Legal Commentary

HAPPY ST. PATRICK?S DAY!!!!

Posted on March 17, 2009
On behalf of the Turley Clan in the States and Ireland, Happy St. Patrick’s Day. We intend to celebrate with our best corned beef and cabbage dinner. I can report that, while there was great alarm recently when the end of the rainbow was conclusively found to be missing a pot of gold, my [...

English Refuse Asylum Plea and Deport Man to Sudan Where He Is Promptly Killed

Posted on March 17, 2009
Adam Osman Mohammed, 32, insisted that if England denied his asylum application and sent him to Sudan, he would be killed. He can now say I told you so, except for the fact that he was promptly killed upon his arrival to his village in south Darfur. The Home Office is moving to remove and [...

Congress Moves to Tax AIG Bonuses ? But Is It Constitutional?

Posted on March 17, 2009
ongress is rushing to respond to the widespread public outrage over the $160 million in bonuses paid to American International Group (AIG) executives with taxpayer money. The most popular idea is to tax the bonuses, but such a retroactive tax would raise very serious legal questions...

Preventing History From Repeating Itself: Washington State Officials Charge ?Ax Men? With Environmental Violations

Posted on March 16, 2009
George Santayana said that “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” The Washington Department of Natural Resources took that lesson to heart in watching the History Channel’s “Ax Men.” While one of the stars insisted that “We’re normal guys that do extraordinary things,” DNR officials saw normal guys [...

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New Mexico Repeals Death Penalty ? Kansas and Montana May Follow Suit

Posted on March 16, 2009
The New Mexico Legislature voted 24-18 to repeal the death penalty and replaced it with life without parole. Two other states — Kansas and Montana — may follow suit this month. The vote is the latest state to move away from the death penalty...

International Red Cross Defines Bush Interrogations As Torture

Posted on March 16, 2009
The International Committee of the Red Cross added its considerable authority and voice to those who have called the Bush interrogation policies torture under international law. Now, Bush officials, bar groups, countless experts, and leading international organizations have all agreed that Bush ran a torture program prohibited under a variety of treaties...

Prosecutors Charge American Exchange Student With Slander After Claim of Police Abuse

Posted on March 16, 2009
There is an interesting twist in the Italian trial of Amanda Knox. The American exchange student Meredith Kercher facing murder charges has claimed that she was struck by police and otherwise abused during her interrogation. Now, Italian prosecutors have added a slander charge due to her in court statements...

Movie Night At Supreme Court: Justices Ready to Review Hillary: The Movie

Posted on March 16, 2009
We have been following the case involving “Hillary: The Movie” since it first came out during the last presidential campaign. The legal dispute over the film was always more interesting than the film itself — whether this is a film or a 90-minute campaign ad...

Natural or Enhanced? Vermont Hunter Jailed for Shooting Doe and Then Bolting Antlers To Her Head

Posted on March 15, 2009
For criminal defense attorneys, regional differences can often produce localized forms of practice. The attorney for Marcel Fournier, 19, has one such case in Burlington, Vermont. Fournier was arrested for bolting antlers on the head of a dead doe to conceal game violations...

Look, Honey, He Has Your Ectoderm! Georgia Legislators Pass Law Allowing Adoption of Embryos

Posted on March 15, 2009
This week, the Georgia state House of Representatives voted 96-66 to adopt a bill allowing for people to legally adopt as parents embryos that can be implanted in in vitro fertilization procedures. The legislation is defended by Clarke Forsythe, senior counsel of Americans United for Life, as responsive to “the need to humanize the [...

Don?t Mess With Texican English: Texas Police Arrested New Yorker For Potty Mouth

Posted on March 15, 2009
Houston police and prosecutors are arresting people for potty-mouths. The Texans were shocked when New Yorker Abraham Urquizo, 35, used the “F-word” twice while arguing with his girlfriend at Salsa?s Mexican and Seafood Restaurant. They are clearly unaware that the word can be used as an adjective, noun, verb, adverb, participle, and [...

Oklahoma Prison Puts Inmate Into The Same Cell With The Murderer Who He Testified Against a Trial? And Is Promptly Beaten To Death

Posted on March 15, 2009
Now, this should make for an interesting torts case. Oklahoma State Penitentiary moved prisoner, Paul Duran Jr., 23 (left), after he had a fight with another cellmate. They choose Jessie James Dalton (right), who not only has a name for crime but happens to be the very man that Duran testified against in [...

Christian Recruiters Target Religious Rabbits in Race for Inter-Species Faithful

Posted on March 15, 2009
Recently, we saw the growing fight over canine Christians as religious organizations fight to augment their ranks with recruitment of other species. The inter-species move may reflect recent polls showing a sharp increase in Americans who say that they are not part of any religion...

Texas Legislation To Facilitate the Creation of An Advanced Creation Science Degree

Posted on March 15, 2009
This may seem like a bit of an contradiction to some, but Texas legislators are sponsoring a bill to facilitate the creation of a master’s degree in Creation Science. While these degrees are traditionally called Divinity degrees, Texas politicians fighting against evolution theory want to help the Institute for Creation Research...

HAPPY Pi DAY!!!

Posted on March 14, 2009
It was only recently that many of us put away our Square Root Day decorations. Yet, it is now time to celebrate Pi day in all of its irrational glory. The irrational number is rounded off to 3.14, making March 14th the special day for all math geeks — and circle circumference fanatics...

