Tim Kay is close to becoming a legal system unto himself. In the town of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, Tim Kay defended Robert John “R.J.” Manders, a businessman, on his third drunken-driving conviction. One week later, he was prosecuting Manders for trespass. That’s right, Kay is both a defense counsel and prosecutor in the town.
Category: Criminal law
The world has another honor killing. This time the family of Naile Erdas, 16, decided that the family honor demanded that she be killed after she was raped and impregnated. This case, however, has a positive element: a Turkish court has handed down an appropriately harsh series of sentences of the father, mother, brother and two uncles. It is a great credit to the Turkish legal system and should be a model for other Islamic countries in the region.
Continue reading “Sixteen-Year-Old Pregnant Rape Victim Murdered by Family in Honor Killing”
Police in Greenfield, California are dealing with a considerable cultural disconnect. Macelino de Jesus Martinez, 36, was arrested after he arranged for a marriage of his daughter, 14, into a marriage for beer and cash. When his son-in-law, Margarito de Jesus Galindo, 18, stopped paying, he went to police to try to get his daughter back. Both are reportedly illegal immigrants from Mexico and now face criminal charges and possible deportation.
President-elect Barack Obama appears to be signaling that he is not inclined to investigate crimes committed by the Bush Administration. In an interview with ABC News program “This Week With George Stephanopoulos”, he picked up on the recent Democratic spin that we should all “look to the future and not the past” even if the past happens to contain war crimes committed by his predecessor. I just finished an interview on Talk of the Nation on which I debated the issue with Harvard Professor and former solicitor general Charles Fried. I also discussed the issue on MSNBC Countdown.
Continue reading “Obama Indicates That He Will Not Investigate Bush Crimes”
Keeping with the developing matrimonial theme this morning, an odd case has emerged from New York involving personal injury lawyer Joseph Rosenzweig, who has been blocked by a court from foreclosing on a loan to his wife, Radiah Givens, due to bigamy. Justice Karla Moskowitz has ruled that there is a possible argument that the money was a gift.
Continue reading “New York Lawyer Accused of Bigamy and Blocked From Evicting Ex-Wife”
Stephen Buttafuoco, 23, is the subject of a rather curious criminal charge. He was a waiter at a wedding at the Woodbury Jewish Center when the guests suddenly began to hear an Arabic chant praising Allah. Buttafuoco, who aptly lives in West Babylon, New York, insists that he was playing a recording for a friend and did not realize that it was being amplified to the room. He was charged with felony harassment.
Continue reading “New York Waiter Charged Criminally For Playing Arabic Chant at Jewish Wedding”
Authorities have discovered the body of a Somali pirate who drowned after receiving his share of a ransom to release a Saudi oil tanker. His is one of five pirates who reportedly drowned after leaving the boat when $3 million was dropped by parachute on to the vessel
Continue reading “Liquid Assets: Body of Drowned Somali Pirate Washes Onshore with $153,000 in Ransom Money”
Former church director of finances, William Jeremiah, has been arrested for theft and fraud after $276,000 went missing from the Lakeview Wesleyan Church in Marion, Indiana. Prosecutors allege that some of the money went for a church-subsidized vasectomy.
A Billing. Montana bus driver took her kids on an unscheduled field trip when she stopped at a liquor school to load up and then asked a student to help hide a bottle when the cops stopped the bus.
The confirmation of Eric Holder, Jr. is running into some trouble with the planned appearance of witnesses about his role in some of the infamous pardons by Bill Clinton. Some of the greatest abuse of the pardon power occurred in the final week of the Clinton administration, including his use of official power to benefit a family member with the pardon of Roger Clinton. Ironically, however, it is not the most abusive pardons that is attracting the ire of Republicans.
Continue reading “Holder Nomination Runs Into Opposition Over Clinton Pardons”
Phillip Dominguez describes himself as “a law-abiding, taxpaying gun enthusiast.” That should be with an emphasis on “enthusiast.” Dominguez is facing charges are a search of his car uncovered 16 guns and 1000 rounds of ammunition.
Continue reading “Man Arrested at LAX With 16 Guns and 1000 Rounds of Ammunition”
Former Soprano cast member Lillo Brancato Jr. received 10 years in prison for his role in a burglary that resulted in the death of off-duty New York police officer Daniel Enchautegui. Brancato was able to convince a jury that he did not know that his friend, Steven Armento, 51, had a gun and knew the apartment owner (who invited him to take any pain killers that he wanted).
Continue reading “Soprano Cast Member Lillo Brancato Sentenced to 10 Years”
The Chattanooga Police Department has decided that an officer who assaults two people, including pushing one through a plate glass window, will not be criminally charge. Det. Kenneth Freeman is truly a free man after, on Christmas Eve, shoving 71-year-old Wal-Mart greeter Bill Walker to the ground. Why? Because he was asking for a receipt check. Freeman then reportedly shoved Gholom Ghassedi through a glass door when he tried to assist Walker. The police routinely charge people with battery and resisting arrest if they touch the sleeve of an officer. Even hugging an officer or passing gas near an officer has led to a charge of assault. Yet, the Chattanooga Police Department can’t imagine what it would charge Freeman with after assaulting an elderly man and shoving a good samaritan through a glass door.
Continue reading “Freeman: Chattanooga Police Department Declines to Charge Officer Who Allegedly Threw a 71-Year-Old Man to Floor and a Good Samaritan Through a Glass Door”
Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon has been indicted Friday on 12 counts of corruption in the same investigation that resulted in the indictment of a councilwoman last week. She faces four counts of perjury, two counts of misconduct, three counts of theft and three counts of fraudulent misappropriations. The allegations stem from the use of gift cards from two real estate developers — who gave the cards to help needy families and instead discovered that they were being used to allegedly by Dixon things like a PlayStation2, CDs and DVDs.
Continue reading “Pay to PlayStation: Baltimore Mayor Indicted on Corruption Charges”
Andre Thomas is perfectly sane according to Texas prosecutors. The view has not changed despite his habit of pulling out his own eyes. Before his trial for murder in 2004, Thomas pulled out his right eye. Yet, despite a history of mental illness, he was viewed as sane under Texas standards. Now, while on death row, Thomas pulled out his remaining eye and ate it.
Continue reading “Inmate Pulls Out Only Good Eye and Eats It: State Insists He Is Perfectly Sane Under Texas Standards”