Generally, I am a believer that all court proceedings, including the federal supreme court, should be televised. However, there is a persuasive argument that in appellate courts - particularly the federal supreme court - there are those who would grandstand instead of arguing the points. Personally, while I recognize this type of behavior is a possibility, I think that the benefits of an open court outweigh it.
All that said, here is the nightmare scenario given form.
30 April 2008
Why She Prosecutes
Race and Prosecution
Felicia J. Nu’Man, a Louisville prosecutor, explains why she prosecutes.
29 April 2008
28 April 2008
Marine not prosecuted by Japanese will be by Marines
Under Japanese law the prosecution cannot proceed without permission of the victim. There are no such requirements under the UCMJ.
27 April 2008
Tag Clouds
These are "tag clouds" offered by MakeCloud.
From my RSS feed:
Cloud of Google News for "crime."
Backlinks:
From my RSS feed:
Cloud of Google News for "crime."
Backlinks:
26 April 2008
The Spirit
Y'know, I understand the urge to bring back old time heroes. However, that is just creepy.
25 April 2008
23 April 2008
Lycurgus is Spinning in His Grave:
Moore v. Virginia - State Officers Don't Have to Follow State Law
Moore v. Virginia, in which a Virginia Officer made an arrest which was clearly illegal under Virginia law, the federal supreme court has ruled that there is no remedy under the constitution.
Citizens of the United States are not protected when the government breaks its own laws unless the government has granted them protections (either by law or constitution).
And what about the Virginia Supreme Court's finding, in its decision as final arbiter of Virginia law, that the required issuance of a summons is a citation? The federal supreme court doesn't even address it.
A disturbing opinion.
Citizens of the United States are not protected when the government breaks its own laws unless the government has granted them protections (either by law or constitution).
And what about the Virginia Supreme Court's finding, in its decision as final arbiter of Virginia law, that the required issuance of a summons is a citation? The federal supreme court doesn't even address it.
A disturbing opinion.
10 Years of Illegal Tickets
Will a "good faith" violation of the law allow the city to keep the money it got from 10 years of illegal tickets?
Misuse of Database Leads to Officer's Conviction
He checked to see who was following someone at his mosque. It was the FBI.
Detroit Officer Accused by Hitman, Freed by DA
He was freed because there was no evidence - other than the hitman's statement, that the officer payed to have his wife killed.
Urban "New Lawyer" Myth Brought to Life
It's an urban legend we've all gotten thru an email sometime. Brand New Lawyer has just passed the Bar when he has some sort of confrontation with an Officer. Having just spent 3 years in law school and 3 months studying for the Bar Brand New Lawyer knows every nook and cranny of the law and spins the encounter round on the Officer.
Meet Eric Bryant, the man living the urban myth.
I wonder how well this will turn out for Mr. Bryant.
Meet Eric Bryant, the man living the urban myth.
I wonder how well this will turn out for Mr. Bryant.
Marjuana Should Not be Legal
This is fun to read as much for the comments as anything else.
Any time someone makes a comment like that it brings out the true believers.
Any time someone makes a comment like that it brings out the true believers.
Now that Lethal Injection is Constitutional
States have started back up their death sentence processes.
Ask Instead How the Guys at the Lab Sleep
Because, if they told me there was 1,000 times the normal level of arsenic in a body I'd be convinced there was a murder.
Oops, their bad.
Oops, their bad.
Scotland Yard Takes Extraordinary Steps to Get Its Men
It set up an investigation off site. It excluded Freemasons. And in the end it charged an officer involved in the original investigation.
Mexican Army Takes Over Police Duties & Crime Increases
The Mexican Army moved into a border town because the police were too few and too corrupt to stop the drug trade. However, after the Army got there the police stopped working and all sorts of crime started.
21 April 2008
In the UK Grand Theft Auto is Child's Play
All the way down to an 8 year old stealing a lorry (that's a truck for those of us in the US).
