Category: Criminal law

Animals, Bizarre, Criminal law

Man’s Best Friend? Alabama Man Is Arrested After Police Use His Own Dog To Find Him

WireAP_b7dcb5176b9f47d6a41b8a5a80cbbf68_16x9_992Bo is the type of dog everyone loves. Happy, friendly . . . well perhaps a bit too friendly. His owner, Edwin Henderson, ran from police serving a drug search warrant and hid the in the surrounding terrain. When an officer saw his dog Bo he said “go get him” and let him loose. Bo did precisely that, running to some high grass with his tail wagging excitedly in finding Henderson. The police were no less excited. They arrested Henderson with failure to obey police, manufacturing a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. He is accused of being a meth dealer.

It is not clear what will happen to the dog, who is likely to be viewed as something of a rat. There must be a witness protection program for canines to assume a new name and identity, perhaps as a ranch dog in Montana?

Source: ABC

Criminal law, Society

Utah Police Shoot Man Dressed in Anime Costume and Carrying Sword

210ba04e-d6d3-49fe-8e61-41cc9735b6b8-620x372There is a highly disturbing controversy outside of Salt Lake City where Darrien Hunt, 22, was shot six times by police officers who claimed that he charged them with a sword. Hunt was dressed in a Japanese anime costume with a 2 ½ foot steel sword that the family insists was nothing more than a prop. An autopsy released this week shows that several of the shots entered in the back of his body. The case has raised racial concerns since Hunt was black and the officers were white.

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Criminal law, International, Religion, Society

Indian Woman Secretly Videotapes Husband Engaged In Homosexual Relations And Then Turns Him Into The Police For Possible Life Sentence

India flagflag-rainbow1There is a bizarre and disturbing case out of India where an Indian man has been criminally charged after his wife filmed homosexual liaisons in their home and took the evidence to the police. It is a crime punishable by life in prison to engage in homosexual relations in India. The case is an insight not only into the abusive Indian criminal code but the traditions of such arranged marriages. What is interesting is that the wife, a dentist, has also charged her in-laws with a crime after alleging that they had to know that their son was gay before the marriage.

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Criminal law, Free Speech, International

Englishman Charged With Bestiality Over Video That Proved To Be A Man In A Tiger Costume

220px-Garry_Moore_Tony_the_Tiger_1955Bus driver Andrew Holland said last year has been a nightmare. He has spent six months on bail, hired an attorney, and stood accused of a heinous crime. People ridiculed him and shunned him for allegedly possessing a film that showed a woman having sex with a tiger. The police charged him with possession of an extreme pornographic image. No one however appeared to actually watch or analyze the film. The film turned out to be a man in a tiger costume who kept saying ‘That’s grrrrrreat’ – the catchphrase of Frosted Flakes cereal mascot Tony the Tiger. All charges have now been dropped, but one has to wonder how the police or prosecutor could have missed this small detail. Putting aside the fact that a man in a tiger outfit hardly looks like the real thing, a talking tiger might have been a clue.

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Criminal law

“You Have Some Weed?”: Felon Arrested After Texting Probation Officer In Search of Pot

1414105385489_Image_galleryImage_A_criminal_in_Georgia_is_Alvin Cross Junior is the poster child for the perils of texting. Junior was on probation for possession of cocaine when he decided that he wanted to buy some pot. However, he inexplicably texted his probation officer to ask to sell him marijuana. He is now serving an additional year for violating his probation.

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Criminal law, Society

Pack of Bikers Film Themselves Doing High-Speed Wheelies On Highway While Shooing Away California Patrolman

Screen Shot 2014-10-26 at 10.40.26 PMThe video below has gone viral on YouTube not only for the dangerous motorcycle antics of some 50 bikers in California but their open dismissal of a California Highway Patrol officer who is told to “go away” . . . and he does.

