Inmates at a Vermont correctional unit’s print shop decided to use some artistic license on the state police crest that appears on police cars around the state. They inserted the image of a pig. Can you find it? The answer is below.
Continue reading “Can You Spot The Pig? Inmates Prank Police By Adding Swine Image To State Seal”
Researchers at the University of Cambridge have published a startling article in Science Magazine stating that drug addicts may have brain abnormalities that give them a predisposition toward addiction. It could radically change how we view addiction and its causes.
Continue reading “Study: Drug Addicts May Have Abnormal Brains Prone To Addiction”
Crooks have long sought “fences” to move stolen “ice” but a Chilean man appears to have taken the practice literally. He was arrested this week for selling glacier ice from Patagonia for “designer ice cubes” for the drinks of the rich and stupid.
Continue reading “The Ice Man Cometh: Chilean Man Arrested With Five Tons of Hot Ice”
In Fitchburg, Massachusetts, Judy Sanchez was at home with her three-year-old daughter when she heard pounding on her door. Before she could do anything, a chainsaw suddenly came tearing through the door and agents then kicked in the remainder with guns drawn. It then got worse . . .
The Church of Scientology has lost another case involving its allegedly fraudulent practices in extracting money from followers. A Paris appellate court has upheld the entirety of a fraud conviction and the fine of hundreds of thousands of euros against the Church of Scientology. The ruling comes at a time when current members have joined former members in challenging the practices of the Church.
Continue reading “Paris Appellate Court Upholds Fraud Conviction Against Church of Scientology”
John Goodman, 48, appears to have come upon a legal strategy that clenches the title of the worst person in the world. Goodman, the wealthy founder of the International Polo Club Beach in Wellington, was arrested after he killed Scott Patrick Wilson, 23, while driving drunk. Facing a civil lawsuit from his family, Goodman has legally adopted his 42-year-old girlfriend, Heather Laruso Hutchins, as his daughter to protect some of his money.
In California’s Rancho Corral de Tierra (part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area), a National Park Service Ranger reportedly shot Gary Hesterberg in the back with a taser after he walked away during a confrontation over walking his two lapdogs off leash. He was then arrested on suspicion of failing to obey a lawful order, having dogs off-leash and knowingly providing false information. The park service spokesperson reportedly said it is all part of teaching citizens about the new leash law in the area . . . or teaching Hesterberg to heel.
This week, Miguel Morales Robles, a Mexican state official from Veracruz, was detained at an airport with $1.9 million stuffed into a briefcase and a backpack. However, Tomas Ruiz, treasury secretary for Veracruz state, assured the public that it was all perfectly innocent and legal — the official was just taking cash to Mexico City to pay an advertising firm to promote festivals.
Ilya Ablavsky, 33, has had his share of problems. As a student at Brandeis University, he was charged with making bomb threats after losing a primary race for mayor of Waltham. He also claims to suffer from bipolar and post-traumatic stress disorders as well as high anxiety. He can now add a suspended 18 month sentence to his woes after pleading guilty to stealing a court file in a murder case in an attempt to prevent the prosecution of an acquaintance. He had only had his license for a few months and will now likely lose it in a remarkably short legal career.
Continue reading “Massachusetts Lawyer Gets 18 Month Suspended Sentence For Stealing Court File”
It appears that Henry VIII is alive and well in Afghanistan . . . but not his wife. In another horrendous attack on a woman in that country, police are seeking Sher Mohammad who they say strangled his wife for giving birth to a girl rather than the boy that he wanted. Putting aside the man’s apparent ignorance of the fact that it was he who determined the gender of the child, it is another example of how women in some of these insular Muslim communities are treated as chattel. The man’s mother, Wali Hazrata, is accused of tying the feet of 22-year-old Stori or Estorai. She has been arrested while her son is believed to be with an illegal militia group.
Continue reading “Afghan Man Allegedly Strangles Wife For Bearing Him A Girl Rather Than A Son”
Ever since Benny Hill Americans have had a difficult time getting British humor. However, British tourists Leigh Van Bryan, 26, and pal Emily Bunting, 24, claim that the Department of Homeland Security not only lacks a sense of humor but does not recognize a joke from the quintessential American comedy show, Family Guy. Upon arriving at Los Angeles, they were interrogated for hours about tweets that they sent and eventually ejected from the country. Before their deportation, they say that they were held in a cell with narcotics traffickers for twelve hours.
New York attorney Crawford Shaw is in the center of a odd mystery. Just two hours before the passing of a deadline for a jackpot ticket to the state lottery, Shaw contacted the Iowa Lottery to submit the winning ticket on behalf of an unnamed client. The ticket was sold 13 months previously at a Des Moines gas station with a payout of $7.5 million cash or $10.3 million spread over 25 years. However, things then got pretty weird. The Iowa lottery proclaims that “Anything Can Happen” and it appears it has.
Continue reading ““Anything Can Happen”: New York Lawyer At The Center Of Lottery Mystery”
Submitted by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger
The 5th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution reads:
“No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”
The language is clear. There is no reasonable alternative construction or deconstruction of the language that renders any permutation of the right against self-incrimination to yield a contrary result. You don’t have to offer testimony against yourself in a criminal proceeding in any court of law. Ever. In what seems an ever increasing and endless assault on the civil rights of American citizens, even this right spelled out in plain language is under attack. This time the alleged assailant is U.S. District Court Judge Robert Blackburn, a George W. Bush appointee. Judge Blackburn has ordered a criminal defendant to produce a unencrypted version of an encrypted hard drive. While several lower courts have addressed this issue, the Supreme Court has yet to weigh in on it. That may change.
But is the 5th Amendment really under attack here? The 5th Amendment applies to testimony. The issue at hand here is production of evidence. Different standards and protections can apply to compelling the production of evidence. The case in front of Judge Blackburn is U.S. v. Fricosu.
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence Rafferty (rafflaw)–Guest Blogger
Here in Illinois it is currently illegal for citizens to audio tape record public officials while they are doing their public duty, even in public. “Illinois’ eavesdropping ban was extended in 1994 to include open and obvious audio recording, even if it takes place on a public street where no expectation of privacy exists and in a volume audible to the “unassisted human ear.” ‘ Chicago Tribune When I first heard of this law, I was at first shocked and then my shock turned to anger. The police can make recordings of citizens out in public while they are in the midst of a traffic stop or even when one is exercising their First Amendment rights on the streets of Chicago. But, private citizens are not allowed to record those same police officers when they abuse the public or take liberties with constitutional guarantees. Continue reading “Eavesdropping on the Police”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
That was the description of four East Haven, Connecticut, police officers who were arrested after a federal grand jury returned an indictment containing charges of conspiring to violate, and violating, the civil rights of members of the East Haven community. All four have pleaded not guilty in Federal District Court and three have been released on bail, ranging from $100,000 to $300,000; the fourth is awaiting completion of his paperwork.