Barney Frank Endorses Marijuana
Introduces a bill to legalize for users and small time distributors.
Stolen Card Connection: Texas to India
One would suspect that an American name would probably not match the guy's ID.
Can Statements of the Murdered be Used?
Obviously yes if the object of the murder was to keep the victim silent, but what if that wasn't the intent? Does Crawford require exclusion because the dead victim cannot be cross examined?
Second Tier Physicians' Group Endorses Marijuana
The American College of Physicians endorses moving marijuana from schedule 1.
NY: Should All 3d Misdemeanors in 10 be a Felony?
Marcus Molinaro introduced the Chronic Criminal Act to make 3d misdemeanor offenses within 10 years a felony. Not a terribly bad idea (if traffic offenses aren't included), but it appears dead in committee.
20 April 2008
Can't Trust Anyone: Nurse Thief
While people were critically ill in the hospital she stole their keys and burgled their homes.
Attempting to Escape a Courtroom
It probably wouldn't have been a good idea even if he'd made it thru the 7th floor window.
Canada< DUI's, and the Removal of the Possibility of Innocence
Can't call a witness to say someone might or might not have been drunk.
If You're Going to Smuggle Marijuana in Your Car
It might not be the smartest thing in the world to store it where it will catch fire.
You Can't Make This Up
A high police officer breaks into a car to steal the stereo, but the seats are too comfortable and he falls asleep.
19 April 2008
In a Different Part of the US
"We cannot emphasize enough: these are individuals charged with felonies. The criminal statutes of this state are not so sacrosanct, nor is our pursuit of judicial economy so preeminent, that we will endorse the trampling of citizens’ rights in pursuit of either. A citizen should not have to endure or defend a felony prosecution premised upon an unconstitutional statute. Our precedents do not hold otherwise."
Illinois v. Carpenter
Illinois v. Carpenter
Pretending to be the IRS
Phishers are pretty much scum of the Earth, but I must admit that it takes big brass *ahem* "moxy" to pretend you're the IRS in your phishing scam.
If You're Dumb Enough to Steal the Judge's Robes
You probably deserve the 3 years you get in prison.
No, You Can't Subpoena the Vice-President
Yelling something at the Vice-President and getting arrested doesn't give you the right to subpoena him.
Modern Car Nontheft
The kid stole the key, but couldn't quite get the car (or even get out of the car).
B&E at Grow House
It may not be a good idea to report that B&E if you're growing a cash crop in the house.
Is the House Next Door a Marijuana Farm?
Some of the signs that may indicate there is a grow-op in your neighborhood include:
- a person bringing many small plastic pails into the house and yet you never see them gardening in the backyard using those containers.
- same thing applies to planting soil, plant food, peat moss etc.....
- bringing large lengths of tubing into the house. (This is used for irrigation)
- bringing large lighting fixtures, industrial size (These are used for artificial sunlight/warmth)
- hydro meters are tampered with. Many times the growers will cut into the hydro power avoiding the high cost of electricity involved in such an operation.
- all the windows in the house (usually basement) are boarded up or covered up in some way.
- condensation on the windows. These houses will have very high humidity.
- smell coming from the house. Noxious fumes can build up in a marijuana grow-op house thus needing it to be vented. It will be a very distinct smell.
- comings and goings at odd hours.
- sometimes it will appear as if nobody is living there yet there is always a small light or T.V,. left on in the house. The yard is not looked after, i.e. long grass, snow not being shoveled in winter.
- a person bringing many small plastic pails into the house and yet you never see them gardening in the backyard using those containers.
- same thing applies to planting soil, plant food, peat moss etc.....
- bringing large lengths of tubing into the house. (This is used for irrigation)
- bringing large lighting fixtures, industrial size (These are used for artificial sunlight/warmth)
- hydro meters are tampered with. Many times the growers will cut into the hydro power avoiding the high cost of electricity involved in such an operation.
