Category: Criminal law

Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, Society

New Jersey Man Sues Over Arrest For Flipping The Bird At Police Officers

Robert Bell is fighting for a quintessential expression of free speech in New York and New Jersey — he was arrested for flipping the bird at police officers. We have seen such cases in other states where officers have arrested citizens for this vulgar but protected form of speech. After Bell was charged with disorderly conduct for making an “obscene gesture” and causing public alarm and annoyance, the charges were dropped. He then sued. As in so many other cases of abusive arrests, there is no record of any discipline taken against the officers who made the groundless arrest. The lack of discipline allows some officers to carry out baseless arrests with the knowledge that the citizen will be punished by the inconvenience of going to jail or to court or both — with the added need of securing an attorney.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

Arizona Man Interviews For Border Patrol and Proceeds To Confess To Child Molestation, Bestiality, and Drug Use

I have heard about some bad interview experiences from law students but few could top Cody Slaughter, 22, who interviewed for a job with the border patrol. Slaughter was a bit more forthcoming than usual in answering questions by revealing that he had molested a 2-year-old girl, had sexual relations with a dog, horse and pig, and had a history of drug abuse. He didn’t get the job but he is working with law enforcement after his arrest.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, Society

Minnesota Appellate Court Rejects First Amendment Claim Of Former Nurse Who Encouraged Suicides

A Minnesota appellate court has rejected the free speech claims of former nurse William Melchert-Dinkel, 48, who encouraged people to commit suicide online. As with other civil libertarians, I have expressed concern over the implications of the case in convicting Melchert-Dinkel for sharing information on suicide and encouraging third parties to end their lives.

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Criminal law, Society

“Happy Slapping”: Two Chicago Teens Charged With Fatal Beating of Father of 12 Captured For Facebook

It has been a rough year for my hometown from thugs in limos to random beat downs. Now, Delfino Mora, 62, a father of 12, has been beaten to death by teens who filmed the murder and posted it on a gang members Facebook site. Three teens — Malik Jones, 16, Nicholas Ayala, 17, (shown left) and Anthony Malcolm (shown right), 18 — have been arrested. The beating is what is called “happy slapping” where thugs will beat people at random and then post it on Facebook or YouTube.

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Criminal law, Society

Florida Police Pound On Wrong Door Looking For Suspect Without Identifying Themselves . . . Then Shoot And Kill Innocent Man Who Answers The Door With Weapon

Sheriff deputies in Lake County, Florida are the focus of public outcry after they went to the wrong home to arrest an attempted murder suspect, did not announce they were officers, and then shot and killed Andrew Lee Scott, 26, when he pointed a gun at the strangers at his door.

Continue reading “Florida Police Pound On Wrong Door Looking For Suspect Without Identifying Themselves . . . Then Shoot And Kill Innocent Man Who Answers The Door With Weapon” →

Bizarre, Criminal law, Politics, Religion, Society

Saudi Arabia Moves Toward Expansion of Blasphemy Law To Cover Social Networks and Blogs

Saudi Arabia is moving to expand its already draconian laws concerning blasphemy. The new regulations by the ultra-conservative Shura council following the arrest of Saudi blogger and columnist Hamza Kashgari, 23, was arrested for tweeting comments deemed as insulting the Prophet Mohammad.

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Criminal law, Society

Witnesses Accuse Houston Police Of Responding To Call By Killing The Alleged Unarmed Victim And Seizing His Friend’s Camera

Witnesses in Houston are contradicting police accounts of the fatal shooting of Rufino Lara. Officer J. McGowan arrived at the scene after reportedly being called by friends of Lara who said that he was being chased by men with a knife (he does not speak English). The friends of Lara insist that when McGowen arrived she told Lara to put his hand in the air and then shot the unarmed man. A friend started to film the scene as McGown allegedly ripped open his shirt in search of a weapon until McGown seized the camera and said that she is not allowed to film police officers.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech

Fortune-Telling Is Constitutionally Protected Speech

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

United States District Judge for the Western District of Louisiana, Dee Dodson Drell, has upheld the district court finding that an Alexandria, Louisiana, ordinance banning fortune-tellers is unconstitutional. Drell said that banning fortune-telling is a violation of the First Amendment’s right to free speech.

