Articles Posted in Articles of Interest

Imagine several armed law enforcement officers bang on your door in the middle of the night demanding to search the contents of your home computer. Over your vehement objections, they storm in and go through all of your personal data, including all e-mails and financial information. Further imagine that they return several hours later and search it again. Then they come back in a week and do the same thing. Sounds like a communist country right? This couldn’t be the U.S. Well it is, and it could happen soon in Indiana, unless Steve Morris can do something to stop it.

Steve Morris, along with the ACLU, is suing every single prosecutor and sheriff in the state of Indiana because he believes a new law that takes effect in July aimed at “protecting children” should be thrown out. The law that he finds unconstitutional is one that would allow law enforcement to search his computer at any time. You see, Steve Morris is a sex offender. He was convicted of child molestation more then a decade ago. The law would also require that Morris, and all sex offenders, install a device on their computer which would permit law enforcement to monitor their usage. The device must be paid for by the sex offender. Morris and his attorney think it’s a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment.

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In 1990, Robert Kosilek was convicted in a Boston courtroom for murdering his wife. Now serving a life sentence, Kosilek, who in 1993 legally changed his name to Michelle, claims that he’s a “woman trapped inside a man’s body.” As a result, Kosilek has been battling the Department of Corrections to pay for a sex-change surgery.

Kosilek first sued the Department of Correction in 2000, saying its refusal to allow her to have sex-change surgery violates the Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment. She said her body is becoming more masculine. In response to the law suit, U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf ruled in 2002 that Kosilek was entitled to treatment for gender identity disorder – including hormone treatments, laser hair removal and psychotherapy — but stopped short of ordering sex-reassignment surgery.

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I’ve made my feelings about this case very public. First, I feel privileged that I’m able to represent Loscar in this matter. From my many hours with him, I am convinced that he loves his son deeply and never intended to harm him in any way. Loscar disciplined his son the way that he believed was appropriate and necessary under the circumstances. The Miami Herald article published following Loscar’s press conference discusses that.

The problem is that the laws in this area are vague and subject to interpretation. One prosecutor can look at a set of facts and conclude that a crime was committed while another may believe that the actions were good parenting.

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It’s not going to happen, plain and simple. If it was so easy to set aside a guilty plea, then the Criminal Justice System would shut down. One can’t simply call a “do over” because the crappy consequences of their plea causes them regret.
Senator Larry Craig is claiming that he only pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of “disorderly conduct” because he “panicked.” Furthermore, he argues that he is a not a lawyer and consequently, he didn’t understand the “intricacies of constitutional law.” Craig’s lawyers also allege that the evidence is insufficient to support the guilty plea.

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A Union City Georgia McDonald’s employee was forced to spend the night in jail and is facing further time behind bars for serving a patron an over salted hamburger. The accused, 20 year old Kendra Bull, was charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct. Unfortunately for Bull, the patron was a police officer who alleged the burger made him sick. Bull accidentally spilled salt on the hamburger meat and then tried to “thump the salt off.”
On her break, Bull actually ate one of the burgers from the salty batch. She stated to the media, “It didn’t make me sick.” Bull further stated to the media, “If it was too salty, why did (Adams, the cop) not take one bite and throw it away?”

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The nightmare isn’t over for two Oregon middle-school students in Oregon who, after spending five days in a juvenile detention center, are still facing additional jail time for their actions. Their crime? Smacking the girls on their rear ends.

The boys, both thirteen, are charged with ten misdemeanor charges of sexual abuse and harassment, subjecting them to possibly having to register as sexual offenders if convicted. They also face up to one year in jail for each count. One of kids told the media in a telephone interview that hitting the girls on their butts was a common way that they said hello to the other kids at school, like a secret handshake. The parents of the boys concede that their son’s behavior was inappropriate, however, not criminal.

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Judge Gary Nickerson told potential juror Daniel Ellis, from Cape Cod, that, “In 32 years of service in courtrooms, as a prosecutor, as a defense attorney and now as a judge, I have quite frankly never confronted such a brazen situation of an individual attempting to avoid juror service.”

Ellis, in order to get out of jury duty, claimed he was a habitual liar, a racist and a homophobe. Here’s what the transcript of the exchange revealed:

“You say on your form that you’re not a fan of homosexuals,” Nickerson said.

“That I’m a racist,” Ellis interrupted.

“I’m frequently found to be a liar, too. I can’t really help it,” Ellis added.

“I’m sorry?” Nickerson said.

“I said I’m frequently found to be a liar,” Ellis replied.

“So, are you lying to me now?” Nickerson asked.

“Well, I don’t know. I might be,” was the response.

Ellis then admitted he really didn’t want to serve on a jury.

“I have the distinct impression that you’re intentionally trying to avoid jury service,” Nickerson said.

“That’s true,” Ellis answered.

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Imagine being busted for drunk driving because you had a hangover. It can happen. It’s already the law in New Jersey. Recently, a Jersey state appeals court ruled that a person can be considered legally impaired because of a hangover whether it’s from drinking alcohol, taking cocaine or other substances.

In the decision, the court upheld a conviction for a driver, who had taken cocaine prior to driving, but was no longer active in his system. The court still found that the cocaine was the “proximate cause of his impaired behavior.” One of the judges wrote: “While the defendant was not ‘high,’ he was physically impaired. As a result of ingesting cocaine, defendant’s condition was such that his normal physical coordination was impaired so as to render him a danger to others on the highway.” The bottom line is that drivers who are hung over from cocaine (or alcohol or any other substance) may be considered impaired or DUI even when the drug is no longer in their systems.

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