Category: Criminal law

Criminal law, International, Religion, Society

Saudi Court Orders Woman Flogged For Insulting Morality Police

300px-fomfr_whipThe Saudi Sharia system has again made headlines with its perverse view of justice. The latest victim is a businesswoman who will receive 50 lashes for merely insulting the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, or the Saudi morality police. Of course, the Saudi morality police is widely ridiculed and denounced as a group of religious fanatics upholding a medieval system of religious law.

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Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Free Speech, Justice, Media, Torts

Bleed on a Ferguson police officer? Get charged with destruction of public property. Oh My!

By Charlton S. Stanley, Weekend writer

We should have seen this coming. I believe it is going to get worse before it gets better, if ever. At some point there is going to be a “pitchforks and torches” backlash.

Ferguson MO logoIt may be starting in Ferguson, MO. Take a look at one of the latest stories to come out of there. It’s sad that we have to look overseas to get reliable and up to date news about what is happening in the good ol’ US of A. Because of the great sucking sound that is the US corporate mainstream media, people who want to get a more balanced read on the news check sites such as Al Jazerra, The Guardian, RT, The Epoch Times, and Der Spiegel.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Lawyering, Politics, Society

Texas Rick Perry Indicted On Abuse of Power Charges

225px-rick_perry_photo_portrait_august_28_2004Late yesterday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry was indicted by a grand jury in Austin on charges of abuse of power. The charges stem from Perry carrying out a threat to veto funding the budget for the Travis County Public Integrity Unit, which handles political corruption investigations.

District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg had been arrested for drunk driving and was widely criticized for her conduct while in custody. She refused to resign even after been sentenced to jail and Perry carried out his threat. I have been critical of Perry in the past and I believe that his veto was wrongheaded. However, I view the indictment as very troubling on a separation of powers basis and the result of the extension of criminal provisions with tangential applicability to this type of dispute.

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Courts, Criminal law

Federal Judge Dismisses Washington Marijuana Tax Case

Submitted by Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

the-thin-line-of-medical-marijuanaKing5 news reports that the operator of a medical marijuana dispensary in Bellingham, Martin Nickerson, sued because he was being simultaneously prosecuted for marijuana distribution and targeted by the state Revenue Department for not collecting taxes on marijuana sales. He argued he couldn’t pay the tax without incriminating himself.

In what should likely be a continuation of process rather than an abrupt end U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman dismissed the case last week for lack of jurisdiction.

The attorneys representing Washington State argued that the case should be tried in state court, that it was not within the jurisdiction of the federal government.

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Criminal law, Lawyering

Baltimore Man Charged With Robbery Despite Being In Jail At Time Of The Crime . . . Prosecutor Still Insists on Trial and Judge Agrees

PrisonCellOne can certainly understand Tyree Threatt, 21, being confused. He was charged after a victim picked out his photo as the man who robbed her. However, the robbery occurred while Threatt was in jail on another robbery charge. Now here is the bizarre twist. Nicholas Cooksley, his public defender, showed the court the record proving that it was impossible for Threatt to have committed the crime. Indeed, what could be a better alibi than being in jail? Well, it was not good enough for the prosecutor who refused to drop the charge and insisted on a trial. Even more bizarre was the judge who agreed that a trial would be needed. The charges were only dropped after the media pressed the police, which eventually dropped the charges.

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Criminal law, Society

Two Golfers Charged After Fight With 3-Wood . . . Case Dismissed By Judge Breakiron

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Roger Lee Harris, 63, and Bryan Bandes, 43, could have chosen any of the traditional reasons for guys to fight from women to football teams to politics. However, while playing a round of golf in Uniontown, Pa, the two men turned violent over a disagreement on the rules addressing “casual water.” The case was eventually dismissed by the brilliantly named Judge Robert Breakiron.

