Cretan Sentences Drunk Mother Who Abandoned Children, Wrecked Car, and Tried to Flee Accident to 90 Days

Sara Haderle, 36, is not what one would call a model mother and Superior Court Judge Clifford Cretan is not what one would call a task master judge. Haderle left her 2-year-old and 3-year-old children at home. The pregnant mother then drove drunk, wrecked her car, and then tried to flee the accident. For that litany of offenses, Cretan calculated 90 days as an appropriate punishment.
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Fake Doctor Accused of Harming Women in Negligent Abortions

In Chula Vista, California, the owner of a clinic near the Mexican border is accused of posing as a doctor and performing negligent abortions. Bertha Pinedo Bugarin, 48, allegedly caused serious injuries to women, as detailed in a 10 felony count indictment. After performing the procedures at Clinica Medica de la Mujer women allegedly discovered that they were still pregnant.
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Judge Thomas Porteous Moves Closer to Impeachment

In a critical step toward impeachment, the United States Judicial Conference voted unanimously to forward charges against U.S. District Judge Thomas Porteous to the House of Representatives for impeachment. He is accused of perjury, accepting gifts from lawyers and violating other criminal and ethical standards. Unless he resigns, he would be the first federal judge impeached in 19 years.
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Stop at Boardwalk; Go Straight to Jail: Atlantic City Council Members Face Blackmail Charges

Former Atlantic City Council president Craig Callaway, his brothers David and Ronald, and a friend, Floyd Tally, and City Councilman John Schultz are all charged in a bizarre blackmail case against another Atlantic City pol, Councilman Eugene Robinson. They are charged with conspiring to film Robinson (who is a minister) in his encounter with a prostitute in a motel room. Craig Callaway is accused of having meetings near the Boardwalk with an FBI agent where he admitted to the conspiracy.
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Dental Detention: Dentist Charged with Holding Patient Against Her Will

For those who fear dentists, imagine one who will not allow you to leave. Dr. John Drew Laurusonis is accused with the false imprisonment of Frances Bales, 36, of Duluth after he suspected that she might not pay her bill. Charged with the good doctor is Leslie Ann York and Acquah Alexander from the Doctors Medical Center in Duluth.

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Florida Dentist Drops Devices Down Throat of Patient — Twice

According to a Florida family, Dr. Wesley Meyers is something of a butterfingers. However, where other clumsy individuals drop fruit bowls, Meyers drops tools down the throats of his dental patients. After requiring a colonoscopy to remove the first tool (a screwdriver) dropped down his throat, Charles Gaal, 90, allegedly died after a second such accident when Meyers dropped another tool down his throat.

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Branding for Jesus: Ohio Teacher Accused of Teaching Creationism and Burning Crosses into Arms of Students

John Freshwater has long been a controversial teacher in Mount Vernon, Ohio. Parents and other teachers accused him of not teaching required science subjects while drilling in creationism into his students. Now, a lawsuit accused him of literally impressing his students with Christian values by branding them.

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Court Rules that Mentally Disturbed Defendants Can Be Competent to Stand Trial But Incompetent to Represent Themselves

The Supreme Court continued the downward spiral of our insanity rules this week. The majority held that a defendant can be held to be competent to stand trial but held incompetent to represent himself — a green light for judges to continue to find clearly crazed individuals sane while denying them the right to act in their own defense. Justices Scalia and Thomas wrote a stinging and well-founded dissent.

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Pregnancy High: Glouchester High School Deals with Pregnancy Boom

School officials at Gloucester High School are dealing with a new type of Baby Boomers: 17 girls expecting babies in the 1,200-student school. Worse yet, pregnancies appear to have become a type of extracurricular try-out for girls who made “pregnancy pacts” to try to become unwed mothers. The school must now deal with students who seem more interested in passing their pregnancy tests than their science tests. There appears to be a link to the plot of the popular movie “Juno.” One of the most provocative legal questions will be whether statutory rape charges will be brought against some of the males over 18 — including a homeless man — allegedly used by the girls to fulfill the pact.

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Love Us or Pay Us: Congress Sets a High Price for Citizens to Renounce Their Citizenship

A little noticed provision in new legislation would cost some citizens hundreds of thousands of dollars to renounce their citizenship. Congress has come up with another moronically named bill, Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax (HEART) Act, that contains the provision. It is designed to stem the tide of Americans renouncing their citizenship due to the double taxation that they face when living abroad.

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Democratic Leadership Caves to the White House and Telecommunication Lobby on Immunity

The democratic leadership is preparing to move a final bill giving immunity to the telecommunication industry after months of waiting for public interest to wane. The new bill would give President Bush and the powerful lobby would it has long sought: immunity from violating federal law and the privacy of customers.

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Bring Your Daughter to Court Day: Canadian Court Overrules Father’s Grounding of Daughter

Quebec Superior Court Justice Suzanne Tessier appears to believe that family disputes are best handled by professionals. When a 12-year-old girl filed a complaint about her father’s punishment of grounding her for accessing blocked website, Tessier decided that in her judicial opinion, the punishment was too severe. It appears not to have occurred to Tessier that this a parental rather than a judicial matter.

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