Peanut Butter Assault and Battery?

An AP story out of Battle Creek, MI has the earmarks of a good law school or bar exam question. 

The ex-wife of a local gentleman is aware that the new wife has a severe peanut allergy.  So mail ex- sends to her husband is smeared in peanut butter, and the outside of the envelope warns the person handling the envelope that this is the case.  Assault and battery? 

Here's an excerpt from the Associated Press story:

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan woman who told police she’s highly allergic to peanuts wants assault charges against her husband’s ex-wife for sending him a letter smeared with peanut butter.  The Battle Creek Enquirer reports the woman told police she believed the peanut butter on a bill was an attempt to harm her [. . . ] The Battle Creek woman told police said she came home during her lunch break Friday and found an envelope in the mailbox addressed to her husband with oil soaking through. The outside of the envelope had writing indicating that it contained peanut butter.
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Mens rea, anyone?  Allright, class, the new wife opens the mail and ends up in anaphylactic shock? 
The Bad Lawyer is allergic to most insect bites and stings, I empathize with the victim.

He's a Lyin, Sack of S#$@!

The PanamaHerald.com brings us this telling story of a marriage going sour under the headline: 

Woman finds husband in strip club, pours drinks on him

A woman was charged with battery for pouring drinks on her husband after finding him in the Green Frog Club.  First, she yelled at him for being there and then she grabbed several cups of alcoholic beverages and poured them on him, according to her Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office arrest report.

The 33-year-old Destin woman then left the club angry, the report said. When deputies interviewed her, she admitted going to the club and pouring drinks on her husband, who was supposed to be playing pool, she said. He had been lying to her lately, so she decided to check on him.

By the time she located him at the Green Frog, she had been driving around for several hours, she told deputies.  The incident happened at about 2 a.m. on July 31. She was arrested the same day.
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This woman needs to detach, I mean really.  Like hire a lawyer and lay off the self-help.

Follow Up on Critical Mass-Bicycle Assault

Yesterday I reported on the mixed verdict (as such verdicts are called) handed down by a NYC jury in the case of former NYPD rookie cop, Patrick Pogan's assault and battery upon hippie-dippy Christopher Long (pic).  The jury convicted Officer Pogan on two counts of felony fraud in the reporting on a non-existent assault and battery by Long on the police, but acquitted Pogan on the charges stemming from the assault and battery on the cyclist Long, which is preserved for posterity on YouTube video. 

There are so many reasons I find this stroy compelling, not the least of which is that so little real injury was involved, and it's a perfect morality tale.  The victim is sort of a dick, the cop a choir boy.  And yet it was the choir boy cop who committed the crime and then tried to cover it up.  We all see what the cop did by looking at the video, but a jury seeing what we see, refuses to convict the cop!  In talking about the jury nullification, one of the most light is cast on the mindsets by reading the coments at both the NY Daily News and the NY Post websites.   Laura Italiano, the reporter at the Post caught some interesting comments: 

"But Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, complained, 'This will have a chilling effect on every new, young officer when they realize that mistakes now become crimes.'


At the center of the case was the shove seen round the world -- garnering 5 million YouTube hits after another cyclist's video recording of the confrontation was posted.  The video clearly showed Pogan striding over to Long and pushing him down with his arm and shoulder."
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Patrick Lynch's "complaint" sounds like me whining about my tax nightmares. 

In reality I do think we want young officers to be "chilled" against assaulting cyclists and/or framing victims of crime. 

Can You Hear Me Now?--Indiana Ear Biter Acquitted of Battery

A New Castle, Indiana man was acquitted by a Henry County Jury of felony battery in an incident from April Fool's day 2009 involving a road scrape with a local area cyclist.  According to the account at the IndyStar.com, Curtis A. "Alan" Cross (mug shot) bit off more than a sizeable chunk of ear Jeffrey Guffey's ear lobe.  Here's a sizable chunck of Douglas Walker's report from the Muncie, Indiana Star Press:

"Cross, 44, had been charged with a Class C felony, carrying a standard four-year prison term, in an attack, on April Fool's Day 2009, on Jeffrey Guffey. Authorities said Cross attacked the 32-year-old Guffey, who had shouted at the defendant to slow down as he drove on East 20th Street at what Guffey said was a high rate of speed.

