Guns Are Great for Night Time Hunting!

A Milesburg Pa man killed his girlfriend after a little night time hunting accident.  Didn't you know? Night time is the best time to get all shooty with your hunting rifle while you and your sweetie are crawling around in the dark.  This is an excerpt from Cliff White's story at CentreDaily.com:
Troy Tierney (pic), 25, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in May. Judge Pamela Ruest handed out the maximum sentence for the crime — two-and-a-half to five years in state prison. Tierney also must pay a $1,000 fine for game law violations.

“Life was lost. A very young woman has a family now that visits her at a gravesite, and that will never change,” said District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller. “Based upon the gravity of the offense and the effect upon the victims, we thought that was an appropriate sentence and the judge agreed.”

In 2009, Tierney and 21-year-old Racheal Perryman were poaching deer after dark in the woods off state Route 504 in Union Township when they became separated and Tierney shot Perryman.  Tierney told police he shot at a moving object in the woods and didn’t know it was Perryman. He was on multiple prescription  medications at the time and police reported him to be stumbling and talking with slurred speech at the crime scene.
___________________________________
What a thing to live with for the rest of your dumbass life.

Boating While Drunk, That'll Cost You Your Job, Mr. Prosecutor

From reporters: Eva Ruth Moravec and Craig Kapitan at MySanAntonio.com there is this account of serious consequences for a prominent lawyer and assistant district attorney as a result of boating while intoxicated: 

A 26-year veteran Bexar County (Texas) assistant district attorney has resigned after spending a night at the Bandera County Jail on a boating while intoxicated charge.  Jim Kopp filed a letter of resignation June 20, two days after he was arrested for the Class B misdemeanor while on an outing on Medina Lake.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Game Warden Jeff Carter said he pulled over a small motorboat for a routine water safety inspection and noticed its operator, Kopp, showed signs of intoxication. There were a few empty beer cans in the boat, Carter said, but no one was drinking at the time.

A few preliminary tests convinced Carter to escort Kopp's boat to shore, where he gave Kopp 15 minutes to “get his land legs back” and conducted a field sobriety test, the game warden said

“He was very cooperative and very much a good guy through the whole thing,” Carter said. “He didn't use (his position) in any way, as far as influence goes.”

Kopp, 53, is still on the county payroll using the remainder of his vacation but has not been in the office since resigning, said First Assistant District Attorney Cliff Herberg, who described Kopp's service to the county over the years as “extraordinary.” Herberg declined to comment on the circumstances of the resignation.

A former chief of criminal trials, Kopp most recently served as chief information officer for the district attorney, compiling databases for the DWI Task Force and other programs. Usually behind the scenes, he made a rare courtroom appearance last year to serve as lead prosecutor for the high-profile Joe Estrada Jr. capital murder case.
_________________________________
Seems like a pretty harsh outcome, assuming this was a first offense for Prosecutor Kopp.  I realize that his role on the DWI Task Force made him a pretty prominent target, but this seems pretty extreme.

Danzinger Bridge Murder and Cover-up

Five New Orleans police officers are on trial in the Danziger Bridge case. They are, from top left: Kenneth Bowen, Robert Faulcon, Robert Gisevius, Arthur Kaufman and Anthony Villavaso.

While it seems as if all of America is in a trance over a brainless twit's responsibility for the death and missing body of her infant and whether Florida would manage to put the mother on a death row gurney--the real trial of this century, thus far, the Danzinger Bridge murders and cover-up trial is underway in New Orleans.  The coverage by the New Orleans Times Picayune is as you might expect amazing and heartbreaking. 

The massive and "brazen" cover-up of the reacist killings in the wake of Katrina is one of the all-time Bad Cop stories. 

School Teacher Pleads "Insanity" When She Had Sex with Those Boys

A Mason, Ohio former physical education teacher, Stacy Schuler (pic, left), says she was "insane" when she had sex with 5 teenage boys in an alcohol-fueled incident or incidents last year.  Here's Janice Morse's story from this morning's Cincinnati Enquirer:

Stacy Schuler, who faces 19 charges, changed her plea from "not guilty" to "not guilty by reason of insanity."  The change in plea, filed in a one-line document Monday, left Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell scratching his head Tuesday.

"It’s certainly an interesting development," Fornshell said, noting Schuler previously denied the incidents happened and now, in essence, is admitting they occurred but says she should not be held legally responsible.

Schuler’s lawyer, Charlie H. Rittgers, declined to discuss why he changed the plea on behalf of Schuler, 33, of Springboro. The so-called insanity defense is highly unusual and rarely succeeds, experts say, although there’s typically some basis for it when it is attempted.

