No Jail Time for “Red Bull Killer”
Temporary insanity.
Criminal
“Caylee’s Law” Petition Amended to Avoid Con-Law Problem; Now Just a Bad Idea
Last week I wrote about how hundreds of thousands of Americans were demanding a federal law making it a felony to delay making a missing-child report, although the federal government doesn't have the authority to do that. I acknowledged that…
Plan to Reel in Extortion Money Fails
An elaborate and yet also stupid scheme to extort money from a potato-chip bakery in Ohio failed this week when police were able to track the payoff money to a suspect after dropping it off as instructed. Their strategy: watch…
TIP: Lock Up That Basket of Pocketknives If the Ex-Wife Might Drop By
According to police in Springfield, New Jersey, a man's estranged wife showed up at his home on Sunday and proceeded to thrash him with whatever she could get her hands on. Unfortunately for him, she was able to get her…
Number of Americans Demanding Unconstitutional “Caylee’s Law” Increasing All the Time [Updated]
According to Change.org, an online-petition site, over a quarter of a million Americans signed a petition calling for a federal law that would make it a felony for a parent to fail to report a child's death or disappearance within a specified…
If Your Doctor Prescribes Watermelon in a Hot Tub, Ask to See a License
Thirty days in jail and three years of probation is the fairly light sentence for Yevgeniy Vasin, who pleaded no contest Friday to two counts of what the SF Chronicle called "masquerading as a doctor." The term "masquerading" doesn't actually…
Blagojevich’s Mouth Turned Against Him in Retrial, Jurors Say
Quick flashback to Blagojevich I (from a July 2010 post): "Rod Blagojevich yells his innocence as he comes out offederal court Thursday afternoon." (Chicago Sun-Times) I'd like to think that each of the Blagojevich II jurors struck the same pose as he…
Saudi Creeps Arrest Female Drivers
As I mentioned last month, the arrest of Manal al-Sherif for Driving While Female led Saudi activists to set June 17 as a day on which other women would also go out and drive around, to show solidarity and protest the…
Captain Innocent Found Guilty
In what appears to represent both justice and the failure of a long-term parental naming strategy, Captain Innocent Sagahutu was convicted in May of crimes against humanity, following a lengthy trial. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison by the…
Judge Buys Sleepwalking Defense to Assault Charges
The Calgary Sun reports that a judge has found a man not guilty of a brutal assault (actually, "not criminally responsible by reason of a mental disorder"), accepting the defense argument that the man suffered from "parasomnia." That is, the…