- all the windows in the house (usually basement) are boarded up or covered up in some way.
- condensation on the windows. These houses will have very high humidity.
- smell coming from the house. Noxious fumes can build up in a marijuana grow-op house thus needing it to be vented. It will be a very distinct smell.
- comings and goings at odd hours.
- sometimes it will appear as if nobody is living there yet there is always a small light or T.V,. left on in the house. The yard is not looked after, i.e. long grass, snow not being shoveled in winter.
18 April 2008
Yet another offer to sell me drugs over the internet
It's no wonder our biggest problem hereabouts. I get several versions of this every day:
17 April 2008
Drugs - 17APR08
1. Heroin use is on the rise.
2. "Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have shown that increasing the brain level of receptors for dopamine, a pleasure-related chemical, can reduce use of cocaine by 75 percent."
3. A deputy caught in a drug cartel.
4. Facebook and cocaine.
5. A woman uses a 5 year old's urine to pass a drug test and thus the police find out that the 5 year old has used cocaine.
6. "[B]abies exposed to cocaine in the womb may have long lasting brain changes -- especially males."
7. Ireland: 1/4 have used illegal drugs. 1/14 have used in the last year. 1/30 have used in the last month.
8. Teens are turning to tablets.
9. Inmate got the drugs into jail by swallowing them - and they got out of his system by . . .
10. Busting on "Just Say No." Pretty easy when you are talking about people already in deep trouble.
11. Don't bring crack to the courthouse.
12. Drugs smuggled in new shoes.
13. The first Central Utah Substance Abuse Conference was like a political rally against drugs.
14. Don't leave cocaine in your car when you get it detailed.
15. Spain is the largest user of cocaine in Europe.
16. The carjackers made me use.
17. Ghana, drug dealing car dealer, and claims against the police.
18. Azerbaijan: Where heroin gets thru to Europe.
19. 70 year old drug dealer.
20. "FAMILY homes across Wales are being used as hi-tech cannabis farms to fuel the country’s rocketing demand for the drug."
21. Kashmir: At a time when women literacy has improved a lot in the state, scores of girls and women have taken to drugs.
22. Labour MP calls for the legalization of hard drugs.
23. Colombian navy vs. drug labs.
24. "A MAN who suffered life-changing injuries in an horrific road crash claimed he used cocaine to help him cope with the pain, a court heard yesterday."
2. "Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have shown that increasing the brain level of receptors for dopamine, a pleasure-related chemical, can reduce use of cocaine by 75 percent."
3. A deputy caught in a drug cartel.
4. Facebook and cocaine.
5. A woman uses a 5 year old's urine to pass a drug test and thus the police find out that the 5 year old has used cocaine.
6. "[B]abies exposed to cocaine in the womb may have long lasting brain changes -- especially males."
7. Ireland: 1/4 have used illegal drugs. 1/14 have used in the last year. 1/30 have used in the last month.
8. Teens are turning to tablets.
9. Inmate got the drugs into jail by swallowing them - and they got out of his system by . . .
10. Busting on "Just Say No." Pretty easy when you are talking about people already in deep trouble.
11. Don't bring crack to the courthouse.
12. Drugs smuggled in new shoes.
13. The first Central Utah Substance Abuse Conference was like a political rally against drugs.
14. Don't leave cocaine in your car when you get it detailed.
15. Spain is the largest user of cocaine in Europe.
16. The carjackers made me use.
17. Ghana, drug dealing car dealer, and claims against the police.
18. Azerbaijan: Where heroin gets thru to Europe.
19. 70 year old drug dealer.
20. "FAMILY homes across Wales are being used as hi-tech cannabis farms to fuel the country’s rocketing demand for the drug."
21. Kashmir: At a time when women literacy has improved a lot in the state, scores of girls and women have taken to drugs.
22. Labour MP calls for the legalization of hard drugs.
23. Colombian navy vs. drug labs.
24. "A MAN who suffered life-changing injuries in an horrific road crash claimed he used cocaine to help him cope with the pain, a court heard yesterday."
