Louisville Police Officer Cody Chapelle has been suspended for 13 days after he gave a ticket to a seven-year-old boy who accidentally threw a ball that hit his personal vehicle. He charged the child with criminal mischief in the third degree.
Category: Criminal law
This video was released by the Salt Lake Tribune of a drug bust gone bad where officers shot and killed Todd Blair, 45, when he appeared holding a golf club. The police had secured a no knock warrant for his roommate — suspected of selling drugs.
Continue reading “Utah Police Execute No-Knock Warrant on Home and Shoot and Kill Man Holding Golf Club”
According to the Washington Post, Fairfax County (where I reside) has agreed to pay $2 million to the parents of an unarmed man who was shot by one of its officers five years ago. Optometrist Salvatore J. Culosi, 37, (shown left) was shot by SWAT officer Deval V. Bullock. Bullock insisted that his gun accidentally went off and he was not charged in the killing.
Continue reading “Fairfax Gives $2 Million To Parents of Unarmed Man Shot and Killed By Swat Officer Outside of His Home”
This Pittsburgh case has me confused. Kaleb Miller, 22, has been given a $40,000 settlement after he was pistol-whipped and shot by an off-duty Pittsburgh police officer Paul Abel, 35. Abel was previously charged with drunken driving, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment. However, in June, Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A. Manning acquitted Abel of the charges in a non-jury trial and then Abel was reinstated to the force. Now, the city is paying damages to Miller.
Continue reading “Pittsburgh Settles Case of Man Allegedly Pistol-Whipped and Shot By Drunken Off-Duty Officer . . . The Officer is Reinstated To Force”
In a discovery that is being called “the smoking gun,” Irish media is reporting that they have a 1997 letter from the Vatican warning Ireland’s Catholic bishops not to report all suspected child-abuse cases to police. This was from 1997 — less then 13 years ago in the midst of the scandal. This occurred during the tenure of Pope John Paul II.
Continue reading “Vatican Warned Irish Bishops Not To Report Child Abuse in 1997”
The video below has led to the sentencing of a Beaumont, Texas police officer for “official oppression” in the beating of a man at a 2007 traffic stop.
Under pressure from women’s groups, English officials recently backed down in giving the same anonymity protections to men accused of rape as they do to their alleged victims. Emma Blunden, 21, of Reading, Berkshire should give them second thoughts. Blunden received two years after repeatedly accusing men of raping her.
Continue reading “English Woman Sentenced To Two Years For Accusing Four Men of Raping Her”
We have another Middle Eastern royal on the lam. Various sites are reporting that a Prague court has issued an international arrest warrant for Prince Hamad bin Abdallah bin Thani al-Thani, a Qatari prince convicted of sexually abusing Czech girls.
As many of us expected, President Obama’s decision to block any investigation or prosecution of war crimes has led Republicans to rehabilitate George Bush’s legacy. The latest claim came from former Vice President Dick Cheney who previously boasted about the torture program in public — unconcerned about any prosecution from Attorney General Eric Holder. Now, Cheney is boasting that Obama has “learned from experience” that some of the Bush administration’s decisions on terrorism issues.
Continue reading “Cheney: Obama Has Adopted Bush Policies on Torture and Gitmo”
This video was used as evidence in a controversial case in Florida where a judge has ruled that Christopher Comins was justified in shooting two Siberian huskies in a cow pasture who were harassing his cows.
Continue reading “Florida Man Acquitted in Shooting of Two Huskies Who Were Harassing Cows”
Hugo Chávez continues his assault on political and legal protections in Venezuela. In a move that has been denounced internationally, including by Amnesty International, Chávez demanded the arrest of Judge María Lourdes Afiuni after she granted bail to an accused banker. He is demanding 30 years in prison even though his prosecutors could find no bribe (as he originally alleged on the radio). Instead, they found “spiritual corruption” and threw her in jail with many convicts that she previously incarcerated.
Continue reading ““Spiritual Corruption”: Chávez Jails Judge Who Granted Bail To Banker”
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) once called the jurors in his recent trial his “brothers and sisters.” His view has changed a bit since they convicted him and he was sentenced to three years. DeLay has been making the talk show circuit and said on “The Today Show” that the jury was a liberal cabal led by a Greenpeace activist.
Continue reading “Twelve Angry Liberal Jurors: DeLay Slams Austin Jury Pool and Venue”
As Democratic and Republican members rush to line up with new bills to restrict speech or guns after the Tucson massacre, Rep. Peter King once again will not be outdone in criminalizing conduct. He is reportedly planning to introduce a bill that would make it illegal to knowingly carry a gun within 1,000 feet of the President, Vice President, Members of Congress or judges of the Federal Judiciary. This, of course, raises the problem with politicians being mobile. In states allowing concealed weapons, the appearance of any federal official or judge would require a fast estimation of 1,000 feet to avoid criminal charges.
We have been following the general trend toward criminalizing conduct in America and particularly the use of criminal penalties in our schools (here and here). Now, a study by Texas Appleseed shows Texas schools routinely using criminal misdemeanors against unruly students.
U.S. District Judge John McBryde of Fort Worth, Texas has issued a massive opinion holding attorneys S. Tracy Long, Melvin K. Silverman, Joseph F. Cleveland, Jr., and John P. Gillig liable for ethical breaches and recommending criminal prosecution after they challenged his impartiality and temperament in a case. The lengthy opinion below details the case against the lawyers in litigation over golf club patents. What is most striking about the case is the decision of the judge to conduct the inquiry himself — rejecting obvious concerns over his own conflict of interest in eliciting testimony on his own conduct. [See the update below]