Sandra Simpson, 61, probably thought of a myriad of dangers in London but never saw this one coming. Simpson was killed by officer Malcolm Searles, who was driving his patrol car as fast as 104 mph in a 40 mph zone with his sirens and lights on — to deliver a birthday card to a friend.
Category: Criminal law
While this site often explores police abuse allegations related to overreactions or excessive force by officers (as well as members of the legal community), this video shows the type of hidden dangers that officers face.
Continue reading “Guess Jeans: Video Shows Arsenal Hidden in Baggy Jeans”
There is an incredible story out of Chicago and my alma mater Northwestern University. The Cook County District Attorney has issued a sweeping subpoena to the Innocence Project at the acclaimed Medill School of Journalism — demanding such things as the grades and emails of students who worked on an investigation of the case of Anthony McKinney. The students found compelling evidence of innocence and the prosecutors are now pounding them with demands for personal information and communications. I just completed doing NPR’s Talk of the Nation on the case with Professor Barry Scheck.
Continue reading “Shooting the Messenger: Prosecutors Subpoena Grades and Emails of Students of Innocence Project”
San Bernadino police are under criticism today after the release of this video from a cellphone appears to show officers beating a suspect with a baton without cause. The man, Darren Johnson, 43, is a barber shop owner who was allegedly held without charge for two days and was never booked in the jail system. He says that he was also denied a telephone call to counsel. The department has been previously sued for keeping suspects “on ice” but holding them without booking or access to counsel.
Patricia Sylvester may have learned the ultimate lesson of “never ask a question in trial that you do not know the answer to.” Sylvester, 49, was overjoyed when a jury came back with a “not guilty” to vehicular assault in Island County Superior Court in Washington. While she cried with joy, Judge Alan Hancock polled the jury only to have one woman say that she didn’t agree with the “not guilty” verdict. He sent the jury back to voted again. By the time they had returned, they had convicted Sylvester.
Continue reading “Twelve Ambivalent Men: Washington Jury Polled After Not Guilty Verdict Only To Be Sent Back and Then Reaches Guilty Verdict”
In Iowa City, Jared Colony, 28, has been charged with aggravated cruelty to animals after giving a puggle puppy named Pip vodka in its bowl as a joke with friends.
Continue reading “A Puggle Pup Named Pip: Man Charged After Giving Puppy Alcohol”
This video is the focus of an investigation into the beating of a San Jose State student Phoung Ho by officers. Police reportedly had difficulty communicating with Ho and the encounter with the math major ended in beating Ho with batons and using a taser on him.
Continue reading “Video: Police Beat and Taser Foreign Student In San Jose”
In an attack both on free speech and the free press, Saudia Arabia has ordered a female journalist to be flogged 60 times for airing an interview with a man who bragged about his sex life. Rosanna Al-Yami was also given a two-year travel ban for her role in the episode of “A Thick Red Line,” a popular show on social taboos.
Continue reading “Saudi Journalist To Be Flogged for Airing Interview Involving Sexual Boasts”
Carmen Huertas, 31, had a fun game to play with a car packed with girls going to a slumber party at her house. No it wasn’t counting VW bugs or out-of-state license plates. She asked which of the seven girls thought that she would crash. Since at least one girl was begging her to slow down, it was clear that some of the kids thought the answer was yes. It is not clear how Leandra Rosado, 11, voted: she died when the allegedly intoxicated Huertas crashed. Huertas notably was sober enough to pull her own daughter from the wreck but left the rest of the kids to fend for themselves, including Leandra who died on the side of the road.
Ok, it may be early in the morning before sufficient caffeine, but this video is a little creepy, right?
Continue reading “The Watchers: The LAPD Releases IWatch in a Rather Orwellian Video”
Mike Shahrokhi, 43, of Leawood, Kansas has been charged with disorderly conduct after using the word f— in an argument with another driver. He may now spend 30 days for his potty mouth.
Dallas police officers have cited drivers for not being able to speak English after least 38 times in the past three years. After these citations were disclosed by the media, Chief David Kunkle insisted that it was a big mistake and that such citations are only appropriate for non-English drivers of commercial vehicles.
Police say this cheerful mug shot is dangerously deceptive. James Phillips Edwards, 60, has been charged by Kansas City police with allegedly luring children with sedative-laced ice cream and then filming them in pornographic poses after they lost consciousness.
Continue reading “You Scream, I Scream . . . Kansas City Man Charged With Luring Girls with Ice Cream Laced With Sedatives for Pornographic Pictures”
Dennis Anderson, 62, of Proctor, Minnesota is not exactly your typical DUI defendant. He pleaded guilty after being arrested while “driving” drunk. The vehicle in question was his modified La-Z-Boy recliner.
Continue reading “Friends Don’t Let Friends Drink and Recline: Minnesota Man Pleads Guilty to DUI For Motorized Comfy Chair”
The woman at the center of one of the most shocking rape cases of the last decade has recanted her story. Megan Williams has now admitted that she made up the story of being raped and abused in a trailer in West Virginia in 2007 that sent six people to prison. However, various leaders who protested the case at the time are now calling her a liar in her recantation.
Continue reading “Victim in Notorious Rape Case Recants Her Story”