Supposedly no American is above the law. A basic principle is the law applies equally to all of us. Being famous and possesing a large fan base — whether in religion, politics, sports, movies, or whatever — shouldn’t get anyone special treatment. It generally doesn’t; plenty [...]
Archive for the ‘Law and Courts’ Category
Zip-tie rioter gets measly 2 years
Larry Brock, 55, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel from Texas, is one of two Capitol rioters seen with zip-tie handcuffs in the Senate chamber during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. (See photo at left.) He entered the Capitol Building decked out in combat gear. On Friday, March 17, 2023, a fede[...]
There are times you don’t negotiate and this is one of them
Wisconsin is a mini-Hungary, where a rightwing minority imposes its will on a more liberal majority. The state is heavily gerrymandered; in 2018, Republicans “won” two-thirds of the Assembly seats with 45% of the popular vote. The state supreme court is brazenly partisan, but conservativ[...]
March 15th, 2023 - 9:27 pm § in Law and Courts, Racism
Southern injustice
I wonder how many white people in Florida get sentenced to 400 years in prison for being the getaway driver in an armed robbery in which no one was hurt? That was the sentence imposed on Sidney Holmes in 1989, and he wasn’t even the getaway driver in the robbery. He was convicted on the [&hell[...]
March 13th, 2023 - 8:30 pm § in Law and Courts, News Media
Law school question
Tenino and Tukwila are municipalities in the Seattle-Tacoma-Olympia area. Tukwila fired a police officer in 2017 after internal investigations found he “falsified reports, failed to report the use of force and showed a pattern of using a taser or threatening to use one when it wasn’t warrant[...]
March 12th, 2023 - 11:28 pm § in Law and Courts
Texas death factory
No, not the Mexican border. The courtrooms of Harris County, Texas. This county’s judges send more people to death row than any other U.S. county. This isn’t some out of the way place where justice is meted out by cowboy judges to hapless defendants represented by country lawyers. Harris[...]
Santos accused of ATM skimming
Rep. George Santos (R-NY; photo, left), aka Anthony Devolder, is secretive about his personal finances and where he got the $700,000 he loaned to his campaign (see story here). He would have good reason to be, if his “business” activities were a criminal enterprise, and those funds were [...]
Trump election lawyer censured
Colorado lawyer Jenna Ellis was a member of the “elite strike force team” of lawyers led by Rudy Giuliani (details here) that tried to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss with dodgy legal tactics. In her home state, Ellis was accused of violating professional ethics by participatin[...]
March 6th, 2023 - 11:07 pm § in Law and Courts
Texas abortion law endangers women (video)
Move to Washington. We don’t persecute doctors and pregnant women here. Return to The-Ave.US Home Page[...]
March 2nd, 2023 - 11:24 pm § in Law and Courts
Crime blotter: Trial predictions
Defendants are presumed innocent until there’s a guilty plea or verdict, but you just know lots of people are placing bets on the outcomes of these high-profile cases. People bet on everything from dog races to cockfights. I won’t put money on it, but … Alex Murdaugh This story per[...]