Archive for the ‘Law’ Category

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Random notes and obit watch: December 18, 2012.

Tuesday, December 18th, 2012

Remember Pat Lykos, former Harris County DA, unceremoniously tossed from office in this past election cycle? Remember the whole BAT Van scandal? (If you don’t, the “HCDA” category” will provide you with a historical overview.)

Anyway, Amanda Culbertson and Jorge Wong, two of the people who brought up the problems with the BAT Vans, are suing Ms. Lykos, Rachel Palmer (another prosecutor in the DA’s office) and Harris County itself.

Among several allegations, the lawsuit says that officials with the DA’s office retaliated against Culbertson and Wong by lobbying the Harris County Commissioner’s Court to cancel a contract with a local private laboratory, where the two found jobs after leaving HPD.

The NYT informs us that there hasn’t been a big hit book this holiday season. (Apparently, last year’s big hit was Steve Jobs, which surprises me; I would have thought the appeal of that was limited outside of Apple fanatics, and it was not well reviewed by several prominent personalities in that community. But I digress.) However, bookstores are still doing…okay.

Steve Bercu, an owner of BookPeople in Austin, Tex., said sales were up 10 percent over last year. He said that shoppers were buying coffee-table books but were also snapping up Kobo devices. “I was a naysayer,” he said, “but they are buying the actual devices, which surprised me.”

Obit watch: Senator Daniel K. Inouye.

Maurice Herzog, noted French climber.

A dramatic photograph of Herzog waving a French tricolor atop 26,545-foot Annapurna on June 3, 1950, thrilled his countrymen and appeared on front pages around the world. It captured a triumphant moment before a brutal descent, during which Herzog endured frostbite that led to the amputation of all his fingers and toes. (His climbing partner, Louis Lachenal, also lost toes in the climb.)

Herzog died of natural causes at the age of 93.

Posted in Books, Clippings, HCDA, Law, Obits | Comments Closed

Speaking of Christmas…

Wednesday, December 12th, 2012

The president of the Christmas Bureau of Austin and Travis County was back in jail Wednesday – on new charges unrelated to allegations of financial improprieties involving the nonprofit that has supplied Christmas presents to needy families.

He was stopped after running a red light, “nitially declined to provide his identity” until the cops said they’d fingerprint him, and, oh, by the way, the police also searched his car and found meth.

Also:

…a Travis County judge ordered the organization to close, to disable its website and PayPal account and to stop any other business dealings.

Interesting. I can, as of 8:11 PM local time on December 12, 2012, pull up their website. I can also click on the big “PayPal” button, but doing that results in a message from PayPal stating “This recipient is currently unable to receive money.”

(Previously.)

Posted in Clippings, Law | 1 Comment »

Banana republicans followup: December 12, 2012.

Wednesday, December 12th, 2012

Christmas is coming, so let me give you a gift that keeps on giving.

A while back, I noted the case of San Fernando councilman Mario Hernandez and councilwoman Maribel de la Torre. In brief, the two were involved in an extra-marital affair that went sour, there were accusations of domestic violence by both parties, Hernandez later asked that his charges against de la Torre be withdrawn, and the DA refused.

Ms. de la Torre (who, along with Mr. Hernandez, is no longer a councilperson) went on trial today.

The charges were dismissed “after Deputy Dist. Atty. Ruby Arias announced that she would not be able to proceed”.

Why couldn’t she proceed?

…the alleged victim, former San Fernando Mayor Mario Hernandez, failed to appear despite a bench warrant issued for his arrest.

It seems pretty clear that this was a deliberate act on the part of Hernandez. The thing I wonder about (because I am not a lawyer) is: what now? With the charges dismissed, is there still an active bench warrant for Hernandez? Can he still be hauled before a judge? If so, could he face contempt charges? Can the charges be re-filed if Hernandez is found? The dismissal was “without prejudice” so I think the answer to that last question is “yes”, but, again, I Am Not A Lawyer.

I also wonder if this is really worth pursuing any more. It appears that Hernandez doesn’t want it pursued, I’m sure de la Torre is delighted by this turn of events, and both of them (along with the mayor) are no longer in office. Should the DA just call it an unfortunate series of events and move on?

Posted in California Über Alles, Clippings, IANAL, Law | Comments Closed

That soft, wet sound you heard earlier today?

