Called “the Salman Rushdie of music,” Shahin Najafi, a Germany-based Iranian singer, has been hit with fatwas calling for his killing, including one from a leading Ayatollah, after he released a song with references to Ali al-Hadi al-Naqi, the tenth of the 12 Shia Muslim Imams. The brief reference was enough to call for his death under Sharia law.
Category: Criminal law
This story is so breathtakingly stupid, I had to confirm it a couple times to be sure it was not a hoax. A Detroit groundskeeper, John Chevilott, found a loaded handgun in the weeds while working and waited for the police to drive by to turn it in. When they didn’t show up, Chevilott took the gun home and handed it into his local police station where he was commended for his actions. He did this with the full knowledge and approval of his supervisor. According to news reports, that was then fired by the Department of Public Services for possession of a gun.
Continue reading “Detroit Groundskeeper Finds Loaded Gun, Turns It Into Police . . . And Is Fired For Possession Of A Firearm”
The New York Court of Appeals has released an important decision that viewing online child pornography is not illegal under New York law. The ruling has triggered an outcry and demands for legislative reforms. However, the opinion is worth reading and raises a broader issue on the required level of intent and knowledge for these crimes.
In a case with some similarities to the George Zimmerman case, Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Ashley Moody has denied the use of Florida’s Stand Your Ground law in a shooting in September 2010 where an older man wrestled with a younger man on a basketball court. As with Zimmerman, Trevor Dooley, 69, had a gun permit and insisted that the younger man, David James, started the fight. In this case it was a black man shooting a white man, though the case has not generated the attention or controversy of the Zimmerman. Dooley is charged with manslaughter in James’ death.
Continue reading “Zimmerman Preview? Florida Man Denied Use “Stand Your Ground” Law”
Police in Freeport, Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh have finally tracked down Katelyn Jageman aka “The Bookkeeper.” Jageman has been living on the lam with a collection of overdue library books and an outstanding overdue book bill of $81. That is until the library dispatched police to hunt her down like a reference book in the learning aisle. It is notable that Jageman started her life of crime a year earlier than Hailey Benoit, the notorious bibliophile from Massachusetts.
By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Angela Corey has become a minor legal celebrity for her tough-minded prosecution of the Trayvon Martin murder case. Her toughness has also drawn the ire of U.S. House member Corrine Brown in a racially charged case in Jacksonville. The case involves Marissa Alexander who was charged under Florida’s “10-20-life” law which mandates progressively tough penalties for violent felonies when firearms are involved.
If you go to celebrity trials just to watch the cars crash, former NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Jeremy Mayfield will not disappoint you. Mayfield has been hit with a $1 million damage award in favor of postal worker Mary E. Bolton who was attacked by Mayfield’s five dog, pit bull/Labrador mixes. It is an interesting case and one more problem for Mayfield who is facing a major drug prosecution.
Iran has long been flog-happy in its imposition of medieval Sharia laws. Now, it has sentenced cartoonist Mahmoud Shokraye to receive 25 lashes for drawing a caricature of Iranian MP, Ahmad Lotfi Ashtiani, that the MP found insulting. As you can see, it is a pretty mild cartoon but Iranian officials stand by the punishment.
Continue reading “Iran Sentences Cartoonist To Be Flogged For Insulting Politician”
We previously discussed the rather shocking treatment Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner gave an ACLU lawyer over the right of citizens to videotape police in public. As discussed in prior columns and blogs, police across the country have been arresting citizens who film them — a clear abuse of their rights and an effort to prevent citizens from creating incriminating videotapes increasingly used against police. The Seventh Circuit has now barred the use of the law to prosecute citizens for videotaping. Posner dissented and showed, again, a dismissive view of the rights of the citizens vis-a-vis police. The court majority slams State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez for her extreme views expressed in the case and effort to strip videotaping of constitutional protections.
Reps. Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva introduced a bill yesterday that would amend the House appropriations bill for Commerce, Justice and Science to add a provision punishing states with “Stand Your Ground” laws — the law at the heart of the trial of George Zimmerman in Florida. While I have been a long critic of both Castle Doctrine laws and “Stand Your Ground” laws, I believe this bill is a mistake and represents an attack on federalism principles.
The Bronx District Attorney has opened an investigation into the actions and statements of Bronx police officers after a video surfaced that contradicts their statements as to the actions of 19-year-old Jateik Reed, who was beaten in the course of an arrest.
Cheryl Bormann, counsel for defendant Walid bin Attash, has created a stir over wearing a hijab to the military tribunal and asking other women to cover up out of respect of the Muslim sensibilities for the defendants. I have received a fair number of calls on this from reporters and lawyers due to my past representation of Muslims in national security cases. I believe the display was a professional and tactical mistake and I would not want someone on my team to try to make such an extreme accommodation to a client.
Police in Springfield, Massachusetts are looking for a man caught on camera who attempted to rob and then stabbed a mother outside of a store. I may be a bit judgmental on this one but the video shows the mother saving herself and her purse by running away from the man . . . while leaving her four-year-old daughter with the knife-wielding maniac. I realize that this is a panic situation, but it seems an odd reaction for a parent like a “Sophie’s Choice” without the second kid.
Continue reading “Attack on Mother and Girl Captured on Video in Massachusetts”
There is an interesting challenge to the conviction of John Goodman, the creepy multimillionaire who killed a man in a drunken driving accident. He became even more infamous when he adopted his girlfriend to try to protect his wealth from court-ordered damages. Now, his lawyer is seeking to overturn the conviction after a juror, Dennis DeMartin of Delray Beach, wrote a self-published book detailing his experience in the trial. The book includes DeMartin’s account of how he got drunk on the night before the guilty verdict to see how the alcohol would have affected Goodman.
In the last couple of years, there have been periodic articles about a Chinese industry selling powdered human flesh — usually ground up babies — as a stamina booster. Now, there is a report of South Korean agents seizing drug capsules filled with powdered human flesh. This follows other reports on testing showing endangered animals in various Chinese products, including endangered porpoises. I was unaware however of the allegations of the consumption of human remains. I guess Soylent Green (set in 2022) was just off by ten years.