If the Cop Says You Looked Like You're Speeding, You're Speeding!

That's right folks, according to the Columbus Dispatch, the Ohio Supreme Court has issued an opinion to the effect that a "trained" police officer's opinion that you were speeding is probable cause to issue you a ticket.  Furthermore, the officer's testimony, alone, is sufficient to convict you of speeding.  Nice. 

Soon the "trained" homicide detective's opinion will be sufficient to find you guilty of murder in Ohio.  Brilliant decision.

How to Crush Ego, First Get Rid of the Hair Piece!

Andrew Stein (pic with the obvious toupee`) is a legendary NYC mook, a former Councilman and tax cheat.  Stein has lived a charmed life which may be coming to an end as he's been swept up in the Ponzi scheme run by celebrity investment adviser Ken Starr (no not that . . . Kenneth Starr.)

The NY Daily News story by Michael Daly is a matchless study in the wages of ego and further proof, that every road is a toll road. According to Mr. Daly, in the 1970s Stein was at a Hampton Beach with an heiress who in the surf was caught in an undertow and screaming for assistance from Stein who stood helplessely pointing at the hair piece.  The preening Mr. Stein would not dive in to help her for fear of losing his toupee`, according to Mr. Daly others dove in to rescue her.  

I had a trial instructor at OurTown's elite law school who was a wonderful teacher and better lawyer.  Gerry had a really obnoxious hair piece that fooled no one.  When I got married, my pals took me to the Schvitz for a sweat and bachelor's party.  There was Gerry sans toupee`--bald as a baby's butt.  Thereafter whenever I see a male lawyer in an obvious wig, I remember Gerry.

Part of what made Gerry so memorable, is that the toupee` did not betray the obvious ego-issues evident in Mr. Stein's "comedy."  The Daily News is having a good time speculating on Mr. Stein's mugshot.  I guarantee you that there's a FOIA request for that picture.  When the Daily News obtain and publish the photo, Mr. Stein will have paid part of the toll.

Michael Ray VonAllman Is Not a Rapist

For another stunning account of actual innocence and "justice" misfiring, don't miss the Louisville Courier-Journal story of Michael Ray VonAllman's eleven years behind bars for a rape he did not commit.   The details of this miscarriage of justice are well-told by Jason Riley, and I will not detract from the narrative by abstracting from it.  It should be read in its entirety.

What I find moving in these innocence project examples is the freedom from bitterness these men and women have after decades, in some cases, spent behind bars after wrongful conviction.  More importantly, look at how "evidence" of guilt is frequently wrong, eyewiteness testimony is unrelaible, and what seems damning proof is distorted by prosecutors, law enforcement, judges, and jurors through bias.

Money or Justice?

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing criticized attorney Geoffrey Fieger for wanting "MONEY not JUSTICE" as it relates to Fieger's representation of the family of Aiyana Stanley-Jones.  I reported this story last weekend and there is current coverage at MLive.com, but I want to go back to Mayor Bing's criticism which I alluded to in my original post.

Mayor Bing seems like a fine and honorable gentleman.  A former NBA all star and a local hero, Bing is trying to provide life support for a dying lunch bucket town. Detroit has been dying for a long, long time--twenty-five years ago I remember visiting Detroit and being shocked that the local convenience store in what seemed like a nice neighborhood was essentially encased in Plexiglas for security reasons.  This was at the time that the Renaissance Tower was newly open, providing some architectural excitement. 

But like Baltimore, Cleveland, Buffalo, well . . . you name the town, money and jobs moved to the water-challenged enviros.  Thugs in and out of government and law enforcement create an atmosphere of chaos and existentialism in these old line American cities.  Personally, I've not felt less optimistic about where these cities are at since the 1970s, I'm sure the economy has a lot to do with this subjective reaction. 

I am way off subject--I wanted to talk about Mayor Bing's observation that Geoffrey Fieger is taking advantage of a tragic situation to "get money."  No doubt.  And no doubt that it will take a lot of money to pay for the gross negligence of the Detroit police operation that resulted int eh killing of this sleeping 7 year old baby girl.  Since the beginning of recorded Judeo-Christian (Torah, Old Testament, Talmud, New Testament) civilization money is the measure of civil justice.  Perhaps Mayor Bing can think of some alternative to money?  Any ideas? 