Tuesday, December 11th, 2012

That was the sound of former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s head exploding, as well as the heads of many other Chicago politicians.

In a major victory for gun rights advocates, a federal appeals court on Tuesday struck down a ban on carrying concealed weapons in Illinois — the only remaining state where carrying concealed weapons is entirely illegal — and gave lawmakers 180 days to write a law that legalizes it.

More from Shall Not Be Questioned.

Posted in Clippings, Guns, Law | Comments Closed

Gratuitous snark.

Tuesday, December 11th, 2012

<sarcasm>
If only we outlawed fireplaces, natural gas, razor blades, and speaker wire, Dr. Cecilia Chang would be alive today.
</sarcasm>

Setting aside the point (that people who want to kill themselves are going to do it, with or without guns), this NYT story is interesting reading.

Dr. Chang, a dean at St. John’s University in Queens, associated with a whirlwind of characters: Catholic priests, Chinese gangsters, American lawmakers, a Taiwanese general and a fantastically corrupt city politician, to name a few. She had been married three times. One husband, she had told several people, was involved in organized crime; another told the police before succumbing to gunshot wounds that she was behind the attack.

Dr. Chang was basically a rainmaker for the university: she brought in millions of dollars in donations. Many of those donations were from what we might call “questionable” people. (One person who was awarded a honorary degree from St. John’s is currently a fugitive from justice.)

But that life, prosecutors charged in state and federal indictments, was enabled by fraud and embezzlement. Federal prosecutors accused her of forcing foreign students to perform household labor in exchange for tuition grants, stealing over $1 million from the university and taking $250,000 from a Saudi prince to organize academic conferences that never happened.

Dr. Chang took the stand at her trial. It did not go well for her, according to the NYT account, and she killed herself shortly thereafter.

Posted in Clippings, Guns, Law, Sarcasm | Comments Closed

Morris, Weingarten, and MacDonald.

Friday, December 7th, 2012

I have written before about my complicated relationship with Gene Weingarten and his writing.

I have a tremendous admiration for Errol Morris as a filmmaker.

I own, but have not yet read, A Wilderness of Error: The Trials of Jeffrey MacDonald.

The intersection of these three things: Weingarten in the WP profiling Brian Murtagh, the federal prosecutor in the MacDonald case. And, in the process, taking on Morris and his book. Weingarten believes MacDonald is guilty:

I’ve concluded this both because I have researched the case extensively, and because, as a writer, I see exactly how Errol Morris prejudiced his account while shrewdly appearing not to do so. I admire his skill but not his book. I think the media have been careless and gullible in reviewing it, perhaps partially because the story of a grievous, enduring miscarriage of justice presents a more compelling narrative than the alternative.

So Weingarten should maybe be taken with at least a small grain of salt. But he does bring up several places where Morris himself admits problems. For example, a woman named Helena Stoeckley allegedly confessed to a federal marshal, Jimmy Britt, that she was present when the killings took place. Britt filed a sworn affidavit stating that Stoeckley confessed while he was transporting her to the trial. Both Britt and Stoeckley are now dead.

None of what was about to come out was in Errol Morris’s book, though it was available to him in public records.
Jimmy Britt, evidence suggested, had not transported Helena Stoeckley from South Carolina at all; he’d never had hours to talk to her. The transport had been done by a tag-team succession of other marshals. Some of the paperwork still survived. Two of the transporters testified.

More:

There are many significant, incriminating facts glossed over in, or completely omitted from, “A Wilderness of Error.” Conversely, much is made of nonsense. An entire chapter is devoted to the supposedly startling fact that Helena Stoeckley reported seeing a broken rocking horse in Kristy’s room. Yes, the horse had been clearly visible in newspaper photos, but no one, Morris argues, had ever publicly disclosed it was broken.

Punchline: it wasn’t broken. And:

Just before this story went to press, Errol Morris and I spoke for nearly an hour; he concedes there are some things he wishes he’d written differently — for example, disclosing that there were some credible challenges to Jimmy Britt’s story. Morris allows that he may have used some facts selectively to make a case for what he believes — selectivity, he says, is part of all journalism — but adds that his belief remains solid that MacDonald did not get a fair trial. He also thinks MacDonald is innocent, but of that is less certain.

