Conservative commentators continue their war on the Constitution this week with increasingly shrill rhetoric of how our laws and civil liberties are endangering us. Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly, however, achieved a remarkable low by declaring “I don’t care about the Constitution” on air in a discussion of Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to try five detainees in New York.
Continue reading “O’Reilly: “I Don’t Care About The Constitution””
Category: Criminal law
Anthony Carrazco, 19, has learned the perils of door-to-door sales. Carrazco, however, was not selling Hoovers or Avon. He was selling marijuana door-to-door until he knocked on the door of a Brownsville cop. He was not amused to learn that rather than “Avon calling” it was the Cali Cartel.
Here is today’s column in USA Today on the continuing trend toward shaming or creative punishments.
Continue reading “Shaming Undermines Justice”
We recently saw a court rule that a quadriplegic has a right to hunt with a special chair where he literally blows away deer by blowing into a tube attached to the trigger. Now, Senators have adopted a provision to guarantee the right of “mentally incapacitated” veterans to buy firearms. After the shooting at Fort Hood, the provision passed with the support of Republican North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr and Democratic Virginia Senator Jim Webb is attracting criticism.
The family of Matthias Mayhorn has filed a complaint against two Chicago police officers alleging that they dangled Mayhorn out of a second floor window, fired their weapons near him, and then dropped him. They also allege that the officers refused to call immediate medical attention. He died later at a hospital from his injuries. The case shows how one event can present radically different accounts.
George Steven Lopez Mercado was a gay teen in Puerto Rico who was found on the side of a road partially burned, decapitated, and dismembered. The response of the police was reportedly horror . . . at his lifestyle.
Continue reading “Gay Teen Burned, Decapitated, and Dismembered — Police Blame Lifestyle”
Necessity defenses in tort and criminal law are always somewhat controversial and rarely successful in criminal prosecutions. However, Lisa Marie Leprowse has secured a reversal of her DUI conviction from the Montana Supreme Court, which ruled that the trial court erred in not allowing her to argue that she drove drunk to avoid a fight.
Continue reading “The DUI Necessity Defense: Montana Supreme Court Rules That Woman Can Claim Necessity Defense in Driving Drunk to Avoid Fight”
President Barack Obama and his Administration set a new level of hypocrisy this weekend with calls on the Chinese government and military to end censorship and be more open with the public while barring disclosure of embarrassing photos of detainee abuse.
Continue reading “President Obama Calls On China to Be More Transparent and Open — And Then Bars The Release of Any More Photos of Detainee Abuse to the Media and Public”
There are theories on the rational criminal actor, but I doubt Susan Dinnean, 55, would qualify in Wilton, Connecticut. The teacher at Middlebrook Middle School is accused of stealing $20 from the purse of another teacher — resulting in her loss of a $95,000 a year job.
Continue reading “Connecticut Teacher Arrested After Stealing Money for Another Teacher and Caught on Videotape”
This video should be in every police academy training program. The female officer shown in the video from Las Vegas stands with gun drawn while a suspect is cuffed and then accidently discharges her weapon — barely missing both the suspect and the other officer.
Continue reading “Warning Shot: Las Vegas Officer Accidentally Fired Gun At Cuffed Suspect”
We previously followed the investigation into the three deaths in a sweat lodge run by “Spiritual Warrior” James Arthur Ray at the Angel Valley Retreat Center in Sedona, Arizona. Now, the Lakota Sioux Tribe is suing, demanding the prosecution of Ray under the 1869 Treaty of Fr. Laramie for appropriating a Native American ritual.
Continue reading “Indian Tribe Sues Self-Help Author Over Use of Sweat Lodge”
We have another death associated with a taser. Darryl Bain, 43, was tasered twice and died in the Long Island home of his mother in Coram, New York.
Continue reading “Bain of His Existence: Man Dies in Mother’s Home After Being Tasered Twice by Police”
Paul Clarke, 27, a veteran, thought that he was doing the right thing when he found a shotgun in his garden. He took the shotgun to the police station and was immediately arrested for possession of a firearm without permit and criminally charged — an offense that brings five years imprisonment. Prosecutor Brian Stalk insisted that this is a strict liability offense and his intent to help police does not matter — he is a menace to society as defined under the criminal code.
There is a disturbing trial being held in Zambia where the news editor of The Post, Chansa Kabwela, sent photos of a woman giving birth in a hospital car park without assistance to highlight the costs of a nursing strike and poor government policies. She was right. The officials, including Zambia’s President, Rupiah Banda, were horrified. They immediately arrested Kabwela for distributing pornography.
Continue reading “Journalist Charged with Pornography for Sending Pictures of Woman in Unassisted Child Birth to Government Officials”
Here is today’s column from the Washington Post on the benefits of a new type of “good-faith” defense. While “religious convictions” are usually a reference to personal faith, it turns out that it has a distinct and disturbing meaning for criminal sentencing.
Continue reading ““Religious Convictions”: When Children Die, Religion Is No Defense”