Ex-judge Stuart DuBose in Alabama has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for federal firearms violatons by Judge Kristi DuBose. Judge DuBose actually departed from the guidelines to give ex-judge DuBose a lower sentence.
Continue reading “Judge DuBose Sentences Judge DuBose to Jail”
Category: Criminal law
Three former Atlanta police officers have been sentenced to prison in one of the most disturbing recent cases of police abuse. Former officers — Jason Smith, Gregg Junnier and Arthur Tesler — were sentenced to ten to three years for their roles in the death of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston.
Continue reading “Three Atlanta Police Officers Sentenced for Planting Evidence and Killing a 92-Year-Old Grandmother in Botched Raid”
This week, the Supreme Court delivered a decision was as brief as it was significant. The Court vacated the recent ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit that the President can detain Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar who was lawfully in the United States as a student when he was arrested in 2001. The ruling will relieve the Obama Administration of the necessity of having to choose whether to support or oppose the Bush Administration’s arguments.
Continue reading “Supreme Court Vacates Fourth Circuit’s Ruling on Al-Marri”
Rodney Swank, 52, may be the most misnamed man in the world. Not only is he accused for exposing himself to children, he picked 8 and 9-year-old girls in St. Louis at a lemonade stand to engage in flashing. What is most remarkable is that he returned to the area recently and flashed a young girl who had the presence of mind to write down his license plate number.
When Vero Beach, Florida police stopped Justin Lee Williams,24, for an improper turn and suspicion of DUI, he allegedly had a curious defense: he had only five minutes to get to the store to buy beer.
Continue reading “Private Necessity Defense: Man Claims He Was Speeding to Get To Liquor Store Before It Closed”
ROMNEY, W.Va. — Suspended Lawyer and Ex-County Commissioner Donald Paul Cookman has now been charged with three counts of embezzlement and four counts of forgery in West Virginia. The charging papers describe what is alleged to be a snowballing disaster for a lawyer in severe financial distress. This includes forging the signature of Mineral County Circuit Court Judge Andrew Frye and taking money given to him by Cheri Beverage. Ok, the puns were irresistible.
Continue reading “Cookman Takes Money From Beverage Account and Falsely Claims Frye Award”
This one is a bit hard to fit into the usual charge sheet. Nicole Marie Loretta Leonard, 25, showed up at the funeral of a stranger in North Carolina, danced in front of the family, waved a wand around the casket, opened the casket, and hit the deceased with the wand. Before running from the funeral, she threw flowers from the casket over the shocked family.
Continue reading “North Carolina Woman Arrested for Disrupting Funeral and Assaulting Deceased”
South Carolina police have arrested a 18-year-old student of York Technical College after his gun discharged in a classroom. The case of Jeremy Moffett will likely be cited by those opposing calls for allowing students and faculty to carry guns on campus after the shootings at Virginia Tech.
There is another story of an abusive raid by a SWAT team this week. In January, a SWAT team raid the mobile home of Mike Hasenei, hit him in the face with a shield, knocked him to the ground, handcuffed both him and his wife, and shot their family dog.
Continue reading “Maryland SWAT Team Raids Home on Hunch, Hits Husband in Face, Handcuffs Couple, and Shoots Family Dog — and Finds No Evidence of a Crime”
The Saudi police had their version of a high-profile chase scene this week in Mecca. The culprit? A woman driving. Yes, police spotted an actual woman behind the wheel of a car, which is expressly forbidden under the country’s medieval laws. What followed was an effort by the woman to escape, a small crash, and her arrest.
Continue reading “DWF: Driving While Female in Saudi Arabia”
Mark Geinosky feels like a hunted man. He has been given 24 tickets since October 2007. Thirteen tickets were written by the same officer in a five-month span of time, who only wrote tickets from that book for Geinosky.
Continue reading “Ticket Magnet: Chicago Resident Gets 24 Out of 24 Tickets Dismissed After Alleging Personal Vendetta by Officer”
Eric Falardeau, 29, seems to have found an advantage in being subintelligent. Falardeau is accused of beating to death William Beal of Salem, Massachusetts outside of a tavern. Now, Lawrence Superior Court Judge Howard Whitehead has ruled that he lacks the intelligence to stand trial for the 2000 murder and therefore will be released.
Continue reading “Dumb as a Stump or Clever as a Fox? Accused Murderer Released Due to Low IQ”
Now, this is an interesting trespass and disorderly conduct case out of Australia. The White Cockatoo resort has complained that a Brisbane man and his wife came to an “anything only” sex party but the man refused to take his clothes off.
Continue reading “Modest Trespass: Police Called to Swinger’s Club to Deal With Man Who Refused to Take Clothes Off”
U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman in Chicago has held Police Superintendent Jody Weis in contempt for refusing to turn over lists of officers who have repeated complaints filed against them for abuse and violence. Weis insists that such a release of the list would diminish morale.
The constitutional fish tale from Clearwater, Florida is getting more difficult to believe with the appearance of city officials in court over their crackdown on the posting of the first amendment on the side of a fish and bait shop. As discussed earlier, Complete Angler and its owner Herb Quintero was first fined for simply painting a mural of fish on the side of the building. They were told that it constituted a “sign.” When he covered the mural with a copy of the first amendment, he was hit with another threatened fine. Now, the city has said that they would not fine him for handing the American flag but not the first amendment.