A New Mexico policeman is accused in a new lawsuit of tasering a 10-year-old child on a playground after the boy refused to clean his patrol car. The lawsuit has been filed by a guardian ad litem, Rachel Higgins, and accuses New Mexico Department of Public Safety and Motor Transportation Police Officer Chris Webb of the battery on the child.
Category: Criminal law
This is Eric Bodenweiser, Republican candidate for the Delaware State Senate and anti-gay member of the Delaware Family Policy Council. Bodenweiser, 53, was viewed as unbeatable in the race against his Democratic challenger right up to the time the family values candidate was arrested for allegedly having unlawful sex acts with a 13-year-old boy.
Here is our annual list of Halloween torts and crimes. This holiday remains a favorite for personal injury lawyers around the world and this year’s additions show why. Of course, with Sandy, our area is already looking pretty spooky with downed trees and tattered exteriors.
So, with no further ado, here is this year’s annual Spooky Torts list of actual cases from Halloween (with our past winners).
Continue reading “Spooky Torts: The 2012 List Of Halloween Litigation Horrors”
In Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Vincent T. Anderson, 19, from Little Rock, Arkansas, and Marcus E. Jones, 27, of Cotton Plant, Arkansas, have been charged with first stealing a car and then hitting pedestrians in what they described as a game akin to “Grand Theft Auto.”
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence Rafferty (rafflaw)- Guest Blogger
I guess I should not be surprised that the State of Mississippi is once again in the news because the Federal Government has filed a Civil Rights lawsuit against it. The Department of Justice has filed a suit against the State of Mississippi, and the City of Meridian, along with the county and various state agencies, alleging that the defendants have worked to operate a “school to prison” system that allegedly violated the rights of African-American students and students with disabilities. Continue reading “The Department of Justice Sues Mississippi…Again!”
There is a truly bizarre case out of California this week in which A 90-year-old California man Jay Leone was shot during an alleged burglary by a methamphetamine addict. The addict, Samuel Cutrufelli, 31, has now sued Leone for negligence. It is the type of case often referenced by legislators in support of Castle Doctrine or Make My Day laws — laws that I have long opposed. Indeed, this case is an example of why such laws are not needed. The case appears meritless and will likely face dismissal by the court.
Continue reading “Ninety Year Old California Man Sued By An Addict Who Shot Him In His Home”
We have another bizarre case of a person who faked a hate crime. We previously followed the case of a lesbian in Nebraska charged with faking a gruesome anti-homosexual attack in her home. Now, police have concluded that a black woman in Louisiana who was the subject of vigil and national outcry is not a victim after all. Sharmeka Moffitt, 20, claimed that three white men doused her with a flammable liquid and lit her on fire while writing KKK and a racial slur on her car. Police say that Moffitt did these acts to herself.
While we continue to struggle with questions of the most humane methods of execution, North Korea (the second happiest place on Earth) has implemented a new approach: death by mortar. Kim Chol, vice minister of the army, was executed by mortar for partying during the official mourning period following the death of the “Dear One,” Kim Jong-il.
Continue reading “North Korea Executes Ranking Army Minister By Mortar Shell”
The world has watched as Russian President Vladimir Putin destroys the fledgling democracy movement in Russia and reinstates authoritarian government to that nation. While actively (and admittedly) crafting a cult of personality around manufactured Superhuman exploits, Putin has striven to reinstate the oppressive laws from the Soviet era. In the face of continuing protests, Putin appears intent to show that he can and will do anything he wants with critics. This month his underlings arrested the best known protest organizer Sergei Udaltsov while his government has shutdown international human rights organizations and NGOs. At the same time, his government has passed a new law in the lower house of the Duma to radically expand the definition of treason in Russia. Udaltsov led the largest protests against Putin as part of a campaign of “Russia Without Putin.”
We have another “Castle doctrine” case this week. The most recent case comes from Kalispell, Montana where Brice Harper, 24, gunned down Dan Fredenberg, 40, in his garage. Fredenberg (left), 40, was coming over to confront Harper (right below) about having an affair with his wife, Heather Fredenberg. Harper cut the encounter short by shooting him dead and a prosecutor has declared that the shooting cannot be prosecuted given the state’s Castle doctrine or “Make My Day” law.
Tunisan Nadar Khiari, 28, will soon be back on his way to Tunisia and should consider himself fortunate that he avoided a longer stay in Sweden after an despicable crime caught on camera. Khiari was waiting for a train when he saw a drunk man fall on to the train tracks. At first, the video below suggests that Khiari is coming to the man’s aid. Instead, Khiari jumps down and robs the unconscious man and leaves him on the tracks where the man is struck and lost his foot (but miraculously survived).
There is an interesting decision out of Chicago in which Judge William Bauer (left) finds that a Chicago zoning inspector is innocent of federal bribery because the bribes were too modest to constitute the prescribed crime. Dominick Owens was convicted under a federal statute for taking two $600 bribes to issue certificates of occupancy for four homes. However, the federal law states a $5000 threshold and the court ruled that the value of the bribes fell below that definition. It is a curious bribery statute that effectively distinguishes between federal non-criminal and criminal bribes on the basis of their worth.
In a blow to science and rational thought, Italian prosecutors have succeeded in convicting seven of that country’s leading scientists of manslaughter for failing to predict the 2009 earthquake that struck central Italy. Despite objections from the world’s science community that such accurate and consistent predictions are still impossible, the government blamed the scientists for failing to alert the public that an earthquake was coming.
Continue reading “Leading Italian Scientists Convicted Of Failing To Predict 2009 Earthquake”
There is a bizarre case out of Pennsylvania that raises both potential tort and criminal liability. At a family Halloween bonfire, Janet Grant spotted a skunk and told her son Thomas Grant to fetch a shotgun and shoot it. When he returned, Janet Grant shined a flashlight on the animal while her son shot it. It was only then that they discovered that Thomas Grant had just shot his eight-year-old cousin in her black and white Halloween costume. What is amazing is that authorities say that they are considering possible animal gaming charges.