Edward G. Kelly, 51, a defense attorney in Fall River, Massachusetts has pleaded innocent to a bizarre criminal allegation: that Kelly pretended to be a district attorney employee to tell government witnesses on the telephone that they did not need to show up for court.
Continue reading “Lawyer Accused of Impersonating a District Attorney Employee to Keep Witnesses From Appearing in Court”
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been arrested on federal corruption charges related to his alleged efforts to sell his appointment of a successor for Barack Obama to the United States Senate. Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, are charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and solicitation of bribery in the Northern District of Illinois.
As expected, the Supreme Court has turned down an emergency appeal from Leo Donofrio of East Brunswick, N.J. to intervene to bar President-elect Barack Obama from taking office due to the fact that he had British citizenship at birth.
Continue reading “Supreme Court Turns Down Donofrio Appeal”
Waterford Kettering High School in Michigan has a curious concept of interesting learning experiences. A teacher reportedly took a class to see an autopsy of a 14-year-old girl from the Waterford Kettering middle school.
Continue reading “A is for Autopsy . . . C is for Cadaver: High School Students Taken to Watch Another Student’s Autopsy”
Capt. Johnny Harsh of Oshkosh, Wisconsin thought that the Lord had provided his answer to the loneliness and grief that followed the loss of his wife, Capt. Yalanda Harsh, to a heart attack. It was Cia, 56, a nurse, that he met on a Christian online dating Web site. The Salvation Army, however, then told him that he was suspended and would be thrown out entirely if he dared to find love outside of the church.
Continue reading “Harsh Treatment: Salvation Army To Fire Officer For Marrying Outside of Church”
For those who view the RIAA as akin to Land of Mormor have another baffling alleged abuse to cite. Nineteen-year-old Ciara Sauro was sued for allegedly sharing 10 songs online. RIAA lawyers sued her. She didn’t respond so the lawyers secured a default judgment. She was a bit busy getting a transplant in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Now it is the RIAA lawyers who refuse to respond.
There are reports today that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four co-defendants have indicated that they want to plead guilty to the charges that they are facing before a US military tribunal in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It is a bizarre turn of events when the defendants were likely to see new rights granted under an Obama Administration. I will be discussing the development today on the BBC and later on Rachel Maddow on MSNBC.
Continue reading “Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Four Co-Defendants Seek to Plead Guilty”
A major “dram shop” case just settled in New York that could be a forerunner to similar cases across the country. The Giants Stadium and Aramark agreed to pay $25 million to settle the case of Antonia Verni, a girl paralyzed in a crash with a drunken football fan. Usually such settlements are not public, but this settlement was revealed at the request of a public advocacy group.
Continue reading ““Culture of Intoxication”: Giants Stadium Settles Dram Shop Case for $25 Million”
New South Wales Supreme Court Justice Michael Adams is not amused and believes John McEwan should not aroused by the Simpsons children having sex. The jurist has ruled that Bart Simpson is a “person” for the purposes of pornography and thus McEwan was properly convicted of possessing child pornography and using his computer to access child pornography.
In a surprising opinion out of Helena, Montana, Judge Dorothy McCarter has handed down a powerful decision in favor of the constitutional rights of patients and doctors in physician-assisted suicides.
Continue reading “Montana Judge Rules Doctor-Assisted Suicides Are Legal”
It is unconstitutional for police to use use the heat signatures of homes to detect and raid houses suspected of growing marijuana. Ex-cop and now “Kop Buster” Barry Cooper believed that officers were still using the technology and lying on affidavits to secure search warrants. To test the theory, he rented a house in Odessa, Texas and set up some heat lights to grow Christmas trees. Sure enough, he claims, the cops showed up shortly after they threw the switch on the lamps with a warrant that he claims must have been the result of false sources (used to disguise the use of the cameras).
Continue reading ““Kop Buster” Claims to Nail Texas Police in Private Sting”
Nine-term Democratic Rep. William Jefferson has lost his reelection bid in a triumph for anti-corruption advocates. However, 47 percent of his district still wanted to send him back to Congress despite his well-earned indictment — almost the same percentage that wanted to send Sen. Ted Stevens back to Washington. The winner is Anh “Joseph” Cao, an attorney and community organizer, in the 2nd Congressional district. He will now be the first Vietnamese-American elected to Congress.
Prosecutorial misconduct has led to one of Nevada’s most infamous cases being overturned. An appellate panel overturned the death sentence of Ricky David Sechrest for the murder of Maggie Schindler, 10, and Carly Villa, 9, in 1983 over statements made by then-District Attorney Mills Lane. Lane is well-known to many as a syndicated television judge and a referee.
Continue reading “Ninth Circuit Overturns 1983 Conviction for the Murder to Two Girls”
For those students who seek an easy way to spot assumption of the risk, this video may help.
Jennifer Davis and her husband, John Davis, were facing a nightmare of an expecting couple. Jennifer’s contractions had dropped from five minutes to just three minutes apart and they were stuck in the legendary Boston traffic. John pulled into the breakdown lane and pulled up behind Trooper Michael Galluccio to ask whether they could continue using the lane to reach the next exit. Galluccio not only said no, but he made them wait for him to complete a ticket and even asked Jennifer to show him what was under his shirt to prove it was a baby.
Continue reading “Boston Police Officer Tickets Woman In Labor Trying to Get to Hospital”