Category: Criminal law

Congress, Criminal law, Media, Politics, Society

State Department: 22 Emails Will Not Be Released As “Top Secret”

Hillary_Clinton_Testimony_to_House_Select_Committee_on_BenghaziThe email scandal has deepened for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today with the announcement that the State Department will not release 22 emails because they contain “top secret” information, the highest level of government classification. The latest batch of emails contains seven email chain with top secret information.  While Clinton once insisted that she never sent or received classified information, it is now official that many of the emails did indeed contain classified information. Clinton later argued that she did not send or receive information “marked” as classified. While many of us in the field noted that such markings are not the only issue for those who handle classified information, the classification level given so many emails will likely increase the criticism of Clinton’s decision to use exclusively her own, unsecure email system over the protected system in place at State. She has insisted that this was done for “convenience” and recently rejected the suggestion that the use of the system showed “an error in judgment.” In the very least, the decision to use a private email system was a horrendously bad decision for a Secretary of State when a secure system was available. It is hardly a compelling argument to advance that you took this reckless step for “convenience.”

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Politics, Society

Virginia Senate Kills Measure To Repeal Criminalization of Adultery

virginia%20is%20for%20loversA legislative proposal by Sen. Scott Surovell (D–Fairfax) would have seemed a no brainer in any legislative body. Surovell was seeking to decriminalize adultery in Virginia. As I have previously discussed (here and here), Virginia has an anachronistic and facially unconstitutional law that makes adultery a crime. Yet, the Virginia Senate killed the bill this month and reaffirmed its intention to criminalize what the majority deems immoral choices by consenting adults. Adultery will remain a Class 4 misdemeanor despite 13 other states that have repealed similar laws in recent years.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Media, Politics, Society

Indiana Moves Toward Law Giving Police Departments The Right To Withhold Video From Police Body Cameras

legislator_kevin_mahan_1028bwc_leadAn Indiana House government committee voted unanimously to allow police departments to withhold video from police body cameras. Unanimously. These videotapes have resulted in arguably the single most effective deterrent of police abuse in the history of this country. However, Rep. Kevin Mahan (left) (R., Hartford City) wants to leave the release of the evidence at the discretion of the very department that often faces the greatest criticism and costs over such evidence.

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Bizarre, Criminal law

Boston Police Sergeant Adopts Curious Defense To Allegedly Sending Explicit Picture of Himself To Teenage Girl

056c026d-1c66-4d42-9fae-a8e96df290c5-1020x925Boston Police Sergeant Edwin Guzman’s lawyer has a curious defense to Guzman sending a photo of his penis to the sixteen-year-old daughter of a friend: “You can’t tell me someone her age has never seen a picture of a penis on the Internet.” Hmmm, even if it were true, it is hard to see that particular approach resonating with a judge or jury.

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Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Justice, Lawyering, Politics, Society

Thomas Tamm Hit With Bar Charges For Exposing The Warrantless Surveillance Program Under President Bush

Screen-Shot-2016-01-26-at-3.05.42-PM-640x712There is a disturbing proceeding unfolding before the the District of Columbia Office of Disciplinary Counsel where Thomas Tamm, a former U.S. Department of Justice lawyer who leaked information to the press about warrantless domestic spying under President George W. Bush, is facing legal ethics charges in Washington. Tamm is viewed as a hero by many in exposing the program, but even among his detractors there are those who view him as a whistleblower. The intervention of the DC Bar into the case is troubling given the various policy and legal questions over his status in exposing the program.

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Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Media, Politics

Turkey Seeks Life Imprisonment For Two Journalists Who Reported On Gun Smuggling By Government To Syria

220px-Recep_Tayyip_ErdoganWe have followed the rapid decline of civil liberties under the authoritarian rule Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the past few years as well as his empowering of Islamic parties in the once secular state. This trend was evident recently with the rounding up of dozens of professors for simply signing a petition denouncing military operations against Kurds in the south-east of the country. Now, his government has announced that it will seek life sentences for two journalists who reported on the gun smuggling operations of Turkey to Syria. Erdoğan has been gradually arresting or threatening the dwindling number of independent journalists in Turkey and this prosecution may succeed in forcing the remaining reporters into silence or living in exile.

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Bizarre, Criminal law

Top Italian Court Rules 100 Euros Is Not High Enough To Constitute A Bribe

Carabiniere_a_Bologna_(April_2006)UnknownAn Italian court this month showed just how hard it is to bribe an Italian police officer. The highest Italian court acquitted a defendant of corruption charges because it found that the man offered the police officer only 100 euros during a drunk-driving traffic stop. That, the court concluded, was not nearly enough to bribe a police officer. While the court did not share the going market rate, it appears to be over 100 euros, which most of us would not viewed as a trivial sum.

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Animals, Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

California Thieves Steal Tanks From Truck . . . Only To Learn That They Have Cornered The Market On Bull Semen

Full_Blood_Wagyu_Bull_in_ChilePolice are dealing with a somewhat unique crime in Turlock, California where thieves stolen tanks from a truck. Since they also stole gasoline from the truck, the thieves might not have been aware of what was in the tanks but had succeeded in stealing $50,000 of bull semen.

