Legal Commentary

It?s a Wrap: Walsh-Smith Loses Divorce Claims Despite YouTube Pitch

Posted on July 22, 2008
Tricia Walsh-Smith, the divorcee made famous by a bitter and popular YouTube attack on her husband, has lost her divorce claims — with the Manhattan judge expressly criticizing her YouTube videos. Philip Smith, a theater mogul and President of the Shubert Organization, is the winner Judge Harold Beeler upheld the pre-nup in the case [...

Dark Knight: Batman Actor Christian Bale Accused of Assault by Mother and Sister

Posted on July 22, 2008
Police allowed Christian Bale and his wife Sibi to attend the European premiere of The Dark Knight despite pending criminal allegations by his mother and sister that he committed assault at the Dorchester Hotel. His mother, Jenny, 61, and his sister, 40, signed out complaints against him, according to media reports...

Television Anchor Charged with Federal Crime

Posted on July 22, 2008
In Philadelphia, former KYW-TV anchor and former “Access Hollywood” anchor Larry Mendte has been charged with federal crimes over his unlawful snooping into the e-mail of his former co-anchor, Alycia Lane. Mendte reportedly gained access into her e-mails hundreds of times and leaked personal information on her social life a Philadelphia Daily News reporter...

Dining Out: SUV Plows Into Man in Diner

Posted on July 22, 2008
This video is simply astonishing of a man who was interrupted in a diner by a careening car. Kenneth Mack Anderson of Wilkesboro, North Carolina was eating at the Coffee House and Waffle Shop when an SUV joined him in his booth. For the video, click here...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Florida Judge Reprimanded for Statement in Court Opinion

Posted on July 22, 2008
A divided Judicial Qualifications Commission in Tallahassee has ruled to reprimand 1st District Court of Appeal Judge Michael E. Allen. For a prior entry, click here. The panel also suggested an investigation into the subject of Allen’s criticism, fellow Judge Charles J...

Sunbathing with the Corpses: Outcry As Italian Sunbathers Ignore To Dead Girls on Naples Beach

Posted on July 22, 2008
Europeans are outraged by pictures this week showing two dead teenage girls laid out on a beach with their feet sticking out from under covers. It was not the corpses, however, that shocked many. It was the sunbathers sitting only a few feet away, unconcerned and unbothered by the dead girls as they [...

Stoning Season: Iran Set to Stone Eight Women and One Man to Death for Adultery

Posted on July 21, 2008
Despite an international outcry over its medieval legal system, Iran has announced a real crowd pleaser: eight women and one man will be stoned to death for adultery. Iran applies Sharia law and will execute them in the name of Islamic justice. There remains a few unstoned women who are fighting against such outrages...

Obama Adviser Cass Sunstein Rejects Prosecution of ?Non-Egregious? Bush Crimes

Posted on July 21, 2008
With many Democrats still fuming over the refusal of Democratic leaders like Speaker Nancy Pelosi to allow even impeachment hearings into detailed allegations of crimes by President Bush in office, close Obama adviser (and University of Chicago Law Professor) Cass Sunstein recently rejected the notion of prosecuting Bush officials for crimes such as torture and [...

Ohio Police Taser Blind Woman Suffering From Cancer

Posted on July 21, 2008
In Dayton, Ohio, citizens are upset over an incident where a blind woman, Denise Harris, 49, suffering from cancer was tasered by police — apparently while she was on the floor. The police insist that they needed to taser her “to control her hand movement...

Shock Video: Israeli Soldier Shown Firing a Rubber Bullet into Leg of Blindfolded Palestinian Prisoner at Close Range

Posted on July 21, 2008
A video has been released that shows an Israeli soldier filing a rubber bullet at close range into the leg of a Palestinian prisoner who is being held by another soldier. [Warning: The video linked below contains disturbing images]. The video was released by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem...

San Diego Police Rescue and Then Shoot and Kill Man Who Fell From Gay Pride Cruise

Posted on July 21, 2008
Steven Paul Hirschfield, 37, apparently either fell or jumped from a Gay Cruise charter boat in the San Diego Harbor when he was spotted and rescued by police. It would have been just another lucky rescue except for the fact that within minutes Hirschfield was dead from a gunshot wound to the chest...

Jenny Craig Convict: Inmate Slims Down and Then Escapes Through Vent

Posted on July 20, 2008
In Hempstead, Texas, prison guards noticed that Darryl Layne Norris seemed to be watching his weight and slimming down. They found out why when Norris escaped through a foot-wide air vent at the Waller County jail. Norris was charged with murder in connection to an April 17 convenience store robbery...

Zimbabwe Issues $100 Billion Note ? Worth Half a Loaf of Bread

Posted on July 20, 2008
Zimbabwe has solved the current problem of people having to cart bags of money to the store to pay for food: it issued a $100 billion note, which will not even buy a loaf of bread in the country. The complete free fall of the Zimbabwe economy has become a textbook example of how [...

Arab League Denounces Genocide Charges Against Sudan President Omar al-Bashir

Posted on July 20, 2008
In an act of self-condemnation, the Arab League has denounced the genocide charges and defended Sudan’s president Omar al-Bashir. Many of these 22 countries engage in rampant abuses and torture. While they expressed fears of danger to national sovereignty, there is no doubt a fair measure of concern over their own [...

Federal Appeals Court Rules that Videos of Animal Cruelty are Protected Speech Under the First Amendment

Posted on July 20, 2008
In an important decision for both environmentalists and free speech advocates, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has overturned the conviction of Robert J. Stevens of Virginia who was convicted of selling videos (including so-called “crush videos”) showing dogfighting and other acts of animal cruelty...

