Legal Commentary

Dental Detention: Dentist Charged with Holding Patient Against Her Will

Posted on June 21, 2008
For those who fear dentists, imagine one who will not allow you to leave. Dr. John Drew Laurusonis is accused with the false imprisonment of Frances Bales, 36, of Duluth after he suspected that she might not pay her bill. Charged with the good doctor is Leslie Ann York and Acquah Alexander from [...

Florida Dentist Drops Devices Down Throat of Patient ? Twice

Posted on June 21, 2008
According to a Florida family, Dr. Wesley Meyers is something of a butterfingers. However, where other clumsy individuals drop fruit bowls, Meyers drops tools down the throats of his dental patients. After requiring a colonoscopy to remove the first tool (a screwdriver) dropped down his throat, Charles Gaal, 90, allegedly died after a second [...

Branding for Jesus: Virginia Teacher Accused of Teaching Creationism and Burning Crosses into Arms of Students

Posted on June 20, 2008
John Freshwater has long been a controversial teacher in Mount Vernon, Virginia. Parents and other teachers accused him of not teaching required science subjects while drilling in creationism into his students. Now, a lawsuit accused him of literally impressing his students with Christian values by branding them...

Court Rules that Mentally Disturbed Defendants Can Be Competent to Stand Trial But Incompetent to Represent Themselves

Posted on June 20, 2008
The Supreme Court continued the downward spiral of our insanity rules this week. The majority held that a defendant can be held to be competent to stand trial but held incompetent to represent himself — a green light for judges to continue to find clearly crazed individuals sane while denying them the right to [...

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Pregnancy High: Glouchester High School Deals with Pregnancy Boom

Posted on June 20, 2008
School officials at Gloucester High School are dealing with a new type of Baby Boomers: 17 girls expecting babies in the 1,200-student school. Worse yet, pregnancies appear to have become a type of extracurricular try-out for girls who made “pregnancy pacts” to try to become unwed mothers...

Love Us or Pay Us: Congress Sets a High Price for Citizens to Renounce Their Citizenship

Posted on June 20, 2008
A little noticed provision in new legislation would cost some citizens hundreds of thousands of dollars to renounce their citizenship. Congress has come up with another moronically named bill, Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax (HEART) Act, that contains the provision...

Police Seek the Kansas City Casanova in Latest Lonely Heart Crime

Posted on June 20, 2008
Police in Kansas City, Mo., are looking for Jerome S. Sternlieb, 74. While he has adopted the identities of Michael Salerno, Kane, Lanelli, Roberts and Warren, he is known by police as “Casanova,” a man who woes elderly women and then takes their money and runs...

Democratic Leadership Caves to the White House and Telecommunication Lobby on Immunity

Posted on June 19, 2008
The democratic leadership is preparing to move a final bill giving immunity to the telecommunication industry after months of waiting for public interest to wane. The new bill would give President Bush and the powerful lobby would it has long sought: immunity from violating federal law and the privacy of customers...

Bring Your Daughter to Court Day: Canadian Court Overrules Father?s Grounding of Daughter

Posted on June 19, 2008
Quebec Superior Court Justice Suzanne Tessier appears to believe that family disputes are best handled by professionals. When a 12-year-old girl filed a complaint about her father’s punishment of grounding her for accessing blocked website, Tessier decided that in her judicial opinion, the punishment was too severe...

You Want Fries With That Briefing? Bush?s ?Curveball? Iraqi Source Was Found at Burger King

Posted on June 19, 2008
For the Bush Administration, Curveball (the super secret source on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction) seemed God-sent. He supplied intelligence that the President used to launch a preemptive invasion of Iraq. It turns out that Rafid Ahmed Alwan learned how to super-size such stories from the best: Burger King (where he was [...

Faith-Based Fatality: Another Child Dies From Lack of Medical Care Due to Parent?s Religious Beliefs

Posted on June 19, 2008
One wonders what it takes for Oregon’s Followers of Christ Church to decide that perhaps it is time to modify their religious guidelines. After the death of Ava Worthington which is now a criminal matter here, now his cousin has died from lack of medical intervention...

Florida Officers Reprimanded After First Trying to Wrestle Alligator and Then Shooting It

Posted on June 19, 2008
Many are asking what it takes to get fired in the Three Central Florida police department. Deputy Keith Baughman, 39, responded to a call of a roaming alligator and promptly threw a towel on the eight-foot alligator and tried to wrestle it. When the alligator bite him, the deputies then proceeded to shot [...

Not-So-Eligible Bachelor: Former Prosecutor Zerola Arrested Again

Posted on June 19, 2008
Gary Zerola, a former prosecutor and repeatedly accused rapist, has been arrested again: this time for assault and battery on a police officer and other charges, including public urination after the Celtics victory celebration. The man once named one of People’s magazine’s nation’s 50 “most eligible” bachelors is once again facing trial...

Viva L?Esperance: New Jersey Expands Definition of Palimony to Eliminate the Requirement of Cohabitation

Posted on June 19, 2008
In a very interesting decision, the New Jersey’s highest Court has ruled that one can be sued for palimony even if there was no cohabitation with a companion. The case involves well-known laser eye pioneer Francis L’Esperance, 75, and his long relationship with Helen Devaney, 47...

Shock Video: Kalamazoo Public Affairs Officer Slams Teen Head First Into Wall

Posted on June 18, 2008
Police have to deal with unruly teens all the time, but in the case of Officer Derek Nugent anger overcame training. The teen is clearly yelling at the officers and being uncooperative, but Nugent is shown slamming the teen face first into a wall — the teen lost three teeth and the officer has lost [...

