Category: Criminal law

Courts, Criminal law, Justice

Peanut Corporation Of America Owner Facing Possible Thirty Year Sentence After Conviction In Food Poisoning Case

Submitted by Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

Stewart Parnell
Stewart Parnell

In what promises to be a sign of holding executives liable for their involvement in putting poisonous products into the food supply a Federal Jury convicted former Peanut Corporation of America owner Stewart Parnell of Conspiracy, Obstruction of Justice, Wire Fraud, and other crimes relating to a nationwide outbreak of salmonella that sickened over seven hundred individuals in forty three states and likely killed nine. Federal investigators in 2009 traced tainted peanut butter supplied by Parnell’s business to several producers who then packaged it into peanut butter containing foods according to the Centers for Disease Control.

The seven week trial, the culmination of a five year ordeal, has perhaps in measure brought closure and justice for those suffering damages from executives who knowingly and intentionally conspired to endanger so many.

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

The Holder Years and The Perils Of Politics Over Principle In Government

holderericBelow is my column on the resignation of Eric Holder as United States Attorney General. For civil libertarians, Holder’s tenure as Attorney General under President Obama has been one of the most damaging periods in our history with a comprehensive attack on various constitutional rights and principles from free speech to the free press to international law. In recent polling by NBC and the Wall Street Journal, Holder was the second most unpopular government official after the positively radioactive Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

As someone who previously called for Holder’s firing after the investigation of various journalists under national security powers, I am hardly one who can offer congratulatory sentiments for such a record. However, much like President Obama, one has to wonder what could have been if Holder had chosen a more principled and less political approach to his office. Holder is resigning the same week that a federal judge ordered the release of “Fast and Furious” documents after the Justice Department was accused of a pattern of delay and obstruction. Holder was previously held in contempt by Congress for his withholding documents and conflicting accounts to an oversight committee looking into the scandal. Indeed, Holder was looking at an even more aggressive period with the possible loss of the Senate and increased GOP seats in the House.

Ironically, Holder came into office trying to distinguish himself from such disastrous predecessors as Alberto Gonzales but proved no less political or blindly loyal to his own president. Indeed, both men fought aggressively to expand the powers of the presidency and national security laws over countervailing individual rights and separation of powers principles. It will be civil liberties and not civil rights that will be the lasting, and troubling, legacy of Eric Holder. The column is below:

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Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Religion, Society

Pakistani Policeman Shoots and Kills Minister Accused Of Blasphemy And Wounds Another Prisoner

ZafarBhatti2-211x300Flag of PakistanChristian Pastor Zafar Bhatti has reportedly been shot and killed by a Pakistani policeman, who also wounded another prisoner, 70-year-old Briton Muhammad Asghar. Both are in jail for blasphemy. Bhatti was a human rights activist fighting for the rights of Christians in the country. His death (and the convenient shooting of another alleged “blasphemer”) is viewed as highly suspicious given the past threats against his life from other prisoners and guards.

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Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Free Speech, Politics, Religion, Society

UTAH APPEALS SISTER WIVES RULING

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One month ago, United States District Court Judge Clarke Waddoups handed down his final ruling in favor of my clients in the Sister Wives case. Utah Attorney General, Sean Reyes has now filed his notice of appeal in the case — a move that will take this historic case to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Denver and potentially to the Supreme Court.

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Criminal law, Society

Tennessee Police Accused Of Beating DUI Suspect And Then Lying About Incident

Screen Shot 2014-09-24 at 9.29.39 AMThere is a new scandal involving alleged police abuse and false statements. The latest case comes out of Red Bank, Tennessee, where critics allege that officers beat a suspect, 24-year-old Candido Medina-Resendiz, without cause and then lied about the incident in official reports. Warning: this story contains foul language from the reporting of the case.

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

China Sentences Uighur Scholar To Life In Prison After Denying Him Access To Evidence

Profesor_Ilham_TohtiChina has continued its crackdown on political speech with a truly disgraceful trial of Uighur scholar Ilham Tohti. The prominent scholar has written about the discontent in his region and lack of rights. The Chinese declared the writings as encouraging separatism. While that would not be a crime in any free nation, China handed him a life sentence after this supporters say that he was denied food and then denied copies of the evidence used against him.