The entire article is pretty long, but I commend it to your attention if you have any interest in the MacDonald case.

(Hattip: Ted Frank by way of Popehat on the Twitter.)

Posted in Books, Clippings, Law, Movies | Comments Closed

Random notes: December 7, 2012.

Friday, December 7th, 2012

Happy Pearl Harbor Day. On this date, as always, I will pause for a moment of silence to remember the Japanese-American graduate of Texas A&M who, on December 7, 1941, bombed Pearl Bailey.

Jim Letten, the chief federal prosecutor in New Orleans, has resigned over the comments scandal in his office. For those who weren’t following the story: two of the prosecutors in his office, including his top assistant, were exposed as the authors of pseudonymous comments about active cases on nola.com.

The exposure of Ms. Mann, months after Mr. Letten’s avowals that Mr. Perricone had acted alone, raised doubts about the effectiveness of an internal investigation by the Justice Department. The revelations could also jeopardize hard-fought convictions — including those last year of police officers involved in post-Katrina killings on the Danziger Bridge — as well as continuing inquiries like a bribery investigation that appears to be steadily encircling C. Ray Nagin, the former mayor.

Oh, isn’t that special? The Danzinger Bridge convictions might get tossed because a couple of prosecutors couldn’t behave themselves online. Thanks, guys.

Posted in Clippings, History, Law | 2 Comments »

Random notes: December 5, 2012.

Wednesday, December 5th, 2012

So has anyone been following the Indian Olympic Committee story? In brief: India wants to elect people to their national Olympic Committee following their rules, the IOC says “No, you’ve got to follow our rules”, and suspends the Indian committee. Suspension means that Indian athletes can’t compete in IOC sanctioned events, there will be no IOC funding for Indian athletes, and Indian sports officials can’t attend international meetings.

The Indian committee has basically said “F you” and elected Lalit Bhanot secretary general of the committee. Bhanot was unopposed.

Bhanot also spent 11 months in jail before he managed to make bail. Why? Corruption charges, specifically related to the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

The humiliating Olympic suspension follows India’s hosting of the Commonwealth Games in 2010 in which a pedestrian bridge collapsed, suppliers went unpaid, human excrement was left in athletes’ quarters and the budget ballooned to $8 billion from $75 million, much of it unaccounted for. Local newspapers, citing internal documents, detailed $80 rolls of toilet paper, $61 soap dispensers that normally cost $1.97 and $250,000 high-altitude simulators that usually sell for $11,830.

“to $8 billion from $75 million”? Wow. That’s corruption on an epic level: gold medal worthy corruption, if you ask me.

And speaking of corruption, the NYT explains how a Ferrari crash led to a change in the leadership of the party:

China’s departing president, Hu Jintao, entered the summer in an apparently strong position after the disgrace of Bo Xilai, previously a rising member of a rival political network who was brought down when his wife was accused of murdering a British businessman. But Mr. Hu suffered a debilitating reversal of his own when party elders — led by his predecessor, Jiang Zemin — confronted him with allegations that Ling Jihua, his closest protégé and political fixer, had engineered the cover-up of his son’s death.

“The Maid of the Mist” folks, who run the tours on the NY side of Niagara Falls, have made a new deal with the state that should keep the boats running. (Previously. Also.)

“Restaurant Impossible: The Musical!” All singing, all dancing, all Robert Irvine!

Okay, we kid. Slightly. But Adam Gopnick of the New Yorker is working with some other folks on a musical based on Gopnick’s book The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food.

As long as we’re on the theatre beat:

The musical “Scandalous,” Kathie Lee Gifford’s Broadway debut as a lyricist and book writer, will close this Sunday after 31 preview performances and 29 regular performances, the producers announced on Tuesday night.

It is a little late now, but perhaps, if we’re lucky, this will free up Ms. Gifford for more Christmas specials.

Also closing: “The Anarchist”, David Mamet’s latest play.

Posted in Clippings, Food, Law, Sports, Theatre | Comments Closed

Your Austin nightclub trial update.

Tuesday, December 4th, 2012

(Previously.)

Another one down, another one down, another one bites the dust:

Nizar Hakiki pleaded guilty Monday afternoon to a single count – transferring a firearm used in a violent crime and aiding and abetting – according to court documents obtained by the American-Statesman. He’d been set to go to trial this week.