"Generally, when I’ve seen these pleas, there’s something behind this – it tells me something came up that’s cause for concern," said Akron lawyer Carmen Roberto, past president of the Ohio State Bar Association. During his 38-year law career, Roberto estimated he had seen fewer than 10 such pleas amid thousands of cases as both a defense lawyer and prosecutor.

Because the defendant is admitting the offense occurred in an insanity plea, "you start off a little bit behind the eight-ball," making the case difficult to win, Roberto said.

As of 2002, only about 2 percent of all suspects pursued an insanity defense -- and only about one-third of them secure an acquittal for mental-health reasons, Rita J. Simon, a professor of public affairs and law at American University in Washington, D.C., told the Enquirer previously.

Under Ohio law, Rittgers must show "by a preponderance (majority) of the evidence" that his client suffered a mental problem that blocked her ability to understand right versus wrong.  By filing the insanity plea, Rittgers opened the door for Schuler to possibly undergo three separate mental evaluations. The defense, prosecutor and judge may each request a separate one.

Attorney Kent Scheidegger, legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, a Sacramento-based organization that advocates "swift and certain punishment" of convicted criminals, said "most people are skeptical and reasonably so," when they hear of an insanity plea being filed. The insanity plea may be a "last-ditch argument" by a desperate defendant, he said.

But Simon has said that insanity pleas tend to draw a lot of attention, leading to a misperception that they are more common than they actually are.

Fornshell said the case is his first involving an insanity plea since he was appointed county prosecutor in February. He said Judge Robert Peeler could take some action related to the plea when the case heads to its next hearing July 21 in Common Pleas Court in Lebanon.

Schuler, who resigned from her job, is set for trial Aug. 8. She’s accused of 16 counts of sexual battery, which allege she had sexual contact with boys, plus three counts of providing alcohol to minors. The sex charges carry up to five years in prison if she’s convicted; each alcohol charge is punishable by six months in jail.
Schuler was released in February from the Warren County Jail on her promise to appear in court. Schuler’s location is being electronically monitored, officials said.
_________________________________
This is an interesting article for several reasons: an interesting, um provocative underlying story; an interesting legal defense;  interesting comment from legal experts;  and, a local reporter trying to convey something about the situation that actually conveys something informative.  I particularly liked when the reporter offered a parenthetical explanation of the burden of proof for an insanity defense.  What Ms. Morse meant was that in pleading "insanity" the burden of proof shifts to the defendant to prove her lack of capacity by a "preponderance of evidence," as opposed to a normal "not guilty" plea in which the prosecution must prove all elements of the charged offenses "beyond a reasonable doubt."

But the story really caused me to think about "capacity" and my own changing view. You might say I am uniquely qualified. 

This blawg has several running themes not the least of which is the role of alcoholism and impairment.  You don't have to follow this blawg for long to see many examples of profoundly impaired people from all walks of life doing inexplicable, judgment-impaired acts of near-insanity (or complete insanity) often with tragic results.  I also recognize that real time "insanity" attributable to active alcoholism is not the same thing as a valid defense of "insanity."  But personally, I can't think of a clearer example. 

Would I even bother talking about this if we were talking about a male school teacher drinking and getting all touchy, feely with female high school students?  Probably not.  I confess, I would probably say, "throw the book at him."  And yet, I genuinely think our paradigms for legal responsibility are not terribly nuanced. This is largely because we insist on calling the defense of capacity: "insanity."  What the hell is that? 

In fact, we really don't mean insanity.  "Insanity" is not like "cancer" or "AIDS" or any condition which can be objectively diagnosed.  You'll look in vain for a definition in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of the American Psychological Association.  There are no diagnostic criteria to say for instance:  x + y = Insanity; although, remarkably MRI studies do demonstrate "changes" in the brains of alcoholics and addicts.  And yet the term, insanity, is tossed around in court as if there is some sort of objective standard or quantifiable status.  The reality is that "insanity" is a legal conclusion, the outcome of some sort of legal sausage-making. We mean when we say someonw is "insane" that certain charged criminal acts lacked mens rea therefore the defendant is not criminally responsible. 

If the evidence shows that Stacy Schuler suffers from alcoholism and that her actions with her students were causally-related to her use and abuse of alcohol should she be forgiven, no.  (But, would you forgive her if her actions were related to dementia caused by medications taken to treat a serious medical condition?)  Should Stacy be helped, yes.  I don't find anything ridiculous or absurd about Stacy Schuler's change of plea.  We'll see how it works out.

