Category: Criminal law

Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

Clementine Cartel Fights for Turf on East Coast

200px-LemonI warned about this lemonade cartel but no one listened after the town of Tulare California caved to the citrus criminal element. Now, New York officials are facing a new cartel on the other coast headed by a shadowy figure known as “Clementine.” Like the Crips and Bloods, the fight over territory is intense and police found Clementine Lee, 10, openly pushing lemonade on a corner. They hit her with a summons and a potential fine of $200, but now apologists rushing to her side.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Politics, Society

Texas Officials Arrest Parents and Take Away Their Children for Taking Pictures in a Bathtub and Breastfeeding

breastfeedingjailI just came across this story from a few years ago that parallels some of our recent posts. Jacqueline Mercado, a 33-year-old Peruvian immigrant, and her boyfriend Johnny Fernandez simply wanted to keep memories of the childhood of her children when Jacqueline went to Eckerd Drugs to develop photos that she took of her children in a bath. The good people at Exkerd Drugs in Richardson, Texas saw not frolicking kids but child porn and called the cops. Later, after searching their home, police and child welfare officials found a picture of Jacqueline breast feeding one the children. That was it: Texas prosecutors secured a grand jury indictment against the parents for “sexual performance of a child,” a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison. The charge was based on the breastfeeding picture, even though defense attorneys produced paintings in leading museums that show the same maternal act.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

Sentencing of New Jersey Man with 12 DWI Convictions and 78 License Suspensions — Due to Two More DWI Charges in a Different County

180px-Don't_Mix_'Em_1937We have been following the case of Shaun Campbell, 40, who has been allowed to rack up at least a dozen drunk driving convictions and 78 suspended license violations. Campbell’s day of judgment appeared to have come this week, but was suddenly delayed by . . . . you guessed it . . . a couple more outstanding DWI offenses in a different county.
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Academia, Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Media, Politics, Religion, Society

Florida High School Principal and Athletic Director Face Six Months Over Prayers

thumb_praying_handsIt is not that Pace High School Principal Frank Lay and school athletic director Robert Freeman do not have a prayer, they had too many prayers. The two officials defied a settlement barring prayers on constitutional ground and now face six-month sentences — a matter of widespread protest among parents.
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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Media, Society, Torts

Shock Video: New York Officer Tasers Mother in Front of Children After Minor Traffic Stop

Audra Harmon, 38, has sued the Onondaga County (N.Y.) Sheriff’s Department in yet another abusive use of a taser without provocation. In this video, the officer yanks Harmon out of the car in order to taser her. What is fascinating is that the officer, Deputy Sean Andrews, could have cuffed her but repeatedly positions her to be tasered.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Politics, Society

Louisiana Officer in Beating Case Reinstated and Given Back Pay Despite Shocking Videotape

angela-garbarinoIt is always controversial when society “allows the criminal to go free because the constable blundered,” but what about allowing the constable to go free because the constable blundered? Shreveport police officer Wiley Willis became a national figure after shocking pictures were released of a woman who was beaten in his custody — after he turned off a camera in a police station. Now he has been reinstated because a polygrapher failed to record the result of a test of Willis. Not only was Willis never charged criminally, but he will now receive full back pay at the insistence of the Shreveport police officers union.
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Criminal law, Politics, Society, Torts

Montana Police Release Man Who Shot Co-Worker at Wal-Mart Due to State’s Sweeping “Castle Doctrine” Law

300px-Alcazar_de_Segoviathumb_weapon_gun_smith_and_wesson_hand_ejectorFor most prosecutors, it would seem an easy criminal case. Daniel Lira, 32, was working inside Wal-Mart’s loading dock area when he got into an argument with co-worker Craig Schmidt, 49. He ended up hitting Schmidt in the face. Schmidt responded by pulling out a .25-caliber semiautomatic Beretta handgun and shooting Lira in the head from as little as 10 feet away. Yellowstone County Attorney Dennis Paxinos, however, released Schmidt in light of Montana’s “castle doctrine law” which allows citizens to use potentially lethal force in self-defense — despite the escalation in the level of force by Schmidt from a fist fight to a shooting.
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Bizarre, Courts, Criminal law, Lawyering, Politics, Society

Driven to Extremes: Maryland Judge Accused of Flattening Tire of Woman in Courthouse Parking Lot

180px-Tire_valve_stem-cap_offCharles Circuit Court Judge Robert C. Nalley has been accused of letting the air out of a car of a part-time cleaning woman who works at the courthouse. Two officers from the county jail insist that they saw the judge let the air out of a 2004 Toyota Corolla that was parked outside of the La Plata courthouse at 3:45 pm in the afternoon. One claims to have a picture of the act.
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Bizarre, Criminal law, Politics, Society

Wright Picks Wrong Bag: Former Clinton Aide Charged With Smuggling Needles and Knife into Arkansas Death Row

180px-Prison_cellDoritos-NachoCheeseBetsey Wright, 66, the former Chief-of-Staff to Gov. Bill Clinton, has been arrested for allegedly attempting to smuggle a knife and 48 needles into the Arkansas death row in a bag of Doritos.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, International, Media, Politics, Religion, Society

Iraqi Freedom: U.S. Supported Government Moves to Ban Books

270px-Santo_Domingo_y_los_albigenses-detalleWith continuing stories of the denial of legal rights, the abuse of women (ad here and here), rise of radical Islam, and war crimes, many Americans are still unsure why we are sacrificing thousands of our citizens and billions in funding in Iraq. Now, the U.S. supported government is moving to ban books that it considers unduly “sectarian.”

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Criminal law, Lawyering, Media, Society, Torts

Lawyer Files $13 Million Defamation Lawsuit Against Baltimore Sun

225px-BaltimoresunlogoCriminal defense attorney Ivan J. Bates has filed a $13 million lawsuit against the Baltimore Sun after articles suggested that he engaged in witness tampering and invoked the fifth amendment to avoid incriminating himself in wrongdoing. The Sun is standing by the reporting of journalists Melissa Harris and Julie Bykowicz.

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