Supreme Court Stays Execution and Says Evidence of Innocence Should Be Given Evidentiary Hearing

imagesimage361In a major ruling, the Supreme Court on Monday ordered an evidentiary hearing on innocence claims of Troy Davis, who is on death row in Georgia for the 1989 murder of police officer Mark MacPhail. Not only did the Supreme Court stop the execution, but it created new law on the right of the defendant to present such evidence — a holding that drew the outrage of the conservative wing of the Court. While only a paragraph long, the unsigned opinion represents the first such order in decades for a new hearing to “receive testimony and make findings of fact”. Justice Scalia called it a “fool’s errand.”
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Head Case: Texas Judge Posted Pictures of Criminals with Obama Shirts

10936687_BG1Head3Texas Judge Tom Head is under fire this week after he posted the pictures of nine people wearing Obama shirts. Seven of the nine men were black and the pictures were accompanied by material critical of Obama supports and suggesting that Republican voters are rarely arrested.
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California Divorce Lawyer Pleads No Contest to Sexual Battery of Clients

211-2M18APPELBLATT.highlight.prod_affiliate.4Sacramento divorce attorney Gary Appelblatt, 58, has pleaded no contest to four counts of sexual battery and one additional count of attempted sexual contact. Sacramento Superior Court Judge Gary E. Ransom will now sentence Appelblatt, who is looking at likely jail time for a bizarre series of assaults on clients.
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Arizona Man Accused of Trying to Sell Car in “Cash for Clunkers” Program After Fatal Hit-and-Run

timothy+kassidaTimothy Kissida, 23, was not exactly the poster boy for the “cash for clunkers” program. Kissida is accused of killing Chuck Waldrop, 52, in a hit and run accident. He then went that day to a dealer and traded in the damaged car in the “cash for clunkers” program in Phoenix, Arizona.
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Boise Man Sues Police After Being Tasered in Buttocks and Threatened With Sodomy

taser gun bart officer-218-85A man in Boise, Idaho is suing after the Boise Police Department declared that an officer who tasered him on the buttocks and threatened him with sodomy with a taser did not violate the law. While against policy, the police insist that the officer (who also threatened to shock his genitalia) merely failed to follow guidelines — the name of the officer has not been released despite the release of the audio tape below. The officer actually states on the tape that he had already sodomized the man with the taser when he threatened to deliver a second shock first to his anus and then to his genitalia.

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Report: Hundreds of Gays Tortured and Killed in Iraq

158px-flag_of_iraqsvgflag-rainbow1As we continue to pour billions of dollars and sacrifice lives of our military in Iraq, the country continues its return to radical Islamic rule. We have seen the continued denial of basic rights for women in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Now there is a report of hundreds of gay men and women tortured and killed in Iraq.

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Burglars Turn in Child Pornographer After Stealing His Computer

Picture-110Never say the English do not have a better class of criminals. When burglars broke into the home of Richard Coverdale, 24, they were delighted to snare a computer with the rest of the property. They soon discovered, however, disturbing pictures of child pornography and turned in the evidence to the cops.
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Clementine Cartel Fights for Turf on East Coast

200px-LemonI warned about this lemonade cartel but no one listened after the town of Tulare California caved to the citrus criminal element. Now, New York officials are facing a new cartel on the other coast headed by a shadowy figure known as “Clementine.” Like the Crips and Bloods, the fight over territory is intense and police found Clementine Lee, 10, openly pushing lemonade on a corner. They hit her with a summons and a potential fine of $200, but now apologists rushing to her side.

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Rule Burkini, Burkini Rules the Waves: English Pools Require “Modest” Dress for Both Muslim and Non-Muslim Swimmers

165px-BathingMachineDontBeAfraidWhile the French are banning the burkini (a swimsuit that covers Muslim women like a burka), various English pools are requiring women to don covering from their necks to ankles –men are required to cover up from their navels to their knees. During these hours, men and women are barred if they are not wearing “modest” coverings in line with the Muslim traditions.
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Texas Officials Arrest Parents and Take Away Their Children for Taking Pictures in a Bathtub and Breastfeeding

breastfeedingjailI just came across this story from a few years ago that parallels some of our recent posts. Jacqueline Mercado, a 33-year-old Peruvian immigrant, and her boyfriend Johnny Fernandez simply wanted to keep memories of the childhood of her children when Jacqueline went to Eckerd Drugs to develop photos that she took of her children in a bath. The good people at Exkerd Drugs in Richardson, Texas saw not frolicking kids but child porn and called the cops. Later, after searching their home, police and child welfare officials found a picture of Jacqueline breast feeding one the children. That was it: Texas prosecutors secured a grand jury indictment against the parents for “sexual performance of a child,” a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison. The charge was based on the breastfeeding picture, even though defense attorneys produced paintings in leading museums that show the same maternal act.

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