There is an interesting case out of Olympia, Washington where a transgender person is alleging discrimination after being asked to leave the women’s locker room due to his exposing himself to young girls. In a case that is likely to become more common with the expanded rights for transgender individuals, the question is whether schools should bar such exposure in areas with young children or teens.
Category: Criminal law
In my hometown of Chicago, it appears that the lawyers can generate their own criminal cases without the need for clients. Cook County Public Defender Henry Hams is facing assault charges after a scuffle with Assistant State’s Attorney Mike McCormick. Hams claimed self-defense but prosecutors insisted that the prosecutor was the victim. The jury in Skokie clearly did not agree and yesterday acquitted Hams. McCormick is suing Hams civilly for his injuries.
Continue reading “Public Defender Found Not Guilty In Case Of Assault On Prosecutor In Cook County”
Michael Keeley and his wife are legitimately confused. Police in Georgia arrested three men in their rental property in October after finding meth inside their car. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security and Clayton police then searched the rental property for additional drugs and evidence. According to the Keeley’s, they did not look hard enough. When Keeley and his wife and 9-year-old child went to the home that day to clean it for the next tenant, they found eight bags of narcotics hidden behind the walls. They called police which came right over . . . and arrested the couple in front of their nine-year-old child. They say it was the local Clayton police who were abusive — grabbing their phone and yelling at them. They told Keeley to stop lying and that they knew no one broke into the home. It is not clear why Keeley would call to report his own drugs. Continue reading “Family Calls Police To Report Drugs Left In Rental Property In Georgia . . . Police Arrest Parents and Threaten To Send Crying Child To Child Welfare”
We are just hearing about torts and crimes rolling in from Halloween (to be added to our 2013 listing of Spooky Torts). None are quite as bizarre as the arrest of Christopher Dabney, 22, a Marine veteran who took offense at the costume of Daniel Priotti in a wheelchair. It appears that Priotti was dressed as a veteran in a wheelchair. It turns out that Priotti is a disabled Marine veteran confined to a wheelchair. At the time of the attack, Dabney was wearing a pink tutu.
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.
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.