Category: Criminal law

Florida Man Charged Criminally After Ignoring Police Order and Trying to Save Pets from Fire

112108morganPolice in Zephryhills, Florida have charged Henry Ben Morgan with a felony for obstructing the extinguishment of a fire plus a misdemeanor for resisting arrest when he attempted to run into his burning home to save his pets and put the fire out. The pets perished, his house burned down, and he is now looking at jail time.

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The Indestructible Ticket: Police Officer Issues Duplicate Ticket to Driver After Court Dismisses Original Ticket

thumb_policeman_cartoonPolice in Mamaroneck, New York may need a refresher on basic legal process principles. After Mayor Kathleen Savolt won in court in having a traffic ticket dismissed, Officer Michael Petrillo showed up at her house that night and issued her a new duplicate ticket.

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Connecticut Judge Arrested for Drunk Driving After Hitting Police Cruiser and Hurling Racial Epithets at Black Officer

43585012-25022605Connecticut Judge E. Curtissa R. Cofield is at the center of a firestorm after an arrest for drunk driving during which she hurled racial epithets at a black police officer. She also succeeded in striking a police cruiser with her BMW. Cofield, who is also black, is now the subject of both a criminal proceeding and a proposed legislative investigation.
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Bad Rap: Rapper Convicted After Song Incriminates Him in a 2006 Shooting

wright-thumbRico Todriquez Wright, 25, was delighted with the popularity of his latest rap song, “Hitting Licks for a Living.” However, one person noticed one line from the song: Living’ and there’s a line that says ‘Chad Blue knows how I shoot’.” Licks is slang for a robbery and Chad Blue was shot in 2006 by Wright. Now, Wright has been given 20 years in jail and 20 years of probation for the crime. The guy who found the song particularly interesting? You guessed it: Chad Blue

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Bush Pardons Man Who Killed Three Bald Eagles

200px-baldeaglerwpz225px-george-w-bushimages3The symbolism is perfectly exquisite. President George Bush, who has given out fewer pardons than any modern president, felt that he could not leave office without releasing Leslie Owen Collier of Charleston, Mo., who pleaded guilty in 1995 to unlawfully killing three bald eagles in southeast Missouri. Bush is generally viewed as the most hostile president to environmental protections in modern times. His pardons seemed to reflect that profile with another pardon going to a hazardous waste violator who was given a mere probation sentence. I will be discussing the Bush pardons with Rachel Maddow tonight.
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Man Arrested for Releasing Hundreds of Worms in Effort to Scare Women on Train

250px-engerling1In Osaka, Japan, Manabu Mizuta, 35, repeatedly released hundreds of beetle larvae near woman on trains to scare them. He stated “I wanted to see women get scared and shake their legs.” It makes for an interesting case of the definition of assault.

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Wasted Talent: Sopranos Star Lillo Brancato Stands Trial for Murder

275px-sopranosposters2The murder trial of Lillo Brancato seems like life following fiction for the actor from the Sopranos and The Bronx Tale. Brancato, 32, is accused of killing an off-duty police officer, Daniel Enchautegui, who came upon him and his drug dealer friend, Steven Armento, breaking into an apartment. Armento shot Enchautegui, but the prosecutors are seeking to prove that Brancato knew his friend was armed and therefore shares in his guilt.

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“Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?”: Boy George Stands Trial for False Imprisonment

220px-boygeorge_pacha_brasil_ariadneFalse imprisonment cases are relatively rare but Boy George is standing trial in England for the false imprisonment of a male escort. In addition to the crime of false imprisonment, it is possible for Norwegian escort Audun Carlsen, 23, to sue civilly. The trial is unfolding in an appropriately named Snaresbrook Court and Boy George, 47 (whose real name is George O’Dowd) denies the charges.

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Report: Vicks Personally Hanged and Drowned Dogs

2549Just when you thought that football star Michael Vick’s reputation could not get any worse than after his conviction for dog fighting, it does. A new report states that Vick personally killed at least seven of his fighting dogs by hanging or drowning. The report also says that Vick failed police polygraph tests in which he denied killing animals.

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I Write the Sentence: Judge Sentences Noise Violators to Listen to Barry Manilow

220px-barrymanilowIn what may be the first acoustic Eighth Amendment violation for cruel and unusual punishment, Fort Lupton Municipal Judge Paul Sacco has sentenced noise violators to listen to music that they do not like. I can barely stand hearing I Write the Songs once a year in an elevator. I often claw at the door to get out a floor early. On the serious side, it is the latest in a dangerous trend of novel punishments where judges appear to have sport with citizens pulled before them.

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Woman Sues Radio Station for “Win-a-Date” With a Rapist

6519475_600x338Waukegan radio station WXLC is being sued after having women compete to go on a date with a “great guy” Travis Harvey, 46. The radio station did not mention that Harvey had been convicted of violating an order for protection. He has now pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the “winner” in the contest, a 24-year-old who went on the date in February 2007.

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Smokin’ Sharia: Men Sentenced to Prison for Lighting Up During Ramadan

250px-zwei_zigarettenAlgeria’s highest court (in a country supposedly committed to secular values) has imposed prison sentences on three men caught smoking during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. In a purported triumph of the rule of law, the Algiers appeals court reduced the prison sentence from three years to two months. However, the men were still convicted for “offending religion.”

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