Category: Criminal law

Criminal law, International, Politics

Edward Snowden: Whistleblower or Traitor?

220px-Edward_Snowden-2228px-Picture_of_Edward_SnowdenBelow is my column that ran this week in Al Jazerra on the one-year anniversary of the Snowden scandal. It is hard to believe that it has only been one year given the number of investigations, promised reforms, and articles. I previously wrote a piece explaining why a pardon or commutation would not be inconsistent with prior cases, but that still seems unlikely. While I disagree with Snowden’s release of classified information that could harm the country, I do believe that his case is more nuanced than his critics have suggested. What is fascinating is that, after a year, we appear no closer to a consensus on what Snowden represents.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Society

Florida Man Fires Four Shots Into The Air And Is Given 20 Years Per Shot To Run Consecutively or 80 Years In Prison

met_-font color='%23FF0000'--b-Ronald--b---font-_-font color='%23FF0000'--b-WiThe Florida Supreme Court is considering a case that raises the limits of state law in a case with a facially excessive sentence. Ronald Williams, 29, fired five shots in the air to scare off what he said were four gay men flirting with him. He was conviction in 2010 of four counts of aggravated assault. However, the trial judge said that state law required that each count — effectively each bullet — be sentenced consecutively rather than concurrently. The result is an excessive 80 year sentence.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Society, Torts

Connecticut Woman Caught On Tape Assaulting Man Over His Flying Drone On Public Beach

article-0-1E95A46B00000578-649_634x358The video below is going viral on the Internet and purportedly shows Andrea Mears, 23, getting interestingly irate over a man flying a drone on a public beach. The beach is reportedly Hammonasset Beach in Madison, Connecticut. She is heard calling the police and objecting to his filming people. She is shown holding the man’s equipment and then the scene turns violent. During the fight, she is quoted as saying “Yeah! That’s what you get you little pervert.” However, it turns out that it would be Mears who would be arrested.

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Academia, Criminal law, International, Justice, Media, Politics, Religion, Society

How Many Children Died to Protect the Honor of the Catholic Church?

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

It is an agonizing story, and a book has been written about it and a movie was also recently made about it.  The story I am referring to is the story of Philomena Lee who at the age of 19 gave birth to a baby boy, out-of-wedlock, at the Sean Ross Abbey in County Tipperary, in Ireland.  If you are unfamiliar with the story, Philomena became pregnant out-of-wedlock after being raised in a convent after her mother died at the age of 6.  Her father kept 3 boys at home and put Philomena and her two sisters in the convent because he was unable to care of all of them.

After she left the convent at age 18, she became pregnant and was sent to the Sean Ross Abbey where her son was born and three years later, was adopted and moved to America.  If you have seen the movie or read the book you know what happened to her son, who she never saw alive again.  But the story of Philomena is not the main focus of this article.  Philomena was one of thousands of Irish women who were forced by religious beliefs and societal pressures to hide their “sin”.  However, what happened to some of the children who did not get adopted?  Continue reading “How Many Children Died to Protect the Honor of the Catholic Church?” →

Bizarre, Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, International, Justice, Lawyering, Military, Politics, Science, Society, Supreme Court

The Chemistry of Revenge: Bond v. U.S. – A Study In The Carpenters And Treaties

By Mark Esposito, Weekend Guy

130227203059-supreme-justices-horizontal-galleryCarol Anne Bond was overjoyed to learn that her best friend, Myrlinda Haynes, had become pregnant. That joy was short-lived when she learned that the father was none other than her husband,Clifford Bond. The Philadelphia woman embarked on a course of revenge that would result in federal charges for deploying chemical weapons and a trip to the United States Supreme Court. Passed in 1998,  the Chemical Weapons Convention Implementation Act, enabled Congress to enforce the terms of an  international treaty banning deployment of some chemical weapons. Taking advantage of that law, federal prosecutors charged Bond with obtaining two chemicals which together or separately could have killed her pregnant rival.

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Criminal law, Society

Florida Police Accused of Harassing Citizen Filming in Public and Then Making Anonymous Calls of Possible Crime

florida-cop-frames-activist-masturbation.sivideo cameraThere is a controversy surrounding another confrontation between a police officer and a citizen over filming officers in public. We have been following the continuing abuse of citizens who are detained or arrested for filming police in public. (For prior columns, click here and here). Despite consistent rulings upholding the right of citizens to film police in public, these abuses continue. The latest story has a weird twist. Critics are alleging that, after Michael Burns had a confrontation with Lakeland officer Javier Perez, the officer allegedly placed an anonymous call to claim that Burns was masturbating in his car.

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Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Lawyering

Former Florida Judge Disbarred Over Intimate Relationship With Prosecutor During Murder Case

gavel2We have previously discussed of former Broward Circuit Judge Ana Gardiner who had a secret intimate relations with a prosecutor trying a capital murder case in her court in 2007. She has now been disbarred despite her earlier resignation from the court. That is far harsher punishment than what was received by former assistant state attorney Howard Scheinberg, who was suspended for two years due to the relationship.