The city of Alexandria argued the business of fortune-telling is a fraud and inherently deceptive.

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Bizarre, Courts, Criminal law, Lawyering

Something Did Not Stay In Vegas: Florida Father Jailed For Contempt in Consenting To 16-Year-Old Son To Marry

There is an absolutely fascinating contempt finding in Florida where Millionaire Dan Rotta, 65, has been sent to jail for 180 days for criminal contempt in a divorce case — for allowing his 16 year old son to get married in Las Vegas. The court had ordered that the boy be sent to a special school in Utah — at the request of his mother Rene Rotta — in light of his problems with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder. However, by marrying with the consent of one parent in Vegas, the boy is now legally treated as an adult and is no longer under the jurisdiction of the court as a child in the divorce case.

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Bizarre, Criminal law

Now That’s Better: Texas Man Convicted Of Using Wendy’s To Distribute Child Porn

What would be the fast-food restaurant of choice for a pedophile? Why Wendy’s of course. Juan Antonio Rosa, 36, has been sentenced to nearly 22 years in prison for distributing child porn with food at Wendy’s in San Antonio. The password for pedophiles? No, it wasn’t the Wendy’s slogan: Now That’s Better. It was the far more creepy, kid-friendly password: “Scooby Doo.”

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Criminal law, Society, Torts

Freeh Report: Penn State Officials Failed To Protect Children and Facilitated The Abuse

We have been following the Penn State scandal and the school’s possible culpability in the matter. Now the long-awaited Freeh report has been issued (a copy is below). The report is a damning indictment of the school which is found to have failed to protect the children in order to protect the school from embarrassment. This included “striking lack of empathy for child abuse victims by the most senior leaders of the University.”

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

Unsafe At Any Speed: Minnesota Police Pull Over What May Be World’s Most Unsafe Car

My friend Ralph Nader became famous with his study of “Unsafe At Any Speed,” showing the dangers of the Chevrolet Corvair. He may want to do a sequel based on this vehicle seized by the Minnesota State Patrol. You start with a Ford Pinto (notorious for blowing up in relatively low-speed collisions) and then add a few of these personal touches to make what may be the world’s most unsafe vehicle.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Media, Politics, Society

Russia Moves To Restrict Internet Sites — Putin Crackdown Supported By InfoWatch CEO

While declaring the demise of the West, Russian President Vladimir Putin is close to enacting sweeping new powers to regulate the Web and block sites of his government’s choosing.  He has received support from Natalya Kaspersky, chief executive of InfoWatch, who said that the Web could use some government control and that civil libertarians are exaggerating concerns about Putin’s control of speech on the Internet. For those people signing up with InfoWatch, it may come as a bit of a surprise that the company is aligned with a man who is rolling back on basic civil liberties for millions and working to limit speech on the Internet — a threat to his authoritarian agenda. Kaspersky actually heralds the possible benefits of a Russian blacklist controlled by Putin.

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Academia, Bizarre, Criminal law, International, Politics, Religion, Society

Islamic Militants Destroy Historic Sites In Timbuktu

Islamic militants destroyed two of the historic tombs at the famous 14th century Djingareyber mosque in Timbuktu this week. The militants from the Ansar Dine group say the centuries-old shrines of the local Sufi version of Islam are idolatrous. In the meantime, some Egyptian Muslim extremists are following the victory by the Muslim Brotherhood with demands that the pyramids be destroyed for the same reason. Obviously these are extreme groups within the Muslim community. This later story is based on accounts coming from various sites but appear based on the same claimed translation of sites, though some have called it a hoax.

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