Young Woman/Drunk Driver Sentenced to 6 Years for Killing a Cyclist

From the San Juan Capistrano Patch: 

A 30-year-old San Juan Capistrano woman was sentenced to six years in state prison today for running her car off the road in Dana Point and killing a bicyclist  In March, Michelle Nicole Stearns pleaded guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated for the October 2007 incident.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Craig Robison could have granted Stearns probation or sentenced her up to 10 years. Robison said he struck a middle ground because she had no criminal history and family and friends wrote letters to the judge on her behalf.

"I do believe her expressions of remorse are genuine,'' Robison said.  Stearns formed a nonprofit organization called Safe Cruz that
provides rides home for impaired drivers, Deputy District Attorney Nancy Hayashida said.
"Not a second goes by that I'm not in agony over this,'' Stearns told  the judge. "I would do anything to make this not real ... That's the torture. I can't change this.''

Stearns was driving her BMW north on Del Obispo Street near Quail Run at 2 a.m. when she lost control of the car, jumped the curb, hit a traffic sign and crashed into Jose Umberto Barranco-Patino, 32, as he pedaled home from his job as a busboy, prosecutors said.

She also hit a utility box, triggering a power outage in the area for about 600 customers. Stearns' blood-alcohol level was almost three times the legal limit, according to prosecutors. Barranco-Patino was pronounced dead at the scene.

"I am so sorry,'' she tearfully said in court.

Barranco-Patino's brother, Cesar Barranco, and his wife, Martha Pliego, said after the hearing they were satisfied with the sentence. With help from a translator, they told reporters the victim was a "great father'' who was happy and concerned with his family's welfare.
_______________________________________
In the blink of your eye, your whole life changes when you get behind the wheel of a car drunk.  You take the drink, the drink takes the drink, the drink takes you and innocent others.

Kitsap County Juror, I Wanna Punch That Lawyer in the Nose,. . . um, That's a Mistrial

John Henry Browne

In my imagination, Kitsap, Washington must be an incredibly beautiful place.  It's one of those places in Northwest Wa near Seattle where folks live on islands and take ferrys to do their business.  In fact both the prominent Seattle lawyer, John Henry Browne, and Kitsap County Judge Theodore Spearman live on nearby Bainbridge Island.  But apparently a law degree and residence is about all they share.  Here's the Kitsap Sun's  account (by Josh Farley) of a recent case which ended when a juror was overheard uttering the desire to punch attorney Browne in the nose. Here's the story:

It's not often a lawyer is nearly sent to jail for his conduct in a Kitsap County courtroom.  Then again, it's also rare for an attorney to accuse a judge of being incompetent during a trial.

But that's what happened this week when John Henry Browne, a prominent Seattle defense attorney representing a man accused of drug crimes, called into question Kitsap County Superior Court Judge Theodore Spearman's ability to administer a fair trial. [The judge fined Browne $500 twice during the trial and threatened to jail him.]

In the end, Browne, who had repeatedly asked for a mistrial, refused to go forward with defending his client on ethical grounds. He said the judge's rulings called into question his mental state.

"I do believe that the legal community in Kitsap County knows he has cognitive deficits," said Browne, whose high-profile cases include defending Colton Harris-Moore, the so-called "Barefoot Bandit."

Browne said he will appeal the fines and file a complaint with the Washington State Commission on Judicial Conduct. He will also have to return to Port Orchard this month to appear before Spearman to answer for his own conduct.

According to court clerk records and observers in the courtroom, Browne disobeyed Spearman's orders, giving the judge no choice but to discipline him.

Judge Spearman

Kitsap County Prosecutor Russ Hauge declined to comment on Browne's actions, but said prosecutors will request that Browne be ordered to pay for the cost of retrying the case, because it was his "intentional conduct" that spurred the mistrial.

Hauge said Spearman has suffered recent health problems, including a heart attack in October 2008 that sidelined him from the bench, but they did not interfere with his abilities on the bench. He called the judge, who has been a member of the superior court bench since 2004, "an extraordinarily well experienced lawyer." [ . . . ]

Browne was defending Dominic Briceno, who had been accused by county prosecutors of six drug-related felonies before trial, including the rare charge of leading organized crime. Briceno had been arrested in December 2009 at the Suquamish Clearwater Casino [ . . .]
Spearman had fined Browne before the recess for failing to abide by an earlier motion to keep objections to a single word. In order to avoid [speeches], Spearman had ordered Browne and deputy prosecutor Alexis Foster to ask that jurors be excused before any lengthy discussions.When the trial resumed Tuesday, the courtroom got even more contentious. About an hour into Tuesday's proceedings, Foster objected to Browne's "ongoing speaking objections" and asked that he be penalized, according to court records. Browne was fined another $500.

