Legal Commentary

Slow but Convenient Service: Sword-Wielding Man Waits to Be Shot In Convenience Store

Posted on August 12, 2008
Thomas Neal, 20, of French Camp, California, stormed into a convenience sword wielding a sword. He reportedly wanted to be shot, but police had a few taser malfunctions. In perhaps the most obvious police report in history, Stockton Police Department Pete Smith described a man who went on a rampage in a convenience store as [...

Some Animals are More Equal Than Others: Ninth Circuit Rules on Whether Dogs are Livestock

Posted on August 11, 2008
Ron and Mary Park have presented an interesting question for review: are dogs livestock? The couple run a dog kennel located on property with an easement held by the United States. Any commercial enterprise is prohibited except for livestock farming...

A Fool and His Money: Massachusetts Prostitute Arrested for Stealing $62,000 from Drunken John

Posted on August 11, 2008
In Lowell, Mass, a prostitute is charged with stealing $62,000 after she involuntarily turned a brief liaison into a full bondage scene. Jessica Garcia, 30, allegedly was to be paid $30 to perform oral sex, but noticed that the man had a duffel bag filled with cash...

Ex Post Postings: Chicago Towing Company Charged with Posting Signs After Cars Were Parked and Then Towing Them

Posted on August 11, 2008
Hundreds of people at the 79th annual Bud Billiken Parade found themselves without cars after a towing company, Rendered Services, allegedly posted no parking signs after they had parked and then towed them. They refuse to render what is Rendered. The company now faces an ex post facto posting case...

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In Wake of Ivins Suicide, Government Faces Tens of Millions of Dollars in Negligence Lawsuits

Posted on August 11, 2008
Everyone (outside of the Administration) seems in agreement about one thing: the FBI did an appalling job in investigating the anthrax attack. Not only did they intentionally persecute and accuse the wrong man, they ignored what now appears an obvious suspect...

Eddlem or Bedlam: Boston Judge Tosses Juror Over Questions to the Court

Posted on August 11, 2008
Federal District Court Judge William G. Young is someone who has handled a lot of juries and a lot a questions from jurors. However, he insists that he has never encountered the likes of Thomas R. Eddlem, who started asking about basic questions of federal authority...

Bad Dog, Bad Dog, What?ya Goin? To Do: Prince George?s Police Accused of Pattern of Blundered Raids and Dog Shootings

Posted on August 10, 2008
Recently, police officers raided the home of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo. The team proceeded to shoot the two black labradors at the home, bust through the door, and handcuff the the mayor (who was in his underwear) and his mother-in-law, here. The Prince George’s Sheriff’s Office are now accused of a pattern [...

Don?t Tazerberry Me, Bro: Another Cop Suspended for Demanding Free Starbucks Coffee

Posted on August 10, 2008
Yet another police officer has been suspended for threatening Starbucks employees with arrest or worst if they did not continue to fork over free coffee. Chicago police officer Barbara Nevers has been suspended for 15 months for allegedly demanding both free coffee and baked goods...

Chinese Change Weather By Changing Weathermen

Posted on August 10, 2008
The Chinese have been heralding their ability to change the weather with hundreds of rockets and artillery pieces positioned Beijing. However, when it comes to pollution, nothing is quite a effective as an old-fashioned Chinese technique: when forecasters identify the “mist” as pollution and not a natural weather cycle — shutdown access to [...

Shock Video: South Carolina Deputy Charged After Beating Teen

Posted on August 09, 2008
A South Carolina deputy has been fired and charged after a dash camera recorded him punching teenager Jeremy Laquan Rucker, 18, in the face. What is curious is that there is no word on action taken against the other officers who assisted former deputy Brian Tollison...

Mercedes Nichols Arrested Again for Assault

Posted on August 09, 2008
Mercedes Nichols, 17, gained international infamy when a video showed her participating in the ambushing and beating of cheerleader Victoria Lindsay. Now, Nichols has been arrested again for assault in Polk County, Florida for allegedly beating and stabbing her ex-boyfriend...

Florida Grandmother Charged with Driving With Three-Year-Old Girl on Roof

Posted on August 09, 2008
There seems to be a sudden outbreak of roof driving arrests. Recently, we saw a newlywed husband charged with driving with his wife on the roof, here. Now, it is a grandmother, 54-year-old Brenda Bouschet, driving with her three-year-old granddaughter on the roof...

Government Files Undisclosed Order in Dr. Al-Arian Case

Posted on August 08, 2008
Late last night, AUSA Gordon Kromberg responded to the notice given to the Court that he had failed to disclose a critical order to the Court by a judge who sits literally across the hall from Judge Brinkema. The prosecutor filed a copy of the order under seal and ex parte — barring the [...

Evil Twin Defense in Cloned Puppy Scandal: Woman Denies that She is A Rapist and Fugitive

Posted on August 08, 2008
A curious controversy is emerging from of the recent cloning story out of South Korea. Featured in the international story and photographs was the owner of the cloned pit bull, Bernann McKinney. Her picture was shown so prominently that it caught the eye of some people who claim that she is a bail [...

Bin Laden Driver Gets 5 1/2 Years ? Administration Pledges to Simply Hold Him Indefinitely

Posted on August 08, 2008
A military panel of six officers shocked the Administration by giving Osama bin Laden’s ex-driver, Salim Hamdan, only five and a half years. In a demonstration of the Administration’s contempt for even judicial rulings from its own tribunals, the Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman stated that, after serving his time, Hamdan would revert back [...

