Murni Amris, 27, and Rukiah Abdullah, 22, are the latest women to be flogged under Sharia law. Their crime in Indonesia? Selling food during Ramadan.
Continue reading “Women Publicly Flogged In Indonesia For Selling Rice During Ramadan”
Category: Criminal law
In the latest twist to the case involving Tyler Clementi, prosecutors have announced that they are considering hate crime charges against Clementi’s roommate, Dharun Ravi, of Plainsboro, N.J., and another student, and Molly Wei. We previously discussed the case on this blog. I have reservations over the addition of such charges based on the evidence that is currently known about the case.
Continue reading “Prosecutors Consider Hate Crime Charges in Clementi Case”
Raymond Stanley Roberts may go down in history as the ultimate example of the legal advice “deny everything.” When Manatee County deputies removed bags of marijuana and cocaine from his buttocks in a search, Roberts denied the cocaine was his.
Continue reading “Getting to the Bottom of the Matter: Florida Man Denies Possession of Cocaine Between Buttocks”
Oakland Police officers are facing criticism after shooting an 11-year-old arthritic yellow Labrador three times in responding to a burglar alarm. Owner Kate Hallock says her dog Gloria was shot three times with a 40-caliber Glock handgun in the family’s backyard.
Continue reading “Oakland Police Criticized After Shooting 11-Year-Old Arthritic Lab”
The problems continue to mount for earlier this month for former St. John’s University dean, Cecilia Chang. Earlier this month, Chang was accused of embezzling over $1 million in donations from the college. Now the FBI is also alleging that she essentially used students as slave laborers around her house.
Continue reading “St. John’s Dean Arrested For Allegedly Using Students As Laborers”
Here is free advice for anyone allegedly drinking and driving: leave the “I Have A Drinking Problem” tee-shirt at home. Due to such lack of forethought, James Johnson, 50, took a mug shot that is likely to remain on the wall of the local police station coffee room for years.
Continue reading “DUI Dress Code Don’ts: Leave the “I Have A Drinking Problem” Tee-Shirt At Home”
Manhattan lawyer Raphael Golb has been convicted of 30 counts of identity theft and impersonating a law professor in a bizarre case that we previously discussed, Golb assumed the identity of the rival of his father, Norman Golb (right), and began sending out false emails under the name of NYU Professor Lawrence Schiffman (left).
Continue reading “New York Lawyer Convicted of Impersonating NYU Professor”
This is a curious crime report. Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez, Jr. in Zapata County Texas is dealing with “lake pirates.” Falcon Lake sits on the Texas/Mexican border and a Texas couple was attacked while jetskiing by a boat of “pirates” who shot David Michael Hartley, 30. The wife had to speed off, leaving her husband in the water.
Continue reading “Lake Pirates? Texan Killed on Border Lake By Mexican Pirates”
New Jersey officials are dealing with a tragic suicide of a freshman from Rutgers University after Tyler Clementi was allegedly filmed illegally in a sexual encounter by fellow freshman students Dharun Ravi, 18, and Molly Wei, 18. In an example of the merging of tort and criminal law, the two students have been criminally charged with invasion of privacy.
Continue reading “Rutgers Student Commits Suicide After Two Other Students Secretly Film Sexual Encounter”
There is an interesting ruling out of Canada where Justice Susan Himel of Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice has struck down Canada’s prostitution laws as violating the basic rights of prostitutes and their clients. It is a position that many libertarians and some civil liberties advocates have long advocated — objecting to the criminalizing of such agreements between consenting adults absent some injury to a third-party or cognizable crime.
Continue reading “Canadian Court Strikes Down Prostitution Law”
In Chicago, police and prosecutors are dealing with a shooting in an unexpected way. Margaret Matthews, 68, had long complained about a 12-year-old who has been “terrorizing” her. When the boy joined friends in throwing bricks through her windows, she shot him. Police, however, did not charge her — instead charging the boy.
Continue reading “Elderly Lady Shoots 12-Year-Old After He Threw Brick Through Window — Only The Child Is Charged”
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”
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”