One can certainly understand why Ryan Adams is a bit confused in Pflugerville, Texas. After a dove hit the side of his house and broke its neck, Adams decided to eat it. He proceeded to post a picture and the recipe on cooking the Texas white-winged dove on the Internet. The doves are killed in the thousands by hunters in the U.S. and Mexico during this season. However, because he did not shoot the dove himself with a license, he has found himself the target of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Category: Criminal law
There has been continuing controversy over the heavy use of stop and frisks in New York — 700,000 in just 2011 alone. Only 2 percent turned up contraband and minority groups have objected to what they claim is profiling and harassment. This video gives an insight into the type of abuse that can occur in such incidents. In this video, a teenager named Alvin is stopped by three officers on the grounds that he looks “suspicious.” The officers are caught calling him a “fuckin’ mutt” and threatening to break his arm and beat him. He is roughed up and repeatedly told to “shut the fuck up” when he tries to ask questions.
The Pennsylvania’s Court of Judicial Discipline has found that Traffic Court Judge Willie F. Singletary is guilty of bringing his office into disrepute in a bizarre case involving the judge holding “photo sessions” with his genitals . . . and then showing the picture on his iPhone to a Traffic Court cashier. It was not the first time that Singletary has run afoul of standard of judicial decorum. However, his alleged “grooming” of his member for the photo display appears to have been enough to force his resignation. He is shown here in his other job — as pastor at a West Philadelphia church that he founded.
We have another despicable crime committed by fanatics in the name of religion. Malala Yousufzai, 14, is an incredibly brave girl who wrote about the atrocities against women and girls under Taliban rule — writing about conditions and crimes in the area. She was honored internationally for her advocacy. A Taliban gunman walked on to her bus as it was leaving her school and asked for her by name. Another girl pointed her out but Malala denied being the girl so the gunman shot both girls in the name of Allah.
Associate Justice Antonin Scalia is again making headlines with controversial public statements. I have previously written about Scalia and the advent of the celebrity justice. Scalia clearly relishes the public attention, even though his public controversies likely cost him the Chief Justice position on the Court. Continuing his celebrity tour before conservative groups, Scalia thrilled his “base” by declaring that the criminalization of homosexuality, abortion, and the death penalty are “absolutely easy” questions.
Brenda Geers may have to revisit Step One in her Alcoholic Anonymous program. Geers not only hit an eighteen-year-old college student in Boulder, Colorado but crashed into St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church while driving drunk to her Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.
It really does not get worse that this in terms of allegations of misconduct. Pennsylvania deputy attorney general Douglas B. Barbour, 33, and his wife, Kristen B. Barbour, 30, have been charged with child endangerment and assault of two children they adopted from Ethiopia just this year. There is also an aggravated assault charge against them both for the abuse of the 18-month-old daughter. The other child is a six-year-old boy.
Duluth, Minnesota Police Officer Richard Jouppi will face criminal charges for beating a man in a detox facility last month after a review by an independent counsel. Jouppi will be charged with counts of fifth-degree assault and disorderly conduct, both misdemeanors.
Continue reading “Minnesota Police Facing Criminal Charges For Beating Man In Wheelchair In Detox Room”
Police in Alberta Canada announced a major drug bust in ripping up 1,600 marijuana plants from the back yard of Ryan Thomas Rockman. It was the work of the Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT), which has dropped the charge of producing a controlled substance after they found that they had pulled up the man’s drugs daisies.
Jason Cantrell, an assistant city attorney in New Orleans, has resigned after being given a summons for marijuana possession. Cantrell was in court when a joint fell out of his pocket in front of a New Orleans police officer. The incident not only cost Cantrell his job but has put his wife, New Orleans City Council candidate LaToya Cantrell in a difficult spot.
Detroit has yet another high-ranking scandal this week. This time it is the Police Chief Ralph Godbee who has been suspended with pay after a subordinate officer Angelica Robinson was seen on Twitter with her service weapon in her mouth. Godbee replaced Police Chief Warren Evans, who was fired in 2010 after . . . you guessed it . . . he had an affair with a subordinate officer. By the way, Robinson worked at Internal Affairs, the office that investigates misconduct by officers.
Continue reading “Police Chief Suspended In Latest Scandal To Grip Detroit”
It appears that stripping naked is becoming something of the rage around the country. After a Michigan State Professor stripped naked in his math class, Sarah Butler brought her three children to a high school and stripped naked in what she believed was a logical response to the approaching end of the world.
Her attorney insisted that the incident in front of the suburban Philadelphia high school was triggered by an adverse response to a prescription drug. I can accept that but what I find intriguing is the fact that her two adult children and teenage son also stripped naked in front of the school.
There is an interesting law that has been proposed in Miami-Dade to require online registry of “dangerous dogs.” The law would require registration of any dogs or other pets that attack or bite people in the same way that sex offenders register to public disclosure. The registry could have significant implications for tort law and the liability for dog bites. One commissioner is even proposing a dog mug shot gallery.
Continue reading “Pug Mugs: Miami Considers Dangerous Dog Registry and Mug Shot Gallery”
Dr. Diana Williamson, 56, has a novel defense to Medicaid fraud: she says the crime was actually committed by Nala, her alternative personality. The ultimate Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde defense. She claims that the disorder developed as a result of sexual abuse as a child by a Massachusetts priest. Supporting their claim is a diagnosis some 25 years ago.
Continue reading “Doctor Claims Alternative Personality Was Responsible For Criminal Fraud”
An Ethiopian woman working as a maid in Dubai was left homeless and penniless after her employee threw her out of the house without paying her for three months work. Destitute and depressed, the woman, 24, known only as AM, stood in the middle of a road to be hit by a car. The government promptly acted in the tragic act. The woman was gently moved to the side the road and arrested. She will now face a fine of Dh1000.