Category: Criminal law

Some People Take Enormous Exception To The 5G Cell Service Roll-out.

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

For many of us who hold on to old technology until the bitter end, issues such as the obligatory upgrade to a newer generation of cell phone technology brings irritation. But for a few in The Netherlands, it seems burning down cell towers is the retort of choice.

De Telegraaf reports that antenna systems in Liessel, Beesd, Rotterdam and Nuenen had their cabling set alight in what is believed nearly certainly to be arson. One of the control boxes at a cell site had “F*** 5G” spray painted, not the usual result of an arc-flash I would venture to say.

Some of the motivation for the dissent leading to these types of arson stems from the belief that the 5G system as utilized by telecoms curtails privacy and that the propagation of electromagnetic radiation transmissions could have health consequences. There are legitimate arguments to these positions, but there is wide variation in the perceived scope and danger they might actually present. Despite this, there remain always a few who so self-righteously bind themselves to causes célèbres they think very little of the actual damage such acts cause others.

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Ohio Man Arrested For Pulling Gun On Easter Bunny

One Ohio man has a curious way of celebrating Easter. The unnamed 49-year-old man was arrested after pointing a gun at the Easter Bunny in Middlebourne, Ohio. Police later found a .22-caliber handgun and an open 12-pack of beer in truck. It is a good thing, as my kids remind me every year, that the Easter Bunny does not impose a moral test like Santa. Both naughty and nice benefit equally from the Bunny, though there could be a little use proviso on the pulling of guns on the righteous rabbit.

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Illinois Homeowner Kills One Burglar and Tackles Another In Latest Pandemic Crime

Mugshot for Bradley Finnan, 39, of Chatanooga, Tenn.

I am in Chicago to assist with my 92-year-old mother who is in failing health. Much of the local news is about an outrageous crime where two armed robbers wore medical masks and gloves to break into a home. With people suffering in this crisis, these two individuals saw a criminal opportunity rather than human empathy. The problem is that they picked the wrong house. Not only was the crime captured on Ring, but the homeowner in Arlington Heights fatally shot Larry Brodacz, 58, and chased down, Bradley Finnan, 39.

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“How Hard Can It Be?”: Ohio Democratic Representative Pledges To File Referral For Charges Of Crimes Against Humanity By Trump

Ohio House of Representatives

Ohio state Rep. Tavia Galonski (D) continues to garner extensive national coverage over her pledge to file a referral with the Hague for charges of crimes against humanity by President Donald Trump over his handling of the pandemic. Yesterday, she reaffirmed with NBC News that she would be making a referral “tomorrow.” Galonski is specifically citing Trump’s promotion of the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment despite the absence of conclusive studies on its benefits. While Galonski originally said that she had “no idea” how to file such a referral, she has asked “how hard can it be?” The answer is extremely hard if you have, as here, an entirely frivolous basis for a referral.

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“I Swear I Hit Them”: Wisconsin Doctor and Spouse Allegedly Executed By Boyfriend of Daughter

Khari Sanford, left, and Ali'jah Larrue face charges in connection with the shooting deaths of a Wisconsin doctor and her husband, authorities say. (Dane County Sheriff's Office)

In any crisis, a strange array of crimes emerge that are shaped by the crisis. We have already discussed a variety of pandemic crimes from assaults over social distancing rules to coughing on vegetables to attempts to surpass purchasing rules. There have also been murder-suicides with people who feared that they had the virus. With business burglaries up 75 percent in New York, some crimes are merely opportunistic and predictable while others add a level of depravity that is especially shocking. Wisconsin now has a particularly sad and bizarre murder to add to this list. A doctor and her husband were apparently dragged from their home and executed in March. One of the two suspects is the boyfriend of their daughter. Dr. Beth Potter, 52, and husband Robin Carre, 57, had paid for their daughter, Miriam (“Mimi’) Carre, and her reported boyfriend to Khari Sanford, 18, (left) to live in a separate apartment to protect against the spread of coronavirus (due to an underlying health condition). Potter was a professor at the University of Wisconsin and her death has shocked the academic community as well as the community at large. Sanford and his friend, Ali’jah Larrue, 18, (right) are now charged in the murder and police say that the daughter’s account stands contradicted on Sanford’s whereabouts at the time of the crime. ABC News has reported that bail is set at $1 million.