At that point, Browne declared he could not effectively represent his client and that "he no longer wants to participate in this trial," according to court records.

Spearman gave Browne a day to think about how he wanted to proceed.

On Wednesday, Browne filed a document called a "memorandum regarding judicial conduct." In the brief, Browne asserted that various rulings Spearman made throughout the trial violated Briceno's constitutional rights, and that the "court's misapprehension and misapplication of the law — always in favor of the state — demonstrates the court's incompetence to preside over (the) trial."

Browne contended Spearman had interfered with his client's right to a fair trial by, among other things, failing "to even consider the defense argument" and those decisions "thus call the court's faithfulness to the law and professional competence into serious question."

Browne ultimately asked for Spearman to recuse himself [ . . . ]

Browne again told Spearman he would not continue arguing the case and he was refusing to participate. Spearman was inclined at that point to call for a mistrial due to defense counsel "behaving improperly" and "obstructing justice," the clerk's notes say.

Foster, however, believed then a mistrial could be avoided and recommended finding Browne in contempt — and also holding him in custody until Thursday.

At that point, Browne brought forth his own counsel — longtime Port Orchard attorney Roger Hunko — to defend him.

Ultimately, Spearman didn't believe jailing Browne for the night would "change his behavior." But Browne's position about the judge's handling of the case wouldn't change either. He opted for a recess to consider what to do.

But in the end, it was an offhand comment by a juror during that recess that forced a mistrial.

Though the jury had been advised not to discuss or comment on the case, the bailiff informed the court she had overheard a juror, outside the jury box, express a desire to "punch that defense attorney in the nose," according to courtroom observers.

Spearman declared that Browne's behavior had "thwarted" the administration of justice, creating an "incurable prejudice," the clerk's notes said.
____________________________________
This is about as over-the-top trial conduct as you are going to see outside of maybe NYC or Boston (okay, maybe Orlando.)  And the story is nicely laid out by the Kitsap Sun reporter who is clearly not a lawyer.  While the behavior of lawyer Browne will probably cost him a major disciplinary hit, what may not be apparent from the story is what happened in chambers and in pretrial proceedings.  Clearly, Mr. Browne feeling the way he felt about the Judge should have withdrawn prior to mid-trial, but it's possible, maybe even likely that there is a whole story underlying the story. 

We'll keep an eye on it.

Chase Bank Says You're a Nigerian Scammer; Chase Bank Says You're Dead

Over the weekend Scott Greenfield ran the story at his Simple Justice blawg of the African-American construction worker who tried to pay his mortgage with a REAL Chase check at his local Chase Bank branch and ended up in jail accused of various crimes by Chase for his innocent and responsible effort. Read Scott's post, but at left is a picture of Ikenna Njoku, the 28 year old victim of Chase's utter stupidity.

This morning, Rene Stutzman at the Orlando Sentinel reports that Chase Bank declared a Florida woman dead, and Wrenella Pierre's lawsuit describes the nightmares associated with her bank's erroneous declaration:

Wrenella Pierre is not dead, she insists. Her bank, however, disagrees. In November, Chase Bank USA sent her family a letter of condolence.

"We are very sorry to hear of your loss," it said.

Pierre, of Oviedo, is not amused. She is suing Chase Bank, saying it has stymied her attempts to refinance her mortgage and ruined her credit rating.

Who, after all, wants to lend money to a dead woman?

"I don't know why the bank made this type of disastrous mistake," said her attorney, William Peerce Howard of Tampa. "There is no possible way to have credit extended when you're deceased."

Pierre and her husband, Curtis, built a home in Oviedo in 2007. They got two mortgages totaling $460,000 from JPMorgan Chase Bank, according to Seminole County records.

Two years later, after the home had declined in value, Wrenella Pierre tried five or six times without success to have the mortgage modified, according to her lawsuit.

Last year, the bank, for some reason, notified credit-reporting agencies that she had died, the lawsuit says.

On Nov. 2, Chase sent her family the letter of condolence, an unsigned form letter. Someone from the bank would be in touch, it said, about the outstanding balance.

She notified the bank that she was still alive, according to the lawsuit, and a few weeks later tried again, going into one of its branches, asking it to correct the error.