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Courts, Criminal law, International, Justice, Lawyering, Politics, Society, Uncategorized

Two Corporate Crimes and No Accountability for the Suits

Old_and_new_Blackwater_logos

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

It never ceases to amaze me that the heads of major corporations and officers of those companies just never seem to go to jail when the corporation’s fingers are caught in the cookie jar.  We saw two separate examples of that concept this week.  One example is simply a case of corporate greed at employees expense and the other is a brutal and deadly tragedy that caught up the corporate employees, but not their bosses.

In the past, I have written about banks getting away with fines and financial penalties for committing crimes, but today the focus is on two corporations in two different areas of endeavor.  I am referring to the corporation formerly known as Blackwater and Electronics for Imaging (EFI).  Blackwater as you may recall was in the private security and intelligence gathering business with many government clients, while EFI is a Silicon Valley tech firm with earnings of over $100 million in 2013.  They both have one thing in common.  They broke the law and one got a slap on the wrist and the CEO and founder of the other and his fellow corporate officers avoided any culpability in a brutal murder case. Continue reading “Two Corporate Crimes and No Accountability for the Suits” →

Bizarre, Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Justice, Media, Politics, Society

Predicting Obama: Is The Right Ever Right?

By Mark Esposito, Weekend Blogger

I have been reading about the latest Breitbart-inspired dire prediction of the nefarious ( and possibly illegal) machinations of the Obama Administration. You know “Green Paper-Gate.” It’s the one where the conservative blog, Breitbart,  reports that a draft solicitation proposal for purchase of green paper issued by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services definitely means that the Obama Administration is secretly planning a massive amnesty campaign of undocumented aliens. And, worse still,  that it’s keeping that secret until after the mid-term elections as a boon to Democratic candidates. I went back and took a look at the proposal and here is the offending language: “The requirement is for an estimated 4 million cards annually with the potential to buy as many as 34 million cards total. The ordering periods for this requirement shall be for a total of five (5) years.” A draft RFP issued a few days later contains the same language but adds the following: “In addition, the Contractor shall demonstrate the capability to support potential “surge” in PRC and EAD card demand for up to 9M cards during the initial period of performance to support possible future immigration reform initiative requirements.” You can view the proposal (here) and the RFP (here) and then read all the GSA bureaucratic verbiage for yourself. Have a good time.

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Criminal law, International, Politics

Iran Hangs Woman Who Claimed That Intelligence Official Drugged And Raped Her

eg2vZynW_400x400We previously discussed the pending execution of Rayhaneh Jabbari, 26, for killing a former Iranian intelligence official who she said had raped her. Early reports that the execution had been carried out were premature and international efforts intensified to save Rayhaneh. I regret to report that the Associated Press is now confirming that today the Iranians hanged Rayhaneh in the latest outrage to come from that medieval legal system.

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Congress, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Lawyering, Politics, Society

The New Spousal Immunity Defense? Justice Department Reportedly Invokes Executive Privilege Over Holder’s Communications With Wife Related To Fast and Furious Controversy

holderericThere is a new release out of Judicial Watch, which has been meeting with success in its effort to defeat extreme privilege assertions by the Obama Administration in seeking records related to the infamous Operation Fast and Furious. The Obama Administration has been repeatedly criticized for expansive claims of presidential power and privilege. I have been one of those critics. A federal court has expressed growing impatience and even anger with the Administration’s claims and obstruction — recently ordering production of evidence over the vehement objections of the Justice Department. However, nothing likely prepared them for what they claim is the privileges asserted on the “Vaughn index” produced by the Justice Department. The Administration is now reserving the claim of executive privilege over emails between Attorney General Holder and his wife Sharon Malone – as well as his mother. That’s right, executive privilege over communications with your family. It captures the lack of any sense of limitation or logic to the Obama Administration’s view of presidential power, which now overshadows the claims not just of George W. Bush but Richard Nixon.

