The suit charged that inmates at the prison, operated by Management and Training Corp., capture rats, put them on improvised leashes and sell them to other seriously mentally ill inmates. The solitary confinement section is known as the ‘dead area’ because security officers avoid the area. ‘The air is so contaminated from frequent fires that [...]
“Barbaric and Horrific Conditions” Alleged at MS Prison for Mentally Ill
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Court Vacates Conviction To Send Message To Prosecutor
Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Terence Mariani has been cited in the past for what appellate judges considered prosecutorial impropriety. Typically, the complaints have focused on Mariani’s efforts to appeal to jurors’ emotions. In a 2001 case, Mariani told jurors that they would have a much different perception of how dangerous the defendant was “if I [...]
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Study: 50 million Americans can't afford adequate food
5-31-2013 National:
While the Senate is slashing the government’s main food assistance program by $4 billion over the next decade, and the House by $20 billion, one in six Americans is going...
[[This,an article summary.Please visit my website for complete article, and more.]]
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Judge accuses prosecutor of withholding evidence in drug case
MIAMI — Two Colombians who were facing the prospect of spending the rest of their lives in a U.S. prison for drug trafficking will go home much sooner after prosecutors were accused of withholding evidence about payments by the Drug Enforcement Administration to police in the South American country. Read more..
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Boca Raton cop resigns after wife charged in running brothel
A Boca Raton police officer whose wife was charged with running a prostitution ring has resigned. Read more..
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National tech press loves Stickland email legislation: Will it become law?
After Ars Technica published a widely read piece calling the bill "unprecedented" and the National Journal followed up, several more news stories have come out regarding legislation now pending before the Governor, HB 2268, which includes an amendment by Rep. Jonathon Stickland to require warrants for government to access cloud-based email. See earlier Grits coverage and these recent stories:Austin Business Journal: Texas email privacy bill turns headsComputer World: In Texas, cops will soon need a warrant to read your email Government Technology: Will Texas pass nation's strongest email privacy bill?RT.com: Texas could set new standard on email privacy laws Fierce Homeland Security: Texas legislature passes bill requiring warrants for email searchesMashable: Texas police may soon need warrants to read emailsJonathon Tilove at the Austin Statesman linked to the Ars and National Journal stories but besides that, surprisingly the Austin Business Journal is the only Texas media outlet to cover the bill's passage, much less mention that Texas would be the first state to install a warrant requirement for cloud-based email. My theory is that reporters don't want to have to say anything nice about the author of the email amendment, Jonathon Stickland, who's become a bit of a whipping boy in the liberal press and authored a bill aimed at gutting government subsidies to newspapers. Free from such biases, the national tech press (rightly) consider it landmark legislation.During session, Grits had considered the warrants-for-email bill a bit of a consolation prize. Location data was where government put up a real fight, probably because the tool is used much more often. Location data is an investigative shortcut; reading reams of old email is a slog, so investigators do it a lot less often. Plus, the law-enforcement lobby really didn't want to stand up in public and say the cops should be able to read your personal email without a warrant. Even those registering opposition to HB 3164 at the committee hearing merely "put in a card." Nobody wanted to speak publicly against it, much less answer questions from legislators on the topic.Several reporters have asked if I think Rick Perry will veto the bill. While having no direct knowledge, Grits tends to doubt it. For starters, the warrant-requirement was amended to prosecutor-friendly legislation that the DAs actually want. Plus, the bill has gotten loads of positive national press, many of the stories plastered with Perry's picture. It sets Texas apart from the Obama Administration which has a terrible record on this topic. Mr. Stickland gives it a fine, grassroots conservative Tea Party imprimatur. And since the Lege didn't do much for ideological conservatives this year, this is something to sell. Meanwhile, vetoing it would open the governor up to criticism from grassroots conservatives in a potential primary fight with Greg Abbott, John Cornyn, or (God help us) another presidential run. Finally, it's the right thing to do and Perry's record on criminal justice reform topics isn't half bad, though the Fourth Amendment has been a weak spot. I just don't see a reason he would pick this bill out of the pile to veto and many reasons for him to let it become law.One thing's for sure: We'll know by Father's Day.RELATED: Federalism, search warrants and cloud-based email: Correcting a false meme
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Brush Fire near Blacks Creek
IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE - generated by our News Release ListServer
DO NOT REPLY
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IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE
District 3 Patrol 700 S. Stratford Dr., Meridian 83642
(208) 846-7550
Fax (208) 846-7520
For Immediate Release: 05/31/2013 2:56 pm
Please direct questions to the District Office
Idaho State Police is currently diverting westbound traffic off I84 at milepost 64, near the Blacks Creek exit. Emergency personal are currently handling a brush fire in this area and motorists should avoid the area if possible. More information will be released when it becomes available.