Years ago I was involved in a news conference in a large American city near Detroit relating to the filing of civil lawsuits against an old line diocese, a reporter asked me what I would say in response to the charge that these clergy sex abuse lawsuits were "all about money?"  Impolitic per usual, I said, of course the lawsuits were about money, civil lawsuits can only measure "justice" in terms of monetary awards, civil lawsuits exist to allow a civil society to continue.  When there is no justice, when there is no reasonable hope for justice, there is no peace.  This morning as I write this post, news is coming across the web of the killing of 3 Chinese judges by a deranged Chinese citizen.  China which has no effective civil system of remedies is suffering a spate of these bizarre and insane mass killings mostly of innocent children which I would argue are causally-related to a system of a rule of law.

"Money or justice?" is a false dichotomy, in the civil law system, money is justice.  I am relatively certain, Mayor Bing that the family of Aiyana Stanley-Jones would rather have Aiyana Stanley-Jones instead of money.  I know that the adult survivors of rape, incest and clergy sex abuse would rather have had their innocence, their families and their faith instead of money. 

#@!$ You Judge!--That'll Get You Jail

The Miami Herald affiliate, the Sun-Sentinel is reporting the story of the Fort Lauderdale man who's foul mouth landed a 179 day jail sentence.  As I have said on many occasions, do not represent yourself in court, and one more thing when given an opportunity to speak to the Judge do not do what Dwayne "Wiggy" Mitchell did.  This is from Tonya Alanez's report:

"A profanity-laced courtroom outburst has earned a Fort Lauderdale man 179 days in jail.   Dwayne 'Wiggy' Mitchell, 45, cursed and made vulgar references to his genitals and Broward County Judge Lee Jay Seidman while in court on a misdemeanor resisting-arrest charge.  When Seidman asked Mitchell why he should not be held in contempt of court and sentenced to jail for the outburst, Mitchell repeated his crude remarks, according to court documents.

`These rude, insulting and obscene remarks were intentionally spoken, directed at this court and disrupted proceedings,'' Seidman wrote in his final judgment of direct criminal contempt. `These remarks were uttered for the purpose of embarrassing and degrading the court and to impugn the dignity and authority of this court.'

When Mitchell came to court May 24, the prosecutor made a plea offer of 60 days in jail for the resisting-arrest charge, said Mitchell's attorney, assistant public defender Alexander Hunt.But after hearing a recitation of Mitchell's lengthy criminal record, Seidman indicated that he would be inclined to impose a 364-day jail sentence, Hunt said.

Then came the outburst."
_________________________
Don't do this sort of thing, harangues never persuade the court to do something positive for you.  Never.  That is unless you consider going directly to jail, something positive. 

Sheriff McFaul is Arraigned

Former sheriff Gerald McFaul arraigned on theft in office charges

What Was Officer Mesherle Thinking?

Former Oakland, California BART Police Officer Johannes Mesherle goes on trial this week for the pointblank shooting death of Oscar Grant III on an Oakland subway platform last year.  The homicide of Mr. Grant by Officer Mesherle is sensational because Mesherle is white and Grant balck.  More importantly the killing was caught on video and went "viral."

Officer Mesherle's legal outcome will be determined by a jury which will try to judge what was in Officer Mesherl's mind, did he have a criminal intent to kill Oscar Grant.  Mesherle's attorneys will argue that Mesherle mistakenly thought he had his taser in hand when he pulled the trigger that killed Grant, Mesherle was legally allowed to use a Taser in this scenario according to the Oakland police.

Watch the video if you have the stomach for it.  Whatever you think of Mesherle's criminal intent, the video documents the abuse of police power and the outcome was the death of twenty-two year old, Oscar Grant III.

John Waters on Criminal Intent

The Sunday New York Times Magazine has a too short interview with one of my all time favorite cultural critics, film director and wit, John Waters who had this to say about justifiable homicide:

[New York Times Writer, Deborah Solomon] Is there anyone you would actually kill if you knew you could get away with it?


[John Waters]I find it repellent when people do yoga exercises at the gate in airports. I want to kill them.

[Deborah Solomon] That’s reasonable.

[John Waters] There are little things that get on my nerves, like people who have reading material in their powder room. When you go in someone’s house, and next to the toilet they have a huge basket of magazines, I find that repellent. I recommend against straining while reading.
____________________

Waters also had some compelling observations about Leslie Van Houten, the Manson killer, victims of crime and one brilliant statement about Pope Benedict:

"[Deborah Solomon] As a Catholic who attended parochial school, do you have any sympathy for the pope?

[John Waters] No. I feel that Catholics who hide child molesters in the church are worse than child molesters. I don’t think anyone chooses to be a child molester. I think they’re terrible; I think they rob children of their dreams; they should be stopped. However, clergy that hide them do have a choice, and I think they’re worse than the molesters themselves."