16 April 2008
Theft
1. Getting run over by the truck he stole.
2. Can't steal birthday gifts for your kid.
3. 100 corruption cases in Kazakhastan.
4. More crime and fewer officers.
5. More scams against senior citizens.
6. Politician:
8. Smirking thug gets probation.
9. Regurgitation leads to DNA arrest.
10. Crime up 8%.
11. Crime down 10%.
12. Drug theft by sword.
13. Stealing a police officer's sidearm isn't the greatest idea.
2. Can't steal birthday gifts for your kid.
3. 100 corruption cases in Kazakhastan.
4. More crime and fewer officers.
5. More scams against senior citizens.
6. Politician:
I want to assure the police station commissioners and policemen and women from these areas that they have permission to kill these criminals.7. "The impact of the crime in India is that today more and more people report that they keep some kind of self-protection at home; watchdogs are becoming as popular as the friendly family pet. Vigilante groups and private security agencies are flourishing. Even in the national capital not only women prefer to stay off the streets at night, but parents also feel insure about the safety of their children."
I won’t tolerate any pathetic excuses for you not being able to deal with crime. You have been given guns, now use them.
8. Smirking thug gets probation.
9. Regurgitation leads to DNA arrest.
10. Crime up 8%.
11. Crime down 10%.
12. Drug theft by sword.
13. Stealing a police officer's sidearm isn't the greatest idea.
Metal Theft
1. Death during copper theft from roof.
2. Steal the fence, ignore the cars.
3. Theft from cemetery.
4. Copper thief kills radio station.
5. Electrocuted stealing cable.
2. Steal the fence, ignore the cars.
3. Theft from cemetery.
4. Copper thief kills radio station.
5. Electrocuted stealing cable.
Marijuana
1) Forcing a 2 year old to smoke.
2) "The vast majority of people in Brazil believe smoking marijuana should remain a crime."
3) Algerian marijuana confiscation up 592%.
4) Mexico provides the most marijuana to the US. (duh)
2) "The vast majority of people in Brazil believe smoking marijuana should remain a crime."
3) Algerian marijuana confiscation up 592%.
4) Mexico provides the most marijuana to the US. (duh)
15 April 2008
14 April 2008
CLTV 23: Pd's and MPRE's - WWJD?
New post by a healthier me (although, I cut out a couple coughing fits).
Can lawyers be ethical? Must defense attorneys be propitiation? And what about those PD offices? (which might as well be a religious discussion)
CLTV Cite
Can lawyers be ethical? Must defense attorneys be propitiation? And what about those PD offices? (which might as well be a religious discussion)
CLTV Cite
10 April 2008
Drugs in the News
1) Interior Minister Prince Naif yesterday urged everybody to cooperate in the Kingdom's fight against drugs. "Drugs are more dangerous than wars and catastrophes," the Saudi Press Agency quoted the prince as saying.
2) "Drug prohibition helps the U.S. maintain a racial apartheid prison-industrial complex."
3) Police foiled a bid to smuggle high quality charas to Punjab and arrested the alleged supplier on Tuesday.
4) The SDU has uncovered intelligence that Chinese-sourced chemical precursors, such as PMK, were being shipped to the Netherlands to turn into pills to export to Australia or smuggled into Australia for local ecstasy production.
5) [The heroin dealer] was initially co-operative his manner soon changed and he then refused to remove his hand from his genital area.
6) We found [heroin] for sale within 26 minutes of arriving in central Hove.