According to a police report, Cross told officers he became angry, stopped his pickup truck and confronted Guffey after the alleged victim held up his middle finger as Cross drove past.  The defendant also maintained Guffey threw the first blow in their fight, an allegation Guffey strongly denied. After negotiations on a plea agreement in the case broke down last September, defense attorney Joseph Lansinger filed a motion maintaining his client had used 'justifiable reasonable force' in his encounter with Guffey.

'It doesn't matter how the fight ended,' Lansinger told jurors in his closing remarks Wednesday. 'It matters how the fight started.  It doesn't matter why (Cross) got out of the car,' the attorney said. 'That's not illegal. ... (It was) beyond dumb, but it wasn't illegal for him to do that.'

Lansinger also noted that immediately after losing a portion of his ear, Guffey rode his bicycle to his mother's house, rather than calling police or seeking medical treatment. Why would a person who's just been attacked not call police? he asked.. .. .[the prosecutor]  maintained Cross was not 'entitled' to claim he had acted in self-defense.

'If anybody's entitled to self-defense, it's Jeff Guffey, all 110 or 115 pounds of him,' he said. 'None of this would have happened had the accused just gone on.' Guffey's torn left ear has been restructured by a surgeon and now resembles a fully formed ear, albeit significantly smaller than his right one.

Last September, Guffey told The Star Press he was not in favor of a proposed plea bargain that called for Cross to be placed on home detention.  'I don't wish jail on anybody,' Guffey said, 'but he bit my ear off.'"
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Here's a perfect example of what we've been talking about in terms of proof of all elements of a crime being necessary for a conviction.  The defense attorney deserves a big "thank you," are you listening Mr. Cross?

Oh My God, You Aren't Your Twin Brother!

This story of identical twin brother confusion and "sex assault" arrives via the Toronto Sun, Sam Pazzano's story:

"She was inebriated and sleeping in her lover’s darkened bedroom and she believed it was her lover who cuddled next to her in bed.  But he had sex with her in a way they never had before. She was alarmed by it. When she turned on the bedroom light, she discovered to her disgust that it wasn’t her lover but his identical twin.

'Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God,' she recalled saying on that day in 2006 as she grabbed her clothes after she realized what happened.

He [BL: it's one of the oddities of the foreign press that names are omitted from stories--stateside we'd know the guy's name from the moment he was arrested, in fact as you might have figured out from the Al Garcia, Esq. story witnesses in these sorts of cases come forward as a result of reading or hearing news accounts] was convicted of sexual assault two years ago and sentenced to six months imprisonment in 2008, but lawyer Peter Copeland argued Thursday at the Ontario Court of Appeal that the trial judge made several legal errors in finding his client guilty. He asked Ontario’s highest court to quash the conviction and order a new trial for the now 30-year-old man, who is now free on bail pending the court’s decision.

Both the accused and the woman cannot be identified due to a publication ban on the victim’s identity.  The accused said he had an 'honest but mistaken belief' that she had consented to having sex with him, court heard.  'It would be a rare case that an accused committed a fraud and then got the benefit of the honest but mistaken belief,' Crown attorney Kim Crosbie told the Court of Appeal panel. The three judges heard arguments over whether the woman properly gave her consent or whether her lover’s twin duped her and thus negated that consent."
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Strange story, but a unifying theme in almost all rape cases is the use of alcohol as a weapon.  While I'm not so sure this guy made an "honest mistake," this is one of those scenarios laden with doubt.  This joker was obviously a pig, but did he commit assault?  Assault technically is the threat of unconsented touching, at least stateside.  What's being described in this story is "sexual battery."  Battery is unconsented touching. 

There is a whole body of law, (no pun intended) relating to "mistake."  What we might have, here, is the notin of mutual mistake which is where both parties have the same intention but a transaction occurs because of a mutual mistake of fact.  I think Shakespeare may have played with these concepts?

Tony Abbate Wants His Job Back--Right!

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the Chicago cop, Tony Abbate, perpetrator of this famous off duty assault and battery is suing to get his job back citing among the errors in his dismissal, the viewing of this video.  This is from the Tribune article on Abbate's request for reinstatement:

"A Chicago police officer fired after a video camera recorded him beating a female bartender is asking a judge to review his termination.In a petition filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court, attorneys for Anthony Abbate said the Chicago Police Board made 12 errors in ordering his termination last month, including using the infamous videotape in deciding to fire him.

