Legal Commentary

Army Sergeant Convicted Of Threatening A Judge Due To One Line In A Song

Posted on April 01, 2011
There is a very disturbing first amendment case this week in Knoxville, Tennessee where a federal jury convicted Army Sgt. Franklin Delano “Dale” Jeffries II of threatening Knox County Chancellor Michael W. Moyers. The threat came in a juvenile song that Jeffries posted — raising very serious concerns over free speech...

Florida Prosecutors Charge Leading Atheist Advocate With Unauthorized Practice of Law Due To The Use of Esquire

Posted on April 01, 2011
There is a disturbing case out of Florida where EllenBeth Wachs, 48, the legal coordinator for the Atheists of Florida had been arrested for unauthorized practice of law because she signed letters using “Esq.” for esquire. Wachs notes that her group had just launched an unpopular protest of prayers at public meetings at Polk County [...

Barking Mad: Mother Kills Autistic Son By Making Him Drink Bleach ? Receives Only Seven Years

Posted on April 01, 2011
The Old Bailey appears to have radically changed notions of punishment in the criminal justice system. Satpal Kaur-Singh, 44, confessed to forcing his autistic son, Ajit Singh-Mahal, 12, to drink bleach to kill him. She succeeded in Barking, England. Her sentence: seven years — less than what you get in this country on some burglary [...

Two Texas High School Students Charged With Animal Cruelty Over Chicken Sacrifice

Posted on April 01, 2011
In Benbrook, Texas, two teenagers were charged after a bizarre sacrificing of two chickens to enhance the performance of their baseball team. The teens, 15 and 16, were also barred from playing baseball for the rest of the season. They face a maximum two-year jail sentence and a fine of up to $10,000...

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Who Does This Cat Look Like?

Posted on April 01, 2011
Some people on Reddit thought this cat looked like Lenin, but I am not so sure. The cat does seem vaguely familiar. There certainly is something Leninesque. However, Mickey Rourke’s mug shot comes to mind.

Problem Solved? Family Calls Police Out Of Concern For Son Leaving Without Taking His Diabetic Medicine; Police Run Son Off Road and Fatally Shoot Him

Posted on March 31, 2011
There is an incredible lawsuit pending in Salt Lake City, Utah. Perry Tucker and and his fiancée Brieanne Matson were concerned when Joey Tucker left the house without taking his diabetes medication and may have taken a sleeping pill. They allege that Salt Lake police officers responded by forcing Tucker off the road into a [...

Woman Sues New Jersey Doctor After Cosmetic Surgery Leaves Her Unable To Close Her Eyelids

Posted on March 31, 2011
Marilyn Leisz has a novel tort lawsuit in Paterson, New Jersey. A jury is deliberating over her claim that Bergen County plastic surgeon Dr. Paul Parker botched her plastic surgery so that she can no longer close her eyes. Parker was retained to perform an eyelid surgery called a blepharoplasty...

GOP Indiana Rep Warns That Women Will Fake Rapes In Order To Get Free Abortions

Posted on March 31, 2011
The Indiana House has approved one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the nation, but not after a bizarre debate led by sponsor state Rep. Eric Turner (R). When Democratic legislators asked for an exception for rape and incest, Turner cried foul and warned that women would just fake rapes to get some of [...

Obama: Drill, Baby, Drill

Posted on March 31, 2011
President Barack Obama has continued his morphing into George W. Bush this week with a speech today calling for expanded oil drilling — a departure from his promise to focus on renewable energy. Tell me who this sounds like: “Producing more oil in America can help lower oil prices, can help create jobs and can [...

Indian Province Bans Book on Gandhi Over Suggestions That He Was Gay

Posted on March 31, 2011
Indian legislators in Gujarat have banned a book by Pulitzer-Prize winner Joseph Lelyveld because it reportedly suggests that Mahatma Gandhi was gay. The book discusses Gandhi’s relationship with a German man named Hermann Kallenbach (who is shown here on the right with Gandhi)...

Fender Bender Leads To Question Of Whether Scalia Drives Like an Originalist

Posted on March 30, 2011
Before the oral argument in the Walmart case this week, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia was ticketed for causing a four car accident on the George Washington Parkway. Now before you start to say Scalia is often accused of not knowing when to stop, I must say (as someone who drives the same route each day) [...

Turf Fight: Officers From Rivaling Jurisdictions Become YouTube Hit in Confrontation Over Jurisdiction

Posted on March 30, 2011
The video below is part of an investigation by the Delaware County District Attorney?s Office into a confrontation between officers from rivaling jurisdicitons: the Darby and Colwyn Police departments. After the Colwyn police arrested a man a block over the line in Darby, a confrontation occurred at the scene...

Cheating the Cheater: Colorado College Senior Files Complaint Against Company Over Writing Her Term Paper

Posted on March 30, 2011
This could make for an interesting lawsuit. A college senior in Colorado has filed a Better Business Bureau complaint against Essaywritingcompany.com, owned by Jordan Kavoosi, after the Minnesota company allegedly failed to deliver the paper in time. This may appear a bit odd since the student is complaining about a company that cheated her in [...

French Vegan Parents Charged With Death of Their Malnourished 11-Month Baby

Posted on March 30, 2011
A vegan couple in France has been charged with criminal neglect after the death of their 11-month-old daughter. Sergine and Joel Le Moaligou were charged after their daughter died from vitamin deficiency due to the fact that they only fed her mother’s milk...