7) "Marijuana is among the most frequently used illicit drugs by women during their childbearing years and there is growing concern that marijuana abuse during pregnancy, either alone or in combination with other drugs, may have serious effects on fetal brain development. There is strong evidence that THC, the main psychoactive component of marijuana, crosses the placenta, that maternal marijuana abuse results in intrauterine growth retardation and that infants exposed to marijuana exhibit a temporary syndrome that includes lethargy and decreased muscle tone. Fetal exposure to THC can also result in attention deficits, learning disabilities and behavioral problems. A new study using rats found that THC combined with mildly intoxicating doses of alcohol induced widespread nerve cell death in the brain. The study is published in the Annals of Neurology, the official journal of the American Neurological Association."
8) Drug dealers looking for extra profits apparently added lead flakes to packets of marijuana, inflating their value while causing dozens of cases of serious poisoning.
9) The next marijuana.
10) An Accra circuit court on Wednesday remanded into prison custody a businessman who expelled 68 pellets of drugs suspected to be cocaine.
11) Cocaine and benzos in a 2 year old.
2) "Drug prohibition helps the U.S. maintain a racial apartheid prison-industrial complex."
3) Police foiled a bid to smuggle high quality charas to Punjab and arrested the alleged supplier on Tuesday.
4) The SDU has uncovered intelligence that Chinese-sourced chemical precursors, such as PMK, were being shipped to the Netherlands to turn into pills to export to Australia or smuggled into Australia for local ecstasy production.
5) [The heroin dealer] was initially co-operative his manner soon changed and he then refused to remove his hand from his genital area.
6) We found [heroin] for sale within 26 minutes of arriving in central Hove.
7) "Marijuana is among the most frequently used illicit drugs by women during their childbearing years and there is growing concern that marijuana abuse during pregnancy, either alone or in combination with other drugs, may have serious effects on fetal brain development. There is strong evidence that THC, the main psychoactive component of marijuana, crosses the placenta, that maternal marijuana abuse results in intrauterine growth retardation and that infants exposed to marijuana exhibit a temporary syndrome that includes lethargy and decreased muscle tone. Fetal exposure to THC can also result in attention deficits, learning disabilities and behavioral problems. A new study using rats found that THC combined with mildly intoxicating doses of alcohol induced widespread nerve cell death in the brain. The study is published in the Annals of Neurology, the official journal of the American Neurological Association."
8) Drug dealers looking for extra profits apparently added lead flakes to packets of marijuana, inflating their value while causing dozens of cases of serious poisoning.
9) The next marijuana.
10) An Accra circuit court on Wednesday remanded into prison custody a businessman who expelled 68 pellets of drugs suspected to be cocaine.
11) Cocaine and benzos in a 2 year old.
08 April 2008
I'm Harboring a Semi-Felon
A while back I told ya'll that I inherited a dog when my neighbor moved out without taking his dog. Yesterday, while I was talking to my landlord, I asked him what happened that Neighbor moved out so quickly.
"I don't know. All I know is that they were taken out by the Troopers. I didn't know anything about it until someone told me that the Kentucky State Police had been in the house searching it from top to bottom. Not sure what they were charged with."
Wonderful. Does that make my new dog the opposite of McGruff?
07 April 2008
CLTV 22: A Sick Guy's Fave Five
It's kinda pitiful, but it's up. Next weekend, hopefully, I won't film one while I feel like I'm about to fall over.
Bungles Update: Henry's Gone
On top of the Chad Johnson problem, now the Bengals have lost their number three receiver to a life of crime and thuggery.
03 April 2008
02 April 2008
3 Laws Safe
Even Robot Laws Have Problems
Anyone who has cable has seen the movie I Robot and some of us have actually read Asimov's stories. A recurring theme was the three laws of robotics, meant to keep sentient robots from turning on us humans. In other words, in the future Asimov foresaw people were smart enough to predict the SkyNet problem and take steps to prevent it. People continue to laud Asimov for these 3 laws:
So, what's the solution? Anyone?
1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.The problem is that the first law doesn't work. Basically, carried to its logical conclusion, it allows and commands robots to do what they tried to do in the movie: herd us all into safe areas and not allow any harm to come to us (we'd basically become pets).
2) A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
So, what's the solution? Anyone?