In a decision championed by Police Superintendent Jody Weis, the board found Abbate guilty of several rules violations surrounding the beating at Jesse's Short Stop Inn in the Cragin neighborhood on the Northwest Side.  Abbate's petition also claims that the civilian board wrongly viewed as a problem Abbate's decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination at least 75 times during his board hearing.  The petition asks that a judge review the official record and transcripts of evidence and reverse his firing. Abbate's challenge could be moot, as he was convicted of felony aggravated battery in criminal court last summer. The city bars the hiring of people with felony convictions as police officers."
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My advice to Officer Abbate,  hold your breath.

Some Idiot On the Jury Watched this Video and Doesn't See an Assault!

This from the Seattle Post Intelligencer  website as reported by Levi Pulkkinne

"After two days of deliberation, a jury was unable to reach a verdict in the case of fired King County Deputy Sheriff Paul Schene, accused of assault related to an incident involving a 15-year-old girl.  The jury sent a note to the court saying that it could not reach a verdict. A judge then declared a mistrial in the case. A prosecutor said Schene would be retried.  The jury was split 11-1 to convict him, King County Prosecutor's Office spokesman Dan Donohoe said.

'We're disappointed that we weren't able to persuade all 12 jurors that Deputy Schene's conduct was lawful,' defense attorney Peter Offenbecher said following the mistrial.

Facing misdemeanor assault charges [!!!!], Schene had contended he used only 'the amount of force I thought to be reasonable' when he kicked and punched Malika Calhoun in a SeaTac holding cell. Surveillance video showed the violent altercation, in which Schene pulled the girl to the cell floor by her hair.  The Nov. 29, 2008, incident began with a traffic stop, when Schene and his partner, trainee Travis Brunner, pulled over Calhoun and a friend just after 2:30 a.m. The car, investigators came to believe, had been taken from Calhoun's guardian earlier in the night.

Once at the small jail, though, Schene began implying Calhoun was a prostitute and deriding both girls as 'stupid and ugly,' Ernsdorff said. Schene, he said, eventually started examining photos on the girl's cell phone without her permission or lawful authority.

That sour mood took a violent turn after Calhoun, [was] asked to remove her shoes by Schene, kicked a sneaker at the deputy. Holding cell video clearly shows Schene charging into a holding cell after Calhoun kicked the shoe.  Testifying in his own defense, Schene said that he only moved on the 120-pound girl after she kicked a soft-soled basketball shoe at his groin.  Schene, as shown on the video, stormed into the holding cell, kicking Calhoun in the hip before grabbing her by the hair. It appears Schene also delivered a punch to the girl's face before dragging her to the ground, where he punched the Calhoun twice more before cuffing her with Brunner's help.  While Schene did file a 'use of force' notice with his supervisor following the incident, he did not note that he'd kicked or punched the girl.

Doing so, Deputy Prosecutor Gary Ernsdorff noted, would have made a full investigation mandatory. Instead, the incident was classified as minor and would not have been reviewed by internal investigations had not a detective found video of the alleged assault while investigating Calhoun for assault on an officer.

Sheriff Sue Rahr fired Schene, 32, in September for numerous policy violations that included using excessive force and making false statements. His union is appealing his termination. His partner, Deputy Travis Brunner, received a five-day suspension for his role in the incident.   Ernsdorff also noted that Schene later claimed the flipped shoe caused a 'blood-filled pocket' to form in his leg. Schene admitted the mistake on the stand, saying he initially believed the injury to have been caused by the shoe but now realizes he injured himself on the cell toilet during the altercation.

Charged with fourth-degree assault, Schene's trial before King County Superior Court Judge Michael Fox concluded late Wednesday. Facing a fourth-degree assault charge, Schene remained out of custody pending the case's resolution."
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If that had occured in Bad Lawyer-land, there would have been no video, and Miss Calhoun would have been charged with felonious assault.  Miss Calhoun is lucky that Deputy Schene didn't kill her.  Did I mention, he's trying to get his job back?

Oh, Baltimore!

