Intelligence officials leaked documents to the Washington Post and ABC News last night that sharply contradict the statements of Speaker Nancy Pelosi who has denied ever being told that torture was being used on detaineees. She previously insisted that the use of waterboarding (aka torture) was only discussed in the future tense — a dubious moral distinction. I discussed the story on this segment of Rachel Maddow’s show.
Continue reading “Report: Pelosi Knew of Use of Torture Despite Earlier Denials”
Category: Criminal law
Our annual Moot Court for elementary kids has made the ABA Journal! We hosted 150 6th grades from Kent Gardens Elementary School in McLean, Virginia this year. They sat through a trial of the three little pigs and a class on forensics led by a detective. The trial was a double murder and attempted murder case based on the Three Little Pigs. B.B. Wolf was acquitted.
Continue reading “George Washington Moot Court Makes The ABA Journal”
While Judge Jay Bybee has declined to speak before the Senate Judiciary Committee to explain his role in the Bush torture program, he is reportedly reaching out to Nevada delegation members to find an alternative forum “to tell his side of the story.” I discussed the story on this segment of Rachel Maddow’s show.
Continue reading “Bybee Reportedly Seeking Forum to Explain His Role in the Torture Memos”
Todd Marcum, 41, in Oregon has been arrested for putting an electric dog collar on each of his four children and then shocking them because he “thought it was funny.”
Continue reading “A Real Scream: Oregon Father Arrested For Having Fun By Shocking Children With Dog Collar”
There is a story out this week that raises the interesting question: what does it take to be fired as a police officer in El Paso. Police Sgt. Raul Ramirez was captured on television arresting KVIA-New 7 reporter Darren Hunt and photographer Ric DuPont in April. The abusive arrests and use of excessive force by Ramirez appears to be insufficient to remove him from the force. Instead, he will demoted and allowed to continue to enforce the law.
Continue reading “El Paso Police Department Demotes Sergeant Filmed Arresting Television Crew”
Sheik Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan, the brother of the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates, Prince Mohammed, has been accused of additional acts of torture — as many as 25 such victims. The video of one such torture session is available here. In the meantime, on our own torture controversy, the Obama Administration again refused today to commit to a special prosecutor or independent investigation of torture by the Bush Administration. We lack the type of tapes in Abu Dhabi because CIA officials admit that they destroyed the evidence so it could not be used against them. I will be discussing the torture controversy tonight on the Ed Shultz show on MSNBC.
Continue reading “Serial Torturer: UAE Prince Accused of Additional Acts of Torture”
The ABA Journal is reporting on a case of a lawyer, Nina C. Baccala, 36, who was robbed while moonlighting as an escort. The recent graduate of New England School of Law and Massachusetts lawyer has been waiting for the results of her Rhode Island bar examination. She fought off the attacker who has a criminal record.
Continue reading “Massachusetts Lawyer Robbed During Work As Escort”
Nine members of a New Zealand family will stand trial for the death of Janet Moses during a gruesome exorcism rite of the Maori culture called makutu. The rite is supposed to lift a curse and involves pouring water down the throat of the subject and trying to suck the devil out of her eyeballs.
Continue reading “Makutu Murder: Family Charged With Manslaughter In Death of Woman During Exorcism”
The Washington Post reports that Bush officials are working the halls and telephones of the Justice Department with the formal end of the internal investigation into former Justice officials involved in the Bush torture program, including Ninth Circuit Judge Jay S. Bybee, Berkeley professor John C. Yoo and Steven G. Bradbury. They are reportedly working over former colleagues to soften the language and recommendations of the department. I will be discussing disucssed this and other related stories on this segment of MSNBC Countdown.
The Iranian legal system has cranked about another abuse under its medieval application of Sharia law. The government stoned a man to death for adultery, the latest in a series of such executions, here and here.
Continue reading “Iran Stones Another Adulterer to Death”
The arrest of Donna Dull, 59, in Pennsylvania for developing pictures of her 2-year-old getting out of the bath has been the subject of national criticism and a lawsuit against the prosecutors. However, officials added to the controversy by appearing to defend the decision to charge the grandmother despite the fact that the charges were later dropped by Stan “The Man” Rebert after a public outcry.
Continue reading “Dull Tools: Prosecutors Says They Were Right to Charge Grandmother With Pornography For Taking Pictures of Kids in Tub”
There is a trend in the United States to treat fetuses as persons for the purpose of criminal charges. That trend was taken to an extraordinary degree in Dubai where a pregnant woman was involved in a traffic accident and had a miscarriage. Finding that she was following to closely and applying Sharia law, the court convicted her of manslaughter and also ordered her to pay “blood money” for the loss of the baby.
Continue reading “Dubai Court Convicts Woman of Manslaughter and Orders Payment of Blood Money for Death of Her Own Fetus in Traffic Accident”
In Carrabelle, Florida, Sgt. Walter Schmidt at the Franklin Correction Institution had a novel idea for entertaining kids on a “Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day” tour. He shocked kids with 50,000 volts from his taser.
Continue reading “Taze Our Daughters and Sons At Work Day: Police Officer Fired After Shocking Children with 50,000 Volt Taser”
An Australian jury is considering manslaughter charges against parents of a baby girl who refused basic treatment of an eczema condition of their nine-month-old baby. The parents — Thomas Sam and Manju Sam — were believers in homeopathic treatment and stayed with their principles unmoved as the baby Gloria Sam died.
British citizens Samantha Orobator faces possible execution for drug trafficking in Laos after being arrested with roughly half of kilogram. To add to the outcry, Orobator is reportedly pregnant with a child that she conceived while in prison.
Continue reading “Pregnant British Woman Faces Execution in Laos for Drug Conviction”