Florida trooper Detrick McClellan (left) was on-duty when he sped at more than 100 mph without emergency lights down a county road and slammed into a Mitsubishi Galant driven by Michelle Campbell, 51. Campbell died in the crash and her granddaughter, 12, flew through the windshield. Her adult niece was also injured. McClellan was found at fault and given three traffic citations even though he said he was responding to a call about someone throwing rocks off an overpass. He was facing citations for careless driving, speeding, and failure to use his emergency lights. Yet, when McClellan came up for his hearing, the ticketing officer was no where to be found and the judge therefore dismissed the case. A video shows officers and McClellan laughing after the dismissal.
Category: Criminal law
Missouri Rep. Mike Leara has a curious concept of democracy, let alone free speech. Leara has proposed a law that would make it a crime for any of his colleagues to introduce gun control legislation.
We previously discussed the legal issues raised by ChristianMingle promising the faithful to help find “God’s Choice” for them. It seems unlikely that Sean Patrick Banks, 37, was God’s Choice for an ideal Christian date. He is now accused of raping women that he met through ChristianMingle.com across the country.
Meet Joe Rickey Hundley, 60, of Hayden, Idaho who allegedly responded to an irritable flight by getting himself arrested and later fired from his job as a company executive at a defense contractor. Hundley was on a Delta flight when he allegedly slapped a 19-month-old boy who was crying.
Two Wichita brothers may have won not only the lottery but the top spot for the most dim-witted felons this week. The brother won a $75,000 winning lottery ticket and celebrated by buying pot and meth . . . and proceeded to burn down their house, securing their own arrests.
It appears that police supervisors in the West Midlands Police department have a certain lack of humor. Officers were frustrated by the demands of prosecutors for an account of an arrest involving a dog capture. The account lacked a witness statement. Finally, the officers completed a witness statement (below) on behalf of “PC Peach” and then posted a copy at the station. I personally thought it was a scream but supervisors told the officers that they are not amused.
Bonnie Jonas-Boggioni, 65, and her husband were driving home to Plano, Texas, when they were pulled over under suspicion of being drug mules. The elderly couple would not seem to fit a profile for a cartel member, but the Tennessee police felt that they had made a critical mistake in their drug conspiracy. Their car had a picture of a marijuana leaf — apparently a common marking for drug mules. It turned out to be a Buckeye leaf decal. After being detained, the police reportedly told the Ohio State football fans that they needed to be more careful in the future and take off the decal. It appears to be the view of the Tennessee police that a picture of something looking like pot is enough for reasonable suspicion.
A new videotape is causing a stir in Florida after Broward Sheriff’s Officer Deputy Alan Dubinski unleashed a torrent of obscenities on a suspect, Jessie Merchant. Duinski threatens to threw the man to alligators. Yet, he was given only a written reprimand and returned to active duty. Ironically, Merchant was being investigated for causing a disturbance. The video is below.
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger
In the weeks since the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, the call for more action in controlling military style guns and large capacity magazines has increased, but as of yet, nothing concrete has been done on the national level. In fact, the NRA was recently quoted as suggesting that nothing will be done, once the country gets over the “Connecticut Effect”! “The National Rifle Association will wait until the “Connecticut effect” has subsided to resume its push to weaken the nation’s gun laws, according to a top NRA lobbyist speaking at the NRA’s Wisconsin State Convention this weekend.” Think Progress Continue reading “The Connecticut Effect”
Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger
In August 2011 I wrote a guest blog titled: Tea Party and the Myth of a Grassroots Movement”. Using various newspaper and internet sources I showed that the meme created about the “Tea Party” that it was a “grassroots uprising” of ordinary citizens to take back their country from the out of control liberals, was simply not true. The “Tea Party” is a movement fabricated by certain plutocratic corporate interests to maintain themselves as relatively tax free and maintain control over the fiscal state of our country. I’m revisiting it today because of the guest blog I’ve just submitted about CNN and the rest of the news media, in light of a post by Al Gore at Huffington Post, publicizing his new book which deals with the back-story of the creation of the “Tea Party” and its negative influence upon our country. Some of Al Gores’ evidence and that forming the basis of my original guest blog overlap, but the important difference is he’s Al Gore, former Vice President and a centrist. I on the other hand am merely an aging ex-hippy, who remains a political radical. The truth of the “Tea Party’s” inception is not hidden from view and the facts are blatantly out there. What is important though is that the cable news media, press and the Washington punditry continue to describe the “Tea Party” in terms of its meme and myth as a grassroots entity and thus are complacent in a deception of the American people.
