Here is today’s column on the Casey Anthony trial (the print copy runs next week). Anthony is to be released in a matter of days, though the original calculation of next Wednesday appears to be incorrect.
Continue reading “Casey Anthony Case: Hate the Facts, Not the Jury”
In selecting Police Officer David Britto in 2010 as “Officer of the Year,” many cited his “uncanny knack” of tracking down drug dealers. It become less uncanny this week after he was arrested as a drug dealer of methamphetamine.
Transportation Security Administration employee Nelson Santiago, 30, allegedly had a keen eye and an even quicker hand in manning a TSA security checkpoint at the Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Santiago is accused of stealing $50,000 worth of electronics over the last six months from passengers — often selling the items before the end of his shift. Police say that he was nailed after a Continental employee saw him steal an iPod and stuff it down his shorts.
No it’s not another bar joke. This picture is from Lefty O’Doul’s in San Francisco and the man in question appears to be the culprit in a bold theft of Picasso’s 1965 drawing entitled “Tete de Femme.” The man simply walked into the Weinstein Gallery and walked out with the valuable drawing. He proceeded to hail a cab and disappear — but not before passing in front of Lefty O’Doul’s.
Continue reading “A Man Walks Into An Irish Bar Carrying A Rare Picasso . . .”
Andrew David Thompson, 24, is studying to be a doctor at Michigan State University. His career, however, in osteopathic medicine has been delayed a bit by an anger issue and his tendency to kill dogs. Police say that Thompson has admitted to killing more than a dozen dogs — all Italian Greyhounds — out of anger by beating them on the floor or against the walls.
Continue reading “Michigan Medical Student Admits To Killing More Than A Dozen Dogs Out Of Anger”
Two North Carolina State Highway Patrol officers, Senior Trooper Edward Wyrick and Trooper Andrew Smith, have been suspended pending investigation after Gina Tessener said she was arrested despite blowing a 0.0 on a breathalyzer test. She then alleges that the officers arranged to pull over her husband, attorney Hoyt Tessener, who followed his wife to the magistrate. Recently released exchanges between the officers show profanity and hostility in dealing with the couple.
Many people thought it was a bit odd when Governor Rick Perry indicated that he might run for President of the United States after previously suggesting that Texas may want to secede from the United States. Perry seems not only want to be the John C. Calhoun of presidential aspirants, but he has also decided to add the violation of international law and treaties as a resume booster. Over the objections of President Obama and a host of leading international figures, Perry has refused to stop the execution of of Humberto Leal Garcia — a Mexican national denied his rights under the Vienna Convention.
A leading Russian anti-corruption lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky died recently in custody. It was immediately called suspicious and now there is a report that eight guards who beat him while handcuffed in a small cell. The guards reportedly forced an ambulance to wait as they beat him to death.
Ohio Rep. Robert Mecklenborg is a Republican legislator and former prosecutor who has made his career on family values legislation, including his opposition to abortion rights. The Roman Catholic legislator seemed to have strayed a bit after he was arrested in a car with temporary Kentucky plates in Indiana with a young stripper. Tests found he was loaded with not just alcohol but Viagra.
While many were surprised by the verdict in the Casey Anthony case yesterday, some things remained both predictable and consistent like Nancy Grace’s reaction to any defendant prevailing in a criminal case. Grace’s choleric persona was in full rage that the jury would deign to find the evidence insufficient to convict the woman who Grace had already convicted many times on her show. “Now, I know it is our duty as American citizens to respect the jury system and I do, believe me I do. I’ve struck over one-hundred juries. But I know one thing: As the defense sits by and has their champagne toast after that not guilty verdict. Somewhere out there, the devil is dancing tonight.”
Continue reading “Fall From Grace: CNN’s Nancy Grace Denounces Dancing Devil After Anthony Verdict”
In today’s high-paced world, every woman needs a portable, collapsible husband who can fit in an overhead compartment. That is what police found in a prison in Quintana, Mexico where a woman left a conjugal visit with her husband with him folded inside her suitcase.
We previously discussed how the parents of Amanda Knox are being sued by police for objecting to their shoddy investigation. It is an absurd case — one of many such defamation cases in Europe where courts allow lawsuits over comments that would be protected from liability in the United States. Now, the judge in the libel case has resigned due to a conflict of interest, but the police are still going forward with the lawsuit — despite the fact that recent disclosures establish clearly shoddy work by the police.
Continue reading “Knox Parents Get New Judge In Defamation Case”
As the lawyers prepared for final arguments in the capital murder trial of Casey Anthony, Orange County Chief Judge Belvin Perry Jr. hit the defense with a major ruling barring them from making a key argument to the jury: that Casey had been sexually abused. Perry ruled that there was no evidence to support the allegation and therefore defense counsel Jose Baez would be prevented from even mentioning it in his closing.
Continue reading “Judge Bars Critical Defense Argument in Casey Trial”
In St. Petersburg, Florida, Officer Thad “Stu” Crisco is under investigation after a supervisor learned that he told the father of a robbery victim that one part of town was a bit dangerous for his 16-year-old daughter to be hanging around after she was robbed. Crisco has an unblemished record, but he is being hammered for the well-intentioned advice. In his comments in the article below,
Mayor Bill Foster does not appear to be concerned about an officer being disciplined for simply informing a parent about a rough area. He stated “I always want to know my officers are representing this city in a very positive light.” Well, how about a positive statement like “hey, you know this area excels in robberies and is second to none in homicides.”
Continue reading “Florida Officer Faces Suspension For Warning Father About His Daughter Hanging Around Dangerous Area”
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
In what can only be described as the most bizarre military recruiting ploy ever, Californian Yupeng Deng is charged with duping Chinese Immigrants into enlisting into his private army. Luring the unsuspecting “recruits” with promises of citizenship, the El Monte native convinced over 200 Chinese nationals to pay initiation fees ranging from $300 – $450. Donning the rank of “Supreme Commander'” Deng paraded his regiment through the streets of L.A., and then led a successful boarding of the U.S.S. Midway which is now a naval museum in San Diego.