Missouri Legislator Arrested for Sexually Assaulting Minor

Posted on August 08, 2008
The co-sponsor of laws increasing penalties for sexual offenders may be one of the first to receive the enhanced sentences in Missouri. State Rep. Scott Muschany, R-Frontenac, has been indicted in the alleged sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl, the daughter of a state employee who was reportedly romantically involved with Muschany (who is [...

Finally, a True Evil Twin Defense

Posted on August 08, 2008
Criminal defense lawyers have long counseled their clients that, “unless we can show you have an evil twin,” we are likely to lose. Well, that is precisely the defense in a English case where a twin was falsely arrested for bestiality. Police later concluded that DNA evidence belonged to his twin brother...

Detriot Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Released from Jail and Then Charged with New Crime

Posted on August 08, 2008
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is out of jail — a considerable advantage for a sitting mayor. However, he was promptly charged with a new crime of assaulting a detective. His lawyers will have to throw it on the pile. Kilpartrick is awaiting trial on perjury...

Driver Who Hit Teen at 100 Miles an Hour Given Five Years

Posted on August 08, 2008
In Dayton, Ohio, Dexter Moore has been sentenced to five years after he hit Julian Hill, 17, getting off a bus at 100 miles an hour while wearing only one eye contact. Moore testified in his own defense before the jury found against him, click here Judge Mary Huffman sentenced Moore to the maximum for aggravated vehicular [...

Dr. Sami Al-Arian Update

Posted on August 08, 2008
We have just returned from court and the continuance of the trial for our client Dr. Sami Al-Arian. During the hearing, the prosecution objected to this blog and specifically the comments left by visitors to the site. We have used this site to make filings available to reduce the calls to our staff [...

Tempting McFate: NRA Accused of Planting Paid Mole in Gun Control Organizations

Posted on August 07, 2008
A seemingly garden-variety contract case is yielding some interesting discovery. May Lou McFate is a gun-control activist who has been a major figure on various gun-control organizations and boards. She is now accused being a paid spy for the National Rifle Association after an investigation by Mother Jones magazine...

Pre-Trial Hearing Time Changed in Case of Dr. Sami Al-Arian

Posted on August 07, 2008
The federal court in Alexandria has just announced a change in the time for Friday’s critical pre-trial hearing. It will now be held at 9:00 am and is currently open to the public. Additional filings made before midnight on Thursday are below...

Dr. Sami Al-Arian Files Notice of Failure of Government to Disclose Critical Ruling

Posted on August 07, 2008
This evening, we received information of an undisclosed ruling on one of the key issues in our case before Judge Brinkema. We learned that the prosecution failed to disclose to the Court that a prior judge in the same district in the same investigation had ruled on the same issue of the invalid immunity [...

Shocking Pictures: U.S. Military Holding Detainees in Small Crates

Posted on August 07, 2008
As President George Bush is in China lecturing his counterparts on human rights and detainee rights, pictures have emerged of the U.S. military’s use of small crates to hold detainees in Iraq. The wooden boxes are only 3 feet by 3 feet by 6 feet tall, but the Bush Administration insists that it [...

Dr. Sami Al-Arian Files New Affidavits on Selective Prosecution Claim

Posted on August 07, 2008
Dr. Sami Al-Arian today filed his response to the government’s opposition to his motions to quash the indictment on the basis of a flawed immunity order and selective prosecution. On the latter issue, the defense filed two new affidavits: one from Dr...

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Jailed

Posted on August 07, 2008
Judge Ronald Giles has had enough with Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and sent him to Wayne County Jail for failing to notify the court of his trip to Canada and violating the terms of his bond. It is only the latest spin in the race to the bottom for Detroit’s government...

Pakistani Legislators Move to Impeach Musharraf ? No Word Yet From Speaker Pelosi

Posted on August 07, 2008
The head of Pakistan’s ruling coalition has announced a move to impeach President Pervez Musharraf, who took power in a coup in 1999. Given Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s continued refusal to allow an impeachment investigation into President Bush on ever-changing rationales, it is not clear what her position might be in other nation’s impeaching leaders [...

Summer Special: Plea Now and Receive a Free Bucket of Fried Chicken!

Posted on August 07, 2008
It appears pleas in Portland, Oregon are a real deal. Tremane Durham agreed to plead guilty to murder in exchange for buckets of fried chicken will get calzones and pizza as free sides to go with a life sentence delivered by Multnomah County Judge Eric Bergstrom...

Man Knocks On Doors Screaming Someone Was Trying to Shoot Him: Police Arrive and Shoot Him

Posted on August 07, 2008
It appears that Andre Thomas was right. The Swissvale, Pennsylvania man knocked on doors of an apartment complex yelling that someone was trying to shoot him. The police arrived and, when he allegedly failed to comply with their orders, shot the unarmed man with a taser and then, according to witnesses, beat [...

Iraq Found with $80 Billion Oil Surplus as U.S. Pours Money Into Reconstruction

Posted on August 06, 2008
As Congress contemplates cutting more programs and the deficit sours due to the costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan war, a U.S. audit has found that the Iraqi government is sitting on an estimated four-year $80 billion oil surplus. This surplus between 2005 and 2007 was $29 billion as U...

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