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When and for what will the Government prosecute banks?
Well nobody really knows for sure what the government will do when it finds out about a major case involving large banks.
The New York Times is running a story about decisions made by the Obama administration to fine HSBC but not indict the big bank. In addition, the New York Banking regulator was apparently acting a little more aggressively than the Treasury Department liked against another the Big bank, as the, "Treasury Department raised concerns last year that New York's banking regulator acted against Standard Chartered without sufficiently notifying federal authorities" in this article by Ben Protess. The regulator apparently even threatened to revoke the banks license. Imagine a big international bank having its license revoked and not being able to operate in New York?
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Morrison on Negotiating Peremptory Challenges
Caren Myers Morrison (Georgia State University - College of Law) has posted Negotiating Peremptory Challenges (Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 2013, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Peremptory challenges enable litigants to remove otherwise qualified prospective jurors from...
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Update 1 :Brush Fire near Blacks Creek
IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE - generated by our News Release ListServer
DO NOT REPLY
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE
District 3 Patrol 700 S. Stratford Dr., Meridian 83642
(208) 846-7550
Fax (208) 846-7520
For Immediate Release: 05/31/2013 2:56 pm
Please direct questions to the District Office
***** Update *****
The left lane of travel is open to traffic with the assistance of a shuttle vehicle. Traffic will be slow in this area.
***** Update End *****
Idaho State Police is currently diverting westbound traffic off I84 at milepost 64, near the Blacks Creek exit. Emergency personal are currently handling a brush fire in this area and motorists should avoid the area if possible. More information will be released when it becomes available.
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NYU Grad Students Launch Multimedia Project in Support of Innocence Project
by Jordan Spector, Communications Intern Today, a group of NYU graduate students will launch a multimedia campaign promoting the work of the Innocence Project. "Be the Witness" is a multimedia educational project to raise awareness of wrongful convictions and how to address the root causes. The website includes video interviews of exonerees telling their stories. The website also contains a quiz to test your own ability to remember a face and learn how eyewitness misidentifications happen. Eyewitness misidentifications are the leading cause of wrongful convictions. Nearly 75% of the 307 wrongful convictions later overturned by DNA testing involved eyewitness misidentification. Tonight, in celebration of the launch of "Be the Witness", the students will be hosting an event on Houston and Bowery in New York City where they will premiere a live video installation. The Live Urban Walls video installation will be projected beginning at 9:30 this evening and can also be viewed online at liveurbanwalls.com. More information is available on the event's Facebook page. Learn more about eyewitness misidentification.
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Attorney Tom Nagel discusses the legality of cussing at the police
Charges of disorderly conduct were recently dropped by a judge in Cobb County Georgia in a case involving a woman who said "F--- the police" and "police suck" as she rode her bicycle past two officers questioning a burglary suspect. The officers abandoned the burglary investigation and arrested the woman. She was charged under O.C.G.A. § 16-11-39(a)(4) which bars "without provocation" the use of "obscene and vulgar language in the presence of a person under the age of 14 years which threatens an immediate breach of the peace."
The judge found that even though the police testified a child was present, the woman's words were not fighting words. "the police cannot arrest someone for disrespecting them by the use of a curse word."
Even though cursing at the police in this specific scenario was not against the law, I would NEVER recommend that you do such a thing. Even though the woman's charges were dropped, she spent 23 hours in jail with 6 in solitary confinement. She also had to hire a lawyer and stress out for a year until her case was heard.
