The notes left by “D.C. Madam” Deborah Jean Palfrey to her mother and sister indicate that she committed suicide to avoid six years in jail.
Continue reading “D.C. Madam’s Suicide Notes Reveal Desperate Fear of Jail Led to Hanging”
Category: Criminal law
In Riverdale, Utah, a police chief named Dave Hansen was showing officers how to properly (read improperly) unjam a weapon when shot himself. In the meantime, a man who waved around a gun in a road rage incident succeeded in shooting himself by mistake.
In a bizarre case out of Philadelphia, a teacher is shown in the video below apparently referring a fight between students in her special education class. However, two teachers claims that when they reported Tonia Brown, they were fired. They have filed a whistleblower action over the terminations. Presumably, “special education” is not meant to be training for the WWF. Continue reading “Teaching the Three Rs: Wrestling, Rough-Housing, and Refereeing in Philadelphia”
In Riverhead, N.Y., State Supreme Court Justice Robert Doyle held an unusual arraignment hearing: in the court’s parking lot. The defendant, Bernard Musumeci, 44, is a Long Island music shop owner accused of selling knockoff Gibson Les Paul guitars. At 500-pounds, however, the defendant could not appear to be arraign for justice effectively came to him. It is not clear whether the bail slip came with validation. Continue reading “Do You Want Validation with that Arraignment? 500-Pound Man Arraigned in New York Parking Lot”
A Tennessee couple, Robin and Michael Read, who lost their son in Iraq has sued an Arizona tee-shirt maker, Dan Frazier for selling anti-war tee-shirts with the names of dead soldiers (including their son). They are seeking $40 billion in damages in a class action lawsuit. Continue reading “Family of Dead Soldier Sues Tee-Shirt Seller in Class Action”
In Tarpon Springs, Florida, police has identified the body of a suicide victim as “D.C. Madam” Deborah Jeane Palfrey, 52. This is the second suicide associated with the case.
Just when it seemed that things could not be worse for Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former aide Crhistine Beatty, it did. Now emails released this week further establish a very compelling case that both lied under oath and spent millions in public funds to try to hide their role in the firing of a police officer as well as their affair. Continue reading “New E-Mails Strengthens Criminal Case Against Detriot Mayor and Aide”
Once again, one has to wonder where we find some of the bureaucrats who run agencies like child protective services. University of Michigan Christopher Ratte, 47, made an innocent and understandable mistake at a Detroit Tiger’s game at Comerica Park. He bought his 7-year-old son a lemonade without understanding that it had alcohol. The result? The boy was taken from his parents for two days and Ratte had to move out of the home as subintelligent bureaucrats debated the matter. Continue reading “Michigan Professor Temporarily Loses Custody of Son Over Oversight at Baseball Game”
The Supreme Court has taken the case of a breakthrough case where the Ninth Circuit had held that a wrongly convicted man could sue the prosecutor who was allegedly responsible for injustice. The expectation is that the Court will carve out an exception for prosecutors — further insulating abusive prosecutors from responsibility for their acts. Continue reading “Supreme Court Takes Prosecutorial Abuse Case”
It may be the longest false imprisonment case in history. A 73-year-old man known only for now as Mr. F., has confessed in Amstetten, Austria to keeping his daughter (known as Elisabeth F) in a prison in his cellar for 24 years while he raped her and had children with her. They had a total of seven children and further confessed that one of the children (a twin) died and was burned in his oven. It is without question one of the most disgusting and disturbing crimes of the century. Continue reading “Austrian Father Confesses to Imprisoning and Raping Daughter for 24 Years”
It appears that, while U.S. courts are jettisoning privacy rights and expanding the powers of the police in various areas, the Supreme Court of Canada is moving in the opposite direction: actually fighting to preserve privacy. In an important ruling, the Court held that police cannot use dogs to randomly sniff briefcases, book bags etc. They will have to show reasonable suspicion for such searches. Continue reading “Canada Puts Leash on Use of Drug-Sniffing Dogs”
The Bush Administration is continuing to claim that it can torture prisoners in violation of international law despite the so-called “torture bill” and pledge of the President to comply with international rules. Congress, which has protected the president from any criminal investigation, is again professing shock and outrage in the longest institutional imitation of Claude Rains in history. Continue reading “Bush Administration Re-Asserts Right to Torture”
It is now becoming clear why the Spanish have been able to secure the release of their vessels and citizens faster than other countries: they allegedly cave and pay the demanded ransom. Perhaps, the Euro’s rise is making this a small cost of doing business, but one can now see why Somali pirating is the rage. Continue reading “Yo Ho Ho: Spain Pays Somali Pirates $1.2 Million to Release Ship and Crew”
Professor John Yoo has formally rejected a request from the House Judiciary Committee for his testimony, prompting a likely subpoena from the committee.
Continue reading “Professor John Yoo Refuses to Testify on Torture Memos”
The Senate is congratulating itself on finding taking a stand on ethics. It admonished Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R., N.M.) yesterday for his “appearance of impropriety” in connection with the firing of one of the nine U.S. attorneys fired. Yet, it is hard to see what it takes under congressional rule to commit an actual act of impropriety. Perhaps if Domenici had actually paraded around with the head of David C. Iglesias . . . wait, that is an “appearance of insobriety” under Senate rules. Continue reading “Senate Finds that Domenici’s Call to U.S. Attorney was Only an “Appearance” of Impropriety”