Category: Criminal law

Bizarre, Criminal law, Politics, Religion, Society

Don’t Feed The Local Citylife: Man Arrested for Feeding Homeless in Orlando

jesus_feeds_5000Eric Montanez faces a curious criminal charge in Orlando, Florida: feeding hungry people. The good people of Orlando, Florida have decided to join other cities in making it a crime to feed poor and hungry people caught up in this recession. Even at Yellowstone you are simply asked not to feed the bears, but in Orlando feeding the hungry will get you arrested. There was a guy in the New Testament that did such things and look where that got us.

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Criminal law, Environment, Society

Scruffy’s Revenge: New York City Teen Faces 25 Years in Cat Burning

amd_scruffy_catAngelo Monderoy, 18, and Matthew Cooper, 17, are looking at serious time for the horrific act of burning a cat named Scruffy with lighter fluid. The potential twenty-five year sentence is a rarity since most such cases fall under relatively light criminal penalties, but the property counts appear to have magnified the sentence.
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Bizarre, Criminal law, International, Religion, Society

Malaysian Bar Charged With Misuse of the Word “Allah”

125px-flag_of_malaysiasvgRecently, we followed the crackdown on a Catholic newspaper by the Malaysian Islamic religious council and government over its use of “Allah.” Now, the council is pursuing the Malaysian Bar for using the word on its website in two online polls on whether any particular race has exclusive rights to the word.
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Academia, Criminal law

Former Naval Academy Professor Charged With Raping 12-Year-Old Girl While Teaching At Annapolis

45650225-18145318Among the academics making the news this week is former Naval Academy professor Patrick Harrison, 66. It is not the type of publicity a professor craves. He is charged with raping a 12-year-old girl while teaching at the Academy. What is interesting about this case is that the alleged victim took 15 years to come forward with the claims.

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Criminal law, International, Politics, Religion, Society

Israel Opens Investigation Into Religious Extremism in Its Ranks During Gaza Invasion

660px-flag_of_israelsvg1The Israeli Military Advocate General Avichai Mandleblit is investigating accounts of religious extremists pushing soldiers to view the Gaza invasion as a “religious war” against gentiles. In the meantime, human rights groups are calling for the removal of military’s head chaplain, Rabbi (and Brigadier General) Avichai Rontzki, who told soldiers that it was “immoral” to show mercy to the enemy in the operation.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

Something Borrowed, Something Blue: Bribe Files Complaint Over Treatment After Arrest of Intoxication in Wedding Dress

260xstoryJade Puckett in Houston, Texas spent her wedding night in a wedding gown in a cell with twenty other women at the Harris County jail after she and her new husband were pulled over in a sobriety roadblock. Police say that Puckett became belligerent and was arrested. She is not contesting the charge (which was pleaded out as public intoxication), but she has filed a complaint over her abusive treatment by Harris County officers. That complaint appears to have considerable merit.

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Bizarre, Criminal law

A Woman Porned: Indiana Woman Tries to Incriminate Ex-Boyfriend for Child Porn But Is Arrested for Bestiality

michelle_owenIn Whitehead, Indiana, Michelle Owen, 24, was allegedly so focused on incriminating her ex-boyfriend for downloading child pornography that she forgot about picture showing her engaged in sex acts with a dog.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

Parental Intervention: Mother Arrested After Biting Principal For Suspending Son

35e12c87a4d5480a8738bc580d292ecdAleyda Uceta, 30, has been arrested after she allegedly punched and bite Principal Rudolph Moseley Jr. of Roger Williams Middle School in Providence, Rhode Island. Moseley had just informed her that her 11-year-old son would be suspended for refusing to go to a room for misbehaving children.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Lawyering, Society

Prêt-à-Prisoner: New Jersey Supreme Court Rules That Witnesses Cannot Be Forced to Wear Prison Garb

180px-loc_utah_prisoners_c1885_3b27385uThe New Jersey Supreme Court has handed down an important ruling that prisoners cannot be forced to wear a prison uniform on the witness stand. The Court ruled that such prison garb “undermine[s] the credibility of the witness.”

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Bizarre, Courts, Criminal law, Justice, Lawyering, Society

Dressing Down: Judge Posner Demands Discipline of Prosecutor Over Alleged Misconduct in Salad Dressing Case

posnerhenries31-150x150Judge Richard Posner dressed down a federal prosecutor over expired salad dressing. Posner issued the ruling for his panel on United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit which included criticism of Assistant U.S. Attorney Juliet Sorensen for misleading statements.
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Congress, Criminal law, Politics, Society

Congress Moves to Tax AIG Bonuses — But Is It Constitutional?

200px-aig_wordmarksvgthumb_bag_of_moneyCongress is rushing to respond to the widespread public outrage over the $160 million in bonuses paid to American International Group (AIG) executives with taxpayer money. The most popular idea is to tax the bonuses, but such a retroactive tax would raise very serious legal questions. I discussed this issue on Countdown in this segment.

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Criminal law, International, Politics, Society

English Refuse Asylum Plea and Deport Man to Sudan Where He Is Promptly Killed

125px-flag_of_sudansvgEngland flagAdam Osman Mohammed, 32, insisted that if England denied his asylum application and sent him to Sudan, he would be killed. He can now say I told you so, except for the fact that he was promptly killed upon his arrival to his village in south Darfur.
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