Judge and Police Deputy Charged with Human Trafficking

Posted on June 18, 2008
D. William Garrett (72), a retired Fulton County Magistrate Judge; his son (a Forsyth County Sheriff’s Department Deputy) Russell Garrett (43); and the son’s wife Malika Garrett (42), have all been charged with human trafficking in a federal prosecution in Atlanta, Georgia...

Thai Educators Introduce Transvestite Toilet for Teens

Posted on June 18, 2008
An interesting story discusses how educators in Bankok, Thailand have introduced a “transvestite toilet” for transvestite high school students. Despite the conservative character of the country, the Thais have a great deal of tolerance and acceptance for transgender students, which makes up a significant number of students at the Kampang school...

Medical Report Finds Evidence of Torture of Detainees Later Found to be Innocent

Posted on June 18, 2008
The respected Massachusetts-based group Physicians for Human Rights has published a report finding that 11 former detainees showed clear signed of torture in medical examinations following their release from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Afghanistan.. The detainees were released for lack of evidence of terrorism...

Lemon Heist Goes Sour: Man Arrested for Robbing Lemonade Stand

Posted on June 18, 2008
Steve Tryon, 18, should probably tell the guys in the cellblock that he is a carjacker. Tryon was arrested this week in Terre Hautem Indiania after not only robbing a little girl’s lemonade stand but being chased by 12-year-old Dominique Morefield...

Thong Tort: ?Sexy Little Thing? Has Malfunction and Causes Eye Injury

Posted on June 18, 2008
Macrida Patterson, 52, is suing in Los Angeles for a classic California tort: a defective thong. Patterson alleges that Victoria’s Secret sold her a “low-rise v-string” from its “Sexy Little Thing” collection that malfunctioned and caused a metallic piece to fly off an hit her in the eye...

Administration Reportedly Planned for Torture Program Months Before Any Request from Field Interrogators

Posted on June 17, 2008
In yet another story alleging an intentional falsehood from the Bush Administration given to the public and Congress, the Washington Post is reporting that Bush Administration officials began laying the foundations for a torture program using waterboarding long before there was any request or inquiry from field interrogators — a direct contradiction of what the [...

Not a Catch: North Carolina Woman With Five Dead Husbands Accused of Murder Solicitation

Posted on June 17, 2008
If you are looking for a soul mate, you may want to reconsider any proposal from Betty Neumar: she has buried the last five men who said I do. Police have arrested the 76-year-old for allegedly trying to hire a hit man to kill one of her five prior husbands...

Bad Review: Vatican Bans Tom Hanks From Filming Sequel to the Da Vinci Code on Church Grounds

Posted on June 17, 2008
It seems that Tom Hanks may have to ask the Lutherans for a backdrop to the sequel to The Da Vinci Code. The Vatican has banned him from church grounds in Rome after calling his last movie ?an offence against God.” I have heard some bad reviews, but this one takes the cake...

Woman Sues Chiropractors for Half a Billion Dollars After She Is Left Paralyzed

Posted on June 17, 2008
Just recently, an unlicensed chiropractor snapped the neck of a man and was arrested, here. Now a Canadian woman, Sandra Nette, has filed a class action the Alberta College and Association of Chiropractors and the provincial government for half a billion dollars after she was left paralyzed after an upper spine manipulation procedure...

He Should Have Been a Retriever: Leona Helmsley?s Dog Trouble Loses $10 Million of its $12 Million Inheritance

Posted on June 16, 2008
Leona Helmsley’s dog Trouble must be aghast. He is now only marginally a multimillionaire after Manhattan Surrogate Judge Renee Roth reduced his inheritance from the “Queen of Mean” to $2 million. The other $10 million will go to charity and, most notably, the two grandchildren that she wanted to disinherit...

Shock Video: Children Buried Alive in Amazon

Posted on June 16, 2008
In a very disturbing video below, children are buried alive in an Amazonian tradition, including a little boy who dies because no one will raise him. It is rare footage of a practice involving hundreds of children a year. Warning, this video is very disturbing...

Any Color So Long As It?s Black: Iran Cracks Down on Public Dress Code

Posted on June 16, 2008
Iranian police have launched the latest crackdown to preserve decency according to Islamic law. Women who allow hair to show or wear clothes that show the shape of their bodies can be arrested or subject to whippings. It appears that Iran follows the same principle of Henry Ford when he said that customers [...

A Soldier?s Suicide Story

Posted on June 16, 2008
The Army Times has an incredible insight into the trauma of serving in Iraq for our soldiers in its story of 1st Sgt. Jeff McKinney and his tragic death. The increase in suicides is an often overlooked measure of the cost of this ill-conceived invasion...

Administration Accused of Holding Detainees That It Knew Were Innocent

Posted on June 16, 2008
On the heels of the Supreme Court’s decision affirming basic constitutional protections for detainees, a report has emerged that shows precisely why habeas corpus is so important. The Administration is accused of knowing that certain detainees were in fact innocent but still held them for years...

Cash Machine: A Glimpse into the Economic Empire of Al Sharpton

Posted on June 16, 2008
Details have emerged from the Rev. Al Sharpton’s financial empire and how companies have essentially paid what many have criticized as protection money against threats of boycotts. The leading companies shelling out are some of the biggest Anheuser-Busch, Honda, Colgate-Palmolive, Macy’s, PepsiCo, General Motors, Wal-Mart, FedEx, Continental Airlines, Johnson & Johnson, Chase and Pfizer [...

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