I would love to start Twenty-Ten, with nothing but good news, but how?  How can I when you come across stories like this one from the Baltimore Sun which reports on the arrest of 73 year old Baltimore barber, Lenny Clay.  The long time black community activist and beloved Barber is alleged by the police ot have had some sort of Jekyll-Hyde moment and in a state of intoxicaton, assaulted the police with his private car, and while resisting arrest the police found it necessary to break Mr. Clay's arm.  Huh?  Are you f*&$#g kidding me? 

The brainiacs with Baltimore's Best, forgot to "charge" Mr. Clay with assault, and they forgot to get his blood alcohol level so there is essentially no evidence to support the police claims.  What we basically have is a respected elder from Baltimore's Black community, pulled over with a busted arm, and a classic bunch of police BS. 

C'mon, Baltimore you can do better than this.  Try it.

Don't Call 911, Expecting a Taxi to the Next Whiskey Joint

According to Tampa, Fla. local news reports Robert J. Oras of Oldsmar, Fla. repeatedly called 911 in an effort to arrange a ride to a local bar.  Before the night was out, Mr. Oras had assaulted the officer who reponded to his call, got his ass tased, and as you can see from the accompanying picture: booked. 

Nice, tats, Bro!

I Hate the Cops, Episode 12

Bear with me, this gets confusing:  Luis Ramirez was a young Mexican immigrant who had the bejesus beat out of him by a group of adolescents including two popular Philly-area white athletes:  Brandon Piekarsky and Derrick Donchak.  Mr. Ramirez was with a girlfirend at a local city park.  Piekarsky, Donchak and four of their football buddies confronted the Mexican.  There are disputes about who did what or said what, but the outcome was Ramirez was beaten unconscious. 

After participating in the beating of the Ramirez--Piekarsky and Donchak got lucky they ran into the police.  Sounds like bad luck, huh?  Not in this case.

Quoting the Associate Press report:  "These were no ordinary officers. Patrolman Jason Hayes dated Piekarsky's mother, and Lt. William Moyer's son played with Piekarsky on the high school football team. Their commanding officer, Chief Matthew Nestor, was a friend of Piekarsky's mother and even vacationed with her.  Rather than place the popular white football players under arrest, the officers let them go beginning a cover-up in their racially tense [Shenandoah, Pa.], federal prosecutors allege."   Shenandoah is a town of 5,000,  80 miles northwest of Philadelphia. 

If you aren't already confused, this is where it gets confusing; subsequently, and unrelated, the town police chief and his second and command were arrested following a federal investigation into an extortion racket; although, these commanders were in charge at the police station house at the time of this crime.

Now, the former police chief, Matthew Nestor,  is offering testimony that after Ramirez, the victim who was slowly dying--was jailed by Hayes and Moyer.  According to former Chief Nestor, the cops hung Ramirez from the bars of his jail cell to make it look as if he sustained his fatal injuries while attempting suicide.  Ultimately Mr. Ramirez was hospitalized and died. 

The teens were acquitted of all but "simple assault" charges in State court, but federal hate crime charges were just filed against the youths, and the cops. 

Here, is the crux of my beef with law enforcement.  Again and again, story after story, the police, the sheriffs, law enforcement views the world as "us versus them."  In this case if the allegations are true, these police viewed the student athletes as part of "us" versus Ramirez, as "them."  But it didn't have to be a Mexican immigrant, undocumented migrant--as law enforcement sees the world, the"them" can in an instant --> be you, and me.  The view of law enforcement is often arbitrary and because the cops are armed--dangerous. 

According to the Wednesday New York Times, Shenandoah's former Mayor, Thomas O'Neill resigned his position in reponse to the town council's refusal to reign in the police force which he believed to be out of control.  It's time we begin to grapple with a noon-adversarial approach to law enforcement.

http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/news_details/article/62/2009/december/16/bail-hearing-for-pa-police-accused-of-cover-up.html
 
and
 
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gtcSK8qaGGVDikaEFhYD_pgjOLrwD9CKHPO80

and

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/16/us/16hate.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

My Lawyer Is a Bat-Wielding Maniac!

Charleston Gazette police reporter Gary Harki brings us this amazing story of the bat-wielding Charleston, West Virginia attorney, Joshua Robinson.  Robinson, 35, who has a record of violent attacks on others both in Kentucky where he formerly practiced law and in West Virginia where until recently he represented David Lee Gump, II--in what appears to be a guardianship matter. 

