You may recall that we discussed the disturbing case involving the shooting of Andrew Lee Scott, 26, an entirely innocent man who was killed by Florida police after they went to the wrong home to arrest an attempted murder suspect, did not announce they were officers, pounded on a door at 1:30 am and then shot and killed Scott when he pointed a gun at the strangers at his door. They were looking for Jonathan Brown who is suspected of attempted murder and insisted that they had little choice in the shooting. Now, to compound the tragedy, it turns out that Brown was also completely innocent. Brown was exonerated after being charged with attempted murder when witnesses established that there was no crime to begin with. In fact, the witnesses suggested that Brown was something of a hero. The family is now in court and, while the charges were dropped some time ago, I wanted to run an update on the case.
Category: Criminal law
There is a new and disturbing industry that has sprung up: publishing mugshots of people and then charging to have those pictures taken down. One individual in the article below, Jaclyn Lardie, paid hundreds of dollars to remove the mugshot from a college drinking arrest only to have the picture appear on other sites. States have moved in to try to legislate protections. While invented in its standard form in 1888 by Alphonse Bertillon (shown here), it took the Internet to make a rather shady business out of the millions of mugshots generated in criminal arrests great and small.
Continue reading “New Laws and Lawsuits Target Mugshot Sites”
Police have arrested Andre Robinson, 21, who appears on a deeply disturbing YouTube video where he lured a street cat to approach him by pretending to feed him and then kicks him into the air. What is equally disturbing is the cries of joy and laughter from his friends.
Continue reading “Brooklyn Man Arrested After Posting Of Cat Kicking Incident”
We have discussed the almost weekly race to the bottom by Islamic extremists who use their faith to justify the most despicable and inhumane acts. However, few can match the atrocities of Boko Haram (“Western education is sinful”) — more properly known as The Congregation of the People of Tradition for Proselytism and Jihad. This Islamic movement in Nigeria, Cameroon, and Niger was founded by Mohammed Yusuf in 2002 and has made murder and church bombings its special signature of faith. However, even the piles of thousands of corpses killed in the name of Allah did not prepare the world for the latest atrocity: the kidnapping of 200 Nigerian girls and an announcement from Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau that “I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah.” Reports indicate that many of the girls have been “married” to Boko Haram soldiers. Nigerians are complaining that the government (which receives enormous U.S. and foreign aid) is not working particularly hard to free the girls. President Goodluck Jonathan described the detention as “unfortunate” and “insensitive”. His wife proved more direct. Mrs. Jonathan has reportedly ordered the arrest of Naomi Mutah, a representative of the Chibok community where the girls were seized from their school. So 200 girls are abducted to be sold into slavery by a fanatical Islamic movement and the wife of the president has the woman leading protests arrested.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has handed down a major decision on responsibility for 9-11 liability. In a decision by Judge Dennis Jacobs, a panel ruled that American Airlines, United Airlines and the World Trade Center leaseholder are not liable for environmental cleanup costs for the attacks in New York City. It is not the conclusion but the rationale that raises concerns about the immunity decision. The panel ruled that none of these parties were responsible for the attacks because it constitutes an act of war. That rationale negates the obvious responsibility of not just the government in ignored numerous indicators of the attacks but the refusal of the airlines to take rudimentary security changes advocated for years such as secure cockpit doors and flight protocols. The decision is In Re September 11 Litigation, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 8293.
A Hammond Police K-9 officer is on administrative leave this week after the YouTube video was posted by a citizen who saw him striking a K-9 dog and lifting the dog by the leash off the ground repeatedly. The officer lifts the German Shepard by the leash and appears to be striking the dog with another leash in the stomach area.
Continue reading “Indiana Police Officer Under Investigation For Abusing Of K-9 Dog”
Two Broward Sheriff’s Office Deputies are under investigation after a videotape was discovered showing a deputy punching David Gonzalez in the face and then the deputies slamming him into the pavement. As shown by his mugshot, Gonzales was injured, including broken bones in his face. The officers have been identified as deputies Justin Lambert and Mike Manresa. They reportedly claimed that Gonzalez was drunk and resisting arrest but that is not what the videotape below indicates. The officers said that Gonzalez was abrasive and yelling at them and added “We then escorted Gonzalez to the ground.” That “escort” was preceded by a punch to the face before sending him face first into concrete.
There is a truly horrific story out of Fort Worth where a well-known veterinary clinic is under investigation for allegedly keeping a dog alive in disgusting conditions to be tapped for blood transfusions . . . months after the family paid to have the dog put down. Camp Bowie Animal Clinic is accused of leaving 5-year-old Leonberger Sida covered in feces as a type of blood factory.
This story stood out on Reddit because the killing occurred near where I spent many of my summers with my Italian grandparents in Cherry Valley, California. Troy Cansler, 47, (left) is a husband and a father who refused to stand by and watch a woman be stabbed for her purse on Sunday. He gave chase after police say Vincent Alex DeLeon, 26, stabbed and robbed the woman who had a baby in a stroller. DeLeon then proceed, according to the charges, to stab this brave man to death.
Continue reading “California Man Dies In Pursuit Of Suspect Who Stabbed Mother In Parking Lot”
I have been writing recently about police forfeitures on highways and how it has become a source of new revenue for departments despite questions of pretext stops and probable cause. Humboldt County has now settled a variety of cases where police took money without any connection or plausible suspicion of a crime. One such seizure was captured on tape and it is a chilling example of what is called “policing for profit.” Las Vegas is a perfect place for this technique since people drive around with a lot of cash. The video captures Humboldt County Deputy Lee Dove confronting one witness by taking his cash and asking “That’s not yours, is it?” The driver responds ‘That’s mine” and Dove simply declares “Well, I’m seizing it.”
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. There is a new case out of Miami of a citizen, freelance disc jockey Lazaro Estrada, who was arrested for obstruction of justice despite the fact that witnesses say that he was merely taping an arrest at a store.
James Kottak, the drummer for the rock band Scorpions, has been sentenced to one month in jail in the United Arab Emirates for conduct offensive to Islam. This reportedly included raising his middle finger and insulting the faith.
For death penalty advocates, Oklahoma was featuring a type of macabre double header tonight: two executions to be held within hours of each other. That objective however failed in a most disturbing possible way after the first execution of Clayton Lockett left him in obvious agony for over 25 minutes. He eventually died from a heart attack and the second execution was postponed.
Former Illinois State Rep. Keith Farnham, 66, was the co-sponsor of two bills to increase the punishment for child pornography may soon regret the effort. He has been charged with child pornography crimes related to hundreds of images and videos on his personal and state-owned computers as well as graphic online chats. In one such chat, he allegedly wrote that “12 is about as old as i can handle . . . i love them at 6 7 8.” In another chat, he allegedly bragged about sexually molesting a 6-year-old girl. He is not charged with that rape. In the sick and bizarre world of child porn, such a claim may have been a form of bragging than a true admission of a rape. Farnham resigned from office shortly after his state office was raided. He said that he needed to resign due to health concerns.
There is a highly disturbing story and photos out of Tennessee where a police officer is shown choking a college student, Jarod Dotson, 22, who does not appear to be resisting. The police had been called to a party at the University of Tennessee and police reported that bottles were thrown at officers. However, in this picture, there appears no risk or resistance for the officer, Deputy Sheriff Frank Phillips.
Continue reading “Tennessee Officer Shown Choking An Unresisting Student Into Unconsciousness”