(Aren’t those actually two different charges? How did he plead to a single count?)

Posted in Clippings, Law | 1 Comment »

Random notes: December 3, 2012.

Monday, December 3rd, 2012

Jim Washburn is out as defensive line coach of the Eagles. Yes, already.

Obit watch: David Oliver Relin, journalist and co-author of Three Cups of Tea. I wish I had more to say on this, but right now I’m not sure what I can say.

As I recall, the case of the lawyer who shot at a census worker was well publicized at the time. The lawyer. Carolyn Barnes, denies the incident ever happened. But she was declared incompetent to stand trial and sent off to a state mental hospital.

Here’s the punchline: her law license is still valid, and she’s representing at least one client.

From Barnes’ perspective, the fact that she has been permitted to continue practicing law is clear evidence she should be released from her forced confinement in the state hospital and be allowed to proceed to her own trial. Her logic: If she is legally able to represent Gourley, as she has been doing, then she is more than capable of understanding the charges against her and participating in her own defense – the legal standard used to determine if a defendant is mentally competent to stand trial.

So, in other words: if the state hasn’t taken away her law license, she’s sane and can be tried for shooting at the census worker. If the state takes away her law license, that just certifies that’s she’s insane and can’t stand trial. That’s some catch.

Posted in Books, Clippings, Firings, Law, NFL, Obits, Sports | 2 Comments »

Merry freaking Christmas.

Friday, November 30th, 2012

Austin, like many other cities, has a program that gets the police department involved in collecting toys and getting them to poor kids. Here, we call this “Blue Santa“.

The “Blue Santa” program started in 1972. Before that, we had an organization called the Christmas Bureau of Austin and Travis County. For as long as I’ve lived in Austin, these two organizations have collaborated closely.

Not this year. The Christmas Bureau, as you may have guessed if you clicked on the link above, seems to have packed up their manager and slunk off into the night, leaving the Blue Santa people holding Santa’s bag.

What happened? That’s still not clear, but the police are investigating. Part of the issue may have to do with new leadership at the Christmas Bureau: the previous leader passed away last year, and the new guy has what we like to describe as a “colorful” history. This includes an arrest for meth possession after an encounter with police in the parking lot of one of our finer local strip clubs this past August (which, of course, does not imply his guilt in this affair, but does make one think).

In the meantime, the Blue Santa folks are trying to fill the gap, if you feel like helping.

Edited to add: It looks like the Christmas Bureau website is working again (it was giving a “500 Internal Server Error”) but hasn’t been updated since last December.

Posted in Christmas, Clippings, Cops, Law | 1 Comment »

Ump-diddily-ump update.

Friday, November 30th, 2012

Hey, remember the tennis umpire who was charged with beating her husband to death with a coffee cup?

The LA County DA has dropped the charges.

After the hearing, Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the D.A.’s office, said the case remains an ongoing police and district attorney’s investigation and declined further comment that might compromise that work.

The charges can be refiled if the investigation turns up new evidence.

Posted in Clippings, Law | Comments Closed

Those kids today.

Monday, November 19th, 2012

While the lion’s share of youth anti-smoking efforts has focused on cigarettes, a new report in the CDC journal Preventing Chronic Disease suggests more needs to be done to reduce the number of teens smoking flavored tobacco from hookahs.

According to the study, “18.5% of 12th-grade students admitted to using a hookah in the previous year.” I’m trying to wrap my mind around this:

Maybe I’m stupid, but I just have a real hard time visualizing large numbers of teens either buying hookahs and tobacco off the Internet and smoking with their friends (and all the fuss that entails) or hanging out at the local hookah bar.
Unless by “teens” they mean “18 and 19 year olds”, in which case they need to smoke a heaping hookah of STFU flavored shisha.

Meanwhile, in the LA Unified School District, “student stores” are making money hand over fist selling food to students unhappy with the school cafeteria’s “healthy” options.

For students, the stores provide an alternative to the cafeteria food one sophomore described as “meh” and a junior called “crazy healthy.” For the schools, the stores provide a much-needed cash supplement for their slashed budgets. Proceeds pay for such things as athletic uniforms, school dances and graduation decorations.

Street price for a bag of Flaming Hot Cheetos is a buck, by the way.