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

Video Makers In Planned Parenthood Scandal Indicted By Texas Grand Jury

CMPgoldfinal200px-Logo_plannedparenthoodThere is a surprising development out of Texas in the investigation of into Planned Parenthood and the scandal over the selling of fetal tissue and body parts. The Center for Medical Progress had gone undercover to record officials with the organization speaking about the sales in ways that outraged the public and triggered a backlash against Planned Parenthood. However, the grand jury opted not to indict anyone at Planned Parenthood and instead charged David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt with the Center of Medical Progress for tampering with a governmental record, a second-degree felony. Perhaps the most interesting charge was the indictment of Daleiden with the purchase and sale of human organs, a class A misdemeanor. The group has insisted that it was using standard journalistic practices in showing that Planned Parenthood was illegally profiting from the sale of fetal tissue. Planned Parenthood has been cleared of any wrongdoing in various states. However, Planned Parenthood was forced to apologize for the casual tone of its officials and changed its policy on reimbursements for tissue and body parts.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

New Jersey Man Pays Homeless Man To Pour Boiling Hot Coffee Over His Head . . . Police Decline To Press Charges

Screen Shot 2016-01-25 at 8.38.18 PMThere is a truly disgraceful story out of Lakewood, New Jersey where homeless man Ronald Leggatt, 65, was offered $5 by a stranger to pour a hot cup of coffee over his own head — twice. Carlos Mejia, 22, of Jackson, posted a video of Leggatt discussing the demeaning act. Mejia witnessed the scene and at first thought the man was going to help Leggatt and was horrified as Leggatt poured the coffee over his own head. The coffee reportedly left burn marks on Leggatt’s face. Mejia confronted the man who paid for the act. Mejia said that the culprit was an Orthodox Jew, who allegedly told Mejia that nothing would happen to him because “we run the town.” (Lakewood has a large Orthodox population). The police located the sadist but decided that there was no crime to charge because the act by Leggatt was voluntary. Others in the Orthodox Jewish community were ashamed by the conduct of the culprit and came forward to help Leggatt.

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Academia, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, Politics, Society

University of Missouri Communications Professor To Be Charged With Assault

Screen-Shot-2015-11-10-at-6.41.56-PM-620x375We have been following the controversy surrounding the outrageous conduct of University of Missouri Mass communications professor Melissa Click attacking the media covering a “Black Lives Matter” protest.” She has now been charged with third-degree assault — an offense that is criminal but likely to result in only a fine.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, Society

New York Settles Case Of The Arrest Of Two Protesters For Insulting Police

215px-NypdpatchNew York city has reportedly agreed to pay two Occupy Wall Street protesters $52,000 for their arrest in 2013 after flipping off two New York City police officers on a Queens subway train. The arrests of Nicholas Thommen, 21, and Channing Creage, 26, clearly violated the first amendment and lacked probable cause of any crime. The question is not the settlement but, again, the absence of any indication of discipline of these officers for knowingly violating the constitutional rights of citizens.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, International

Swedish Police Search For Pickpocket Who Assaulted and Spat On Mother Who Tried To Help Elderly Victim

sweden tube attackEven in our crime infested world, there is occasionally a crime that takes your breath away. In Sweden, this guy took that distinction when he combined the pickpocketing of an elderly woman and an assault on another woman with children who tried to help her. He punched the mother in front of her children and spat on her.

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Criminal law, Media, Politics, Society

Report: Clinton Emails Contained Human Intelligence Classified At Highest Levels

Hillary_Clinton_Testimony_to_House_Select_Committee_on_BenghaziThere is another surprising report out today on the Clinton email scandal. Fox News Reporter Catherine Herridge is reporting that at least one of the emails on Hillary Clinton’s private server contained extremely sensitive information identified as “HCS-O,” the code used for reporting on human intelligence sources in ongoing operations. We previously discussed the disclosure that emails had been identified with Special Access Program information that even the Inspector General could not review without added clearances. In the meantime, some in the Clinton camp may be singing “Let It Snow, Let It Snow.” The State Department is citing the winter storm for yet another delay in releasing the remaining emails — possibly pushing their release past the first primary contests. Any break would likely be welcomed, particularly after a growing number of people including Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates have said that Clinton’s decision to use an unsecure private email system probably resulted in the emails being hacked by various hostile powers.

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Congress, Criminal law, Politics, Society

Inspector General: Clinton Emails Contain Special Access Material Above The Top Secret Level

Hillary_Clinton_Testimony_to_House_Select_Committee_on_BenghaziFox News and NBC are reporting that Congress has been informed that Hillary Clinton’s unsecure home server contained information classified at levels higher than previously known, including classified Top Secret/Special Access. That would represent some of the most sensitive information to U.S. intelligence. I have held a TSSCI clearance since the Reagan Administration and I am again astonished by the remarkably bad judgment in the use of this server.   In dealing with this type of information, it is generally restricted to SCIF and other highly restrictive access rules.  Indeed, the limitations impose restrictions that have many of us grumbling constantly about the time and travel needed to deal with such documents in a safe and secure manner.  CNN is reporting that “several dozen” new emails have been identified at the high classification level.

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