The crackdown on free speech continues among our Arab allies. This week, Dubai arrested four people for posting insults about companions of Prophet Mohammed on Instagram. Since the companions of Prophet Mohammed are revered by Sunni Muslims, the insults are particularly sensitive in the country with tensions between a majority of Shiites and a Sunni monarchy.
Category: Criminal law
There is a controversial shooting in South Carolina this week after York County deputy, Terrence Knox, shot Bobby Canipe, 70, during a routine traffic stop when Canipe reached for his cane. Knox said that he thought it was a rifle and his department is calling him justified in the shooting. Canipe (left) is a disabled Vietnam veteran.
In Bloomfield, New Jersey DJ Marcus Jeter, 30, was charged with eluding police, assault and other crimes based on the sworn reports of two Bloomfield police officers. The officers accused him of fleeing a scene and then assaulting them after they were called to his home with his girlfriend. It was all a lie but multiple officers joined in framing Jeter. The problem was a police dash came video that prosecutors never bothered to review despite his denials. It was once again the media that did the due diligence and presented the evidence to the prosecutors who dropped the charges. Prosecutors however claim that the fault rests with the police.
Attorney Jason Bohn is facing a particularly challenging case. First, the victim was beaten and strangled to death. Second, he is the defendant and the victim was his girlfriend and Danielle Thomas, 27, was killed in their New York City apartment. Bohn, 35, has come up with a novel defense: “intermittent explosive disorder.”
We often look at police controversies in cases of abuse or other violations by officers. We occasionally have opportunities however to witness what officers face in their daily jobs as well as officers who saw admirable restraint. This is one such case. Most of us would respond more aggressively to Mr. Larry A. Green Jr., 28, spitting in our mouths. Police officers often have to show restraint that exceeds the personal discipline of most people. The video is below.
Continue reading “Milwaukee Man Charged With Felony In Spitting Incident”
We have another case of a police officer threatening a citizen after falsely telling him that filming a police officer in public is a crime. What adds to this particularly case is that Massachusetts state police trooper Kenneth Harold is also now accused of giving false testimony under questioning by driver. 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.
We recently discussed the incredible decision by the Dallas Police Chief that officers will no longer be allowed to give their accounts of shootings for the first 48 hours after officers were found to have lied in past cases. They will now be allowed to get their accounts straight before going on the record. Two Brooklyn officers are probably wishing that such a rule might apply to non-lethal controversies. Officers Christopher Oliver and Shazad Shigri are accused of sideswiping a parked SUV owned by Robert Jackson, 31, and then charging him with the accident — after looking around for any security cameras that would contradict them. They missed one.
One of the lowest points in U.S. and Israeli relations came in 1997 when Samuel Sheinbein, an American teenager, savagely murdered another teenager as practice for a later planned murder. He then fled to Israel and as a Jew claimed the right to become a citizen (and thus avoid extradition). He is now dead after grabbing a gun and shooting several guards before being gunned down himself in Haron Prison. The irony is that he was close to the point where he would ask for release from prison.
Continue reading “Samuel Sheinbein Dead in Israel In Shootout With Prison Guards”
The Chicago police have bagged a desperado in my home city. A 13-year-old boy was arrested for allegedly hitting a Chicago police officer with a snowball. The boy insists that he was not actually the one in the crowd who threw the snowball and that it actually hit the car not the officer who was sitting in it. The main question is why such an act, even if it hit the officer, warranted an arrest for the serious offense of aggravated battery (not simply battery) to a peace officer.
Continue reading “Chicago Police Arrest 13-Year-Old Boy For Allegedly Hitting Officer With Snowball”
Submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)-Weekend Contributor
This past week, thousands of emails from within Wisconsin Governor, Scott Walker’s inner circle were released as part of an appeal by his former Deputy Chief of Staff, Kelly Rindfleisch. Ms. Rindfleisch is appealing her conviction on illegal campaign activities during the 2010 Lt. Governor’s race.
“Kelly Rindfleisch was convicted of illegal campaign activity for working on the 2010 lieutenant governor’s campaign of then-Rep. Brett Davis while serving as Walker’s deputy chief of staff during his time as Milwaukee county executive. In Wisconsin, it is illegal for public employees to work on campaigns while on the clock and being paid to administer state services.
Prosecutors found that Rindfleisch traded more than 3,000 emails with Walker campaign staffers, most of which were sent on county time from a secret email system in Walker’s office. Davis, who was Walker’s favored candidate, lost the race but was later appointed by the governor as head of Wisconsin’s Medicaid program.
Rindfleisch was sentenced in 2012 to six months in jail, but her sentence has been stayed as she appeals. She unsuccessfully requested to keep her emails secret while attempting to have her conviction overturned.” Readersupportednews
Ms. Rindfleisch and five other Walker employees were convicted on various illegal campaign activity charges and the emails that were released this week laid bare the mentality of the Walker associates and their actions to work on political campaigns while being paid as state workers. It is a bit amazing that Governor Walker has remained untouched by the prosecutors even though many of these emails that detail not only illegal campaign activities, but some alarming racist and sexist comments, were also sent to him. Continue reading “Governor Walker and Illegal Political Activities”
People in Austin were outraged recently when Amanda Jo Stephen was arrested for jaywalking – a crime that ultimately required four officers and left Stephen sitting cuffed and crying on the ground in front of onlookers. The video is below. However, it was the response of Austin police chief Art Acevedo made this even more bizarre and disturbing.
Las Vegas police have released the video below of a hit-and-run at a gasoline station that left an elderly man injured. The crime occurred on February 6th at an Arco station on West Flamingo around noon when a white male in a hoodie also hit the man. When the victim turns toward the car, the driver then speeds up and knocks him over.
Continue reading “Vegas Police Release Hit-and-Run Video in Search of California Driver”
We have previously discussed Stand-Your-Ground laws and common misconceptions that arose during the George Zimmerman trial. That controversy is back this week in Alabama after Judge James Roberts Jr. cited Alabama’s stand-your-ground law in dismissing a civil lawsuit by a former college student who was injured in a fight with a sorority sister. The lawsuit has drawn particular attention in the state because the sorority sister, Kristen Saban (left), is the daughter of University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban.
There is finally justice for San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow who was left brain damaged and permanently disabled after a vicious attack by these two men: Louie Sanchez, 31, and Marvin Norwood. Both Dodgers fans pleaded guilty to the attack and received eight and four years respectively for their crimes. Given the injury to Stow, however, I am left divided on whether the punishment is sufficiently long.
Continue reading “Dodgers Fans Sentenced In Brutal Attack That Left Giants Fan Brain Damages”
There is an interesting case before the California Supreme Court on the liability of hosts for guests at parties where a cover-charge is required. California law immunizes hosts who serve alcohol to intoxicated guests, but these parties involve payment that creates an ambiguity in the scope of the state law. The case involves Jessica Manosa, who was 20 years old when she hosted a party at her parents’ rental home and charged $3 to $5 to strangers. One of those guests proceeded to drink too much and ran over another guest, Andrew Ennabe (left), the Cal State Fullerton student.
Continue reading “California Supreme Court Considers Major Liability Case For Party Hosts”