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Oregon Man Throws Firework At Female Friend . . . Causing Four Trucks and A Gas Thief To Catch Fire

In torts exams, professors will often string a series of unexpected events together in a proximate cause scenario. A case out of Oregon seems right out of such an exam narrative. Thomas Hannah, 28, is accused of getting into an argument with a female friend in the parking lot of a U-Haul center in Eugene. He proceeded to light and throw a firework at her, which promptly caused four trucks (and a gas thief) to catch fire.

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Massachusetts Authorities Search For Shopper Who Sprayed Walmart Cashier In Eyes With Lysol

It always seems that crisis brings out the best and worst in people. It does not really change people. It tends to magnify what is good and what is bad. This is a story of the latter. Police are looking for his woman after she allegedly sprayed a Walmart cashier in the eyes with Lysol after being told that there was a limit on the number of cans that could be purchased during the pandemic. Police in Leicester put out this picture for the woman who could find herself in the can instead.

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Why Calls For A “National Quarantine” May Be More Rhetorical Than Legal

Below is my column in the Hill on how the calls for a “national quarantine” ignore both the historical and legal foundations for such orders. While the President can reduce travel at transportation hubs and certainly call for a national quarantine as “an aspirational” matter, the legal authority to enforce a national quarantine is far from obvious.

Here is the column:

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Texas Case Could Produce One Of The First Corona Hate Crime Charges

Jose L. Gomez, 19, was charged with three counts of attempted capital murder and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. (Midland County Sheriff's Office)

Jose L. Gomez, 19, may have the dubious distinction of being the first person charged and convicted of a Corona hate crime. Gomez is accused of stabbing three members of a family of four inside a Sam’s Club. The family is Asian and police say that he was trying to stop them from spreading the virus. His victims included a 2-year-old and 6-year-old child. While other anti-Asian hate crimes have been reported in the pandemic, this one could result in an early plea or conviction.

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“Eddie Isn’t With Us At This Time”: Engineer Charged With Train Wrecking In Alleged Attack On The USNS Mercy

There are many surreal aspects to this pandemic but Eduardo Moreno is still something of a stand out. The California engineer attempted to ram his locomotive into the USNS Mercy because he was suspicious of its real purpose in Los Angeles. His effort took the train off the rails and across a remarkable distance before stopping short of the ship. The family has started a GoFundMe page that cryptically says “Eddie is not hurt physically but isn’t with us at this time.” The case has resulted in a relatively rare federal charge of training wrecking. By handing Moreno over to the federal prosecutors, state authorities minimized his defense options and maximized the potential sentencing.

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That’s Not A Sword . . . THIS Is A Sword: Robber Pulls Sword So Store Clerk Pulls Bigger Sword

This is something one certainly does not see everyday. In Pittsburgh, a man pulled a sword on a store clerk but ran from the store after the clerk pulled an even bigger sword on the robber. The only thing missing was Doug Marcaida saying “It will cut . . . It will kill.”

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Laying Hands On Religious Super-Spreaders: Florida Police Arrest Megachurch Pastor

We recently discussed defiant ministers who have refused to end large-scale services like Pastor Tony Spell in Louisiana. Now Florida police have criminally charged Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne of The River at Tampa Bay Church for defying pandemic orders with a mass service.

Fox 29 reports that law enforcement tried to dissuade Howard-Browne but the minister refused to yield and exposed his congregation and their neighbors to spreading the virus. He is charged with “unlawful assembly” and “violation of public health emergency order.”

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No, Sen. Burr Is Not Likely To Be Charged With Insider Trading (and Even Less Likely To Be Convicted)

The FBI has reportedly begun an investigation into the stock sales of Sen. Richard Burr before the crisis over the coronavirus. As I discussed in my recent column, such prosecutions are exceptionally difficult to bring by design. Like ethics investigations, these investigations often serve to simply “clear” a politician who is allowed under lax ethical rules to trade in areas of their legislative and committee work. The only real reform is not investigations but either a ban on stock ownership or, more appropriately, a requirement of a blind trust (with criminal penalties for steering trades). Moreover, if he were to be charged, I would likely be the first to object to a prosecution for trades that Congress has kept lawful for decades despite some of our calls for reform. [This article was updated]

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Maryland Man Arrested For Violating Order Against Large Gatherings

Shawn Marshall Myers, 41, has been arrested for violating the order of Gov. Larry Hogan in hosting roughly 60 people at a bonfire last Friday night. Myers defied the order to keep any gathering to 10 people or less.

While Meyers might not have coronavirus, he might not be on the top of the list of most people as someone to party with at any time. He is a registered sex offender.

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