-beat-down.

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Bizarre, Courts, Criminal law, Society

Mississippi Judge Indicted For Allegedly Assaulting A Mentally Disabled Man In Racial Incident At Flea Market

635595197608427362-WeisenbergerJustice Court Judge Bill Weisenberger of Madison County has been indicted on a charge of simple assault involving a confrontation that he allegedly had with a mentally disabled man in which the judge was accused of striking Eric Rivers, a 20-year-old African American, and yelling “Run, ni**er, run.” The alleged assault occurred at the Canton Flea Market on May 8 of last year where Weisenberger was working as either a security guard or a traffic monitor (accounts differ).

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Academia, Bizarre, Criminal law, Religion, Society, Torts

Leading Chicago Imam Arrested In Abuse Scandal

mohammad-abdullah-saleemWe have been following the expanding scandal over criminal charges brought against leading national Orthodox rabbi , Barry Freundel, who is now accused of filming over 150 women engaged in the ritual bath known as a Mikva. As if not to be outdone, leading Islamic scholar and Imam Mohammed Abdullah Saleem, 75, has been charged outside of Chicago with sexually abusing a 23-year-old employee last year in Elgin’s Institute of Islamic Education. He is also accused of abusing three other women. The four women have filed civil actions against him and the Islamic school in what could be a messy tort action that proceeds in tandem with the criminal charges. We have discussed the same criminal/civil tracks in the case of Rabbi Freudel.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Media, Politics, Religion, Society

Turkish Tweets: Leading Journalist Arrested For Tweet On Erdogan Corruption Scandal

582574_215472875248080_1866740398_n220px-Recep_Tayyip_ErdoganSedef Kabas, a leading Turkish journalist, has been arrested in another example of the rollback on civil liberties under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. As part of his attack on secularism and his introduction of Islamic laws into Turkey’s government, Erdogan has been cracking down critics and journalists over the outcry of the international community. In the case of Kabas, a single tweet on Twitter was enough. The journalist had just sent her five-year-old to school when police came knocking to ask if she authored a tweet about how the government quashed a corruption investigation into his family and close associates of Erdogan. Erdogan previously promised to “eradicate” Twitter in Turkey and he appears to be now doing it one journalist and poster at a time.

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Academia, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Media, Politics, Religion, Society

Did Harvard’s New Saudi Scholar Try To Have Women Flogged For Revealing Her Affair?

Drhayatsindi220px-Harvard_Wreath_Logo_1.svgDr. Hayat Sindi is a Saudi Arabian medical scientist and a woman who has earned respect for extraordinary accomplishments in a country that denies women basic liberties. She is not only an award-winning scientist but one of the first female members of the Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia. Ranked by Arabian Business as the 19th most influential Arab in the world and the ninth most influential Arab woman, it is not surprising that Harvard University has brought her to the country as a visiting scholar. However, a nasty lawsuit in King County has raised deeply disturbing allegations about Sindi’s efforts against women who she accuses of hacking her emails. According to counsel for one of those women, Sindi worked to have another woman flogged for writing on Facebook that she had had an affair with her husband. On the other side is Samia El-Moslimany, a women’s activist and photographer who lives in the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, who is fighting to keep Sindi from forcing the disclosure of the women, who would face medieval Sharia justice in Saudi Arabia.

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Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Justice, Lawyering, Media, Politics, Society

Will HSBC Be Too Big To Jail…Again?

220px-HK_HSBC_Main_Building_2008

Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty, (rafflaw) Weekend Contributor

British banking giant, HSBC reached an agreement in 2012 with the Department of Justice that kept it from being hauled in to court on criminal charges due to its systemic assistance in laundering money for drug cartels and allegedly terrorists.  HSBC, with its Hong Kong headquarters shown above, is now in trouble again for alleged problems prior to the settlement agreement in 2012.

“The US Department of Justice is considering bringing criminal charges against HSBC and its executives as part of its investigation into whether the bank’s Swiss subsidiary helped US clients evade taxes.

Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren called on prosecutors to “come down hard” on HSBC if the bank is found to have colluded with tax evaders on Tuesday.

Her intervention came as US government officials with knowledge of the DoJ’s investigation provided the Guardian with new details about the inquiry.

Renewed focus has been placed on the long-running investigation into HSBC Switzerland by the department, after a huge leak of secret bank data – passed to the DOJ’s tax division almost five years ago – was obtained by the Guardian and other media.

