Police insist that they were acting in self-defense when they shoot Alonzo Heyward in Chattanooga, Tennessee. There is no question that Heyward was carrying a rifle around his neighborhood and ranting about suicide. However, it was the response to the danger that has people demanding answers: the six officers fired 59 rounds at him — hitting him 43 times. The officers fired three volleys and stopped to reload before continuing to shoot the man.
Continue reading “Six Police Officers Shoot Man 43 Times in Self-Defense — Stopping to Reload in Three Volleys”
This week Sen. John Ensign announced that he would remain in the Senate and insisted that he had not “done anything legally wrong.” He also rejected analogies to Bill Clinton, who he voted to convict in his Senate trial.
Continue reading “How Can It Be [Legally] Wrong When It Feels So Right: Sen. John Ensign Defends Affair as Not “Legally Wrong””
Timothy Wilton, a professor at Suffolk University Law School, and Kathy Jo Cook, former president of the Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts, have been accused by their son (and stepson) of knowledge of his drug dealing and home pot growing operation. Jonathon Cook, 20, told police that they not only knew that he was growing marijuana in his room but that his mother told him to destroy the pot when police were called about a shooting at their home. Wilton and Cook publicly denied the allegations.
Continue reading “Law Professor and Leading Massachusetts Lawyer Accused of Involvement in the Illegal Home Pot Growing Business”
The Seventh Circuit continues to push the envelope on the recently recognized individual right to bear arms. In an interesting opinion by Judge Diana Wood, a three-judge panel ruled that the town of Cicero could still require gun registration without violating the Second Amendment. In the meantime, litigation is being planned over the Montana law claiming that guns in the state are exempt from federal jurisdiction and enforcement. Cicero businessman John Justice brought the challenge.
Continue reading “Justice Denied: Seventh Circuit Rejects Challenge to Gun Registration Law”
Anna Ramirez has a right to be a bit peeved. Recently, her family (including her husband, daughter and grand children) was thrown on the street with little warning and her house auctioned off at a fraction of what she paid for it. It turns out that foreclosure was a mistake the clerk’s office and sheriffs were sent to kick out Ramirez and throw her things and family into the street.
Continue reading “City Mistakingly Forecloses on Home and Kicks Florida Family Out With Only Three Hours Notice”
South African Caster Semenya, 18, is facing a rare legal challenge in her sports career. The problem is not drug testing but gender testing. Various people have accused Semenya of being a male and sports officials are planning gender testing to result the dispute.
Continue reading “Record Bender or Gender Bender: South African Runner Faces Gender Testing”
As we continue to pour money into the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, cities are continuing to shutdown for lack of money (here). The latest such story comes from Philadelphia where officials are facing a shutdown of the entire court system due to budget shortfalls. Mayor Michael Nutter is also threatening the cutting of 1000 police officers and 200 firefighters.
Continue reading “Nutter Threatens to Shutdown Court System and Cut Police Force”
U.S. News and World Report has released this year’s ranking of the top colleges and universities in the country. Harvard and Princeton tie for the top spot among national universities.
Continue reading “U.S. News and World Report Releases 2010 Top Rankings of Colleges”
Lawyers often joke to clients that it was not like they ran over a group of girl scouts. Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal partner Paul Glad made that common joke a reality when he ran over a group of mothers and children selling Girl Scout cookies in Burlingame, California. A prosecutor has announced that he will not be criminally charged. The managing partner of the San Francisco was taking the painkiller OxyContin under a doctor-proscribed regime, but insists that he was not impaired.
The Afghan government has decided that the next best thing to having a violence free election day is to have a day without any reported violence. The government has told the media not to carry reports of violence on election day — fearing that citizens may be reluctant to vote if they are informed that people are being killed in their areas. Some reporters have already refused the abusive order, here.
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Former Vogue cover model, Liskula Cohen, 36, has succeeded in her court case to find the identity of an anonymous critic who wrote bad things about her in a “Skanks in NYC” blog.
Continue reading “Former Vogue Model Succeeds in Forcing Google to Reveal Identity of Anonymous Critic”
All Donald May wanted was fresh breath. Instead, he got three months in the slammer. When an officer in Kissimmee, Florida pulled May over for expired plates, he saw a white mint in his mouth. The officer said it looked like crack cocaine and had him spit it out. He then claimed that he field tested the mint, which showed it was crack cocaine. It took three months for the test results to be completed on the breath mints and to clear him as having candy rather than cocaine in his mouth.
Continue reading “If He Kissimmee Once, Will He Kissimmee Again? Man Spends Three Months In Jail After Officer Claims Breath Mint was Crack Cocaine”
Two police officers fled a police softball game with thousands of police from around the country after they were found smoking pot in their van. One officer, Souza, reportedly resisted arrest and had to be pepper sprayed. Shayne Souza, 47, and Kevin Fujioka, 37, allegedly parked illegally when other officers smelled the weed.
Continue reading “Police Officers Arrested After Allegedly Smoking Pot at Police Softball Game and Then Fleeing Pursuing Officers”
The officials in Paterson, New Jersey appear to be closing in on the problem of crime in their city: the citizens. The city is considering the first citywide curfew on adults to curb crime. No people, no crime — that sounds simple enough.
Continue reading “New Jersey City Finds Solution to Solving Street Crime: Get Rid of the People”
Oklahoma County District Judge Vicki L. Robertson has struck down that state’s 2008 law requiring doctors to perform ultrasounds and offer women detailed information about the tests before performing abortions. The law was challenged as an effort to harass and deter women from obtaining abortions.
Continue reading “State Court Strikes Down Oklahoma Abortion Law Requiring Ultrasound”