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Criminal law, International

Irish Woman Jailed After Rape Allegations Found To Be Hoax

gavel2Magdalena Brojek, a mother of two from Enniskillen, Ireland, has been sentenced to three months in jail after admitting that she made up a gang rape by three Lithuanian men to cover up an affair with a man who she met online. It was only the first lie that she told before admitting the truth.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, International

Pig In A Pokey: Manchester Man Arrested For Impersonating Police Officer By Wearing Pig Mask

Steven-PeersPolice in Manchester have decided not to press charges against Steven Peers who was arrested for impersonating an officer. The twist is that Peers was wearing a pig mask at the time and a toy bobby’s helmet. Peers is an electrical engineer who uses his comic character ‘Officer 666’ to highlight the “violence, corruption and bad behavior.”

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Criminal law, Politics, Science, Society

Legal Pot Sales Soar Nationally As Colorado Reports Continuing Increase In Sales And A Decrease In Crime

220px-Cannabis_sativa_leaf_Dorsal_aspect_2012_01_23_0830There is a statistic that I ran across today that I found quite remarkable. Legal cannabis sales in the United States are expected to reach as high as $2.57 billion this year. That is only the sales for medical marijuana in the 21 states allowing its sale. At the same time, Colorado is reporting a continuing increase in legal marijuana sales with $19 million in recreational pot sale for March — up from $14 million from February. The figures reveal the greatest challenge for opponents. As revenues and experimentation increases, there will be greater pressure for legalization. Businesses are likely to take note of a 2.5 billion dollar industry that has taken hold even with the limitations of medical marijuana and less than half of the states participating. Both the money and the public response appear to be moving in favor of the legalization movement.

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

Federal Judge Stops Expulsion Of Duke Student Over Lack of Basic Due Process In Alleged Sexual Assault Case

Unknown-2I have previously written about my concerns over the elimination of basic rights of due process at universities for students accused of sexual assault or harassment under pressure from the Obama Administration. That pressure continues to build this year with the Obama Administration investigating dozens of universities and threatening to take away federal funds if they do not remove certain protections under their rules of adjudication. Now a North Carolina judge has issued a rare order enjoining Duke University from expelling a male student, Lewis McLeod, who was accused of raping a female freshman. The concern over the lack of due process afforded the accused is of course a continuation of the criticism of Duke over its handling of the infamous Duke lacrosse team case. I have previously written about my view that Duke abandoned not just those students but any sense of due process or fairness in joining the mob accusing them of raping a stripper.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Torts

Georgia Prosecutor May Charge Suspect With Injuries Caused By SWAT Team After Throwing Stun Grenade Into Crib

raid31n-1-webM84_stun_grenadeWe previously discussed the horrific injuries to a baby after a Georgia SWAT team threw a stun grenade into a house in a no-knock raid that landed in the baby’s crib. The family had no connection to the alleged crime, the suspect was not in the house, there were no drugs found at the house, and no weapon was found at the house. Just a baby near death after having an grenade explode in his crib. Now the police chief has come out to cast blame on the suspect, Wanis Thometheva, 30, and the prosecutor has suggested that he may be charged with the injury caused by the SWAT team despite the fact that he was not even in the house.

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Courts, Criminal law, Lawyering, Society

Florida Judge Allegedly Threatens Public Defender, Challenges Him To A Fight, And Then Attacks Him Outside Courtroom

Unknown-1gavel2If the judges over in Broward County are having trouble staying sober, it appears that anger management may be the challenge for judges in Brevard County, Florida. Judge John Murphy has been accused of saying that he wanted to throw a rock at a public defender and then saying that he wanted to meet him behind the courtroom to “beat your ass.” According to public defender Andrew Weinstock, he proceeded to try to do precisely that. However, no criminal charges have been brought against Murphy and there is no reported judicial discipline proceeding.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Environment, International, Military

Court Rules Against Obama Administration In Use Of Chemical Weapons Convention In Criminal Prosecution

Supreme Courtcarol-ann_bond-450x350The Supreme Court has issued its ruling in one of the cases that I have been following closely. The Court ruled unanimously in Bond v. United States that Bond had standing to challenge the statute carrying out the Chemical Weapons Convention as violating the inherent powers of in this instance intruded on areas of police power reserved to the states. While it is not the type of case that pulls media coverage, it is very important and clearly the right result. We debated Bond in our Supreme Court class and came to the same result. On the merits, nine of us voted to reverse the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and four voted to affirm the lower court. On the prediction of what the “other” court would do, eight of us predicted a reversal and five predicted an affirmance. It proved not to be a close question in rejecting the arguments of the Obama Administration seeking to bar citizens from being able to challenge such statutes. It is a victory for standing and more importantly for individual rights.

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Criminal law

Bong Hits For Parolees: Washington Department Of Corrections To Allow Parolees To Smoke Weed

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

Washington State Department of Corrections LogoParolees in Washington might actually look forward to going back to the joint. The Department of Corrections announced that most of those released on parole, about 14,000 individuals, may now use marijuana without being subject to random testing. Recreational marijuana use is legal in Washington after voters passed Initiative 502.

Annmarie Alyward, DOC’s assistant secretary said, “We’re putting some changes into effect so that we won’t routinely test offenders in the community for THC.” Delta-9 THC is the psychoactive compound in marijuana. “We don’t want them held to that level when, as a citizen, you wouldn’t be held to that level either. There’s no way the department of corrections is endorsing the use of marijuana. We are simply aligning with state law.”

This certainly represents a great departure from conventional community correction practices of the past.

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