Category: Society

Academia, Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Justice, Lawyering, Media, Military, Society, Supreme Court, Testimony, Uncategorized

Double Jeopardy

Submitted by: Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger

One of the main problems with any legal principle is that we humans are so complex in our interactions that even the most hallowed of legal principles are bound to run into conflict with a real life situation that turns it on its end and leaves even the most principled among us at a loss. This is why the timeless practice of training lawyers to be able to argue both sides of a case arose. Even those who are most respectful of our legal system and our Constitution, recognize that with the variety of human situations, sometimes the legal process leads to results that are far short of the mark of what a person might consider to be justice. Recently, while watching a TV real life murder show called “Unusual Suspects” I came across a case, whose resolution, left me confused as to whether the result was correct in a Constitutional sense. The first ten amendments to our Constitution that are known as “The Bill of Rights” are legal principles that I hold sacrosanct. Historically, the founders put them in place to safeguard the people from the tyrannies that often flowed from autocratic systems of government. These were principle that history and experience had taught them were necessary to protect and preserve the freedom of citizens.

The Fifth Amendment became famous in the 40’s and 50’s when it was invoked at congressional hearings striving to root out “communists”. People in the glaring spotlight of Congressional Hearings, sworn under oath, would be forced to invoke the Fifth Amendment to assert their right not to incriminate themselves. What was unfortunate about these “witch-hunts” was that according to legal procedure, if the person under oath answered any kind of question it was deemed that their Fifth Amendment Rights had been forfeited, since any answer, no matter how innocuous could be considered to have opened up a line of questioning. Thus if one was asked to discuss where they worked they would have to invoke the “Fifth”, or otherwise be opened to questions on who they worked with. The result of this was that by exercising their Constitutional Rights, these witnesses were made to seem guilty of hiding something, merely by asserting their right to remain silent. People’s careers were destroyed having been guilty of nothing more than associating with people who believed in a different economic system, that wasn’t inherently illegal. As the title indicates I’m writing about another aspect of the Fifth Amendment and the result of a particular murder case that left me intellectually and emotionally conflicted. Continue reading “Double Jeopardy” →

Politics, Society

“Study It Out”: Woman Calls Obama A Communist and Then Can’t Explain What A Communist Is

This video of Chris Matthews confronting a woman calling President Obama a “communist” pretty much sums up how our political discourse in this country is now devoid of any intellectual content. The woman repeatedly tells Matthews to “study it out” but then seems incapable of explaining what a communist actually is.

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International, Society, Torts

Woman Dies Of Cancer After Doctors Allegedly Failed 30 Times to Detect Her Cervical Cancer

In my torts class, we often discussed the factual and proximate causation issues concerning the failure to diagnose illness like types of cancer before they metastasize.   Those causation questions are a bit more severe in the case of  Jeannine Harvey, a mother of four who died after doctors missed her advanced cervical cancer 30 times according to her family.

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Environment, Lawyering, Society

Court Disqualifies Covington & Burling In Major Environmental Case For Violating Duty To 3M

We previously discussed the lawsuit by 3M Co. against Covington & Burling over its alleged conflict of interest and violation of its duty to 3M in representing the state against 3M in an environmental case. In a major conflicts decision (and a major embarrassment for Covington), a court has found that the firm betrayed its former client and “exhibited a conscious disregard for its duties of confidentiality, candor, full disclosure, and loyalty to 3M by failing to raise its conflicts arising from the fact that it previously advised and represented 3M.”

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Animals, Criminal law, Environment, Society

Lonesome Dove: Texas Man Under Investigation For Eating Dove That Collided With This Home

One can certainly understand why Ryan Adams is a bit confused in Pflugerville, Texas. After a dove hit the side of his house and broke its neck, Adams decided to eat it. He proceeded to post a picture and the recipe on cooking the Texas white-winged dove on the Internet. The doves are killed in the thousands by hunters in the U.S. and Mexico during this season. However, because he did not shoot the dove himself with a license, he has found himself the target of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

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Bizarre, International, Politics, Society, Torts

The Eagle Dad Has Landed: Chinese Father and Children Rescued After Climbing Mount Fuji With Only A Cup of Water and Chocolate Bar

We have previously discussed the growing trend to charge people for rescues in parks and remote areas — particularly where there is evidence of negligence. While I have opposed this trend, defenders of the policy could now cite to He Liesheng, known as the “Eagle Dad.” The father had to be rescued from the top of Mount Fuji after taking nothing more than a cup of water and a chocolate bar for the three of them. This is not the first bad landing for the Eagle Dad.
Continue reading “The Eagle Dad Has Landed: Chinese Father and Children Rescued After Climbing Mount Fuji With Only A Cup of Water and Chocolate Bar” →

Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Society

NYPD Officers Caught On Tape Roughing Up Teenager and Threatening To Break His Arm

There has been continuing controversy over the heavy use of stop and frisks in New York —  700,000 in just 2011 alone.  Only 2 percent turned up contraband and minority groups have objected to what they claim is profiling and harassment.  This video gives an insight into the type of abuse that can occur in such incidents. In this video, a teenager named Alvin is stopped by three officers on the grounds that he looks “suspicious.” The officers are caught calling him a “fuckin’ mutt” and threatening to break his arm and beat him. He is roughed up and repeatedly told to “shut the fuck up” when he tries to ask questions.

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Academia, Bizarre, Religion, Society

Proof or Projection of Afterlife? Doctor Publishes Book On “Proof of Heaven” From First Hand Experience

Dr. Eben Alexander, a neurosurgeon, has published a book “Proof of Heaven” that purports to show his personal view of the afterlife. Alexander says that he was a skeptic until he fell into a coma in 2008 with meningitis. He then claims to have experienced consciousness after death. He describes how he found himself greeted by a beautiful blue-eyed woman in a “place of clouds, big fluffy pink-white ones” and “shimmering beings.” He then came out of the coma . . . and eventually wrote a book.

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Courts, Criminal law, Lawyering, Politics, Society

Pennsylvania Judge Reprimanded Over “Grooming” and Displaying Photo of Genitals To Court Worker

The Pennsylvania’s Court of Judicial Discipline has found that Traffic Court Judge Willie F. Singletary is guilty of bringing his office into disrepute in a bizarre case involving the judge holding “photo sessions” with his genitals . . . and then showing the picture on his iPhone to a Traffic Court cashier. It was not the first time that Singletary has run afoul of standard of judicial decorum. However, his alleged “grooming” of his member for the photo display appears to have been enough to force his resignation. He is shown here in his other job — as pastor at a West Philadelphia church that he founded.

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Criminal law, International, Religion, Society

Taliban Goes To School and Shoots Young Girl Who Blogged About The Abuse of Women In Pakistan

We have another despicable crime committed by fanatics in the name of religion. Malala Yousufzai, 14, is an incredibly brave girl who wrote about the atrocities against women and girls under Taliban rule — writing about conditions and crimes in the area. She was honored internationally for her advocacy. A Taliban gunman walked on to her bus as it was leaving her school and asked for her by name. Another girl pointed her out but Malala denied being the girl so the gunman shot both girls in the name of Allah.

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Academia, Constitutional Law, Politics, Society, Supreme Court

Supreme Court Takes Up Affirmative Action In Higher Education

This week the Supreme Court will find itself facing yet again the question of the use of race in higher education. It is question that the Court failed to definitively answer in 1978 and then again in 2003 and will now try again in 2012. Fisher v. University of Texas Austin however has the makings of a decision that could not only answer the question with finality but effectively bar the use of race in admissions in higher education. While the Court has repeatedly allowed the limited use of race for the purposes of achieving diversity in classes, the record of these programs suggests that this one factor is difficult to confine and tends to overwhelm other considerations. The Court now appears to have the votes to adopt a bright-line rule that ends decades of experimentation with this controversial factor.

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Bizarre, Politics, Society

Billionaire Mogul Tells Workers To Vote Their Conscience . . . But He May Fire Them If Obama Is Reelected

David Siegel, the founder and CEO of real estate company Westgate Resorts, is a true piece of work. The billionaire real estate mogul sent a letter to employees that threatened to fire many of his employees if Obama is reelected and told them to consider that when they voted in November. The letter informed his workers that “What does threaten your job however, is another 4 years of the same Presidential administration.” Forbes has pictures of the struggling Joe Six Pack in his gilded throne and equally gilded wife.

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Politics, Religion, Society

None of the Above: Fastest Growing Religious Group in the United States Is “No Religion”

Reflecting a trend in other Western nations, Americans who describe themselves as without a religion continue to grow in number. They now represent one-fifth of all Americans and a huge one-third of adults under 30. It is an incredible disconnect with our politicians who continue in both parties to push faith-based politics. Some of these individuals may believe in the concept of a divine being but not associate with a particular religion. Perhaps sensing this trend toward agnostic and atheist views, U.S. politicians have increased their attacks on those who do not believe in an almighty being (here and here).

Continue reading “None of the Above: Fastest Growing Religious Group in the United States Is “No Religion”” →