The Pennsylvania Superior Court has ruled that pet owners in the state cannot be prosecuted for shooting and killing their pets. The appellate court overturned the conviction of Wendy Colleen Kneller who, in 2006, shot her 6-year-old pit bull-chow mix, Bouta. The state anti-cruelty statute was deemed too ambiguous to sustain such a charge.
Continue reading “Shoot the Pooch: Pennsylvania Court Rule that Owners Can Shoot Their Pets”
In the amazing video below, New York police officers are shown ransacking a bar and smashing gambling machines . . . and pocketing cash. The November 14, 2007 raid on a bar called Beer Googles. One officer is seen counting cash from a smashed machine and handing it to another officer, who peels off some for himself and pockets it.
Give them the shoe appears to be replacing the boot as a standard in politics. In a scene reminiscent of the Iraqi shoe thrower and George Bush, a protester at Cambridge University threw a sneaker at at Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and called him a dictator. As if to prove the dictator point, the Chinese media was promptly ordered not to mention the incident in any coverage to keep the Chinese people in the dark about the story. The video of the incident is below.
Continue reading “Shoe Politics: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao Gets the Shoe Treatment at Cambridge”
If you think that American flight attendants have become a bit heavy handed, be grateful that you don’t fly Saudi Arabian Airlines flight. A man who refused to put his cigarette out on a flight to Jeddah was sentenced to 30 lashes.
Continue reading “Un-Lucky Strikes: Saudi Arabia Sentences Man To 30 Lashes for Smoking on a Flight”
In Florida and Texas, the courts are known to be pretty harsh on DUI and other offenses. However, at least one Texas judge and Florida prosecutor seem to have found ample due process and mercy in the handling of their own DUI cases. In Waco, District Judge Elizabeth Berry, 43, has been able to keep out the result of a blood test that showed that she was driving drunk. In Tampa, former Pinellas-Pasco prosecutor Lydia Wardell, 41, (known for her own unforgiving treatment of DUI offenders) avoided jail time for her second DUI arrest.
This week, there is a new detailed account of how Nigerian scammers are still able to snare victims and bleed them for months and even years. John Rempel, of Leamington, Canada
, ultimately lost $150,000 after scam artists convinced him to send money from himself and relatives for over a year. In the process, he quit his job and traveled around the world for what is known as the Nigerian 419 scam.
Continue reading “The Nigerian 419 Scam: Man Gives $150,000 In Scam Lasting Over a Year”
Doughnut have been the undoing of many a good cop. Now a Brisbane police officer has been disciplined after the junior constable got into a loud argument down under demanding free doughnuts from Krispy Kreme. It is only the latest scandal involving an officer irate over the denial of a doughnut.
As expected, ex-transit officer Johannes Mehserle, 27, is claiming that he shot Oscar Grant by mistake in the infamous video from the BART station in Oakland, California. He insists that he thought that his gun was his taser when he shot Grant in the back.
Continue reading “Mehserle Claims Mistake in Bart Shooting of Oscar Grant”
In 2005, ex-radio DJ Quincy De’Shawn Smith was involved in a confrontation with a police officer that resulted in his being tased. In November, this case was cleared for trial alleging police brutality by the officer. However, Smith, 24, is now dead after being tased in December by the same Minneapolis police officer, Officer Timothy Devick, who was responding to a report of a domestic assault.
Continue reading “Minneapolis Man Files Brutality Case Against Officer for Tasing Him in 2005 — He is Then Killed in 2008 After Being Tased By The Same Officer”
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Eric Chevallier has publicly criticized Israel for allegedly blocking the shipment of a water purification station into Gaza, forcing France to return the equipment to Europe despite the serious health emergency growing in Gaza over contaminated water. Spain for its part has now opened an investigation to look into the allegations of crimes against humanity in how Israel conducted the operation.
Continue reading “France Accuses Israel of Blocking Needed Water Purification Equipment for Gaza as Spain Launches War Crimes Investigation”
As predicted in our earlier entry, the investigation into the salmonella outbreak has now become a criminal investigation of Peanut Corporation of America. Recently, it was learned that company officials knew that prior batches of its product were contaminated but shipped them anyway. The Food and Drug Administration is spearheading the investigation.
Continue reading “FDA Opens Criminal Investigation of Peanut Corporation of America”
North Carolina prosecutors are pursuing an interesting felony-murder charge against Larry Whitfield, who is accused of breaking into the home of an elderly lade after an attempted bank robbery and car chase. Whitfield never touched Mary Parnell, 79, but the stress is believed to have caused her heart attack and death.
Continue reading “Robber Charged with Murder After Elderly Lady Has Heart Attack”
England is about to make it illegal to take photographs of police officers in a continuing trend limiting the free press and free speech in the West. This ill-conceived law, The Counter-Terrorism Act 2008, will take effect on February 16th and “allows for the arrest and imprisonment of anyone who takes pictures of officers ‘likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism’.” For this crime, you can get up to ten years and a fine.
Continue reading “England Set to Make Photographing Police a Crime”
Karl Rove is promising to defy the subpoena issued by John Conyers — citing instructions from Bush lawyers shortly before the end of the Administration. The statement may indicate that President Bush is preparing for a novel fight: asserting executive privilege against the position of the sitting president (who would presumably support Congress in this matter). In the interview, Rove compares himself to the Great White Whale in Moby Dick.
If Chevaliee ”Chevy” Robinson, 30, was unhappy about pleading guilty to drug conspiracy and money laundering in Akron a few months ago, he was probably even less happy when he learned the identity of the snitch that helped set him up with the police: his lawyer Frank Pignatelli. Media has learned that Pignatelli found himself implicated in the drug conspiracy and agreed to work undercover with police in stings to incriminate others, including his own former clients. It is an extremely troubling use of a lawyer by law enforcement that the American Bar Association should review.
Continue reading “Lawyer and Narc: Ohio Attorney Goes Undercover to Help Police Trap His Client”