Acoording to the series of jaw-dropping reports by Gary Harki, what apparently set attorney Robinson off was an unscheduled visit by Mr. Gump to Robinson's residence.  Robinson came out onto his front porch without a shirt and began swinging a baseball bat beating his client pausing long enough to stomp off the porch and smash the glass in Gump's automobile.  A neighbor who witnessed some of the incident says Lawyer Robinson hit Gump with the baseball bat knocking him to the ground, Gump got up and said something further to Robinson who proceeded to beat his client, "like a mad man."

We talk about all kinds of bad lawyers, cops, sheriffs, jurors, and judges, but Joshua Robinson has created a whole new category--bat wielding maniacs with law licenses.    Links to Gary Haarki's Charleston Gazette stories follow.  The Charleston Gazette is also the one-stop web source for coverage of the Caperton/Massey Coal stories we discussed here at Bad Lawyer, and which was memorably the subject of an important US Supreme Court case.

For more:    http://sundaygazettemail.com/News/200912030963  and http://wvgazette.com/News/200912110579

Rustbowl Rivalry Gets Out of Hand

My pal, Chris, who I've mentioned before on Bad Lawyer, brought my attention to this report from the Akron Beacon Journal about the fisticuffs at a VFW hall near Cleveland, Ohio.  The 62 year old mother of Pittsburgh Steeler, James Harrison was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault and battery following Thursday night's game between these long time NFL rivals.  Apparently, Harrison is a graduate of an Akron-area college.  A local VFW hall thought it was neat if the veteran's group invited and feted Mrs. Harrison and family during the televised broadcast of this game.  Things got weird, let me quote Beacon Journal writer Phil Trexler (who according to my former journalist/friend, Chris, says--must have been pinching himself over his luck in getting to write about this brawl):
"It all started, [a witness said] when the Harrison family . . . questioned the allegiance to the Steelers [of a one of the event attendees].  Punches flew and heads were struck.  [The witness] said the Harrisons started the melee when they confronted her and her friend. 'Angie was standing there and the Mama (Mildred Harrison) just all of [a] sudden flipped on her,' [the witness] said '[Mrs. Harrison told the victim] 'you ain't no Pittsburgh Steeler fan. Get the . . . (sic) out of here'.'"  The witness also said, 'I was trying to help [one of the victims of the melee] and they just started swinging on me.  They busted my head open.  I got five staples in my head.  they just all strarted jumping on me, kicking me, stomping me  Just terrible.  All for nothing.  Just a football came.'"

To be precise the witness is objectively wrong in one sense, it was not "just a football game."  This is a classic Rustbowl Rivalry, between two putatively old line NFL powerhouses that havebeen shitting on one another's hopes and dreams for years.  In one other sense, this is not "just a football game"--given a pretext to act like assholes (i.e. footbal rivalries) add alcohol and you will have combustion.   If I remember correctly this was an 8pm football game, I know fans in Pittsburgh and Cleveland like to get the drinking underway in their respective municipal lots right at daybreak--so this sort of thing is pretty common.

I was telling Chris that as colorful as this account is, the usage that caught my eye is the journalistic use of the verb, stomp.  This expression has been appearing in news accounts of violent acts that I encounter in reading local news websites throughout the country.  As Chris pointed out to me, stomp or stomping involves the use of the feet.   In this case, the Beacon Journal reporter Trexler is quoting the witness, but I've seen the usage several times recently in crime reports where it is used by the reporter to described the criminal act.  I thought the word was a slangly way of saying someone jumped on someone--I have a vision of one person prone, another jumping feet first on the other.  Is this "stomping?"

Regardless, alcohol and sporting events are intrinsically related and it's remarkable to me how much mischief and worse, tragedy, is routinely tolerated when these two elements combust.

Lawyers with Bruised Ribs

Being a Bad Lawyer, I'm accustomed and not terribly surprised when the Sheriff deputies decide that you the lawyer should get smacked around a little bit.  So when I saw the story of the New Orleans public defender getting punched around, I sort of shrugged my shoulders and thought to myself, been there, done that:  (see:  http://badlawyernyc.blogspot.com/2009/09/pepper-spray-part-1.html)  but,  my Young Lawyer friend, Laura, came into Starbucks this AM and demanded to know why I didn't post about this story at my Blawg.

