Many people were surprised yesterday when former President Bill Clinton finally made a public statement after over a decade on his relationship with convicted felon and billionaire Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein was charged this week with sex trafficking and conspiracy. Clinton has long been connected with over two dozen flights on Epstein’s place, often called the “Lolita Express” for its reputation for underaged girls and orgies. Clinton also reportedly told the Secret Service not to accompany him on some flights with Epstein. Clinton now denies ever traveling without the Secret Service and claims that he only flew with Epstein four times on routine flights. Various people are challenging that account including the journalist, Conchita Sarnoff, who previously wrote on the flight logs and records showing Clinton’s trip. Continue reading “Clinton Challenged On Denial Of Epstein Flights and Knowledge Of Crimes”
Category: Criminal law
Erica Cole just may have the worst criminal defense other than a confession. She shot her husband Nicholas Cole in the head but insisted that she was really trying to shoot someone else in a road rage incident. It is not much an improvement. She is charged with attempted murder, second-degree assault and reckless endangerment.
The road rage incident reportedly occurred on the highway near Dodge City, Alabama. The cars then continued the confrontation at a home on a local road.
The “I meant to shoot the other guy in the head” claim will not take you very far at trial. Nicholas Cole is still recovering in the hospital.
Notorious billionaire Jeffrey Epstein has been arrested on sex trafficking charges in New York. The arrest comes after months of litigation linked to Epstein’s controversial plea bargain over a decade ago. Ongoing litigation over sealed records recently led to an order to unseal, including material linked to Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz who has denied allegations that the underaged girls were ordered to sleep with him. Epstein is accused of trafficking dozens of minors in New York and Florida between 2002 and 2005. He will appear in court in New York on Monday, Continue reading “Jeffrey Epstein Arrested In New York”
She is called the “Lufkin Licker” and could face both state and federal charges. The woman posted a video of herself opening a container of Blue Bell ice cream at a Walmart store and licked the top . . . then put the top back on and returned the ice cream. according to Fort Worth’s KTXA-TV. the disgusting act led police to scour stores for security tapes and they have now zeroed in on this woman from a security tape in Lufkin, Texas. Continue reading “Manhunt For The “Lufkin Licker” Identifies Suspect”
Alabama police have finally apprehended Mickey Paulk, the man accused of feeding methamphetamines to a pet squirrel to create a vicious “attack squirrel.” Paulk denies the allegation and complained that his pet squirrel would likely die after being released into the wild. After all, he noted, if the squirrel were a meth addict, the release was a cruel act: “So they let a meth addicted attack squirrel go on the public. how you like that people?”
Rep. Duncan Hunter surprised many when he was able to secure reelection after being hit with major corruption charges. His wife has already pleaded guilty in a case involving such allegations as spending campaign funds on lavish dinners, private school for their children, and most notably plane tickets for their pet rabbit. Now Hunter has lost a major motion after U.S. District Judge Thomas Whelan ruled that evidence of his extramarital affairs can be raised in his corruption trial. It was the correct ruling and makes an already tough corruption trial into a perfect nightmare for defense counsel.
Continue reading “Court: Rep. Hunter’s Alleged Affairs Are Admissible In His Corruption Trial”
Below is my column on last week’s major developments on immigration and their implications for the 2020 election.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “Democrats and Trump Go “All In” on Immigration”
Below is my column in the Hill on the upcoming (and long-delayed) appearance of Robert Mueller, former Special Counsel, before Congress. It will be interesting to watch if Democratic members protect Mueller from having to address some of the glaring contradictions and problems in his report. However, in case there is a modicum of interest in delving into such areas by either party, here are 20 questions that I would ask Robert Mueller.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “The American Sphinx: 20 Questions For Mueller Before Congress”
Below is my column on the end of the Supreme Court term and the one outstanding piece of business: an apology to Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch. After this column ran, Gorsuch again voted with the liberal justices on a critical due process issue. He has already carved out a principled legacy on the Court that follows his convictions rather than the predictions of his critics.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “Washington Owes Neil Gorsuch An Apology”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
I came across an interview with a convicted burglar who agreed to discuss his tradecraft and thought it could offer many an opportunity to learn how one can protect their own property and homes from invasion by burglars.
The convicted burglar claims over a hundred residential burglaries during a twenty-year crime spree before finally being brought to ultimate justice. He provides his police interviewer with a candid insight into his “trade” which soon becomes evident to the viewer that he goes about his crimes with a professional approach where if the illegality of his deeds was not considered, he would otherwise seem as though he was developing a niche market in the ordinary business sense.
It should be recognized that our interviewee in my experience is not a typical burglar who operates mostly on opportunity and luck. Yet for a certain demographic of citizen, mainly of those in upper-income neighborhoods, this type of burglar cannot be safely dismissed of discounted.
At the very least the reader can benefit from a perspective as to what motivates the mind of a professional felon.
Continue reading “An Interesting Perspective On Residential Burglaries”
Princeton Professor of African American Studies Eddie Glaude took to MSNBC this week to comment on the announcement of President Donald Trump that his Administration will commence with widespread deportations in the coming week. Rather than address the merits of such a plan or the alternatives, Glaude showed how reasoned discourse has become little more than raw (and in this case unhinged) hyperbole. Glaude declared that the Trump announcement should be viewed as a “terroristic act.” I recently published an article on the trend from academics to advocacy on our campuses. Glaude declared just a week earlier that, with Trump, “we’ve moved beyond autocratic to almost monarchical.” It appears now that he has moved by the monarchical to the terroristic.
Continue reading “Princeton Professor Declares Trump’s Deportation Plan “Terrorism””
In a tweet that reportedly took law enforcement by surprise, President Donald Trump disclosed that “next week” a national round up of undocumented persons would be launched. Obviously, ICE prefers not to inform potential arrestees that they are coming. Recently, it was reported that intelligence officials withheld details of their operations against Russia in fear that Trump might disclose the operation or compromise its purpose.
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Calling in sick is a fairly common practice for many people. However, most people are not famous actors who are contracted to do a recital in in Pordenone, in the northern region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. More importantly, most people are not then all over the news seating with Russian President Vladimir Putin and having the time of their lives. One can certainly understand a contractual case against Ornella Muti, but Italy often tries contracts and torts as criminal matters. Muti was found guilty of criminal fraud and given a suspended prison sentence pending payment of damages.
Continue reading “Et Tu Muti? Actress Convicted Of Fraud For Claiming Sickness To Go To Dinner With Putin”
Today President Donald Trump declared support for a new constitutional amendment to allow Congress to override the First Amendment and criminalize the burning of the American flag. The legislation for the amendment was reintroduced by Sen. Steve Daines (R- Montana) and Sen Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota). While I consider flag burning (of any country) to be deeply offensive, there is no need for such an amendment to combat the extremely few incidents of flag burning. It is certainly a popular political cause, but we should not amend the Constitution to reduce free speech, particularly given the low number of flag burnings.
Continue reading “Trump Supports Flag Burning Amendment”
We have previously discussed trophy hunters who post images of their kills. That kill thrill is hard for many of us to understand but it is particularly bizarre when the kill is illegal. That is the case of three hunters who killed a mountain lion in Yellowstone National Park in Montana in violation of the Lacey Act. Yellowstone special agent Jake Olson and others took a year but it finally caught Austin Peterson, 20, Trey Juhnke, 20, and Corbin Simmons, 19. The three were sentenced in May.
Continue reading “Three Men Arrested After Shooting Mountain Lion In Yellowstone And Then Bragging On Social Media”