Harold Warren Sr., 77, a Missouri funeral home director has pleaded guilty to intentionally giving three families the wrong cremated remains. This includes leaving a woman’s body in an electrical room for 10 months without embalming or refrigeration. What is interesting is that Circuit Judge Gary Oxenhandler indicated that he might not honor the plea bargain for no jail time for Warren, who is a prominent political figure in the area. There are questions of whether the prosecutors cut Warren a remarkably light deal due to his political connections and standing in the community.
Continue reading “Funeral Director and Missouri Politician Pleads Guilty to Mishandling of Corpses”
Category: Criminal law
Prosecutors in Thousand Oaks, California have brought a novel charge in a bizarre case. Charles Hersel, 39, has been charged with misdemeanor child annoyance after allegedly paying a teenager $31 to spit in his face. The teenager arranged the deal through MySpace. [Update: Hersel has been acquitted in the case after only an hour of deliberation by the jury]
Continue reading “California Man Arrested for Allegedly Paying Teen to Spit in His Face”
Milford, Connecticut police officer Jason Anderson has been charged with two counts of second-degree manslaughter and one count of reckless driving in an accident that killed 19-year-old David Servin and 19-year-old Ashlie Krakowski. Anderson was driving at 94 miles per hour at the time and the crash was caught on the dashcam of another cruiser by Police Officer Richard Pisani.
John Green 50, has attained the novel status of being banned from keeping dogs for ten years. Green’s victim was a Dalmatian named Barney, who he overfed to the point that he weighed “11 stone” — a stone is roughly the equivalent to 14 pounds. This made Barney look like he ate the other 100 Dalmatians.
Continue reading “Barney The Bovine Canine: Man Barred From Owning Dogs for Ten Years After Overfeeding Dalmatian”
Donald Giles would appear to have the trifecta of mental incompetence arguments against execution. He is a paranoid schizophrenic with an IQ of 61 and a history of suicide attempts and depression. However, Jefferson County Circuit Judge Martin McDonald has ruled that Giles, 41, may be put to death if the jury so rules in his trial for the 2003 murder and robbery of Charles Goodlett.
Continue reading “Court: Paranoid Schizophrenic with IQ of 61 and Manic Depression is Eligible for Execution”
Accountant Margot Jean Strawn, 58, has been sentenced to four years in prison for stealing $500,000 from a trust account. What is a little more striking is what she used the money for: to buy dolls on the Internet.
Continue reading “Prison Barbie: Accountant Steals a Half Million Dollars and Buys Dolls”
Lehigh students Leslie Pope and John Wagner believe that they now know why tipping is mandatory at the Lehigh Pub in Bethlehem. After they received what they called horrendous service, they paid the bill with no tip. They ended up in jail for the $16.35 tip.
Continue reading “Lehigh Students Arrested for Failing to Leave Tip”
Arkansas police officer Dustin Bradshaw, used a Taser on a 10-year-old girl at the mother’s request after the little girl refused to take a shower and refused to obey him.
Continue reading “Bathe or Tase: Police Officer Tasers 10-Year-Old Girl Who Refused to Take Shower”
The Sharia courts of Somalia have another atrocity to their credit. The Islamic court of al-Shabab sentenced a woman to be stoned to death for adultery. The man was given 100 lashes.
Continue reading “Sharia Court Stones Woman to Death for Adultery — Gives Man 100 Lashes”
There has been a ruling in the Arizona case where an officer, Officer Adam Stoddard with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is clearly shown on this videotape reading and then swiping the confidential papers of defense attorney Joanne Cuccia in court. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Gary Donahoe found against Stoddard and ordered him to either apologize or report to jail — a remarkably light sentence. However, his boss is Sheriff Joe Arpaio who has said that his officer will defy the order.
Continue reading “Court Rules Against Arizona Deputy on Swiping Lawyer’s Note — Arpaio To Defy Court”
It was the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland that declared “Sentence first! Verdict afterwards.” However, President Barack Obama appears to have taken a lesson our two from her majesty. Today, President Obama assured Americans that they should not be offended by trying Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in federal court because he will be convicted and executed. I will be discussing this story tonight on MSNBC Countdown.
Continue reading “Sentence First, Verdict Afterwards: Obama Assures Public KSM Will Be Convicted and Executed”
Minneapolis and St. Paul are looking for a group of thugs whom videotaped themselves beating up pedestrians and threatening people. They should be relatively easy to locate: they included their real names and street names in formal credits on a YouTube video entitled “Watch This T.V.”
This afternoon, the Plaintiffs in the World Bank/IMF protest case filed a notice with the Court of the receipt of an affidavit in the case from a police detective, who contradicts the sworn testimony of former D.C. (and current Philadelphia) Police Chief Charles Ramsey. As lead counsel in one of the two cases (with my colleague Daniel Schwartz of Bryan Cave), I am limited in what I can say on the case. However, to reduce calls to my office, I am posting the filing below.
Continue reading “Detective Offers Conflicting Testimony in World Bank Case”
This is a bit harsh. Police has nicknamed David Holyoak, 33, as “Shrek” and publicly stated that he is “too ugly” for crime and a menace to criminal gangs.
Continue reading “The Arresting Look: English Police Denounce “Shrek” Felon as “Too Ugly” for Crime”
In the aftermath of the criminal conviction in France (here), the Church of Scientology is facing a call for a criminal investigation in Australia from Senator Nick Xenophon, who presented the case against the church before the legislature.
Continue reading “Xenophon v. Xenu: Leading Australian Senator Calls for Criminal Investigation of Church of Scientology”