Dallas Police Sr. Cpl. Cat Lafitte has become the latest victim of the enticement of Facebook. Lafitte reportedly posted an assortment of shocking comments on her accounts, including bragging about cutting a hospital worker’s face when he tried to get her to stop screaming profanities into her cellphone.
Continue reading “Dallas Officer Suspended Over Facebook Postings”
Category: Criminal law
Mike Appleton (guest blogger)
A Florida circuit judge has issued an administrative order virtually certain to result in a court battle pitting the right of free speech against the duty of courts to protect the integrity of jury deliberations. The order prohibits “the dissemination of all leaflets and other materials to summoned jurors, as well as approaching a summoned juror for the purpose of displaying a sign to, or engaging in oral protest, education or counseling with information tending to influence summoned jurors on any matter, question, cause, or proceeding which may be pending, or which may be brought, before him or her as such juror… .”
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Steve Martin’s character, Navin Johnson, has nothing on two West Virginia residents hell-bent to rescue a relative with car trouble. Hearing the plea for help, but without sufficient funds to finance the 34 mile trip from Somerset, PA to New Stanton, PA, cousins Michael Allen Graham, 37, and John Edward Barry, 35, got resourceful. Believing they could “live off the land,” so to speak, the Milton, WVa duo began an alleged shoplifting spree at gas stations and auto parts stores in the general direction of the disabled motorist.
Continue reading “Politics of Contraband: Jerks Smuggle Jerky to Finance 34 Mile Trip”
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
On the National Level
In late January, I wrote a post titled Rape Redefined and Brought to You by the US House of Representatives in which I 
talked about members of Congress—mostly Republicans—who were attempting to “redefine” what the only REAL kind of rape is—that would be “forcible rape.” (I wasn’t aware there was any other kind of rape.) These Congressmen were proposing legislation that would no longer consider the following types of sexual assault as rape: The rapes of women with limited mental capacity and rapes in which women were drugged or given excessive amounts of alcohol.
Continue reading “The Right’s War on Women Continues…at the State Level”
Harvey A. Updyke, 62, reportedly really really likes the Alabama Crimson Tide . . . and does not think much of trees. Police arrested Updyke in the poisoning of the historic oak “Toomer’s” trees at Auburn where victories have long been celebrated by students and faculty.
Continue reading “Meet Harvey Updyke: ‘Bama Tide Fan and Alleged Tree Killer”
Evan Emory, 21, is the focus of a curious case of pornography in Wisconsin. Emory convinced a first-grade teacher at Ravenna’s Beechnau Elementary School to allow him to come into her class and sing two kid-themed songs. He videotaped the songs and then went home and substituted sexual lyrics to make it look like the kids were listening to provocative songs. He now faces a potential sentence of twenty years for the crime.
Continue reading “Wisconsin Man Charged With Child Porn After Altering Video of School Song To Look Like Kids Were Listening To Sexual Lyrics”
In Sarasota County, Florida, Neil Lansing, 34, proved a virtual Cornucopia during a cavity search during booking. Officers removed everything short of his lawyer in their routine search.
Continue reading “Horn-O-Plenty: Inmate Found With 30 Items During Cavity Search”
Former Franklin County District Attorney John Pilati has added another ignoble precedent to his record. Pilati has just completed a sentence for civil rights violations involving prisoners. Since these allegations include fondling men as they provided urinary drug tests, he must now register as a sex offender according to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in the decision below.
Continue reading “Former Prosecutor Required To Register As Sex Offender”
After previously heralding the Egyptian protests as a triumph for democracy, the Iranian government has made it clear that such demonstrations are best viewed from afar. After cracking down on tens of thousands of protesters yesterday, Iranian legislators are calling for the leaders of the protests to be executed. This followed the announcement that the government will be opening special courts to punish journalists.
Continue reading “Iranian Legislators Call For The Execution of Protest Leaders”
Ann Coulter may have finally found a country with that perfect mix of robust conservative values and restrictions on the free press . Only days after Ann Coulter was met with thunderous applause at CPAC after proclaiming “I think there should be more jailed journalists,” Iranian officials have announced the creation of a new court for media crimes. It is not clear whether the Iranians will name the new tribunals “Coulter courts” but they should be a real crowd pleaser for those who wildly applauded at CPAC.
Continue reading “Coulter Courts? Iran Creates A New Media Court To Jail Journalists”
Loretta Van Beek insists she is not a Canadian raspberry mule. Indeed, she is suing the United States government after she was questioned for hours and strip searched at the border. Van Beek, 46, had failed to declare a few raspberries discovered by our border police, who became suspicious that she was living illegally in the United States. Illegals are known to be partial to raspberries.
Continue reading “Canadian Woman Found With Undeclared Raspberries and Strip Searches and Barred From Country”
Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty, (rafflaw) Guest Blogger
You may recall that after the horrible Tucson shooting massacre, I wrote a piece for this blog suggesting that it might be a good time to consider banning deadly weapons and the high-capacity magazines of the type that the alleged killer used on that fateful day. It was a difficult issue, but I thought then and still think now that it is an important issue that needs to be discussed by not only us, but by the American public through their Representatives and Senators in Congress. With that prior posting in mind, I was shocked to read a story earlier this week about the president of the National Rifle Association, Wayne LaPierre, who blamed the shootings on government policies in a recent speech to the CPAC conference on Thursday, February 10th. Continue reading “The NRA Claims That the Government is to Blame For Tucson Shootings”
Submited by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
NBA star Le Bron James did what lots of professional players would love to do – he confronted a loud mouth fan during a game on Friday night. James, who recently departed his hometown team in Cleveland to a storm of criticism, was playing an away game in Auburn Hills Michigan against the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons, perennial bad boys of the NBA since the days of notorious Bill Laimbeer and kooky Dennis Rodman, are in a hopeless downward spiral this season, while James’ team, the Miami Heat, are favorites to win the Eastern Division.
Linden Municipal Court Judge Louis DiLeo has been accused of an extraordinary act of misconduct in New Jersey. Wendell Kirkland alleges that DiLeo convicted him of burglary without the use of a prosecutor and even allowed a police officer to question him as if he were the prosecutor.
Continue reading “New Jersey Judge Accused of Allowing Police Officer to Serve As Prosecutor And Denying Counsel to Defendant”
Four men, including three Catholic priests, were arrested in Philadelphia for allegedly raping and assaulting boys. Most notably, a former official in the Philadelphia Archdiocese was also arrested for his role in facilitating the abuse by failing to stop the priests — a charge that could be replicated in other cases involving the Church.
Continue reading “Three Priests and a Teacher Arrested in Philadelphia for Allegedly Raping Boys”