With the approach of Yom Kippur, animal rights advocates and officials in California are launching a campaign to end the ritual of Kapparot, where a fowl is held by the neck and swung around the head of a Jewish person. The sins of the person are then transfered to the fowl (usually a chicken) which is then sacrificed. The practice has been denounced as little more than animal cruelty and many have called for criminal charges under state laws.
Category: Criminal law
A California prisoner, Barry A. Hazle Jr., 40, is challenging a condition of his release from prison after a year on drug possession: mandatory drug treatment. It is not the drug treatment idea that bothers Hazle, it is the religiosity of the program. Hazle is an atheist and would like a program that does not require his commitment to both sobriety and God.
Continue reading “What Price Sobriety? Atheist Prisoner Challenges Mandatory Religious Program”
In a clear effort to simply delay an investigation until after the November election, Alaskan GOP politicians have appealed the recent ruling upholding the investigation of Gov. Sarah Palin. Anchorage Superior Court Judge Peter Michalski dismissed their lawsuit Thursday shortly before the debate. I discussed the ruling on the Rachael Maddow Show. This is precisely the same tactic used by Dick Cheney and the Bush Justice Department in filing motions and appeals to advance meritless claims for the sole purpose of delay. In political cases, justice delayed is justice.
Continue reading “Delay and Conquer: GOP Politicians Appeal Troopergate Ruling”
Joshua Hickson, 19, appears by any measure to be an idiot. When he found out that a student at Wenatchee High School was severely allergic to peanuts, he repeatedly smeared a peanut butter sandwich on the student’s forehead. However, some people are objecting that he is now charged with criminal assault despite the lack of any injury or allergic reaction. He faces a year in jail if convicted of the misdemeanor. It could be a new addition to our criminal lexicon: Assault and Battery (A & B) with P & J.
O.J. Simpson has been convicted on all 12 counts in his armed robbery case in Las Vegas. The case involving the the robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers at a casino hotel could result in a life sentence for the former football star. Simpson was engaged in a conventional act of self-help in the most unconventional work to retrieve a small number of sports memorabilia items. The drama of the conviction was magnified when his sister Carmelita Durio sobbed as he was being escorted out of the courtroom and then collapses — requiring paramedics to carry her out of the courtroom. Co-defendant Clarence “C.J.” Stewart, 54, was also convicted. The convictions came exactly 13 years to the day after O.J. Simpson was acquitted of two murders in California of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
Given the Second Circuit’s overturning of the New York terrorism convictions, the testimony below before Congress may offer a broader understanding of the poor performance of the Bush Administration in this area.
Continue reading “The Body Count Culture: The Bush Administration’s Record on Prosecuting Terrorism Cases”
Shortly before the start of the Vice Presidential debate, Alaskan judge Peter Michalski handed down a major ruling threw out a challenge by Republican politicians seeking to block an investigation into Gov. Sarah Palin in the so-called Troopergate scandal. [Update: I discussed this last night on Rachael Maddow’s show, click here).
Continue reading “Judge Upholds Troopergate Investigation of Gov. Sarah Palin”
In another loss of the Bush Administration, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overturned the convictions of Sheik Mohammed Ali Al-Moayad and Mohammed Mohsen Zayed. Ironically, when the decision came down, I was speaking at Cleveland State College of Law on the dismal record of the Bush Administration in prosecuting terrorism cases. This case is another example of how the Justice Department has undermined its own cases with poor quality and sensational tactics.
Continue reading “Second Circuit Overturns Major Terrorism Convictions”
JetBlue seems to have taken a bad turn this week. In Fort Lauderdale, two JetBlue pilots, Pilots William Hart Smith, 40, and Brad Leopard, 38,, went to a strip club and then allegedly attacked a taxi driver over a $9 fare to a Subway restaurant. In the meantime, a women has said that a flight from Fort Lauderdale became a nightmare when a JetBlue flight attendant allegedly harassed and groped her.
Senator Ted Stevens may get a mistrial after the judge discovered that prosecutors withheld material evidence from his defense. It is a great irony for the Republican Senator who, like Sen. Larry Craig, spent careers stripping criminal defendants of rights, but soon found the value of those hated little “technicalities.”
Continue reading “Possible Mistrial in Sen. Stevens’ Corruption Trial”
The tragic case of Iman Morales just got more tragic. Morales was found dancing naked on the top of a ledge. Police shot him with a taser, resulting in his fall and death. It was an obviously poor decision in violation of department guidelines. Now, the officer in charge who gave that order, Lt. Michael Pigott, has committed suicide in the police locker room after being stripped of his badge and gun.
Continue reading “Accused Police Officer in New York Taser Death Commits Suicide at Police Station”
The Bristol City Council has finally acted in response to a rash of burglaries of council-owned sheds: it has asked tenants to stop using locks because burglars often damage the doors to get inside. The National Criminal Association applauds the act as a needed reform where the government and burglars can work together in a productive fashion.
A trooper in South Carolina is accused of intentionally hitting a suspect and then bragging out it on a police recording. Lance Cpl. Steven Garren is heard on a tape boasting about how he bagged the suspect, Marvin Grant, who is shown on a dash cam recording bouncing off the hood of his cruiser.
Continue reading “Police Officer Accused of Intentionally Hitting S.C. Man and Then Bragging Out It”
MIDDLETOWN — This could be the easiest line-up that the Middletown, Ohio police ever put on. Michelle Allen, 32, was arrested after allegedly chasing children and urinating on a front porch in her neighborhood. She was easy to spot. She was wearing a cow outfit.
Continue reading “The Cow Did It: Ohio Woman Terrorizes Neighborhood Children While Dressed as Deranged Bovine”
The English police are seeking some thugs in a horrific stabbing crime near a bus stop. I am not going to try to invent some substantive reason for adding these x-ray images other than to note: THIS KID SURVIVED. A 15-year-old boy tried to stop a robbery in England and was stabbed in the head by the assailants. These are his x-rays in the criminal case. It is an amazing feat of medical science that he pulled through. [WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES]
Continue reading “Amazing X-Ray of 15-Year-Old Knife Victim”