In what may be something of a disappointment for Ian Rushing, 27, women identified the Oregon man as the alleged “St. Helens Flasher” by his pronounced bad tooth.
Continue reading “Flasher Identified By His Pronounced . . . Tooth”
Category: Criminal law
Today in a congressional hearing, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair acknowledged that the U.S. may, with executive approval, deliberately target and kill U.S. citizens who are suspected of being involved in terrorism. I discussed this story in the segment on MSNBC Countdown below.
Continue reading “Obama Administration Claims Right to Kill Americans Suspected of Terrorism”
We have been following the criminal investigation into the deaths at a sweat lodge run by self-help guru James Ray. Ray has now been arrested Wednesday and charged with manslaughter in deaths of three people at the Arizona sweat lodge ceremony.
Continue reading “Self-Help Guru James Ray Arrested”
There is an interesting case out of Pennsylvania where a dog groomer has been convicted of animal cruelty for ear and neck piercings. It is the defense of Holly Crawford that makes the case particularly notable.
Continue reading “Goth Cats: Woman Convicted of Animal Cruelty for Piercings”
Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh seem to be vying for which country is the most repressive in the application of Islamic Sharia law. The Saudi courts have ordered a Filipino woman to be lashed 100 times after she was raped. The Bangladesh courts outdid their Saudi counterparts and ordered a girl lashed 101 times for being raped. At what point does the Obama Administration publicly denounce these countries for systemic human rights violations against women?
Harris County criminal Court-at-Law Judge Reagan Helm has resigned after protests over his allegedly taunting remarks to victims of domestic violence. Helm, 68, reportedly admitted to suffering from dementia and having “medical issues.” He was accused of extreme bias against women in these cases. In one instance, Helm told men accused of domestic abuse that these women have them “by the balls.”
Continue reading “Houston Judge Resigns After Claims of Bias Against Domestic Abuse Victims”
Police in Florida have been dealing with the long-ignored menace of trolls. While we are all taught how to trick trolls in the “Three Billy Goats Gruff,” the victim forgot the “rob-me-when-I’m-fatter” trick when Jimmy Lee Morris (27), Dylan Patrick O’Shea (18), and Christopher L. Johnson (24) demanded that he “pay a toll to the troll.”
There is an interesting investigation in Brooklyn where Internal Affairs is looking into allegations that Brooklyn police officers refused to take criminal complaints and downgraded crimes to lower crime statistics. It brings a new meaning to officers warning people not to become a statistic.
Continue reading “Fighting Crime . . . One Statistic A Time: Brooklyn Police Accused of Fixing the Books”
Family Research Council’s Peter Sprigg does not appear quite ready to accept gays serving the country in the military. On Hardball, he not only opposed the elimination of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy but argued that all gays should be arrested as criminals.
A church in Oregon has the infamous reputation of killing children in the name of faith. Now, two parents — Jeff and Marci Beagley — have been found guilty of negligent homicide. Their case was discussed in this prior column. It is a welcomed charge (often religious parents are given lesser charges in the death of their children due to faith-healing), but the likely sentence is likely to be relatively low given the history of this church and the loss of life.
Continue reading “Faith-Healing Parents in Oregon Convicted of Negligent Homicide”
In a disgusting pornographic collection called “the Misty series,” a little girl named Amy was photographed by her uncle who then distributed the pictures worldwide on the Internet. As discussed earlier, now an adult, Amy has succeeded to securing restitution not from her uncle but from a man who was found in possession of the pictures. As reported by John Schwartz in the New York Times article below, it has raised serious questions from lawyers and law professors (including myself) but the Obama Administration is now supporting such claims.
Continue reading “Pay Misty for Me: Courts Mull Over Restitution Payments to Victims of Child Pornography From Possessors”
If you feel that your landlord is a pain, you may want to consider the alternative. Meet Ivan Rak, 45, who was arrested after being found naked on the couch of a tenant. The tenant says that Rak has been harassing her and later evicted her in Lorain, Ohio.
Police in Everett, Washington are dealing in a rather bizarre murder where Eric Christensen allegedly kiled Sherry Harlan, 35, for breaking a “Wiccan blood oath” by texting another man on her cellphone. Christensen, 40, allegedly cut up her body and distributed it around Snohomish County. Text-based blood oath violations were presumably not one of the original Wiccan problems but all religions have to adapt to modern technology.
Continue reading “Washington Woman Allegedly Killed as “Warlock” in Wiccan Murder”
Donna Rock is accused of one of the lowest possible crimes: raising money for a 5-year-old girl with cancer and then keeping the money for herself. This week, Rock was arrested and charged with theft of the money raised for Serena Lambert.
Continue reading “Between a Rock and A Hard Place: Baltimore Woman Accused of Raising Money for Cancer Victim and Then Keeping It”
Police in Perth are investigating a case where officers accidentally set a 44-year-old man on fire after shooting him with a taser. The man has previously doused himself and his house with fuel and was threatening to light himself on fire. This is the second such case for the city’s police, here, in less than a year.
Continue reading “Police Set Man On Fire With Taser — Again”