I have been trying to say the same thing for years with thousands of words, and Waters says it all in a tossed off bon mot that is right on the bullseye.  Brilliant.   For more John Waters including a lengthy discussion fo the Manson killings check the Fresh Air airchive at NPR.

Lemme See, There's Justice. . . Mmmmmm?

According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, 2 out of 3 American adults polled by Egan, Minnesota-based Findlaw.com cannot name any Justice on the US Supreme Court.  The survey found:

• Clarence Thomas is the most well known justice, named by 19 percent. Chief Justice John Roberts was next at 16 percent, followed by Sonia Sotomayor (15 percent), Ruth Bader Ginsburg (13 percent), Antonin Scalia (10 percent), Samuel Alito (8 percent), John Paul Stevens (8 percent), Anthony Kennedy (6 percent) and Stephen Breyer (3 percent).

And how many of those questioned could name all nine? One percent.

Bad Sheriff, Bad Electorate

Friends of mine, near Cleveland sent me a link to the story of the longtime, Irish named, Cuyahoga County Sheriff who has agreed to enter guilty pleas to running the local sheriff's department as a self-seeking criminal enterprise.

Sheriff Gerald McFaul will enter pleas of guilty to theft in office and other criminal nepotism charges according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer website.  The McFaul scandal parallel identically my experiences with the local OurTown sheriff so deserve some scrutiny as an example of local law enforcement distortions and disgrace on the public dime.  Many of the themes of this blawg are patent in the underlying narrative of the rise and reign of an incompetent ethnic pol to the position of chief "law enforcement" officer of Ohio's largest county. 

McFaul, is according to sources supplied to Bad Lawyer, a former pipe fitter and Cleveland City Councilman.  He had no law enforcement aptitude or background, but as they say why let a little thing like competence get in the way of a job that was really about patronage, and apparently McFaul knew how to dole out patronage.  In exchange he routinely was re-elected to this highly paid almost untouchable position.  His department ran the jails, the court house, served warrants, and did some minor police work.  McFaul, an alcoholic, and sex harasser kept a low profile and purportedly did little or no work for the County for the last decade.  His son a young lawyer repeatedly found himself in trouble over drugs and alcohol, while other relatives of the Sheriff found themselves full public employment if not for the Sheriff, directly, for other county officials.  In exchange the offspring of other county officials found themselves working for the sheriff's department in one capacity or another. 

Oh, Justice Center scuffles--apparently many lawyers (like my example detailed at the link and in the early days of this Blawg) and others routinely found themselves in on the other end of pepper spray, deprivations of civil rights, or beatings by the Sheriff's men for objecting to disgraceful behavior by the Sheriff's security monitors.   You see to be a Sheriff's deputy your required qualifications--at least until recent years, were let's see, do you know the Sheriff.  That's right, you needed no experience, like the  old pipe fitter (and believe me, I know some brilliant guys who are pipe fitters, McFaul was not one of them)--your qualifications were simply that the sheriff named you a deputy.  Hell, according to the Cleveland.com story, McFaul named his son a "special deputy" so the incompetent punk could get private security work.  Want to butter up the Sheriff, hire the son--bet, the boy made some serious squeak!

But for a long time, Sheriff McFaul--like Sheriff Joe Arpaio, in Maricopa County, Arizona was untouchable.  The Cleveland City Council named a downtown street bordering Cleveland Public Square in McFauls's honor, all the while City Council was fully cognizant of the nepotism, scandalous birthday parties capped by the exchange of fat envelopes stuffed with cash, public drunkenness, and sexual harassment allegations.   Oblivious or arrogant, does it matter?

Where does this leave the voters of Cuyahoga County?  If McFaul ran for office, today these dopes would probably reflexively re-elect him!  As with OurCounty, Cuyahoga County is in the midst of a massive public corruption scandal.  Whole sectors of the County, City, School Boards, and other other Political Sub-divisions like the Sewer district and port authorities have been indicted or have entered guilty pleas. Similar sorts of doings are ongoing in Chicago and in NYC and throughout the country.  The lesson, obviously, is that democracy is not a cure for corruption--if the citizens cast uninformed votes based on an analytical framework that probes no further than the name on the ballot.  The voters need to stop sending crooks, and incompetents, and mental defectives into well-paid public positions.  This can be done, but it requires inquiry.

Sheriff Gerald McFaul collected a check from the citizens of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County for 43 years, according to my sources, McFaul was a crook for most of those years.  Who's to blame?  I nominate the voters, paradoxically the citizens neither deserved Sheriff McFaul and at the same time they deserved everyday of his tenure.