Posted in Clippings, Food, Law, Stupid | Comments Closed

Four years.

Saturday, November 17th, 2012

Almost a year after he was convicted, former Spokane PD officer Karl Thompson has been sentenced for beating Otto Zehm to death. (Previously.)

U.S. Attorney Mike Ormbsy, who credited the work of assistant Timothy Durkin and Justice Department trial attorney Victor Boutros, said the prosecutors started the day thinking they would be arguing to preserve a court pre-sentencing report recommending about two years in federal prison.
But by the end of the afternoon, Durkin and Boutros had convinced U.S. District Court Judge Fred Van Sickle that the circumstances of the case called for an actual sentencing range of nine to 11 years for the 65-year-old Thompson.

Nine to eleven years. That doesn’t sound too bad.

The judge then cited Thompson’s lifelong service as a law enforcement officer and gave him a downward “variance” in imposing a sentence of 51 months in federal prison, which is 19 months longer than the two officers convicted in the 1991 beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles.

So he gets a “downward variance” for being a cop, even thought the crime he committed was in the line of duty and under the color of his authority as a cop, and even though he and his fellow cops tried to cover up his actions? That’s…special.

(Hattip to Balko on this. I missed it earlier in the week.)

Posted in Clippings, Cops, Law | Comments Closed

Another round of Earthquest updates.

Saturday, November 17th, 2012

By way of Soapboxmom. And boy howdy, we’ve got a real doozy here.

Update #1:

http://www.ourtribune.com/article.php?id=14410

Don Allen Holbrook continued to receive payments from EMCID for the defunct Earthquest Institute charity that he helped to run into the ground as its CEO and president. Frank “The Bank” McCrady is also withholding documents showing what he has paid in legal fees for the Earthquest debacle being investigated. Disgusting!

I recommend clicking through to the link. As noted, EMCID is still funding Earthquest, “despite the fact that after eight years, the property developer declared bankruptcy, investigations have been launched by the Montgomery County District Attorney, the Texas Rangers and the FBI, and the voting public tossed out two incumbent board members.”

The Institute has no board members, no employees, no meetings and no revenue, but EMCID has wired funds or written checks to Holbrook for $42,653.69 in the first five months of 2012 alone. EMCID cash flow statements note payments are attributed to either “EarthQuest Institute” or “Transfer to Don Holbrook EarthQuest Institute.” Board members directed McCrady to stop paying Holbrook at the June board meeting.

EMCID has also spent over $300,000 in lawyers in the first nine months of 2012.

Update #2:

The updates just keep coming:

http://www.ourtribune.com/article.php?id=14410

http://pvtimes.com/news/from-the-editor-congratulations-newly-minted-public-servants-get-to-work/

Thanks for your support!!!

To be honest, I am slightly butthurt by some of the comments in that second link, since:

  1. I am one of the “gun nuts” referred to.
  2. It is always interesting that people who don’t like guns say, “I don’t want to take away anyone’s guns, I just want to make sure that people who have them are properly trained”…and then sneer at anyone who engages in training.

That being said, though, I will give the Pahrump Valley Times editor a pass, since this brings to my attention something I was unaware of.

Don Holbrook’s latest scheme (or, at least, one of his latest) apparently involves getting the county to put $63,000, and the city of Pahrump another $63,000, to fund the expansion of a shooting range/training school. It sounds like the idea is similar to ECMID: create a “tax improvement” district, and the funds will come from sales taxes paid by all the people who flock there. Here’s an article from earlier in the year discussing the plan.

But we’re not just talking about any training facility. We’re talking about Front Sight, run by the man Tam refers to as “Four Weapon Combat Master Dr. Ignatius Piazza“. To put it mildly, Dr. Piazza has a colorful reputation in the gun community, complete with several lawsuits, at least two of which involved accusations that Dr. Piazza is a Scientologist. More here.

I haven’t been to Front Sight, so I can’t pass judgment on their training. (Nor do I want to go: if i was going to travel for training, I’d be going to Gunsite.) I don’t have a problem with Dr. Piazza being a Scientologist (if indeed he is one) as long as he doesn’t try to convert me. I do have a problem, though, with trying to get taxpayers to pay for the expansion of his facility, especially when he’s involved with Don Holbrook.

Posted in Clippings, Earthquest, Guns, Law | Comments Closed

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