Book: CIA Found that One-Third of Detainees at Guantanamo Bay Were Not Enemy Combatants in 2002

Posted on July 20, 2008
In 2002, the Administration was telling the public that the detainees at Guantanamo Bay were the “worst of the worst” and that federal courts had to be barred from access because we could not risk a single detainee being independently reviewed, let alone released...

Yusuf Islam, Formerly Known as Cat Stevens, Wins Libel Action

Posted on July 19, 2008
Yusuf Islam, the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens, accepted damages and an apology this week from World Entertainment News Network for a report that he would not speak with women due to his orthodox Muslim views. The news agency ran a story in March 2007 that said that Islam was “so sexist and bigoted that [...

Less Bangs for Your Buck: Bush Administration Loses Effort to De-List and Allow Hunting of Gray Wolves

Posted on July 19, 2008
U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy has stopped the controversial hunt for gray wolves in Montana, granting a preliminary injunction restoring the wolves to the endangered list. Given the need to show a likelihood to prevail on the merits, it is an important ruling for environmentalists...

Pakistani Judge Rules that Kidnapped Girls Who Were Converted to Islam Cannot be Returned to Family ? Including One Married Off at 13

Posted on July 19, 2008
Pakistani Judge Mian Muhammad Naeem has reportedly ruled that two Christian girls who were kidnapped and then converted to Islam cannot be returned to their family, including Saba Younas, aged 13, who was forced to marry the son of one of the kidnappers...

Girl Interrupted: Woman Accuses Spitzer Call Girl of Stealing Her Identity to Appear on Girls Gone Wild

Posted on July 19, 2008
Amber Arpaio, 26, was a “Girl Gone Wild” and apparently didn’t know it. She has sued Ashley Dupre, the former call girl to former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, for stealing her identity. As shocking as it may seem that a high-priced prostitute might also be an identity thief, Arpaio says its true...

Sooner v. Satan: Oklahoma Commissioner Reduces Campaign to a Homophobic Comic

Posted on July 19, 2008
Oklahoma County Commissioner Brent Rinehart is facing a tough election, so he has taken a page out of one of the oldest books of politics: he has demonized his opponents as “liberal good ol’ boys,? gays and tools of Satan. In this case, however, the book is a juvenile comic book that Rinehart has [...

Dr. Sami Al-Arian Files Pre-Trial Motions Alleging Prosecutorial Abuse and Constitutional Violations

Posted on July 18, 2008
On Friday night, the defense filed a series of pre-trial motions challenging the two-count indictment against Dr. Sami Al-Arian. The filing includes charges of prosecutorial abuse and selective prosecution. The filings are below — as is the government’s single pre-trial motion...

Shock Video: Journalist Films Taliban Execution of Two Women for Prostitution

Posted on July 18, 2008
Afghan journalist Rahmatullah Naikzad has released a videotaped of the kidnapping and execution of two women, shown below, for their alleged involvement in a prostitution ring. The video is graphic and the viewer can hear that at least one woman screaming...

You Go Girl: Barbie Prevails Over the Bratz Girls in Copyright Infringement Case

Posted on July 18, 2008
In Riverside, California, Mattel has won an impressive victory over the makers of the Bratz doll line. A federal jury has found that MGA Entertainment was guilty of copyright infringement of the maker of the Barbie series. This is not child’s play...

Earning Your Bona Fides in the Bush Bada Bing Club: Administration Officials Pushed for Yoo to Head OLC Based on His Support for Torture

Posted on July 18, 2008
Congressional hearings have revealed that John Yoo was the favored candidate to lead the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department based on a single resume item: his tolerance and support of torture. Alberto Gonzales and Cheney aide David S...

Unlucky Rabbit?s Foot: Hamas TV Sentences Assud the Bunny To Have Paw Cut Off After Theft

Posted on July 18, 2008
Those gifted storytellers at Hamas television are at it again. Previously, we saw their popular television program for children feature killer puppets and an anti-Israeli Mickey Mouse. Now, the popular Hamas children’s television program shows a giant bunny character who steals money and then has the child host sentence him to having [...

Burling-esque: Covington & Burling Partner Drops Pants in Front of Audience

Posted on July 18, 2008
Every lawyer’s mother told them to wear clean underwear as they left the house in case they end up in an ambulance (presumably that they were chasing). In a rather curious moment, David Remes, a partner with Covington & Burling, showed the importance of this age-old maternal advice when he dropped his pants in front [...

Ashcroft Defends Waterboarding ? Congress Calmly Discusses the U.S. Torture Program

Posted on July 17, 2008
With the Democratic leadership continuing to block any impeachment effort or any serious effort to hold officials liable for the U.S. torture program, Congress was free to hold another bizarre hearing today to calmly discussed our use of torture. Even though current Attorney General continues to evade the question, former Attorney General acknowledged and [...

Don?t Tazerberry Me, Bro: Cop Threatens Starbucks For Cutting Off Free Coffee

Posted on July 17, 2008
Daytona Lt. Major Garvin appears not concerned about the stereotype of cops and donut shops. When a Starbucks cut off free coffee, Garvin allegedly threatened the manager that he might also cut off prompt service. He is now under internal investigation after flunking a polygraph examination...

Urine a Lot of Trouble, Mr. Patton: Ohio Man Arrested for Collecting Boys? Urine for Personal Consumption

Posted on July 17, 2008
If you ever wondered why we needed a catch-all criminal mischief provision, Allan Patton, 56, has the answer. Patton shut-off the urinals at the Hilliard West Municipal Pool in Ohio and inserted cups so that he could drink the urine of boys. He suffers from what is known as urophilia - which either means [...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.