Daily we see stories about these “Tea Party” legislators elected to office on all levels of our government. They are falsely portrayed as populists, who are “fed up” and ran for office to “change things” and return to our Constitution. Large percentages of “Tea Party people in polls still believe that Barack Obama was born in Africa and is a Muslim intent on destroying Christianity and America. They see him as a communist, socialist and fascist simultaneously intent on dismantling our capitalist way of life and crushing American exceptionalism. I understand that one can be a reasonable person an oppose Barack Obama’s activity as President. I oppose some of his positions strongly and I voted for him. However, if you believe the “birthers” and those who call him radical names, then I must say in my opinion you are delusional. He is a slightly right of center Democrat, hawkish on foreign policy and deferential to the Corporate Plutocracy. He may be a Constitutional Scholar, but he certainly hasn’t done enough to protect our Constitutional Freedoms. Yet we see this ultra right wing faction of the Republican Party thinking Obama as the anti-Christ and believing they are part of a spontaneous revolution performed in the interests of “protecting” America. Here’s why that isn’t true. Continue reading “Tea Party: A Phony Movement Mantled as Legitimate”
We have been following the disgraceful tenure of Jesse Jackson Jr. who disappeared for months as federal investigators closed in on his corrupt practices. He then was inexplicably reelected despite not running or offering any demonstrable evidence of any effort beyond self-dealing for himself and his family. He then resigned costing Chicago millions to replace him. It was, as noted earlier, just the latest scandal involving the family of Jesse Jackson in Chicago. It will now apparently get worse. Jackson will take a plea that reportedly implicates his wife, Sandi, in criminal conduct. However, for those concerned about the Administration giving a sweet deal to the powerful family of Jesse Jackson, the plea will raise some legitimate concerns if public reports are accurate. [Update: As expected, both Jacksons were charged on one count each. He was charged with misuse of campaign funds and she was charged with tax fraud).
Recently, the public was outraged by undercover videos taken in factory farms showing abuse of animals. While many legislators would see such videos and think of ways to force better conditions for animals, state Sen. Travis Holdman, a Republican from Markle, Ind., had a different reaction: make such videos by whistleblowers and journalists a crime.
Many emergency medical workers were visibly upset after prosecutors reduced charges for Michael Jaccarino, a prosecutor in the Brooklyn district attorney’s office, who attacked a female EMT in a drunken rage. Jaccarino was given just a 10 day community service sentence for his guilty plea to assaulting the ambulance worker while he was being taken to a hospital. Prosecutor Sherita Walton insisted that his drunkenness was a complete defense to intent since it was not clear if he actually intended to hurt the victim,Teresa Soler. EMT workers cried foul and suggested that prosecutors were being far more lenient on one of their own in the plea arrangement. We previously discussed the case.
Georgetown graduate Soma Sengupta may have been undone by sheer vanity. Sengupta had secured a position practicing in London based on a series of false documents and claims of her professional and educational history. However, it was her claim to be eight years younger than she is that caught the eye of a female clerk. The clerk raised the alarm over the misrepresentation and soon discovered the application to practice in England was riddled with false documents, including a letter of recommendation signed by Professor Robert Drinan a year after his death.
Rep. Earnest Smith has a curious understanding of the First Amendment. Smith is upset that someone photoshopped his picture by placing his head on the body of a porn star. He has responded by seeking to make such photoshopping a crime and insisting that “No one has a right to make fun of anyone. It’s not a First Amendment right.” That is news to many of us.