In the annals of thefts, this may be the coldest crime since the Grinch Stole Christmas. Burglars in Mesquite not only stole wrapped Christmas gifts but the Rusaw family’s dog, Candy, for good or bad measure.
Continue reading “Taking Candy From a Child: Thieves Steal Family’s Christmas Gifts and Their Dog”
Category: Criminal law
In our ongoing coverage of blasphemy prosecutions, the case of Gregory Luke, 64, in Indonesia is a standout. The retired Californian engineer is charged with blasphemy for allegedly turning off a speaker system during Ramadan playing prayers throughout the night. He denies that he did so, but the allegation was enough for a crowd to tear apart his home on Lombok island and Luke to be arrested.
Continue reading “Californian Engineer Charged With Blasphemy After Allegedly Turning Off Loud Speaker At Mosque”
This video contains very disturbing footage. What is striking is how brave and calm the school board members, particularly Bay City Schools Superintendent Bill Husfelt, prove under pressure. The gunman has been identified as Clay A. Duke.
Continue reading “Video: Florida Gunman Shoots At School Board Before Shooting Himself”
It was a horrific video. The victim was standing innocently in the street in Champaign-Urbana when a city bus is shown swerving to hit him. The victim literally seems to explode — piece flying under and over the bus. The bus driver has now resigned, but the snowman will never see Christmas.
We have been following the grotesque sentencings handed down under Sharia law’s medieval principle of “an eye for an eye,” including the recent variation of a spine for a spine. One such case previously discussed involved an Iranian court ordering that acid be dropped in the eyes of an Iranian man after he blinded the husband of his lover. Now, that sentence has been reviewed and upheld by Iran’s highest courts as perfectly proper under Sharia law.
Continue reading “Eye for An Eye: Iranian Supreme Court Upholds Sentence To Pour Acid In Eyes of Defendant”
This week, I watched the Daily Show interview with former Joint Chiefs of Staff retired General Hugh Shelton about his new memoir. What was most striking was his disclosure that a Clinton cabinet member suggested ordering a U.S. pilot to fly low in a U2 surveillance flight over Iraq in order to be shot down. The U.S. would then use the staged pretext to start a war with Saddam Hussein. What Shelton described is a proposed crime of horrendous proportions. However, he has not revealed the name of the cabinet member or whether Bill Clinton was aware of this proposed criminal act.
It is well known that I watch football games for the torts and New York Jets assistant coach Sal Alosi supplied a perfect case for battery this weekend. Despite the interesting legal dispute over the “one cheek, two cheek” rule in my Bears game, the jackbooted thugs at the network switched over to the “more competitive game” between the Dolphins and the Jets. I was quickly satiated, however, with the picture of Alosi tripping Miami’s Nolan Carroll on the sideline.
We have yet another arrest of a citizen for simply photographing police officers. We have been following this trend of abusive arrests (here and here and here and here), which are tolerated by legislators and police officers in clear violation of constitutional rights and good public policy. David Morse, 42, is a photojournalist who was arrested when he took pictures of a protest. Two UC Berkeley police officers allegedly wrongfully arrested him for taking their pictures.
Continue reading “UC Berkeley Police Officers Allegedly Arrest Journalist for Taking Their Picture”
In academia, we often like to study and report on the crimes and controversies in society as if our world is separate and apart from matters. The arrest of well-known Columbia professor David Epstein, 46, has shattered any such illusions. Epstein, who teaches political science and writes for Huffington Post, is accused of incest –stemming from a sexual relationship with a relative over a three-year period. Some are reporting that it was a relationship with his daughter, 24.
Continue reading “Columbia Professor and Huff Post Blogger Accused of Incest”
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Author’s note: This is my third submission about events of historical significance following pieces about George Washington and The Boston Tea Party. It is quite lengthy and for that I apologize, but the story and the people involved are both larger-than-life and fascinating. I hope you enjoy reading this history as much as I do writing about it.
Clutching the mahogany bannister of his elegant home located in the Shockoe neighborhood of Richmond’s River District, the old man haltingly descended the steps. Sweating profusely, and doubling up in pain, he could not even summon the energy to cry out. Almost falling numerous times, the ‘father of American jurisprudence,” finally reached the kitchen only to find his freed-slave housekeeper, Lydia Broadnax, and her son, Michael Brown, writhing in distress and afflicted with the same intestinal ailment. Hours later when one of the triumvirate of Richmond’s elite medical establishment would arrive, the Judge would purposefully sit-up in his bed to declare, “I am murdered.” It was May 25, 1806. Fourteen agonizing days and numerous repetitions of the charge later, that prediction would come true.
Continue reading “The Curious Death of George Wythe: “I Am Murdered!””
Thomas Drummond is a resourceful fellow. Driving in the unfamiliar wilds of southeastern Missouri, Drummond spun out on icy roads and ended up in culvert. In his last-“ditch” effort to notify someone of his plight, he texted his girlfriend about the accident around 2:00 a.m., but, in a curious omission, forgot to tell her the location. Two hours later, a soused (0.148 BAC) Drummond was found by the highway patrol and promptly arrested for operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.
Continue reading “Get Lost, Get Cold, Get Drunk, Get Acquitted”
With a 2000 year old history, the Holy Thorn Tree of Glastonbury has stood as an important symbol for Christians in England — a pilgrimage point retracing the steps of Joseph of Arimathea (believed to be Jesus’ great uncle). Now it has been cut down in what some are alleging to be an anti-Christian act of vandalism. I have seen no evidence establishing an anti-Christian intent.
Continue reading “Vandals Cut Down The Holy Thorn Tree of Glastonbury”
We have previously followed complaints from families in the Jewish Orthodox community that pedophiles continue to receive protection from disclosure or prosecution — even as the Catholic Church is forced to deal with its own scandal. This has come to another flashpoint with the hunt for Brooklyn Rabbi Gershon Kranczer and his 21-year-old son Asher for the sexual abuse of four family relatives.
Continue reading “Child Abuses Allegations Hit The Orthodox Jewish Community”
William Vasilakos has a novel claim against Hartford, Connecticut Officer Michael Presti — alleging that Presti took his cellphones and then emailed revealing pictures of and videos of Presti’s girlfriend to his own phone.
Continue reading “Police Officer Allowed to Remain on Force after Arresting Man and Stealing Images of His Girlfriend From His Cellphone”
While I was trying the case, the Florida appellate court issued an interesting ruling that a former elementary school principal was wrongly convicted of child pornography when he pasted the faces of some of his 11- and 12-year-old students over pictures of adult women. John Stelmack is already serving five years for the crime.
Continue reading “Child Porn Conviction Overturned of Elementary Principal Who Pasted Pictures of Students on Bodies of Adults”