The Iranian courts have produced their weekly outrage. The leading blogger in Iran, Hossein Derakhshan, 35, was sentenced to 19 1/2 years in prison for his writings. Derakhshan was the founder of one of the first Farsi-language blogs and helped instruct others in how to create their own blogs. The authoritarian regime views such blogs as a threat to its control over the population.
Continue reading “Iran Sentences Leading Blogger To Almost 20 Years in Prison”
Category: Criminal law
A federal prosecutor, Sean Cronin, 35, has been arrested for stripping down to his underwear and then taking a dip in a pool at a local bar. Police report that Cronin fled at the sight of police out a back door and then jumped over “multiple fences” to evade them.
Continue reading “Federal Prosecutor Arrested For Lewd Conduct in Pool”
We have been discussing the abusive trend across the country of police departments arresting citizens for videotaping them in public. Now, in Maryland, Circuit Court Judge Emory A Pitt Jr. has ruled that a Maryland State Trooper was wrong to arrest Anthony Graber for filming him brandishing his weapon at a traffic stop. The basis of the decision is precisely what many of us have been arguing for months (here and here and here and here): police officers have no expectation of privacy in public arrests and conduct.
Continue reading “Maryland Court Rules Citizens Have Right to Videotape Officers in Public”
A Florida man was under arrest after assaulting customers in a guitar store and knocking over a display. His alleged rampage ended when he turned on the wrong guy: Elmo. The encounter ended with the man sustaining bruises and broken fingers after a beat down by the costumed character.
Continue reading “Tackle Me Elmo: Costumed Character Sends Alleged Attacker To Hospital”
Here is an interesting question: is it animal cruelty to dye your cat’s fur to match your own hair? That is the question to be answered in a proceeding in England where Natasha Gregory, 22, has been hunted down like Jack the Dyer.
Continue reading “Pretty in Pink? English Woman Faces Charges For Dyeing Cat To Match Her Hair”
The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office is investigating allegations that an officer shot a woman through a window who was 39-weeks pregnant and then pulled her through a bedroom window into the street.
Continue reading “Report: Police Officer Allegedly Shoots Pregnant Woman and Pulls Her Through Bedroom Window”
This week Congress held hearings on the controversial decision by the Obama Administration to drop charges against Black Panther members for voter intimidation in Philadelphia in 2008. I have previously criticized the decision since I fail to see how these pictures did not show intimidation and the Obama Administration has created a dangerous precedent (if not an invitation) for other groups to engage in the same practices at polling places. In the hearing, Christopher Coates, former voting chief for the department’s Civil Rights Division, called the decision a “travesty of justice” and deepened the controversy over the policies and practices in that division.
Continue reading “DOJ Official: Black Panther Decision a “Travesty of Justice””
A 49-year-old man in Michigan has been arrested following a novel alleged crime: a man-on-parrot fight. Police say that the man was seen shaking and punching his pet parrot.
Continue reading “Polly Want a Crack? Michigan Man Arrested in Fight With Parrot”
Marine Shayne Smalling, 20, appears to have a curious way of having fun. He pleaded guilty to stoning of 50 ducks to death June 2008 in a petting zoo in Cedar Rapids.
Continue reading “Fowl Crime: Marine Pleads Guilty to Killing 50 Ducks at Petting Zoo”
A Florida Highway Patrol trooper was given only a one-week suspension without pay after he fired nine rounds at a vehicle that bumped his cruiser. In the incident caught on this videotape, Trooper Timothy E. Nichols was responding to a call about a man suspected of stealing two bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches from a Palm Harbor gas station. However, an investigation showed that (as indicated on the video) the driver was innocently backing up his SUV when the bumping of the cruiser occurred — triggering Nichols’ shower of bullets.
Continue reading “Florida Trooper Fires Nine Rounds in Retirement Center Area After His Car Is Innocently Bumped — But Is Given Only One Week Suspension”
In Pennsylvania, Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala (shown here)has made a controversial decision not to charge a Kennedy Township police officer with leaving the scene of a crime after he allegedly drove drunk and hit a man — leaving him critically injured. Zappala announced that, because Frank Caliguiri eventually came back, he will not be charged with leaving the scene. What is astonishing is that this is not the only such case recently against an officer in this area.
Continue reading “Pennsylvania Police Officer Charged With DUI Accident While Not Be Charged With Leaving Scene of Accident”
There has been a development in the story over the officials in Bell, California. As we previously discussed, city officials raked in obscene salaries until exposed by the media. Eight of the officials have now reportedly been arrested, including former Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo. Also reportedly arrested were Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia; Mayor Oscar Hernandez; Councilmembers Luis Artiga, Teresa Jacobo and George Mirabal; and former Councilmembers George Cole and Victor Bello.
Continue reading “For Whom The Bell Tolls: Eight City Officials Arrested in Pay Scandal”
Russian politicians appear to be adopting the methods of some Sharia courts in proposing that corrupt Russian officials be branded with the letter K (the Russian symbol for a bribe taker) on their left hands.
Continue reading “Russian Party Leaders Call For Branding Of Corrupt Officials”
Criminal defense attorneys often challenge the showing of probable cause used as the basis for search warrants. That is the argument of a Spokane, Washington man who was given a search warrant for his rectum simply because police officers said that he seemed to be tightening his cheeks and refused a rectal exam.
Continue reading “Getting to the Bottom of Crime: Spokane Man Given Rare Warrant For Fanny Flexing”
A Kentucky man is claiming something akin to a “java defense.” Woody Will Smith, 33, claims that his ingestion of caffeine left him unable to control himself — leading to his killing his wife.
Continue reading “The Java Defense: Kentucky Man Alleges Caffeine Ingestion Led Him Kill Wife”