State Rep. Alvin Holmes (D-Montgomery) has introduced a bill that tackles that pressing problem of the State of Alabama. No, not high unemployment or crime or foreclosures. He is moving a bill that would ban saggy pants. That’s right, the legislature of Alabama is close to passing a statewide ban on saggy pants. The only thing more questionable than its constitutionality is its necessity. While it may put him at odds with Arizona Democratic state Rep. Katie Hobbs to require airbrushing of any saggy images, they both seem to be working off the sense of legislative priorities.
Continue reading “Alabama House Passes Ban On Saggy Pants”
Category: Criminal law
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a stinging rebuke to the Justice Department after refusing to remove the name of a prosecutor who acted unethically from an opinion. The effort by the Justice Department to conceal the name of the prosecutor, the court noted, was in sharp contrast to its common heralding of the accomplishments of its prosecutors in public. The move reaffirmed the view of many lawyers that the Justice Department often acts reflexively in defense of its lawyers — often resisting efforts to hold abusive prosecutors accountable. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerry Albert is accused of misrepresenting a drug defendant’s prior statements when trying to impeach her trial testimony.
Nancy Grace has long thrived on the carrion of high-profile murders and disappearances. Sometimes, however, there simply is not time to lose to distort facts into a juicy murderous tale. Thus, when Whitney Houston died, Grace was virtually hyperventilating in fashioning the death as a presumptive murder. Grace demanded to know who pushed Houston under the water in her tub or gave her the lethal dose of drugs or both.
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The new Libyan government has adopted many of the habits of its previous regime like torture and it can now add homophobic leadership. Libya’s new United Nations delegate to the U.N. Human Rights Council used a resolution to combat violence based on sexual orientation to denounce homosexuals as threatening the survival of the human race.
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There is a disputed shooting in Culpeper, Virginia where Patricia Cook, 54, was killed by an officer who said that she tried to drive away from a church parking lot while his arm was caught in the window. However, an eye witness has come forward to dispute that account and neighbors have questioned the need for lethal force against the unarmed woman.
The same week that the Durham District Attorney is appearing in a hearing on her possible removal, a Texas judge has found probable cause that former Williamson County District Attorney Ken Anderson withheld exculpatory evidence and may have caused a innocent man to be wrongfully convicted. Anderson, now a district judge himself, will face a likely special court of inquiry over his alleged misconduct.
A case out of York, England could raise the question of whether inebriation is a defense to animal abuse. A 20-year-old student was arrested for allegedly frying the pet hamster of his roommate while drunk.
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Respectfully submitted by Lawrence Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger
Just the other day we learned of the proposed foreclosure abuse settlement between the Attorney Generals of almost all 50 states and the Big Banks. In that pending settlement, the Banks will be depositing up to $26 Billion dollars into a fund designed to help homeowners whose homes are under water and who have been foreclosed upon. “Federal and state officials today will finally announce that they’ve reached a settlement with the nation’s biggest banks over the banks’ various foreclosure fraud abuses, such as “robo-signing” foreclosure documents and submitting falsely notarized documents to courts. The settlement has been in the works for several months, as a few key states — most notably California and New York — were holding out for tougher terms against the banks.” Think Progress While some still think the settlement does not go far enough, there is evidence that the settlement could provide real relief for homeowners and for the real estate market. But the concept of helping the market and homeowners gets lost, at least in the mind of Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin! Continue reading “Gov. Walker “Walks” All Over the Proposed Foreclosure Settlement”
Submitted by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger
“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.”
William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act V, Sc. 5
Some days when you wake up, don’t you just feel like doing something new and exciting? A way to change things up? Most people follow through with this urge by going to a new restaurant or visiting some place new or getting a different haircut. Perhaps trying a new outfit. Like all ideas, you can go too far with this impulse for change. Sometimes people get an idea and figure anything worth doing is worth overdoing, but I’m still trying to guess where the good idea/bad idea line was crossed in this case. If any forethought was given, I’m thinking the line was crossed fairly early on.
But crossed it was early on the morning of February, 3, 2012, in Neon, Kentucky. Andrew Toothman, 22, was apparently feeling the need to change things up when he broke into the IGA grocery store. What were his intentions you might be asking? I think possibly his intention was to make a bold fashion statement. That or he had simply taken leave of his senses. When the IGA employees arrived for work that morning, they found a surprise waiting for them. They found Mr. Toothman wearing black boots, chocolate and peanut butter. That’s it.
A former state trooper and Guadalupe County Judge Michael Thomas Wiggins, 58, was almost late for a conference of judges this week . . . he had to make bail to be released from jail on a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge.
Continue reading “Texas Judge Arrested For Pot Possession In Hotel Room”
The top Saudi clerics have found another person to execute for free speech. We have previously seen a number of people accused of blasphemy for brief tweets or Facebook entries or even reading a book or speaking insulting thoughts at prayer. There is now a campaign to execute 23-year-old journalist Hamza Kashgari for a tweet that he sent to Mohammad on his birthday about Kashgari’s faith. There is no evidence that Mohammad is actually one of his followers but Mohammad’s followers are pretty ticked and labelled Kashgari an “apostate” who must be killed for his offense to Islam.
Television anchor, Kyle Dyer, was bitten in the face by a 85-pound Argentine mastiff named Gladiator Maximus during an interview this week. The dog was the scene of a heroic rescue in icy waters after falling into the water while chasing a coyote. Firefighter Tyler Sugaski who rescued the dog is shown here with the owner 39-year-old Michael Robinson. The video is below.
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Debasish Majumder, 54, a court clerk in London, has pleaded guilty to watching pornography during a rape trial in court, including while the victim testified on her sexual assault. Majumber pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office and five counts of possession of indecent images. The latter charge appears to be child pornography found on his home computer. The Right Honorable Judge Nigel Seed (left) discovered the pornographic surfing.
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Temple University Edwin T. Kim, 31, has received a criminal conviction and two-years probation after pleading guilty to hacking into the school’s system to improve his grades. The tampering with records violation was discovered by one of his professors who found herself locked out of the system in trying to enter grades. What is remarkable however is the temerity of Kim who changed his F grade in a couple of classes to an A-.
Memphis lawyer Christopher F. Donovan, 42, has been arrested after a parking dispute gone bad where an officer charges that Donovan hit him with his car near the courthouse. The charge, however, is notably not assault but a Class A misdemeanor of reckless endangerment. We have previously seen how little contact it takes to be charged with assault on an officer. While Donovan appears in the wrong from the available facts, the charge of reckless endangerment could be challenged.
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