It shows that HSBC Switzerland helped some clients conceal millions of undeclared assets, and has immediately raised questions on Capitol Hill about the response from prosecutors and tax authorities.  US government officials said the investigation is not merely looking at HSBC’s US clients, and could also result in criminal indictments against the bank itself. “That has not been ruled out,” one official said, when asked if HSBC or its executives could be criminally indicted. “It is certainly something that is under consideration.” ‘ Reader Supported News  Continue reading “Will HSBC Be Too Big To Jail…Again?” →

Criminal law, Free Speech, Media, Society

$130K Raised To Support Indian Man Injured By Police

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

sureshbhai-patel-in-hospitalWe previously wrote HERE of the plight of Sureshbhai Patel who was left partially paralyzed after being thrown to the ground by Madison, Alabama police during an investigative detention. The officer accused in this matter has been charged with Third Degree Assault.

Thanks to a crowd sourced donation campaign seeking to help alleviate the financial costs of his injuries, in just over three days $130,000 dollars so far has been raised. The amounts continue to grow.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Torts

Police Officer Charged With Assault In Arrest That Paralyzed Indian Man Unable To Communicate With Officers

54dd24f9b2d11.imageMadison (Alabama) Officer Eric Parker has been suspended and charged with third-degree assault after an incident that left Sureshbhai Patel, 57, paralyzed with a spinal injury. Parker and other officers were responding to a report of a suspicious man. A videotape shows Parker and other officers pulling up near Patel in two patrol cars while Patel was walking on other people’s property. When he tried to step away, Parker threw him to the ground causing the spinal injury.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Religion, Society, Torts

Rabbi Reportedly Accused Of Filming Over 150 Jewish Women In Ritual Bath

Freundel-e1413317892667We have been following the bizarre case of the once leading national Orthodox rabbi and powerful local figure, Barry Freundel. Freundel (shown above from a YouTube clip), is now criminally charged with using a secret camera to film Jewish women engaged in the ritual bath known as a Mikva. There is now new details in the case and they are shocking even in this notorious case. Freundel is now accused of photographing more than 150 women in the ritual bath.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Religion, Society

Armed and Dangerous Religious: New York Holdup Man Shows “Islam” Tattoo To Ask Victim Not To Call Police As A Matter of Religious Loyalty

larger-1largerPolice are looking for this felon. He should not be hard to find. He is clearly pictured and has a giant “Islam” tattoo on his chest. The latter distinguishing mark would not have been known except that the man pulled up his shirt to ask that the store clerk not call police on a “fellow Muslim.” In addition to the picture, the man’s religion, he is also apparently an iPhone lover.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, International, Society

Strauss-Kahn: I Was Unaware Of The “Prostitutional Character” Of The Women In Orgies

225px-Strauss-Kahn,_Dominique_(official_portrait_2008)-1Former International Monetary Fund boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn told a French court that he was unaware of the “prostitutional character” of women involved in orgies at luxury hotels in Paris and Washington D.C. were prostitutes. The much ridiculed defense is only the latest development in a bizarre criminal prosecution in France, where prostitution is legal but not soliciting or running a prostitution business – a curious line to draw for criminal cases.

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Criminal law, Religion, Society

Three Muslims Murdered In North Carolina Over Alleged Parking Space Dispute [UPDATED]

150211-craig-stephen-hicks-mug-445a_707658ca1802ba12cbd652277ac91d90.nbcnews-ux-600-440ShowImage.ashxThere is a horrible triple murder being investigated this morning in North Carolina where three people from a Muslim family were allegedly murdered by Craig Stephen Hicks, 46. Some are speculating that Hicks’ strong atheist views may have been a factor after reading this “anti-theist” positions on the Internet. He has been described in some media account as a “radical atheist” though atheists have rarely engaged in violent acts against religious persons. UPDATE: Police have said that the dispute was not religiously motivated but a dispute over a parking space.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

North Carolina Mother Arrested After Allegedly Using Four-Year-Old To Smuggle Drugs Into Prison

momJenifer Lynn Patterson, 24, is facing a serious charge this week after the North Carolina mother used her 4-year-old son to smuggle drugs to an inmate at Columbus Correctional Institution. The question is whether in addition to the charge of felony introduction of drugs into prison facility should be combined with a move to sever her parental custody of her two children.

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Criminal law

Car Theft Suspect Racks Up A List of Wrecks and Criminal Charges in California

Screen Shot 2015-02-10 at 9.21.17 AMThe video below shows an extraordinary car chase in east Los Angeles. The gunman ultimately carjacks another car and leaves a path of destruction in his path after police tried to stop him on suspected car theft. He is now looking at a long list of crimes that will make the original car theft look trivial in comparison. Police shot the man as he tried to carjack another vehicle.

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