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Criminal law, International, Politics, Religion, Society

The Faces Of ISIS Facebook: Australian Boy and English Rapper Pose With Severed Heads on Islamic State Social Media

article-2723659-20794D3A00000578-930_634x487article-2723659-2080250B00000578-342_634x478We recently discussed the homicidal hunk from ISIS who is all the rage with Muslim women looking for a husband to watch martyred. The extremist Sunni movement has been reaching out to Westerners to join their self-declared caliphate and thousands have reportedly responded. Now even more disturbing pictures have been posted with a father from Australia having his seven-year-old son holding up a severed head in celebration and a former British rapper (right) doing the same. Beheadings are viewed by ISIS as a traditional Islamic form of execution and a type of macabre celebration of their view of Islam. Severed heads feature prominently on ISIS (or Islamic State) social media postings.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

From Pageant To Prison: California Woman Arrested For Alleged Worker’s Comp Fraud After Competing In Beauty Contest

fb2fb1Shawna Lynn Palmer, 22, dreamed of being a beauty queen may have ended in jail after she was arrested for alleged worker’s compensation fraud following the posting of video showing her competing in high heels despite her claim of an debilitating foot injury as a grocery clerk at Stater Bros. She appeared in the 2014 Miss Toyota Long Beach Grand Prix pageant. Toyota’s new slogan is “Let’s Go Places” but I think that is not exactly what Palmer had in mind.

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Bizarre, Criminal law

Family Affair: Three Members of Vermont Family Arrested On Same Day For DUI

article-2723347-207D7FC500000578-650_306x423article-2723347-207D7FD200000578-592_306x423The Woodward family may need to add a keg to their family crest. Three members of the family — Nicholas (right), 19, Joshua (left), 22 and father Brian, 46 — were all arrested on the same day in Vermont on separate incidents of driving under the influence. Perhaps we could call this an intervention for the family? The successive arrests occurred when family members allegedly drove drunk to the scene of an accident involving the first family member.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, International, Politics, Religion

Kenyan Legislature Considers New Law To Allow Foreign Homosexuals To Be Stoned In Public

609px-Coat_of_arms_of_Kenya.svgThe anti-homosexual movement in Kenya continues this week with an infamous bill that would reportedly allow foreign homosexual people stoned to death in public. The law would allow such executions for foreigners who commit one homosexual act while imposing a life sentence on Kenyan nationals.

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Academia, Criminal law, International

Visiting Cornell Professor Arrested For Allegedly Molesting Sleeping Woman On Flight

planecaseEun-jong Lee, 47, a visiting professor of Human Ecology Design at Cornell University has been arrested after he allegedly groped a sleeping woman’s breast on a flight from Tokyo to Newark, New Jersey. He has been charged with abusive sexual contact, a felony carrying a maximum two-year prison term and a $250,000 fine.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Society

California Police Accused Of Abusive Arrest And Then Seizing Cellphones Of Witnesses Or Demanding That They Delete Photos

Screen Shot 2014-08-11 at 8.02.33 AMThere is another disturbing story involving the police seizure of cameras of a scene of alleged police abuse. The arrest of a homeless man was caught on camera in Antioch, California. The arrest turned violent and some accused the police of abuse on the man who appeared mentally disturbed. Regardless of the merits of those allegations, police then added to the controversy by demanding that witnesses turn over their cameras.

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Criminal law, Society

Florida Officer Sues After Other Officers Allegedly Harass Her For Arrested Another Officer Driving 120 MPH On Way To Off-Duty Job

_h353_w628_m6_otrue_lfalseI ran over a story today from earlier this year that raises some disturbing questions about the ability of some police departments to police themselves. Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Donna Jane Watts has sued over harassment that she encountered after pulling over another officer for speeding. A video shows Watts arresting Miami Police department officer Fausto Lopez after she was able to pull him over for speeding at 120 mph. Lopez promptly explained that he was late for an off-duty job. As a result of the arrest, other officers allegedly harassed Watts for stopping a fellow officer in the commission of a crime.

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