Reserachers believe that they have finally uncovered who killed Beethoven and the culprit is Andreas Wawruch, his doctor.
Beethoven died in 1827 at the age 57 and there has been long speculation over the cause or even whether he was murdered. Now, it appears that his doctor gave him lethal levels of lead in his treatment.
For the full story, click here
Washington is all atwitter over who will replace outgoing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. The more relevant question, however, is who would want to step over the chalk outlines of his two predecessors on the office rug to sit in that seemingly cursed chair.
Indeed, of all of the famous curses from King Tut’s tomb to the Hope Diamond to the Monkey’s Paw, the Bush Curse of the Juris Doctors (or the J.D. Curse) appears the most lethal. With John Ashcroft or Gonzales as the most vivid examples, bad things happen to attorneys who go to work for this administration. Continue reading “Be Afraid, Very Afraid — The Bush Curse”
Senator Craig’s bathroom scandal brings back memories of his prior attack on Bill Clinton as a “nasty” “bad” “naughty boy.” Even for those who supported impeachment it was a weird moment.
For the video, click here
Robin Shellow, a Milwaukee criminal defense lawyer, had a rare gift left at her office on Monday: a pink gift bag with a severed goat head inside.
For the full story, click here
The corpus delicti, or body of crime, took on a new meaning this week in California when an alleged drunk driver was found with the dead body of a motorcycle driver still lodged in his rear window. Tony Martinez, 54, appears not to have noticed before pulled over by the arresting officers.
For the full story, click here
There now appears to be a rash of corpse abuse cases — one of the oldest offenses in common law.
Johnny Draper (yes a funeral home director named Draper) found Roderick Jones in his Monessen, Pa., funeral home on July 13 with a women’s corpse. This is not a first for Jones who was convicted in 1999 of abuse of a corpse.
For this story, click
Sen. Craig emerged today to declare “I am not gay. I never have been gay.” There is now an indication that he is thinking of pursuing efforts to throw out his plea — after finally speaking with lawyers that he failed to find before his plea. The press conference adds a bizarre twist to an already bizarre story.
For details, click here
For the video, click here
In Iowa, a wife is claiming that she did not murder her husband. Rather he walked into a four-inch paring knive that drove deeply into his chest. Found in the bedroom was a book entitled “After the Affair.”
For the story, click here
Orlando media is reporting that Former astronaut Lisa Nowak will pursue an insanity defense. Such notice is required in advance of trial and it was unsealed by the court. It will be a very difficult defense to make for someone with the ability to drive across country and engage in acts of evasion. Since the Reagan shooting, states have made it very difficult to make this defense. For earlier column, click here
For the news flash, click here
A recent question on the educational system in the United States for a beauty queen may be the greatest argument for increasing immigration in this country to guarantee a small margin of intellectually viable humans to carry on basic institutions.
Caution: this is painful to watch, but click here if you dare.
Belgian diplomats are accused of taking their four-wheel drives for a spin and damaging a 40 million-year-old whale fossil in Egypt.
For the full story, click here
The U.S. military is trying to repair the damage of giving out a ball with the Saudi flag and the name of Allah spelled out on it. The idea of kicking Allah’s name succeeded in outraging the locals in Afghanistan.
For the full story, click here
According to Roll Call, Sen. Craig’s insistence that he would not have pleaded guilty if he had consulted an attorney is a dubious defense. Craig had days before his guilty plea in June and during that period, documents indicate that he asked for a contact at the airport for his lawyer to call. It is not clear that his lawyer actually made that call, but clearly Craig had the time and inclination to do so.
Ironically, I believe Craig could have benefitted from counsel. Continue reading “Sen. Craig and the Right to Counsel”
Sen. Craig is not viewed as one of the legislators who routinely raises civil liberties and protections for the criminal accused. However, after pleading guilty to criminal charges in Minneapolis, he insists that he should have consulted with an attorney. Continue reading “Sen. Craig Pleads Guilty to Criminal Charge for Disorderly Conduct in an Airport Bathroom”