South Carolina police have arrested a 18-year-old student of York Technical College after his gun discharged in a classroom. The case of Jeremy Moffett will likely be cited by those opposing calls for allowing students and faculty to carry guns on campus after the shootings at Virginia Tech.
Judging from the reaction at the oral argument this week, the California Supreme Court appears close to giving universities a major win in the mishandling of donated corpses. Evelyn Conroy sued the University of California Regents for losing her husband’s remains under its “willed body program.”
Facebook continues to be an engine for much needed litigation opportunity for distressed lawyers. In the most recent lawsuit, Denise Finkel, a former student at Oceanside High School,Civil is suing four former classmates, their parents, and Facebook for $3 million for alleged cyber bullying.
There is another story of an abusive raid by a SWAT team this week. In January, a SWAT team raid the mobile home of Mike Hasenei, hit him in the face with a shield, knocked him to the ground, handcuffed both him and his wife, and shot their family dog.
Continue reading “Maryland SWAT Team Raids Home on Hunch, Hits Husband in Face, Handcuffs Couple, and Shoots Family Dog — and Finds No Evidence of a Crime”
The Saudi police had their version of a high-profile chase scene this week in Mecca. The culprit? A woman driving. Yes, police spotted an actual woman behind the wheel of a car, which is expressly forbidden under the country’s medieval laws. What followed was an effort by the woman to escape, a small crash, and her arrest.
Continue reading “DWF: Driving While Female in Saudi Arabia”
Mark Geinosky feels like a hunted man. He has been given 24 tickets since October 2007. Thirteen tickets were written by the same officer in a five-month span of time, who only wrote tickets from that book for Geinosky.
Continue reading “Ticket Magnet: Chicago Resident Gets 24 Out of 24 Tickets Dismissed After Alleging Personal Vendetta by Officer”
Eric Falardeau, 29, seems to have found an advantage in being subintelligent. Falardeau is accused of beating to death William Beal of Salem, Massachusetts outside of a tavern. Now, Lawrence Superior Court Judge Howard Whitehead has ruled that he lacks the intelligence to stand trial for the 2000 murder and therefore will be released.
Continue reading “Dumb as a Stump or Clever as a Fox? Accused Murderer Released Due to Low IQ”
Now, this is an interesting trespass and disorderly conduct case out of Australia. The White Cockatoo resort has complained that a Brisbane man and his wife came to an “anything only” sex party but the man refused to take his clothes off.
Continue reading “Modest Trespass: Police Called to Swinger’s Club to Deal With Man Who Refused to Take Clothes Off”
U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman in Chicago has held Police Superintendent Jody Weis in contempt for refusing to turn over lists of officers who have repeated complaints filed against them for abuse and violence. Weis insists that such a release of the list would diminish morale.
The constitutional fish tale from Clearwater, Florida is getting more difficult to believe with the appearance of city officials in court over their crackdown on the posting of the first amendment on the side of a fish and bait shop. As discussed earlier, Complete Angler and its owner Herb Quintero was first fined for simply painting a mural of fish on the side of the building. They were told that it constituted a “sign.” When he covered the mural with a copy of the first amendment, he was hit with another threatened fine. Now, the city has said that they would not fine him for handing the American flag but not the first amendment.
Lawyers and court staff are in shock in Stockton, California after Judge Cinda Fox of Stockton, California was stabbed by David Paradiso, 28. Paradiso was then shot to death.
Continue reading “California Judge Stabbed in Court by Murder Suspect”
In Wyeth v. Levine (06-1249), the Supreme Court has rendered an important decision on the right of patients to sue drug manufacturers. The tragic case of Diana Levine has been discussed on this blog earlier. Now the court has ruled 6-3 in favor of Levine, a musician from Vermont, who lost her right arm after being given a anti-nausea drug by Wyeth.
Continue reading “Supreme Court Rules In Favor of Patients Against Drug Manufacturers”
Professor Paula Anderson has a curious approach to controversial topics. Some of us encourage students to taken controversial positions to generate passionate class debate. Professor Anderson, according to critics, calls the police. She is accused of calling police on her student John Wahlberg at the Central Connecticut States University after he and two fellow students argued in favor of allowing students and teachers to carry weapons on campus, citing the tragedy at Virginia Tech. Other faculty members have defended her and suggested that there is more to this story.
Continue reading “Professor Calls Police After Student Gives Presentation on Gun Rights”
There appears to be a crime wave sweeping the nation’s as people beat down mascot ranging from Chuck E. Cheese to Officer McGruff to Chick-fil-A. The attacks on the thin costumed line of Mascots in our society raises some serious concerns and may demand a new type undercover unit.
Continue reading “Mascot Abuse: Police Face an Outbreak of Assaults on Costumed Characters”
There is growing speculation that the Office of Professional Responsibility will recommend the disbarment of Professor John Yoo who currently teaches at Berkeley law school. The release of new memoranda from the Justice Department has increased calls for disciplinary action. The memoranda concludes that the President can (1) use military forces domestically to deal with any individuals President Bush considers a terrorist threat, (2) suspend free press and free speech rights, (3) arrest citizens without legal process or access to the courts, and (4) a variety of other tyrannical measures. I discussed the memoranda on this segment of Countdown.
Continue reading “Will Justice Seek John Yoo’s Disbarment?”