Continue reading “The New Spousal Immunity Defense? Justice Department Reportedly Invokes Executive Privilege Over Holder’s Communications With Wife Related To Fast and Furious Controversy” →

Criminal law, Media, Society

Report: Brown Was Not Shot With His Hands In The Air

1408390089660_Image_galleryImage_Officer_DARREN_WILSON_pic1408392017717_Image_galleryImage_Piaget_Crenshaw_who_livesMore evidence is emerging supporting Ferguson officer Darren Wilson’s claims in the shooting of Michael Brown. The most recent story states that Brown did not have his hands up in the air, as supporters have long claimed, when he was shot. The image of people holding her hands in the air has become the unifying symbol of case and the new evidence represents a new contradiction of the account of Brown’s friend, Dorian Johnson, who insisted that Brown was not shot in a struggle in the car and was shot with his hands in the air.

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Criminal law, Media, Politics, Religion, Society

Viral Video Showing New York Police Profiling Arab Men Revealed As Hoax

videoguysRecently, a YouTube video caused outrage after two filmmakers showed how they were subject to raw and insulting profiling by a New York police officer as Arabs. They posted the video and called for people to rise up against such profiling. The problem is that it turns out to be a hoax. Adam Saleh and Sheikh Akbar appear to have staged the entire scene. They have now achieved the very opposite of their intentions. They have undermined efforts to show that profiling is a serious and prevalent problem. Instead, many in the future may question the legitimacy of future stories or videos — much like the equally juvenile antics of the National Report that we have discussed previously.

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

Pakistani Court Upholds Death Sentence For Mother of Five Who Was Accused Of Insulting Mohammad

We have previously discussed the outrageous case of Asia Bibi who is the latest victim of a death sentence under the medieval Sharia law system imposed in Muslim countries — sentenced to death for insulting Mohammad. Now, a court in Lahore upheld the verdict and affirmed the death sentence for the 50-year-old motion of five. She said that her nightmare began when she took a drink of water from a bucket being used by Muslim women. As a Christian, she was viewed as unclean and the women assailed her and later accused her of saying something insulting to Mohammad. Not only did leading Muslim clerics in Pakistan support her execution but one offered a reward for any faithful Muslim to murder her.

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Criminal law, Justice, Media, Politics

Obama Administration Accused of Leaking Stories To Prepare For The Rejection Of Criminal Charges Against Officer In Ferguson Shooting

1408390089660_Image_galleryImage_Officer_DARREN_WILSON_pic1408392017717_Image_galleryImage_Piaget_Crenshaw_who_livesA former Missouri police chief is publicly saying that the Justice Department is actively leaking reports that it has found insufficient evidence to support federal charges against Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. There is certainly a long and controversial history of the Justice Department leaking stories to the media to pressure targets or to prepare the public in otherwise secret or confidential investigations. While threatening witnesses and others over any disclosures, the Justice Department does not hesitate to make such leaks for political purposes. The question is whether the recent uptick in leaks is such a campaign. There has been an increase in such stories coming from unnamed Justice sources and former St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch says that the evidence has supported the officer on a number of points, including a struggle within the cruiser.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Politics, Religion

Same-Sex Marriage Showdown: Idaho Ministers Told To Perform Same-Sex Marriages Or Face Fines

post1There is an interesting case out of Idaho that could be a critical showdown between anti-discrimination laws and freedom of exercise of religion. At the heart of the controversy are two Christian ministers, Donald and Evelyn Knapp, who own a Coeur d’Alene wedding chapel. They have been told that they must either perform same-sex weddings or face a $1000 fine. It raises a legitimate claim of the encroachment of state laws into areas of faith — a question that has been previously raised in less direct ways involving bakeries, photographers and other businesses that has refused for religious reasons to service same-sex marriages. We have previously discussed the difficulty in drawing lines under the First Amendment. If this business is protected, then why is not a bakery of religious individuals? Conversely, if this business is not protected, how about all of the religions that accept payments for religious services?

Continue reading “Same-Sex Marriage Showdown: Idaho Ministers Told To Perform Same-Sex Marriages Or Face Fines” →