Man Guilty of Possession of Child Pornography For Downloading Sexual Cartoons of Simpson and Pokemon Characters

Posted on March 14, 2009
Australian Glenn Phillip McGuire, 28, has pleaded guilty of possession of child pornography after downloading six images of cartoon characters from The Simpsons and Pokemon in sexual scenes. The Australian Supreme Court ruled child pornography can include sexually explicit images of cartoon characters in a ruling that sweeps away logic and speech rights...

Utah Man Arrested for Goat Kidnappings and Beheadings

Posted on March 14, 2009
Orion Kent Mitchelle Stoltman, 19, of Tooele, Utah has some serious issues to work out. Stoltman has been arrested for burglarizing a family’s animal pen, stealing two pet goats, taking them to a local elementary school and beheading them on Halloween...

Guitar Hero? Former Cook County GOP Chairman Beaten By Wife With Electric Guitar After Allegedly Finding Him With Two Prostitutes In Children?s Nursery

Posted on March 14, 2009
Former Cook County Republican Chairman Gary Skoien, 55, is in the midst of a bizarre criminal case. He accused his wife, Eni Skoien, 36, with battery for allegedly beating him with her fists and an electric guitar. Police report that Skoien admitted that his wife found him in his children’s playroom with two [...

Twit: ?Juror Jonathan? Throws Verdict Into Doubt With Improper Tweets

Posted on March 14, 2009
Russell Wright and his company, Stoam Holdings has a novel ground to challenge the $12.6 million verdict against them. They have given the court proof that a juror posted messages on Twitter.com that show bias. The allegedly incriminating eight “tweets” of juror Johnathan Powell were sent to a micro-blogging Web site via his [...

Obama Administration Drops Enemy Combatant Status as Basis for Holding Detainees

Posted on March 13, 2009
In a major and long-overdue change, President Barack Obama has dropped “enemy combatant” status as an express standard for holding detainees at Guantanamo Bay. In the press release below, Attorney General Eric Holder has also informed a federal court in Washington, D...

Anna Nicole Smith Attorney and Partner Charged on Drug Charges With Two Doctors

Posted on March 13, 2009
Lawyer Howard K. Stern and two doctors were charged Thursday with giving thousands of prescription drugs to Anna Nicole Smith for years before her death. Stern, who was also romantically involved with Smith, was charged with doctors Sandeep Kapoor and Khristine Eroshevich on criminal conspiracy charges and the delivery of fraudulent prescriptions...

Florida Senator Raises Alarm Over Animal Husbandry

Posted on March 13, 2009
When I worked as the constitutional consultant for the Florida House of Representatives, I was told a story about a certain Senator who threatened to call “General Revenue” as a witness after being told that “general revenue will not allow this appropriation...

Two Centurions Go Into a Bar . . . Researchers Uncover 1700-Year-Old Roman Book of Jokes

Posted on March 13, 2009
A funny thing happened to researchers on their way to the Roman forum, they found a 1700-Year-Old Rome joke book. While found in Roman, Philogelos (or Laughter Lover) is written in greek and contains 265 jokes. The greatest academic contribution is final proof that there has not been a new joke told in [...

Method Acting: Felon Goes Hollywood Between Murders

Posted on March 13, 2009
Clifton Bloomfield was perfect for the role in casting director David Córdova’s movie “Felon,” a violent prison film starring Steven Dorff and Val Kilmer. After all, he had already killed two people and was the ultimate method actor...

Federal Judge Orders Florida School to Allow Gay Club to Meet

Posted on March 12, 2009
United States District Judge Henry Lee Adams Jr. has granted a preliminary injunction to force Nassau County school officials to allow from Yulee High School near Jacksonville, Florida to hold meetings for a club promoting tolerance for gays. The two students, Hannah Page, 15, and Jacob Brock, 16, sued for the injunction with the help of [...

Obama Issues Signing Statement ? Only Days After Negating Such Bush Statements

Posted on March 12, 2009
Literally days after proclaiming that change had come to “signing statements” with a new policy, President Obama has issued a very Bush-like signing statement with his signing of the appropriations bill. The signing statement reserves the right to treat literally dozens of provisions as presumptively unconstitutional...

Federal Judge Chastises Harvard Professor Charles Nesson For Effort to Hold Deposition In a Classroom

Posted on March 12, 2009
Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson was the subject of a judicial rebuke from United States District Court judge Nancy Gertner over his request to hold a deposition before a live law school audience in a classroom. Nesson is a respected academic and founder of Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society...

Police Union Accuses William Ayers and His Wife (and Law Professor) Bernardine Dohrn of 1970 Terrorist Bombing

Posted on March 12, 2009
A San Francisco police union has accused William Ayers, co-founder of the Weather Underground, and his wife Bernardine Dohrn of a 1970 bombing that killed a sergeant and injured eight other officers. The union has accused the couple of involvement in planting a bomb on Feb...

Afghanistan Supreme Court Upholds 20-Year-Sentence For Journalism Student Who Asked Questions About Equal Rights For Woman

Posted on March 12, 2009
Afghan courts have produced yet another example of its de-evolution into a medieval Sharia system. The country’s Supreme Court has upheld the 20-year-sentence of Parwez Kambakhsh for blasphemy. He was convicted of asking questions in a university class about women’s rights under Islam and downloading an article on equal rights for woman...

Iraqi Journalist Gets Three Years For Throwing Shoes At Former President Bush

Posted on March 12, 2009
Muntadhar al-Zeidi, the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at former President George W. Bush, has been sentenced to three years in prison — sixteen months per shoe. The decision has already produced protests in Iraq where the vast majority of citizens view him as a hero for his act...

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