A federal grand jury is reportedly investigating possible criminal charges in the suicide case of 13-year-old Megan Meier. At the same time, the state is considering a new law to criminalize the conduct that led to the girl’s suicide after a mother faked the identity of a young boy on MySpace and then cruelly dumped the teenager after she became infatuated with him. The mother and neighbor, Lori Drew, has not been called, but could be a target for criminal charges. Continue reading “Grand Jury Reportedly Investigating Crimes in the Megan Meier MySpace Suicide Case”
Category: Criminal law
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) has been accused of trading a $2 million earmark in exchange for $30,000 in campaign contributions from Voyager Expanded Learning. Landrieu denies the allegations. However, at a minimum, the scandal should refocus attention on the utter failure of the Democrats to keep their pledge to clean up Congress. Regardless of the merits of these allegations, one obvious question should be why senators are forcing such contracts on the D.C. government or any governmental agency. at a fundraiser held by Voyager’s founder and chairman. Continue reading “Sen. Mary Landrieu Accused of Trading Earmarks for Campaign Contributions”
The Georgia Supreme Court is considering a basic law of physics: is a man is banished from the entire state except for a small county in a distant section: how can he get there and, if he does, how can he live. This is the intriguing question presented by a lower court’s sentence that Gregory Mac Terry is banished from all but one of the state’s 159 counties. Banishment has become the rage with state judges but there remains a question of constitutionality, if not impossibility. Continue reading “Georgia Supreme Court Considers the Limits of the Laws of Banishment and Physics”
Umatilla Fire Chief Richard Shirk has resigned after he took photos of a 26-year-old woman being treated by emergency workers, including seminude photos of the victim — who later died. The resignation may not end the controversy if the family sues, as did the family of Nicole “Nikki” Catsouras after pictures of her decapitated body were sent around the Internet by emergency officials. Continue reading “Fire Chief Resigns Over Emailed Photos of Seminude Victim”
In what seems to be a trend among celebrities, Roger Clemens has joined the ranks of celebrities filing defamation lawsuits. In a Texas complaint, Clemens is suing former trainer Brian McNamee for 15 allegedly untrue statements about use of steroids and human growth hormones. On the same day his interview about alleged steroid use was broadcast on “60 Minutes,” Roger Clemens beat Brian McNamee to court, filing a defamation suit against the former trainer who claimed to have injected him with performance-enhancing drugs. Continue reading “Roger Clemens Files Defamation Lawsuit Over Allegations of Use of Performance-Enhancing Drugs”
In Oliver Twist, Mr Bumble said “If the law supposes that . . . the law is a ass.” It perhaps a lesson now understood by Judith Law who received an extra 90 days to telling South Carolina Circuit Judge Diane Goodstein to “kiss her ass” on a probation revocation order. Continue reading “Mr. Bumble’s Revenge: Judge Sentences Woman to Contempt for Telling Her to Kiss a Certain Body Part”
In a curious lawsuit, accused terrorist Jose Padilla has sued Law Professor John Yoo. Yoo is the supposedly one of the authors of several memos supporting President Bush’s enemy combatant policy and has been linked to the abuse that resulted from that policy. Yoo and Georgetown Professor Viet Dinh have been criticized for their roles in creating these abuses that include a formal torture program and the denial of basic constitutional rights. Continue reading “Accused Terrorist Jose Padilla Sues Law Professor John Yoo”
There is an interesting fight brewing over the arrest of Chris Wilson. Wilson is hardly Thomas Paine, unless Paine dabbled in porn. Wilson, 28, is the founder and manager of a controversial site, nowthatsfuckedup.com, where guys post sexually explicit shots of their wives and girlfriends. Nice. However, recently Wilson began to post explicit and disturbing pictures of the carnage from Iraq, photos reportedly sent by soldiers posted abroad. In October, Wilson’s home was raided, his computer seized, and he is now facing life in prison. Beneath the gore and porn, Wilson may have a valid first amendment case. Continue reading “Chris Wilson’s War: Publisher of Iraqi War Dead Arrested and Computer Seized: Was it Porn or Politics?”
With the Court set to rule on the constitutionality of lethal injection, it has taken an equally important case to review the constitutionality of capital punishment for non-homicide crimes. Patrick Kennedy, 43, was sentenced to death for the rape of his 8-year-old stepdaughter in Louisiana — one of only two death row inmates sentenced for a non-homicide crime. After decades of the Court pruning back the death penalty through exceptions, this could be a case where there is an expansion of capital punishment. Continue reading “Supreme Court Takes Up Child Rape Death Penalty Case”
Authorities in Lewisville, Texas believe that Yaser Abdel Said, 50, shot his daughters Sarah Yaser Said, 17, and Amina Yaser Said, 18, in his taxi as an honor killing. It is not clear whether this was the motive. Such a honor killing would follow an equally disturbing case involving a homicidal father and the Indian caste system. Continue reading “Texas Officials Investigate Whether Father’s Shooting of Two Daughters Was a Muslim Honor Killing”
The Christa Worthington murder case has taken a surprising turn as jurors allege that racism played a role in the conviction of Christopher McCowen for the crime. The allegations are strikingly similar to those of a juror in the recent conviction of John White in New York. What is remarkable is that the judge in the Worthington murder case has decided to call the jurors to address the allegations in open court. Continue reading “Jurors Allege Racism and Coercion in Murder of Fashion Writer Christa Worthington”
Jane Harman, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee warned then-CIA general counsel Scott Muller in a 2003 letter that destroying videotapes of terrorist interrogations would put the CIA under a cloud of suspicion. However, what is as remarkable as the decision of the CIA to go ahead with the destruction is the failure of the Democrats to do nothing more than discourage what was a presumptively criminal destruction of evidence. Moreover, there is no mention of the crime of torture — only that it would “reflect badly on the agency.” Continue reading “Top Intel Democrat Warned CIA Not to Destroy Tapes — But Then Did Nothing Further”
The latest innocent man wrongly convicted in Dallas County is Charles Chatman who spent 26 years in prison for a rape of a neighbor. He is the 15th such person to be cleared by DNA in Dallas County, which has developed a reputation as a careless and dangerous jurisdiction for criminal prosecutions. Texas itself has had to release at least 30 wrongfully convicted inmates since 2001. The question is what the state and county will do to correct a justice system that seems to unjustly convict the innocent with a shocking repetition. Continue reading “Dallas County Expands Its Dubious Record of the Most Wrongly Accused Individuals Cleared by DNA”
Attorneys have long had to deal with the ethical problem of representing clients who do not take their legal advice or act against their own interest. In such cases, they may ultimately have no choice but to seek termination of the representation, even in the midst of litigation. That is precisely what counsel has done with Britney Spears, seeking to leave en masse from further representation in her custody battle with Kevin Federline. One lawyer, however, continues to work on the criminal side to try a novel argument to avoid a criminal conviction. For lawyers, it is like watching the world’s longest car wreck. Yet, there is an intriguing legal issue here on the status of celebrities for the purposes of state violations. Continue reading “Attorneys Seek to Drop Britney Spears While One Remains to Try Novel Criminal Defense”
The Indian caste system is known to cause violence in India, but a multiple murder case near Chicago has raised the specter of such violence in the United States. Prosecutors say Subhash Chander, an immigrant from India, used gasoline to burn alive his pregnant daughter, son-in-law and their child because he believed that his daughter married beneath her class. Continue reading “Indian Caste System Alleged as Cause of Murder of Family by Father Near Chicago”