This would be a bad start to a criminal defense case. Police in Nashville, Tennessee have arrested Erik Whitaker, 40, after he drove his truck through the front of a market in pursuit of friend Laquisha Dansby, 37. He is then captured on film stealing a Dodge Durango and crashing it into a delivery truck. That pretty much covers most of the criminal code with the exception of endangered species violations (they may want to look under the truck).
Category: Criminal law
There was a brief moment when civil libertarians were stunned to see President Barack Obama actually take a stand in favor of civil liberties after years to rolling back on basic rights of citizens and moving beyond the Bush Administration in building up the security state. Obama said that he would veto the defense bill that contained a horrific provision for the indefinite detention of American citizens. While many predicted it, Obama has now again betrayed the civil liberties community and lifted the threat of the veto. Americans will now be subject to indefinite detention without trial in federal courts in a measure supported by both Democrats and Republicans. It is a curious way to celebrate the 220th anniversary of the Bill of Rights.
Continue reading “Happy Birthday, Bill [of Rights]: Obama Breaks Promise To Veto Bill Allowing Indefinite Detention of Americans”
My last column discussed how the Obama Administration is continuing its dangerous effort to appease Muslim allies in establishing limitations on free speech to combat “intolerance” for religion. Yesterday, there was an interesting article from Indonesia where police raided punk parties and took kids into custody to be “spiritually cleansed” in the name of Sharia law. Police insisted that the shaving of their heads and other abuses were perfectly consistent with human rights law because it was benefiting the subjects.
The Saudi Kingdom has now executed yet another “sorcerer” — part of a continuing trend in Muslim countries in arrested suspecting Genies and sorcerers in the name of Allah. In this case, the Saudis appear to have arrested a garden-variety carnival healer — a woman saying that she could heal illness for $800 per session.
Continue reading “Saudi Kingdom Executes “Sorceress””
We have followed a long line of hunting accidents and buck fever cases which are becoming more and more common as housing areas expand into rural areas (here and here). Now in Edinburg, Texas, police have taken two hunters into custody on suspicion of firing the stray bullets that cut down two middle school students at Harwell Middle School.
Continue reading “Police Reportedly Take Two Hunters Into Custody In Texas School Shooting”
Below is my column today in The Los Angeles Times on the conference this week in Washington on religious speech. I have previously written about the Obama Administration’s break with past policies to support Muslim countries in cracking down on speech deemed “defamatory” to religion. While the latest resolution does not repeat the defamation language, the purpose remains unchanged and the dangers for free speech are obvious. The non-binding resolution was passed in March, largely in response to the assassinations of two Pakistani officials who had spoken out against the nation’s blasphemy law. Ironically, however, the resolution will likely reinforce the right of countries to criminalize anti-religious speech and blasphemy laws.
When a Texas jury sentenced LaDondrell Montgomery to life imprisonment for armed robbery, he insisted that he was innocent. Police and prosecutors, however, insisted that he was the man who robbed a T-Mobile store. It turns out that he was telling the truth, but it was not until after his sentencing that his father showed that Montgomery could not have committed the crime because he was in jail at the time.
Continue reading “Texas Man Sentenced To Life Imprisonment Released After Records Show He Was In Jail At The Time Of The Crime”
We have been following a line of cases involving faux doctors performing cheap cosmetic surgery by using such medical material as “Fix-A-Flat” gel. The latest such case comes from New Jersey where Justin Street, 22, died after Kasia Rivera, 34, allegedly injected his penis with silicone in an enlargement procedure. Street died the day after the treatment in Rivera’s home.
Continue reading “New Jersey Man Dies After “Doctor” Injects Silicone Into His Penis in Home Procedure”
Laurie Ann Martinez, a prison psychologist, has been arrested in Sacramento, California in a bizarre alleged hoax where she staged a rape by splitting her own lip with a pin, scraping her knuckles on sandpaper, ripping her clothing, and having a friend punch her in the face. The reason? According to police, it was to convince her husband to move to a safer neighborhood.
Continue reading “California Prison Psychologist Arrested For Allegedly Staging Rape and Burglary”
We have previously discussed the assault on free speech around the world, including in the West. The Thai courts have added to this ignoble trend by sentencing American Joe Gordon, 55, to two and half years for “defaming” the Thai Royal Family. Defamation law is quite different in other countries, including close allies like Italy, France, and England, and often used to punish critics of the government. Gordon was convicted for simply posting a link to an unapproved biography of the King. It is an example of the outdated use of lese majesty offenses — offense against the dignity of a sovereign.
University of Illinois Law Professor Dhammika Dharmapala was the victim of a shocking violent attack this week at a train station when Joshua Scaggs, 23, allegedly stabbed him in the neck after shouting something about this being Scaggs’ country.
Continue reading “Illinois Law Professor Stabbed In Throat At Train Station”
My son, Ben, found this videotape on YouTube of an extraordinary car chase and chase by a police officer in Tigard, Oregon where the officer first crashes into another car and then into a home.
Continue reading “Video: Oregon Police Officer Crashes First Into Another Vehicle and Then Into A Home”
We have yet another blasphemy case. A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced Australian national Mansor Almaribe to 500 lashes and a year in jail for insulting Muhammad during prayers in a pilgrimage to Mecca.
Continue reading “Saudi Court Orders Australian To Be Flogged 500 Times For Insulting Mohammad — and Sent To Jail For One Year”
For fans of Breaking Bad, Professor Irina Kristy, 74, would seem to walk right out of central casting. The math professor from Boston was arrested with her son and accused of dealing methamphetamine from her home.
Continue reading “Meth Math: Massachusetts Professor Arrested For Allegedly Dealing Drugs From Home”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Vesselin Dittrich, 64 and speaks with an accent, is an American citizen and resident of Hoboken, New Jersey. He was sitting on a PATH (Port Authority) train in the Hoboken station looking at a heavily tattooed woman. She objected to his staring and asked him to move to another car. He refused. She threatened to call the police and, overhearing this, the conductor summoned the Port Authority police.