With Sen. Ted Stevens (R. Alaska) and Rep. Don Young (R. Alaska) both asking to create funds to allow contributors to help pay for their legal defenses on corruption charges, Sen. David Vitter (R.La) wants to go one step further — to use actual campaign funds. It doesn’t seem to matter that voters thought that they were giving money to help a senatorial candidate, not a busted john.
Category: Criminal law
Beaumont, Texas Police Officer Keith Breiner took the stand in his own defense in the scandal involving vice cops having sex with prostitutes. Breiner insisted that he had to have sex with the women to make the case against them and that he was just doing his job. The department disagrees and suspended him and Lt. David Kiker for their when-in-Rome approach to vice operations.
A highly controversial prosecution of a Michigan kindergarten teacher has ended with a new team of prosecutors dropping all charges “in the interests of justice.” The admission did not come until after James Perry, 34, was put through two trials — the first resulted in an overturned conviction due to conflicting evidence. In the meantime, one of the prosecutors responsible for the case will find himself on the defense side of a bar charge for prosecutorial misconduct. Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca will have to answer for his controversial actions in the case. Assistant Prosecutor Andrea Dean in the case argued that possession of movies like Harry Potter should be considered “non-erotic pornography.”
A television studio has the photos! An actual Bigfoot hoaxster sitting in a studio as big as life. Former police officer Matt Whitton and his equally dim-witted friend (and former correctional officer) Rick Dyer came out of hiding to fess up to fabricating the carcass of a Bigfoot. Whitten has now been fired from the police force, which takes a dim view of lying on national television. Conversely, Dyer is currently working as a car salesman where his conduct may be viewed as a positive resume item.
Police in Denver are now authorized by the city council to arrest people who are found carrying feces or urine for nefarious purposes. Denver officials are expected protesters at the convention and have adopted an openly hostile attitude toward such demonstrations. Indeed, they might want to read today’s story on how the Chinese handle such nuisances at great events like the Olympics, here.
Continue reading “Denver Bans the Carrying of Feces and Urine for Nefarious Purposes”
In a further demonstration of China’s complete failure to honor its promises on the treatment of protests, two elderly women, Wu Dianyuan, 79, and Wang Xiuying, 77, are facing a year of “reeducation through labor” because they applied for permits to demonstrate during the Olympics.
Andrew Carter thought that he was performing a public duty when he photographed an English police officer going the wrong way down a one-way street. Officer Aqil Farooq did not agree — upon seeing Farooq, he jumped out of the van, knocked the camera to the ground, handcuffed and arrested Carter. Carter was then taken in the very same van to jail.
Under Senate ethics rules, a Senator can establish a legal expense fund and accept contributions if it is related to his “official duties.” Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) has asked the U.S. Senate Ethics Committee to approve such a fund to help him defend himself against claims that he sold his official duties to the highest bidder. He is not alone. His equally ethically challenged colleague, Don Young (R-Alaska) has created such a fund to help him fight allegations of corrupt practices.
University of Iowa professor Arthur Miller, 66, has been reported missing after he was charged with four counts of seeking bribes in the form of fondling female students in exchange for higher grades.
Charles S. Morrison, 31, of Greensburg, Pennsylvania proved that a person with a temper and a garden gnome can be a dangerous combination. Morrison was convicted of five criminal charges, including aggravated assault for throwing a 2-pound concrete garden gnome through a glass door at his stepdaughter.
Lexington, South Carolina authorities are dealing over a difficult criminal case this week. Francis Marion Reeves III, 62, is charged with murder in the Friday shooting death of 17-year-old Deshaun Rashad Clark. The case could turn on very murky facts involving a theft, beating, retaliation, and a drive-by — and one irate father. It also bears some resemblance to the recent controversial White case in New York.
Continue reading “South Carolina Father Accused of Killing Unarmed Teen at Party”
In Denver, Colorado, a father, Ernesto Talavera-Nunez, is charged with the death of his 11-month-old son who touched exposed electrical wires on an alarm clock that he had repaired. He could now face 16 years for a class-three child abuse felony.
Continue reading “Father Charged in Electrocution of 11-Month-Old Son From Defective Clock”
Two off-duty NYPD Officers Michelle Anglin, 37, and Koleen Robinson, 24, were charged with assault, gang assault and criminal possession of a weapon for a road rage incident that resulted in the beating of driver Marion Smith. The incident began in true New York tradition with two driver’s screaming profanities at each other — but the police officers proceeded to pistol-whip Smith for his insults. They then allegedly fled the scene.
Continue reading “Two Bronx Cops Charged with Road Rage Assault”
Matthew Whitton and Ricky Dyer in Georgia seemed eager to grab their 15 minutes of fame to the point of claiming to have the actual body of a deceased Bigfoot frozen in their freezer. It turned out to be a rubber suit and the question now is whether the two will be criminally charged with fraud for their efforts. Whitton is a police officer in Clayton County who is on leave after being wounded in the line of duty and Dyer is a former correctional officer.
Continue reading “Police Officer and Former Correctional Guard Accused of Fraudulent Bigfoot Story”
Curtis C. Murray of Gretna, Louisiana has been arrested for negligent homicide after he shot and killed his girlfriend while showing her a gun. Averyell Davis, 23, died after receiving a shot to the abdomen.
Continue reading “Louisiana Man Kills Girlfriend During Gun Demonstration”