When the military tribunals were being created at Guantanamo Bay, some of us publicly stated that we would not take cases because the rules written by the Administration were fundamentally unfair and did not recognize core principles of due process. Since then, there have been a steady stream of prosecutors and defense lawyers in the military who have resigned in protest. The latest is Lt. Col. Darrel J. Vandeveld, who decided that he could no longer live with himself as a person or an attorney to participate in such a sham legal system.
Category: Lawyering
In the appropriately named Bayonet Point, Florida, Joseph Prudente, 66, is in jail indefinitely for the failure to sod his grass. The good (and fully lawned) people of the Beacon Woods Civic Association secured the contempt order because Prudente is required to keep his lawn with a full and healthy display of grass. The problem is that Prudente is on a fixed income, recently had his car repossessed, and cannot afford it. The association lawyer, however, says that such jailing is merely the sign of a fair and serious legal system.
Continue reading “Putting the Prude Back Into Prudente: Florida Man Jailed for Failure to Sod Lawn”
Chinese public interest lawyers are being pressured to drop clients injured by the latest Chinese product scandal related to tainted milk. The Chinese government now views these victims and their claims to be an unacceptable embarrassment.
Continue reading “Chinese Government Pressuring Lawyers to Stop Representing Tainted Milk Victims”
Jurors in Amite, Louisiana are hearing a disturbing confession by former Hosanna Church Pastor Louis Lamonica. Lamonica confessed to “dedications to Satan” inside the Ponchatoula church, though most of the parishioners did not know that church elders had turned from worshipping Christ to Satan. This week, his lawyer has argued that Lamonica only confessed to molesting children (including family members) because he believed it would help him get his children back and further argued that he was being controlled by a false prophet — Lois Mowbray (shown here).
It appears that parents, police and prosecutors in Harlan, Kentucky have a poor sense of humor and an even worse sense of criminal justice. A recent controversy began with a bad joke by politician and former gubernatorial candidate Otis “Bullman” Hensley at a grocery store. The joke to a mother and her two daughters would land Hensley in jail for three days and facing 10 years in jail.
Continue reading “Have You Heard the One About the “Bullman,” the Fattening Hog, and the Humorless Father? It’s No Joke”
The on-going litigation over the murder case of lawyers Marjorie Knoller and Robert Noel has resulted in another ruling in San Franscisco. A Superior Court judge has reinstated the conviction of Knoller in the 2002 second-degree murder of her apartment neighbor Diane Whipple. Whipple was savagely attacked by Knoller’s and Noel’s two Presa Canario dogs. The case has taken many legal turns and this ruling will now return Knoller to jail.
Continue reading “Knoller Conviction Reinstated in Whipple Murder”
Today, the New York Times ran a book review that I wrote on The Challenge: Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and the Fight Over Presidential Power by Jonathan Mahler. The book details the development of the Hamdan case, which ultimately ended in the Supreme Court with a defeat for the Bush Administration.
Continue reading “How a Jihadist Curtailed a President’s Authority”
Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht was required to appear before the Texas Ethics Commission on a new ethics charge: that a substantial discount given to him by a Texas firm resulted in a violation of campaign finance laws. Hecht had raked up $440,000 in legal fees in defending himself against charges that he violated judicial ethics when he advocated the selection of Harriet Miers for the United States Supreme Court.
Continue reading “Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht Charged with New Ethics Violation”
Federal District Court Judge William G. Young is someone who has handled a lot of juries and a lot a questions from jurors. However, he insists that he has never encountered the likes of Thomas R. Eddlem, who started asking about basic questions of federal authority. As a former John Birch Society member, Eddlem had serious questions about the right to tell people what they could possess, including cocaine. Young kicked him off the jury because he suspected a jury nullification problem in the making.
Continue reading “Eddlem or Bedlam: Boston Judge Tosses Juror Over Questions to the Court”
A military panel of six officers shocked the Administration by giving Osama bin Laden’s ex-driver, Salim Hamdan, only five and a half years. In a demonstration of the Administration’s contempt for even judicial rulings from its own tribunals, the Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman stated that, after serving his time, Hamdan would revert back to being an “enemy combatant” and could be held indefinitely. So, after proclaiming to the world that he received a “fair trial,” here,the Administration is now saying that the trial and sentence are meaningless.
The Bush Administration has released torture memos that reveal the extent to which officials laid the groundwork for a criminal defense in its torture program. The 2002 memos instructed interrogators in a good-faith defense for any claim that they were committing federal crimes.
Continue reading “The Bybee Memo: How to Torture and Avoid a Criminal Charge on Technicality”
A divided Judicial Qualifications Commission in Tallahassee has ruled to reprimand 1st District Court of Appeal Judge Michael E. Allen. For a prior entry, click here.
The panel also suggested an investigation into the subject of Allen’s criticism, fellow Judge Charles J. Kahn Jr. for participating in the appeal of the criminal case against former Senate President W.D. Childers.
Continue reading “Florida Judge Reprimanded for Statement in Court Opinion”
Every lawyer’s mother told them to wear clean underwear as they left the house in case they end up in an ambulance (presumably that they were chasing). In a rather curious moment, David Remes, a partner with Covington & Burling, showed the importance of this age-old maternal advice when he dropped his pants in front of an audience in Yemen to make a point about the mistreatment of detainees. It is not clear how the barrister burlesque went over in Yemen.
Continue reading “Burling-esque: Covington & Burling Partner Drops Pants in Front of Audience”
Indiana attorney Thomas Hamer found himself transformed from the lawyer to the hostage of his client, Richard Hudson, 52. Accused of of a misdemeanor domestic battery violations, Hudson was supposed to report to jail when he pulled a knife on his lawyer. His brilliant act of self-representation has now transformed a misdemeanor into charges of kidnapping and robbery — among other possible counts.
Continue reading “Confusing Retaining and Detaining Counsel: Criminal Defendant Kidnaps and Robs His Own Lawyer”
An interesting little article has revealed that the Vatican has been using its sovereign status to conduct actual trials, including one of a fake priest trying to hear confessions in the Vatican and a drug case. Who knows a television executives might soon discover “Vatican Court” and the new reality based program.