Okay, La, here it is, Public Defender Stuart Weg was trying to tell a New Orleans Judge that the guy New Orleans cops had in custody was the wrong person.  The Judge, Benedict Willard got annoyed with the lawyer and had his courtroom deputies forcibly remove the lawyer from his courtroom.  In the process the deputies smacked the lawyer once or twice leaving  a few bruises.  All I can say, is Public Defender Weg, stop your whining--wait until the bastards pepper spray you, incarcerate you, and prosecute you for felonious assault on them,  then you have my permission to come cry.  In th meantime, good work--you are well on your way to becoming a bad lawyer.

Let's face it, most of us Bad Lawyers need a smack now and then.

See:  http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2009/12/public_defender_mistreated_in.html

What Assholes!

The Legal Profession Blawg brings attention to the story of Illinois divorce Attorney Dennis Shumacher who among other things, sexually assaulted a divorce client in his office.  This case is so upsetting, not because the behavior which in my mind is (an unprosecuted) crime, but because the Illinois Bar gives this piece of shit a one year suspension.   Here's what I want you to do, read the Legal Profession post and if you want, the opinion of the Illinois disciplinary authhorities which I've also linked and answer this question:  think this guy has been doing this to his female clients all along? 

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_profession/2009/12/an-illinois-hearing-board-has-recommended-a-one-year-suspension-based-on-findings-of-misconduct-involving-sexual-behavior-tow.html

and

https://www.iardc.org/07CH0020HB.html

Oh and, there's this guy, 83 year old Detroit, MI attorney, Murdoch Hertzog--suspended for a couple of months for soliciting sex in lieu of fees:

http://www.theoaklandpress.com/articles/2009/12/10/news/cops_and_courts/doc4b2100496edcb142339257.txt

My Boss Smacked Me with a Backhoe!

http://www.idahostatesman.com/580/story/967175.html

There are industrial injuries and then there 's assault and battery.

The link takes you the tale of a worker smacked up by boss who tried to "nudge" him with a backhoe!  WTF!

Which puts me in mind of my client, Greg.  Greg was trained in avionics but couldn't get a job in that occupation, so he took a stopgap job at a company that paints structures in electrical substations. You know electrical substations, those scary looking road side edifices that have all Frankenstein like electronic equipment sticking up with major power lines running in and major power lines running out.  Greg and his co-workers were given like no training and sent into these places with instructions to paint the girders and other steel structures.  The workers were warned to "stay away from anything that looks hot."  Good plan, huh! Greg is painting away and standing on a girder about 15 feet off the ground--his boss wanted to paint where Greg was standing, so instead of using words, the boss starts spray painting Greg.  Greg slips and snags the girder where he dangles,  Now all in all things are going ok until the bucket on Greg's hip swings into the electrical field being given off by an "energized" piece of electrical hardware, and ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzppppp!

So I'm investigating the claim, an electrical engineer from the utility company tells me, oh yeah, we hire these sorts of outfits, because our employees aren't stupid enough to do this kind of work.  Nice.

Turns out under Our State law, the utility is immune from lawsuit because the work undertaken by Greg's company is so dangerous, the act of delegating it relieves the utility of all responsibility--despite the fact that what was involved in rerouting the electrical current around the substation while maintenance was being performed was pretty minimal.   The company where Greg worked had lost two other employees in a twenty-month period including a family member in identical accidents.  As a result they were unable to obtain insurance coverage.  Greg was lucky, he lived, and despite horrible injuries he was eventually able to return to work as an avionics engineer.

In Our State, workers' compensation is a a government run health care and compensation program.  It's not perfect, but it works pretty well.

Justice for Cyclists, Damnit!

http://www.velonews.com/article/99475/defense-attorney-cross-examines-cyclists-in-la-road-rage

I've been hit twice while cycling and this last year assaulted by a driver who roared ahead of me on the parkway and pulled sideways across the road surface blocking the lane of travel. The Park Rangers got him.

The details in the velonews report are chilling.

Memphis Attorney Sued for Masticating Man's Nose

The Memphis Commercial Appeal continues its coverage of the Attorney Mark Lambert's nose biting adventure with a report that the inevitable lawsuit has been filed by the victim, self-employed haridresser Greg Herbers.  And this additional bit of good news for Lawyer Lambert, Herbers was HIV positive!

When I was training to become a Bad Lawyer, learning to use your mouth was key, but do I even need to finish this thought...?