Recently, many civil libertarians have been alarmed by legal changes in England restricting the media, free speech, prosecuting insults against religion, and other rollbacks. Now, the Lord Chief Justice has ruled that criminal trials no longer require a jury for the first time in England and Wales.
Continue reading “Lord Chief Justice: Jury Trial No Longer Required in England and Wales”
Category: Criminal law
Attorney General Eric Holder left little question in anyone’s mind this week that the Obama Administration will not allow a prosecution of unlawful surveillance during the Bush Administration. As with the torture program, the Administration has been avoiding questions about its failure to prosecute the illegal surveillance program. Now, Holder has refused to call the program “illegal” and would only refer to it as “unwise.” I intent to use this as my main defense in my next criminal case: my client’s robbery of a bank was merely “unwise” and a lack of wisdom does not justify prosecution.
Continue reading “Holder: Warrantless Surveillance was “Unwise” Rather than “Illegal””
Antonio Galeano died last week after Queensland police hit him 20 times with a 50,000-volt Taser. Galeano was an amphetamines addict who was tasered for five second pulse each time.
Continue reading “Australian Man Dies After Being Tasered 20 Times By Police”
Various news sites are reporting that a Christian man, Ishtiaq Masih, was beaten to death in Pakistan’s Punjab province for buying a cup of tea in a Muslim-only tea stall.
Continue reading “Pakistani Muslims Beat Reportedly Beat Christian to Death for Buying Tea at Muslim-Only Stand”
Thomas Prusik-Parkin is an attentive son to a fault. He was captured on surveillance tap dressed as his deceased mother to collect over $100,000 benefits from social security and rent subsidies. His mother Irene Prusik died in 2003 at 73.
Continue reading “I Remember Mama: Man Arrested After Impersonating Dead Mother for Benefits”
A view from Gary, Indiana added to a library of utter human indifference. First, a men in a red shirt shoots and kills the clerk, Gurjeet Singh, over a handful of cash. Then, customers are seen continuing to shop despite the dead body a few feet away.
Continue reading “Shoppers Continue to Shop After Convenience Story Clerk is Shot and Killed”
It appears that expressions of affection cannot simply cost you a high school diploma, it can get you thrown in jail. Baltimore Circuit Judge Alfred Nance is known for having a temper in his courtroom and he appeared to have lost both his temper and his judgment when he ordered the jailing of Tamika Clevenger for throwing a kiss and saying “I love you” to her brother.
Continue reading “Baltimore Judge Orders a Woman Jailed For Saying “I Love You” to Brother”
Detroit City Council member Monica Conyers has been repeatedly the subject of scathing media articles regarding physical and verbal attacks on her critics, here and here and here. She is now facing a corruption probe after being identified as the alleged “Council Member A” in a federal investigation who accepted more than $6000 for a vote on a sludge contract.
Continue reading “Report: Monica Conyers is “Council Member A” In Federal Bribery Investigation”
Columnist Bonnie Erbe said last week that “it ought to be against the law” for people to call George Tiller “a murderer” and “anyone who [says such things] it ought to be prosecuted as an accessory to murder, as well as for partaking in domestic terrorism.” Others have also demanded that we treat such crimes as “domestic terrorism.” Below is today’s column on defining terrorism.
Continue reading “Defining Terrorism: We Can Call People Murderers Without Diminishing Their Crimes”
In light of our recent viewing of what Mark Wagner can do with dollar bills, it is only fitting to feature the impressive work of Joseph Carnevale, 21, of North Carolina. Unlike Wagner who has not been charged with defacing currency, Carnevale has been arrested for his work to enhance the beauty of the lowly construction barrel.
Continue reading “Over a Barrel: North Carolina Student Arrested for Creating “The Barrel Monster””
In Oklahoma, David Harold Earls, 64, has received a one-year jail sentence after raping a 4-year-old girl. The sentence has caused an outcry across the country and moves in the legislature to recall District Judge Thomas Bartheld, who gave Earls a twenty-year sentence with nineteen years suspended under a plea agreement between the prosecutors and defense counsel. He also fined Earls $1,000.
Continue reading “Oklahoma Man Pleads Guilty to Raping 4-Year-Old Child and Gets One Year in Jail”
This video has a disturbing scene as multiple officer in Nottingham, England beat and taser a man who is lying on the ground.
Continue reading “Taser! Taser! Taser! Video Shows Police Beating and Tasering Suspect on Ground”
The federal prison system has plenty of jailhouse lawyers. Now it has its first jailhouse judge (not to mention of jury of his peers). U.S. District Judge Samuel B. Kent began to serve his jail sentence today while still a member of the federal judiciary. He continues to refuse to resign. For those who were initially supportive of Kent, few people defend him now after his outrageous effort to bilk the judiciary for every possible dime of salary and benefits while dragging both the courts and Congress through the scandal that he created.
Given my call for Senators like Dick Durbin to use blind trusts, I thought that the link below might be helpful as a distraction for Senators who still want to play with their money.
Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Charles G. Bernstein has been found to have acted so improperly in two criminal cases that he became a “co-prosecutor” and denied the defendants a fair trial. Steven Diggs (found guilty of drug possession) and Damon Lamar Ramsey (convicted of possession and intent to distribute) will receive new trials.
Continue reading “Court: Judge Charles Bernstein Acted as “Co-Prosecutor” and Denied Defendants Fair Trial”