Legal Commentary

Arizona Man Accidentally Kills Himself During Gun Safety Demostration

Posted on May 19, 2009
Samuel Benally Jr., 26, of Phoenix, Arizona wanted to show how dangerous it is to keep loaded guns in the house. He succeeded too well. Benally, who thought that his own gun was unloaded, put a 9mm to his head and pulled the trigger — killing himself in front of the two neighbors...

Grade Inflation: Magazine Says Brooklyn Law School?s Ranking Was Inflated By Omission of Part-Time Student Scores

Posted on May 19, 2009
U.S. News & World Report’s chief rankings officer Bob Morse has released a statement on the controversy over Brooklyn Law School’s rankings. Morse has confirmed that the school inflated its ranking by not reporting part-time students but the magazine will not adjust the ranking this year...

Guatemalan Attorney Murdered After Predicting His Own Death In Video

Posted on May 19, 2009
For all of the economic and social pressure of this time, lawyers in the United States still have much to be thankful for. In moments of doubt, they need only consider the plight of lawyers in other countries like Guatemalan lawyer Rodrigo Rosenberg, who was killed recently...

Study: Happiness is Being Dick Cheney

Posted on May 19, 2009
A new study by Pew Research has found that the happiest people tend to be older, male Republicans. It turns out that, while sitting in an undisclosed location planning torture, Cheney was gleefully happy. Below are some of the other happiest fellows around...

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Federal Jury: Police Officers Did Not Use Excessive Force After Tasering Man 19 Times Leading To His Death

Posted on May 19, 2009
A federal jury in Tennessee ruled that three officers ? Jason Creagan, Jonathan Mays and Jaime Scruggs ? did not use excessive force in the death of Patrick Lee, 21, at a nightclub in 2005. Lee was tasered 19 times after he was seen acting strangely outside of a nightclub (ironically named the the [...

Republican Leader Calls Chuck Schumer ?That Jew? and Then Makes Things Worse

Posted on May 19, 2009
Republican Kim Hendren is the minority leader of the Arkansas state Senate and seems to have a gift for the moronic — if not the antisemitic. Hendren called Schumer “that Jew” in a television interview and then struggled to name a Jew he liked...

How Can an Egghead Nerd Clear Out a Room Full of Bodybuilders? Just Scream ?Urinalysis!?

Posted on May 19, 2009
There was an interesting scene at the Belgian bodybuilding championship when all of the competitors reportedly fled at the appearance of a lab nerd with an anti-doping testing kit. Note: neither of the bodybuilders shown here are accused of doping, but the standards have clearly changed in a few decades...

?Eighty Percent of Success is Just Showing Up?: Woody Allen Settles for $5 Million On Eve of Trial

Posted on May 19, 2009
The lawsuit by Woody Allen, discussed earlier, has been settled on the eve of the trial by American Apparel. The clothing manufacturer for using an image of Allen from the 1977 movie ?Annie Hall? on billboards without his permission. While American Apparel argued that Allen’s value as a sponsor was virtually worthless [...

Onward Christian Soldier: Donald Rumsfeld Reportedly Sent Briefing Booklets on Iraq War to Bush Containing Inspirational Biblical Sayings

Posted on May 18, 2009
GQ has an array of daily briefing booklet sent by Donald Rumsfeld to George W. Bush on the Iraq war and the war on terror that featured Biblical sayings. This is the reading prepared for a president who called the Iraq War a “crusade.” Such Biblical inspirational sayings as ?Behold, the eye [...

Prosecutors Still Opposing DNA Access for Prisoners Despite New Laws

Posted on May 18, 2009
We have seen a number of cases on this blog where prosecutors fought efforts by prisoners to obtain DNA tests that might prove their innocence — only to be proven innocent once the tests were performed. Prosecutors are rarely denounced for these reprehensible efforts...

Alba Gu Bra! Scottish Student Accused of Crossdressing By Wearing Kilt

Posted on May 18, 2009
Scottish Americans are outraged this morning with a story of a Utah principal who told Gavin McFarland, 14, that his wearing a kilt at a high school was inappropriate and might constitute “cross dressing.” The result has been a scene out of Braveheart: The Battle for Rocky Mountain Junior High where tprincipal Craig Jessop [...

Descent Into Crime: Montreal Woman Handcuffed and Thrown into Cell for Failing To Hold Escalator Handrail

Posted on May 18, 2009
Bela Kosoian, 38, is a handrail felon. The mother of two was taking an escalator down to the Montreal subway on her way to Université du Québec à Montreal, where she studies international law. She ended up handcuffed and held in a small cell for not holding the handrail on the escalator...

Bewitching Protest: Accused Nigerian Child Witches Protest Abuse

Posted on May 18, 2009
In past blogs, we have been keeping track of the horrible fate of children and women in Nigeria and other parts of Africa accused of witchcraft. Belief in witches is common in Africa and shown recently with disclosures about one of Gov. Sarah Palin’s favorite preachers...

Locked and Loaded: Man Arrested With 30,000 Bullets Claims To Be Target Enthusiast

Posted on May 18, 2009
Keni Garcia in Haverhill, New Hampshire really really love target practice. The native of the Dominican Republic told police that he had 30,0000 bullets to fuel his love for target practice. Garcia was found with 10,000 bullets in his car and had previously been found to have purchased 20,000 bullets (found in his home)...

Nice Doggy

Posted on May 17, 2009
While police dogs are often the focus of torts lawsuit, this training video of one dog leaping over a car at a felon firing a weapon is pretty amazing. I had trouble teaching my past dogs to give up the damn tennis ball after a single throw. For the video, click here and here and here...