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Criminal law, Media, Politics, Society

Watts Unchained: Civil Rights Leaders Denounce Actress After They Supported Her Claims of Racial Profiling in Detention By LAPD

1411228451636_Image_galleryImage_Django_Unchained_actress_There is an interesting backlash in California where civil rights leaders are condemning an African-American actress for alleging racism in her encounter with members of the Los Angeles Police Department. Actress Daniele Watts (who was in “Django Unchained”) accused the LAPD of detaining her and her boyfriend because they are a mixed race couple. Witnesses insisted that, in fact, they were having sex in a car in plain view on a street. An audio tape below has further undermined Watt’s claims of racism. She immediately claims that the only reason that they stopped them was race on the audiotape available here. In the midst of the tape, she freaks out in a conversation with her father but admits that they were “making out” in the course of the diatribe. In a true Hollywood moment, Watts is heard saying “I know my rights, I played a cop on TV and I know that when someone asks for ID you aren’t required to give it to them.”

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Politics, Society

No Jokela: Seattle Tosses All Pot Tickets After Single Officer Opposing Legalization Goes On A Citation Spree

randy-jokela2Marijuana LeafSeattle’s city prosecutor has announced a rather novel decision to toss out all tickets issued for the public use of marijuana through the first seven months of this year after concluding that virtually all of them were written by one officer who opposed the legalization of pot. City Attorney Pete Holmes announced the dismissal of roughly 100 tickets and moving to refund those people who forked over $27 ticket. Officer, Randy Jokela, 52, reportedly addressed some of the tickets to “Petey Holmes” or wrote that he considered the pot law “silly.”

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Academia, Criminal law, Society

Lawsuit: School Officials Convince 14-Year-Old Special Ed Girl To Be Bait For Sexual Predator . . . Girl Is Raped and School Officials Deny Any Responsibility

Sparkman Middle SchoolThere is a horrific story out of Huntsville, Alabama, where school officials are being sued after a 14-year-old girl with special needs was allegedly used as bait to catch a student sexual predator. A lawsuit states that the girl reluctantly agreed, but that she was then trapped by the boy and anally raped in a bathroom. The school later suggested that the sex may have been consensual and denied responsibility. The case has prompted the Justice Department to file a brief in favor of the girl in the litigation, a relatively rare move in such a case.

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

Poll: Egyptians Want Democracy . . . and Stonings

1024px-Election_MG_3455stone-1I had a fleeting sensation of hope yesterday when a poll of 1,000 Egyptians by the Pew Research Center found that 59% percent said that their preferred form of government is democracy. Then a little below the poll found that 82% feel adulterers should be stoned and 84% believe that apostates from Islam should face the death penalty.

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Criminal law, Society

Chicago Gang Members Allegedly Murder 9-Year-Old Boy Who They Thought Warned Opposing Gang

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My home town of Chicago continues to be plagued by gang violence. Children are often the victim of drive by shootings and gang gun fights. However, the intentional killing this week of 9-year-old Antonio Smith Jr., known as “Fat Baby” and “Hamburger,” has shocked many in the city. The four men are reportedly members of the Sircon City faction of the Gangster Disciples street gang and murdered Smith because they thought he had warned their intended victims, rival members of the Pocket Town gang.

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Criminal law, Society

Rap Sheet: Three Georgia Men Accused Of Kidnapping, Raping, Beating, and Burning Woman Who Beat Them In A Rap Competition

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If their indictments are true, Joey Betrail Garron, 28, Robert Carl Johnson, 23, and Ketorie Glover, 23, represent some of the most depraved of a highly depraved class of criminals. The three men in Columbus, Georgia challenged a woman to a hip hop rap battle at a house party. When the woman won, the three were so outraged that they allegedly kidnapped the woman at gun point, took her to a parking, and gang raped her. They then beat her and doused her with gasoline and set her on fire, according to police. She survived and the three were arrested.

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Criminal law, Society

City Drops Controversial Saggy Pants Ordinance

Submitted by Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

saggypants-exampleAfter a backlash from the general public and lack of support, the Florida city of Ocala repealed its ban against wearing saggy pants on public property.

During a city council meeting members voted 4-1 to repeal ordinance 2014-44 “Clothing requirements on public property” that called for a punishment of up to 60 days in jail and a $500.00 fine.

Among the public were representatives of the NAACP who voiced concern the law would target African-American youth.

The lone dissenter to the repeal, Councilwoman Mary Rich who authored the original ordinance, argued that she believes the types of people who wear saggy pants also don’t have jobs.

“And when you don’t have money to feed your family, what do you do? Steal,” Rich said. “I don’t think we’re violating their First Amendment rights.” Her words caused a stir in the audience.

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