Category: Society

Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Lawyering, Politics, Society

Prosecutors Still Opposing DNA Access for Prisoners Despite New Laws

220px-DNA_OverviewWe have seen a number of cases on this blog where prosecutors fought efforts by prisoners to obtain DNA tests that might prove their innocence — only to be proven innocent once the tests were performed. Prosecutors are rarely denounced for these reprehensible efforts. The story in the New York Times indicates that prosecutors are continuing to oppose such testing even in states that passed new laws guaranteeing such testing.

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Academia, Bizarre, Society

Alba Gu Bra! Scottish Student Accused of Crossdressing By Wearing Kilt

180px-Highland_soldier_1744Scottish Americans are outraged this morning with a story of a Utah principal who told Gavin McFarland, 14, that his wearing a kilt at a high school was inappropriate and might constitute “cross dressing.” The result has been a scene out of Braveheart: The Battle for Rocky Mountain Junior High where tprincipal Craig Jessop has replaced Longshanks as the freedom-crushing tyrant. Just wait until Jessop learns that the Scottish call to arms is Alba gu bra!
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Bizarre, Criminal law, International, Society

Descent Into Crime: Montreal Woman Handcuffed and Thrown into Cell for Failing To Hold Escalator Handrail

180px-HandrailBela Kosoian, 38, is a handrail felon. The mother of two was taking an escalator down to the Montreal subway on her way to Université du Québec à Montreal, where she studies international law. She ended up handcuffed and held in a small cell for not holding the handrail on the escalator.
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Academia, Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Politics, Religion, Society

Texas School District Resolves Controversy Over Christian Groups Distributing Bibles Outside of Schools By Inviting Them Inside

180px-Gideons_BibleThe Frisco Independent School District in Texas was faced with complaints about Gideon volunteers hanging around outside of schools to pass out bibles to children. They solved the problem by inviting them into the school where free bibles are now made available to the students — a move that has caused some parents to object.
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Bizarre, Courts, Criminal law, Justice, Politics, Society

Hidden Phone Charges: Texas Inmate Gets 60 Years For Possession of Cell Phone

thumb_camera_phone_2Derrick Ross took the term “cell phone” a bit too literally. Ross, 38, acquired a cell phone and charger while serving time at Coffeild prison in Texas. Due to Texas habitual offender laws, he has received an absurd 60 years for the violation.

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Courts, Politics, Religion, Society

Court Overrules Parents in Religious Refusal of Chemotherapy for 13-Year-Old Boy

thumb_praying_handsMinnesota Judge John Rodenberg has ruled in the case of Daniel Hauser, 13. We discussed this case earlier regarding the religious objections that the parents raised to chemotherapy for Daniel’s cancer –even though he has a 90 percent chance of survival with the treatment and little or no change of survival without it.

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Bizarre, Congress, Criminal law, Politics, Society

Gingrich: House Has “Obligation” to Investigate Pelosi

225px-Newt-2004-clippedNewt Gingrich found a new level of hypocrisy this week in insisting that the Congress has “an obligation” to investigate Speaker Nancy Pelosi. I have been highly critical of Pelosi who at a minimum appears to have abandoned her duties of oversight for political convenience and at worst is outright lying. However, Gingrich who says that Pelosi is acting in a “despicable, dishonest and vicious” way, does not believe that there is any need to call for an investigation into torture and the commission of both federal and war crimes.
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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

Police Arrest “Pantielover” With Pornography Showing Abuse of Babies

dennis_garthusWhat is most striking about Dennis Lee Garthus, 42, is not just that he wins the contest as the man who most looks like a freaked out sex offender. It is not that he is habitual offender. It is that his most recent arrest was for downloading (with the screen name “Pantielover”) pornography involving 1 and 2 year old babies. While nothing should surprise me at this state in my criminal defense career, I did not even know that was pornography involving 1 or 2 year old babies.
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Bizarre, Criminal law, Politics, Society

Morehouse Student Allowed to Graduate After Shooting Another College Student and Leading Guilty

art.norris.npdThere is a truly disturbing story out of Atlanta, Georgia. Morehouse College student Joshua Brandon Norris shot another college student Rashad Johnson three times at a party. This weekend, Norris will be allowed to graduate after receiving an unbelievable light plea bargain while Johnson is at home recovering from his wounds.

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Congress, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, International, Politics, Society

Haymaker: Panetta Contradicts Pelosi and Says That She Was Fully Briefed

225px-leon_panetta_informal_photo180px-Romanian_hayCIA Director Leon Panetta struck back at Speaker Nancy Pelosi today in a memorandum to CIA employees saying that she was fully and truthfully briefed in 2002. He indirectly accuses Pelosi of “making hay out” of the CIA and misrepresenting her briefing for political purposes. I discussed the Pelosi story last night on this segment of Countdown.
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Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, International, Justice, Lawyering, Military, Politics, Society

Bush 2.0: Obama To Continue Military Tribunals

225px-george-w-bush225px-official_portrait_of_barack_obamaPresident Barack Obama continued his replication of the Bush policies today with the disclosure that he will now restart the controversial Bush tribunal system — now to be called the Obama tribunal system. This follows Obama’s adoption of an even more extreme theory of executive privilege in court, the reversal of the decision to comply with a court order and turn over abuse photographs, the continuing effort to extinguish dozens of public interest lawsuits on privacy violations, and the proposed adoption of the Bush policy of holding detainees indefinitely without trial, here. In the meantime, he and Attorney General Eric Holder continue to block the appointment of a special prosecutor despite mounting evidence of war crimes committed by the prior administration. I will be discussing these recent developments tonight on Countdown.

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Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, International, Justice, Politics, Society

Report: Cheney Called for the Torture of Iraqi Prisoner to Establish Link Between Al Qaeda and Iraq

225px-richard_cheney_2005_official_portraitA former high-ranking state department official has come forward with the explosive report that then Vice President Dick Cheney called for the torture of an Iraqi prisoner to establish a link between al Qaeda and Iraq in the midst of the political controversy over the misrepresentations that led to the Iraq invasion. Cheney was one of the main figures pushing this justification, which was found based on false intelligence. Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff for then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, adds yet another piece of evidence that the torture program was not based on a “ticking bomb” justification and was not based on the faux legal opinions of lawyers like Judge Jay Bybee and Professor John Yoo.

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Bizarre, Environment, Society

Bait and Switch: Investigative Report Finds 85 Percent of Tested Restaurants Substituted Cheaper Fish in Dishes

240px-Fresh_tilapiaThere is an interesting investigative report this week out of Kansas City. The local NBC station tested the fish in 20 restaurants to see if they were actually serving the fish on the menu. Seventeen restaurants were found to switch the fish with cheaper types while charging for such higher value fish as salmon.

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