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Illinois Secretary of State adopts rules requiring integration of cameras in Interlock devices
Under Illinois DUI driver's licensing law, there are two types of situations in which the installation of an Ignition Interlock Device (IID) may come into play. Both scenarios involve the same device, namely, a machine that is wired into the ignition of your vehicle, which will not start until you blow into a tube and register a blood alcohol level in an acceptable range.
Both circumstances in which the IID is involved have a name. One is the Monitoring Device Driving Permit (MDDP) and the other is the Breath Alcohol Ignition Interlock Device (BAIID).
A driver's license suspension is a temporary "pause" in the validity of your driver's license. Once the pause period ends, your right to drive will be restored unless it is otherwise invalid.
A revocation invalidates your license. You must have an administrative hearing with the Illinois Secretary of State and prove you are entitled to restoration of your privilege to drive before. 625 ILCS 5/6-205
During a DUI arrest, the police will ask you to submit to a chemical test (blood or breath) to determine your blood alcohol content (BAC). A refusal to submit to the chemical test, or taking the chemical test and registering at least .08, results in a driver's license suspension. This suspension will be between six months and three years depending upon whether you blow and upon whether you have had a DUI in the prior five years. 625 ILCS 5/6-208.1
If you have had a DUI arrest in the prior five years, you may not obtain a permit to drive. If you have not had a DUI in the previous five years, you are eligible for an MDDP. 625 ILCS 5/6-208.1 Each time you start the vehicle, and while you are driving, you must blow into a tube.
If you blow too high, the car will not start. In addition, high readings are recorded and electronically sent to the Secretary of State BAIID division.
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Mom's boyfriend harms child
An accused mother left her son with her boyfriend when she went to work that night. She said that she had known the man about four months and he had been her boyfriend for two weeks. She had brought both her son and her daughter to his home on a prior occasion and stayed for a week. On June 7, 2009, she left her daughter with her mother, the Maternal Grandmother. The accused mother stated she worked a security job from 8:00 PM to 8:00 AM. She said she telephoned her boyfriend four times during the night of June 7-8, 2009.
She said she returned to her boyfriend's home on Monday, June 8, 2009 at about 8:30 AM. Her baby was sleeping in the bed next to her boyfriend. The baby woke up at about 9:00 AM and she changed and fed him. Then she and the baby went to sleep. The baby awoke at about 1:00 PM and was fussy and crying. She said she asked the baby to stop crying and be quiet, but he would not stop. She said he would not take his bottle. She said she then picked him up, and she demonstrated how she did that. She said she held the infant under his armpits facing her and shook him four times. Her fingers were on his back and her thumbs on his chest. She said the baby had a little smirk on his face. She also said that the baby's head was going back and forth. She then put the baby on her shoulder and continued to shake him. She said he fell asleep and she put the baby on the bed and went back to sleep. She said everything was normal after she shook the baby, and he was breathing and alive. She said that her boyfriend was not in the room when this incident occurred.
She awoke at about 3:25 PM. Her boyfriend’s sister came into the room and they left the home together, leaving the baby in the room on the bed. She said she cashed her paycheck and stopped at a few other places. She then returned to home, and his mother told her about the baby. She said she received a telephone call from her boyfriend stating he was sorry, but her baby was dead. She said she went to the hospital.
The mother waived her rights under Miranda and acknowledged she had signed a statement and waived her rights. She was shown a statement that she had signed. She read her statement and acknowledged it. She said she did not mean to shake her baby like that, to cause him to pass away. She said she strike the baby and gave him a shot to his head. She punched him on the top of his head three times, on his back four times and on his side one time. She punched him with a closed fist and with a lot of force, and that she covered the baby's mouth and nose very hard and said she saw tears in the baby's eyes.
She said that she did not know what happened. She was depressed and stressed, and didn't mean to take it out on her son" She said she had been angry for two or three days and did not know why. She said the baby was still breathing when she stopped hitting him, and she placed him on the bed. She then left the room. She said no one was in the room when she was striking the child.