A month later, credit-reporting agencies were still reporting she was dead, according to her lawsuit.

Nancy Norris, a spokeswoman for JPMorgan Chase, on Monday would not discuss details of the case, citing the lawsuit.

"We're investigating how it happened," she said.
______________________________
As I said in a comment at Scott's blawg, Chase's priors would make Whitey Bulger blush.  Here's further evidence. 

As you sit around tonight eating your salad and idly staring at Wheel of Fortune or whatever you run in the background while you eat and one of those sexy Chase ads come on, remember the examples of Wrenella Pierre and Ikenna Njoku.  That's the real JP Morgan Chase.

Did Senator Klein Really Point Her Loaded Hot Pink Pistol at a Reporter? Yep!

Sen Klein with her laser-sighted  Pink Ruger

Transcript of the interview wiht Senator Klein:

Klein: A friend of mine said, it looks like a water pistol. I'm like, yeah, wait until you see the laser pointer.

Henle: It has a laser on it?

Klein: Yeah. Yeah. I showed it to you.

Henle: I didn't see the laser part.

(Simultaneous) Klein: I pointed it at him.

(Simultaneous) Ruelas: She pointed it at me.

(laughter)

Ruelas: With the safety on, you pointed it at me.

Klein: No, there is no safety on that.

Ruelas: OK.

Klein: I just didn't have my hand on the trigger, god.

Ruelas: Oh no, but it does look, I mean, if I could see it again, it does look like a, like a, makeup bag . . .
Henle: There's no safety on that?

Klein: Yeah, no. There is no safety.

Ruelas: ... it looks like you're carrying sunglasses in there, I mean . . . actually, yeah.

Klein: I won't point it at you.

Ruelas: I have sunglasses. It's about that size . . .

Klein: So OK, this is the laser. Look, look, that's the laser. But see this gun is basically for self protection.  You're really accurate 20 feet away from you. Do you know what I mean? That's basically ... now, notice, I don't have my hand on the trigger. There is no safety on this gun. But you have to really pull the trigger, to you know, it's a harder trigger. That's part of your safety.
_____________________________
At the AZCentral website you can follow this controversy which is a fascinating sidelight to the larger article I linked to yesterday about the gunslinger legacy in Arizona. 

Oh, and more on Senator Klein.  At her campaign website Klein first listed endorsement....?  Sheriff Joe Arpaio, big surprise, there, uh huh?

The SC Attorney Who Tried to Hire a Hit Man to Kill a Former Colleague, He's Disbarred

Back in 21009 I related the story of Irby Ezell Walker, Jr. who was caught trying to hire a hit man to kill a former colleague and office mate.  This is a link to Walker's firm website which is still up and running.  The Associated Press is reports that Walker confessed to the crime, and the Legal Profession blawg links to Walker's voluntary disbarment.  This is an excerpt from the local news report at WIS10 Columbia, SC:

A South Carolina attorney sentenced to three years in prison for trying to hire someone to kill another lawyer has been disbarred.  The state Supreme Court on Monday ordered that Irby Walker's law license be revoked.

Walker in August was sentenced after pleading guilty to solicitation to commit a felony.

Police said they recorded conversations Walker had with another person about how much Walker would be willing to pay to have Conway attorney Doug Thornton killed.

Authorities say Walker paid the prospective hit man with a post-dated check because he didn't have enough money in his account to cover the check's face value.
__________________________________
The underlying story relates to a lot of bad blood between Walker and his intended victim(s).  There is also a connection to a small town mayor that Walker represented, a blown divorce representation, and bad real estate deals.

Now get this, under South Carolina rules, Walker can apply for reinstatement after he completes his criminal sentence.  Amazed?  I am.

By the way when I originally wrote about this case I linked to this article which spells out in some detail what was going on with Walker at the time he pulled these stunts.  It's worth reading for the Southern Gothic quality of the attempted murder.

We're Drunk, But We Aren't Driving, Officer, um Doesn't Work

Debbie Arrington at the Sacramento Bee has this unique peek at driving while drunk:

Maybe this wasn't the best example of driver's education.

Two parents who had too much to drink were cited for letting their 14-year-old son drive them to a Sacramento liquor store, police said.

With his intoxicated parents in the car, the unlicensed teen driver was stopped Saturday night by police at a DUI checkpoint at Florin Road and Franklin Boulevard in South Sacramento. According to police reports, the parents - who were not identified - weren't arrested. But they received a citation for allowing their underage son to drive without a license.
______________________________
Excellent.  Nice job on the parenting.  Let's get the kid in rehab right now.