Texas School District Resolves Controversy Over Christian Groups Distributing Bibles Outside of Schools By Inviting Them Inside

Posted on May 17, 2009
The Frisco Independent School District in Texas was faced with complaints about Gideon volunteers hanging around outside of schools to pass out bibles to children. They solved the problem by inviting them into the school where free bibles are now made available to the students — a move that has caused some parents to [...

Lawyer Bites Expert: Defense Lawyer Conduct Private Sting Operation to Show Flaws in Expert Testimony

Posted on May 17, 2009
Now this is a fascinating story. For decades, defense attorneys have complained about faux forensic experts who will support any theory or connection of the prosecution. Some of the most controversial are so-called “bite experts,” dentists who claim to match teeth marks on victims and objects to defendants...

Hidden Phone Charges: Texas Inmate Gets 60 Years For Possession of Cell Phone

Posted on May 17, 2009
Derrick Ross took the term “cell phone” a bit too literally. Ross, 38, acquired a cell phone and charger while serving time at Coffeild prison in Texas. Due to Texas habitual offender laws, he has received an absurd 60 years for the violation...

Gingrich: House Has ?Obligation? to Investigate Pelosi

Posted on May 16, 2009
Newt Gingrich found a new level of hypocrisy this week in insisting that the Congress has “an obligation” to investigate Speaker Nancy Pelosi. I have been highly critical of Pelosi who at a minimum appears to have abandoned her duties of oversight for political convenience and at worst is outright lying...

OMG: Witness Says NP to Texting But Judge Says STBY

Posted on May 16, 2009
We have another incident of texting in court. Miami Judge Scott Silverman went justifiably ballistic when he discovered a witness, Gavin Sussman, messaging another witness in the courtroom. He declared a mistrial in the contracts case. Sussman was chief operating officer for the plaintiff, Sky Development, and decided to text message Yizhak Toledano, another [...

Police Arrest ?Pantielover? With Pornography Showing Abuse of Babies

Posted on May 16, 2009
What is most striking about Dennis Lee Garthus, 42, is not just that he wins the contest as the man who most looks like a freaked out sex offender. It is not that he is habitual offender. It is that his most recent arrest was for downloading (with the screen name “Pantielover”) pornography involving [...

Morehouse Student Allowed to Graduate After Shooting Another College Student and Leading Guilty

Posted on May 16, 2009
There is a truly disturbing story out of Atlanta, Georgia. Morehouse College student Joshua Brandon Norris shot another college student Rashad Johnson three times at a party. This weekend, Norris will be allowed to graduate after receiving an unbelievable light plea bargain while Johnson is at home recovering from his wounds...

Court Overrules Parents in Religious Refusal of Chemotherapy for 13-Year-Old Boy

Posted on May 16, 2009
Minnesota Judge John Rodenberg has ruled in the case of Daniel Hauser, 13. We discussed this case earlier regarding the religious objections that the parents raised to chemotherapy for Daniel’s cancer –even though he has a 90 percent chance of survival with the treatment and little or no change of survival without it...

Bait and Switch: Investigative Report Finds 85 Percent of Tested Restaurants Substituted Cheaper Fish in Dishes

Posted on May 15, 2009
There is an interesting investigative report this week out of Kansas City. The local NBC station tested the fish in 20 restaurants to see if they were actually serving the fish on the menu. Seventeen restaurants were found to switch the fish with cheaper types while charging for such higher value fish as [...

Disgraced Archbishop Turns Author: Rembert Weakland to Release Book on Gay Lifestyle

Posted on May 15, 2009
The former head of the Milwaukee archdiocese, Archbishop Rembert Weakland, 82, is about to publish a memoir on his gay lifestyle as a Catholic priest and sexual scandal. “A Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church: Memoirs of a Catholic Archbishop” will be released in June...

Ship of Fool: Billionaire Tamir Saphir?s Yacht Seized While Loaded With Endangered and Exotic Animal Parts

Posted on May 15, 2009
One of the wealthiest Americans has been fined after his enormous yacht was found loaded with dead exotic and endangered animals and animal parts. Tamir Saphir’s yacht was something out of Dr. Moreau’s island — loaded with stuffed dead animals and skins and carved ivory...

Senate Votes Down Limits on Credit Card Interest Rate

Posted on May 15, 2009
The Senate overwhelmingly rejected an effort to impose a 15 percent cap on interest rates for banks and credit card companies yesterday. The banking and credit card lobby had made this vote a priority with literally hundreds of lobbyists working members...

Haymaker: Panetta Contradicts Pelosi and Says That She Was Fully Briefed

Posted on May 15, 2009
CIA Director Leon Panetta struck back at Speaker Nancy Pelosi today in a memorandum to CIA employees saying that she was fully and truthfully briefed in 2002. He indirectly accuses Pelosi of “making hay out” of the CIA and misrepresenting her briefing for political purposes...

Bush 2.0: Obama To Continue Military Tribunals

Posted on May 15, 2009
President Barack Obama continued his replication of the Bush policies today with the disclosure that he will now restart the controversial Bush tribunal system — now to be called the Obama tribunal system. This follows Obama’s adoption of an even more extreme theory of executive privilege in court, the reversal of the decision to [...

Report: Cheney Called for the Torture of Iraqi Prisoner to Establish Link Between Al Qaeda and Iraq

Posted on May 15, 2009
A former high-ranking state department official has come forward with the explosive report that then Vice President Dick Cheney called for the torture of an Iraqi prisoner to establish a link between al Qaeda and Iraq in the midst of the political controversy over the misrepresentations that led to the Iraq invasion...

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