The accused mother was given a doll to demonstrate how she held the baby under his arms facing her with her fingers on his back. She shook the doll hard and the doll's head jerked back and forth. She also demonstrated how she hit the baby. She put the doll sitting on her lap facing her and showed how she punched the baby in the head. She then turned the doll and placed him facing to the side and punched the doll in the back and side. She held its face with her hand over its mouth and under its nose. She said the baby cried and his body jerked. She was provided with a statement of what she had said. She said she understood her rights and had made the statement voluntarily.
The County Medical Examiner performed an autopsy of the seven-month-old child. The report found the cause of death to be whiplash, shaking and blunt impacts of head with subarachnoid and subdural hemorrhage and the manner of death as homicide. The examiner found whiplash shaking and blunt impact injuries to the head and torso. A thin layer of subdural hemorrhage is over the brain. The brain, spinal cord and eyes are fixed in formalin.
The Medical Examiner's report noted a hemorrhage covering the infant's optic nerves. The consulting neuro-pathologist to the Medical Examiner examined the brain and spinal cords of the deceased infant, and made the diagnosis of traumatic brain Injury.
A detective of the Bronx Homicide Division was called as a witness by the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS). He testified that he met the mother at the 47th precinct in June 2009. He said that he interviewed her on June 9, 2009 at 1:00 AM and 2:15 PM and that he was present for and observed the interviews in which the mother gave statements to two Bronx County Assistant District Attorneys (ADAs). The interviews conducted by the ADAs were videotaped.
A detective stated that he was present when the accused mother gave statements to each of two ADAs on June 9, 2009. Initially, he stated he could not recall some of the specific details of the videotaped interviews that had occurred one year prior to his testimony. However, he reviewed the tapes and refreshed his recollection. He testified as to the contents and circumstances of the interviews. He also testified that during the videotaped questioning, the mother said that she had worked long hours during the night of June 7-8, 2009 and had become frustrated with the baby's crying. She said she had punched the baby in the head and covered his mouth so he would not cry. She also described shaking the baby. The accused mother was provided with a doll to demonstrate what she had done. The videotape recording was played in court and entered into evidence.
In its Summation, the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) stated that it has presented clear and convincing evidence that the accused mother acted with a depraved indifference to human life in causing serious physical injuries to the seven-month-old infant that resulted in his death. ACS stated that it had proven aggravated circumstances and that the infant was a severely abused child as defined in Family Court and Social Services Law, and that the accused mother failed to rebut any of the evidence presented by ACS. ACS urged the court to make a derivative finding of severe abuse as defined in Social Services Law as to the subject child. Further, based on the clear and convincing evidence of the heinous nature of the accused mother's abuse of the infant, ACS stated that the court should terminate its duty to provide reasonable efforts to assist the accused mother in reunification with the surviving child.
The Attorney for the Child, in a Summation stated that Family Court Act provides authority for entering a derivative finding of severe abuse as to the non-target surviving child based solely on the actions of the accused mother against the target child. The fact that the accused mother did not directly abuse the child does not deprive the court of making a finding of severe abuse as to the child. The Attorney for the Child argued that the complainant had established by clear and convincing evidence aggravated circumstances based on a brutal assault by the accused mother upon the infant resulting in his death, warranting a finding of severe abuse. The accused mother’s egregious conduct was evidence of a fundamental flaw in her parental judgment and ability and any child in her care would be at substantial risk of danger. In addition, the Attorney for the Child asked the court to draw the strongest negative inference against the accused mother due to her failure to testify in this matter.
The accused mother, in her Summation stated that the complainant failed to allege derivative abuse of the child and it would be procedurally improper for the court to enter such a finding in the absence of such an allegation, and the petition should be dismissed. Further, the complainant failed to offer testimony from a medical doctor or expert regarding the cause of infant's fatal injuries. The accused mother stated that ACS has failed to prove that the infant was in the exclusive care of the accused mother at the time of his injuries or that the fatal injuries were the result of the accused mother's intentional conduct, and, thus, has failed to establish by clear and convincing evidence the key elements of severe abuse as defined by Social Services Law.