GOP Garanimals? Santorum Blames Abortion For Social Security Problems

Posted on March 30, 2011
Sometimes I get the feeling that politicians engage in a type of political Garanimals games: match any two or three signature words to enhance their political effect. Newt Gingrich warned citizens of how atheists and Islamic radicals would join together to destroy American...

Messenger To Mercury Sends Back First Picture

Posted on March 30, 2011
This lovely place is Mercury — the first image taken from a spacecraft in orbit around the planet. The picture was sent back by NASA’s Mercury Messenger probe. The best thing from Newt Gingrich’s standpoint: no atheists The most amazing fact I knew about Mercury is that there is believed to be ice on the [...

Dr. Walsh on CNN: Atheists Die First

Posted on March 29, 2011
Dr. Wendy Walsh has added to the increasing claims against atheists from their taking over the country in league with Islamic radicals (Gingrich) or destroying the world (various political and religious leaders). Dr. Walsh has told the nation on CNN that “studies” show atheists always die first in survival situations...

New Jersey Police Leave Teens Locked in Van For 14 Hours Without Heat or Water

Posted on March 29, 2011
Police in Fort Lee, New Jersey are accused of locking a van of teens in a police van without heat or water for 14 hours. The teens were rounded up at high school house party over the weekend and apparently forgotten until a passerby heard the teens screaming...

This is Your Brain on Peat: 2,500-Year-Old Brain Found In England

Posted on March 29, 2011
An amazing discovery has occurred in England where a 2,500-year-old human skull was discovered and inside was a well-preserved 2,500-year-old human brain. It was well preserved in the wet soil in the area. It is an exceptionally rare find since the brain usually is lost quickly...

Libyan War Now Costs Over $600 Million in Just Six Days

Posted on March 29, 2011
With the United States economy tanking and vital programs being cut for lack of money on both the federal and state levels, President Barack Obama has already spent over $600 million in just six days in the Libyan war. The U.S. is now actively fighting the war on the side of the rebels — an [...

Gingrich: America In Danger of Becoming Secular Atheist Country Dominated By Radical Islamists

Posted on March 29, 2011
Newt Gingrich is on a roll. Only a couple of weeks ago, Gingrich explained how his “passion” for the country led to his repeated adulterous affairs. Now, he is warning about the importance of the next presidential election — and presumably his election: “I am convinced that if we do not decisively win the struggle [...

Taking the Bite Out of Crime: Oregon Court Rules Teeth Are Not Dangerous Weapons

Posted on March 28, 2011
There is an interesting ruling out of Oregon where the Court of Appeals ruled that teeth cannot be treated as a dangerous weapon for the purposes of establishing a basis for first-degree assault conviction of Scott Russell Kuperus II. It is a clear case of prosecutorial over-charging and a trial judge who failed in protecting [...

Connecticut Police Seek Arrest of Judge After She Refuses To Sign Warrant

Posted on March 28, 2011
There is a bizarre confrontation in Salisbury, Connecticut where state police have applied for a warrant to arrest Superior Court judge Corinne L. Klatt after refusing to sign a prior arrest warrant. Salisbury Resident Trooper Mark Lauretano charges that Klatt is guilty of coercion and hindering a criminal investigation by refusing to sign the warrant...

Pencil Prank Leads to Arrest and Criminal Charging of Middle School Student

Posted on March 28, 2011
It is one of the worst pranks played in schools. A friend starts to sit down and a student holds a pencil pointing up on the chair. Millions of kids have either been the culprit or the victim of this prank. However, in Ohio, one such 12-year-old child has been arrested and charged criminally after [...

Texas Man Receives 99 Year Sentence After 16th DWI

Posted on March 28, 2011
A Texas jury sentenced James Steven Corley, 52, to 99 years in jail after his 16th conviction for driving while intoxicated. The jury deliberated only an hour after the guilty verdict in handing down the extreme sentence. Corley had 15 previous DWI convictions in two states and has been arrested all over Texas...

Army Recruiters Accused of Pushing Ohio Man Into Fatal Diet and Exercise Regimen

Posted on March 28, 2011
There may be a lawsuit in the making in Ohio where a mother has accused Army recruiters of causing her son’s death through draconian dieting techniques. The death of Glenni Wilsey, 20, would normally be a pure case of assumption of the risk. However, the recruiters allegedly recommended a bizarre and dangerous course to qualify [...

Obama Aide: ?We Don?t Make Decisions . . . Based on Consistency or Precedent?

Posted on March 28, 2011
For those of us who are incredulous at the changing rationales for our intervention in the Libyan civil war, Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough has come to the rescue. He told reporters that “we don’t make decisions about questions like intervention based on consistency or precedent...

Prosecutor Demands Willie Nelson Sing in Court As Condition For A Plea on Pot Possession

Posted on March 28, 2011
If the simple pot possession case against Willy Nelson is any measure, West Texas justice appears based on some fundamental differences from the rest of the country. While such minor charges are generally handled by mail, Hudspeth County’s judge Becky Dean-Walker has demanded that the star appear before her in her courtroom...

Brennan Slams Congress for Encroaching on Obama?s Authority

Posted on March 27, 2011
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger     John O. Brennan is Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, and Assistant to the President. In remarks made at the Brennan Center for Justice, NYU School of Law, Brennan presented a forceful public call for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center [...

A Sunday Jack & Rudy Post?Including a Guilty Dog Video

Posted on March 27, 2011
 Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger Rudy: Hey, Jack, did you hear about that naughty dog named Denver who ate a whole bag of cat treats while his owner was out of the house? Well, his owner figured out who the culprit was and gave him a timeout in the kennel...

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