The criminal court finds that continued reunification efforts are unlikely to be successful in the foreseeable future and that such efforts will be detrimental to the best interests of the child. Based on the clear and convincing evidence of the heinous nature of the infant’s death caused by the accused mother, which supports a finding of aggravated circumstances of severe abuse of the infant, and a derivative finding of the severe abuse of the subject child, the Court terminates the requirement that the agency make further diligent efforts toward reunification of the child and the accused mother. The court relieves ACS and the foster care agency of the duty to continue such efforts holding that the effect of a finding of aggravated circumstances under the Family Court Act — like the effect of a finding of severe abuse under the Social Services Law is to dispense with the requirement that an agency responsible for having placed the children in foster care or seeking to terminate parental rights exercise diligent efforts or reasonable efforts to reunite the respondent with the children. Accordingly, for all the reasons stated herein, the court finds that the complainant has met its evidentiary burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence that the accused mother subjected the infant to the aggravated circumstance of severe abuse pursuant to Family Court Act, and, as such, the infant was a severely abused child as defined in Social Services Law and, by clear and convincing evidence, finds that ACS has demonstrated that his surviving sibling, subject child is, derivatively, a severely abused child. The court grants the complainant’s ACS's motion and orders that reasonable efforts to reunify the child with the mother are no longer required.
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TX - Vigilante media crew chases alleged sex offender teacher through the streets
Original Article
05/31/2013
By WHITNEY RADLEY
In a story all too familiar in recent months, 29-year-old Alief ISD English teacher [name withheld] has been accused of carrying on a...
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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Bloomberg News: New York Cabbie Says GPS Tracking Used to Punish Drivers (1)
Bloomberg News: New York Cabbie Says GPS Tracking Used to Punish Drivers (1) by Patricia Hurtado:
New York City’s taxi commission was accused in a lawsuit of violating the constitutional rights of cabbies by using the global positioning system to track their movements.
The NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission uses GPS devices to gather information on cabbies in violation of their Fourth Amendment right against unlawful searches and to prosecute drivers for violations that can result in loss of cab licenses and the imposition of large fines, according to a complaint filed today in federal court in Manhattan. The case was brought against the commission’s chairman, David Yassky, by driver Hassan El-Nahal, who seeks to represent other cabbies in a class action, or group lawsuit.
For those who may not remember, GPS in NYC Taxis was upheld in 2007.
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theHill.com: Goodlatte questions whether Justice lied on Fox News warrant
theHill.com: Goodlatte questions whether Justice lied on Fox News warrant by Jordy Yager:
Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) on Friday questioned whether the Justice Department lied on its warrant to secretly obtain a Fox News reporter’s email and phone records.
Goodlatte, the chairman of the House Judiciary Chairman, is investigating whether Attorney General Eric Holder perjured himself in testimony to Congress about the DOJ’s investigation of a leak of classified information to Fox reporter James Rosen.
It's really obvious that Rep. Goodlatte has no clue how the search warrant process works, how probable cause is calculated, and what is a "lie" and what is an inference based on facts known to that time.
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McNabb Blows It With Public Advice to RGIII
I have always admired Donovan McNabb. I was present at the 2002 game in Philadelphia in which he threw for three touchdown passes after he broke his leg. I sided with him in the controversy with Terrell Owens. And I cheered when the Redskins brought him to D.C. for his ill-fated one-year stint in 2010. [...]
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Drunk Driver Flees DUI Checkpoint, Hits Trooper
Memorial Day Weekend Sees Drunk Driver Flee DUI Checkpoint According to authorities, a drunk driver struck a highway patrolman after fleeing a Memorial Day DUI checkpoint. The Charleston County Sheriff’s Office reports that 26-year-old Elizah Robertson of Goose Creek, SC, tried to flee a traffic checkpoint that had been set up to near Myers Road. [...]
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Following prosecutor recommendation, Texas jury gives repeat felon 50-year sentence for theft of ribs
A helpful reader alerted me to this notable local article concerning a notable jury sentencing outcome emerging this past week from the Texas state courts. The piece is headlined "Theft of ribs gets five-time felon 50 years in prison," and...
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