Shylock, Usury and the Letter of the Law

My friend Gayle has an excellent essay on one of the original Legal Dramas in the English language--Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare.  Gayle's Bard Blog is truly a place to warm your neurons over the next few weeks;  and, thereafter if we can encourage her.

Machette's in Bars, Why Not?

Machette's in bars?  Why not.  Are you listening Tennessee legislators?

Here, we have the perfect combination of weaponry, machete's and bar stools, courtesy of the Idaho Statesman. Yes, a story to give succor to our beleaguered Tennessee law makers thwarted in their heoric effort to enable these most important of human liberties, the right to Bear Arms.  Here's the account: 

"Nampa police say charges are pending against a man who attacked bar patrons with a machete early Friday morning.The man was thrown out of a bar on the 1600 block of 1st Street North after causing a drunken fracas about 12:30 a.m. Friday, Sgt. Mike Wagoner said. The man returned a few minutes later wielding a machete, Wagoner said.  A bar patron took a bar stool and hit the machete-wielding man, 'flattening' him, Wagoner said.  Police wouldn't identify the man with the machete because charges are pending. The man will likely be charged with two counts of aggravated assault, Wagoner said."

So I say, let's go for it.  We could even have machete and bar stool leagues.

Fire the Tomboy, Whatta You Mean--That's Sex Discrimination?

The Associated Press is reporting on the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals decision reversing summary judgment in a sex discrimination case where a "Tomboy" clerk at the Heartland Inns hotel chain was fired for appearing "too masculine."

 Brenna Lewis had received two merit-pay increases while at her Heartland Inn's job and received praise from patrons of the hotel chain for her service.  Nonetheless, Heartland, fired Miss Lewis:  I'm quoting from the court of appeals decision:

"'After seeing Lewis, however, [a supervisor] told [Lewis' boss] that she was not sure Lewis was a 'good fit' for the front desk.  [The supervisor] called [Lewis's boss] a few days later and again raised the subject of Lewis' appearance. Lewis describes her own appearance as 'slightly more masculine,' and [her boss] has characterized it as 'an Ellen DeGeneres kind of look.'"

Preposterous!  Employers look like silly asses when they go down this path.  How they look, that, my dear readers,  is what should concern them.

Delaware Judge William C. Bradley is a Child Molester

Delaware Judge William C. Bradley is an admitted child molester.

 

According to Delaware Online the Judge issue a statement admitting he molested an 11 year old boy more than 30 years ago--attorneys for Gregory Kelly had lined up 10 other adults who were prepared to testify about their molestations by the jurist and a second "John Doe" case was also pending.  Both Mr. Kelly's case and "the John Doe" case were settled.  An aspect of the settlement was Judge Bradley's written admission which was handed out in front of the courthouse where the Judge served for many years.

"John Doe" lawsuits are civil actions brought anonymously and subsequently amended "under seal" so that the parties knoe the identities of those bringing the suit. 

This report of the civil litigation against Judge Bradley serves to illustrate a larger point made, here, on Bad Lawyer that child molestation and abuse knows no boundary, no class, no socioeconomic, race or creed limitations.  For several decades we fought to establish acceptance of this idea in the courts, that you have a well-respected jurist admitting that he too, is a child molester should tell you how far the effort has come. 

Ex-Con Ex-Lawyer Just Keeps On Stealing

George Young, III (mugshot) is a disbarred lawyer out of Delaware County, Maryland.  Young stole some $109,000 from a trust account he maintained for disabled veterans and went to prison for the dirty deed.  Now out of jail he went back to the well, he located former clients and surreptiously filed new claims and stole another boatload of money from these vets according to a report at Philly.com.

There are endless variations of bad guy in the world, for your edification I give you the compulsive crook.

Boys and Their Toys--Part 6 The Police Let a Little Boy Play with a Micro-Uzi and Die

According to the Boston Globe website, Masslive.com this story  was all over the news.  I confess, I missed it.  Apparently the fat pig in the pic is Edward P. Fleury former Police Chief of Pelham, Mass, and a major gun-fondler.  He was the organizer of an annual let's play with our assault weapons outing at which a 8 year old child was allowed to shoot a "mini-uzi."which I take to be a smaller version of the famous Israeli submachine gun.   This is from Buffy Spencer's update of legal proceedings against Fleury, and others:

"A June 1 trial date is set in Hampden Superior Court for the first defendants being prosecuted in connection with the 2008 shooting death of an 8-year-old boy at the Westfield Sportsmen’s Club.

Prosecution and defense lawyers agreed this week to the trial date for former Pelham Police Chief Edward B. Fleury and the club. They face manslaughter charges for the death of Christopher K. Bizilj during a gun exposition on Oct. 26, 2008.   The boy, of Ashford, Conn., died after suffering a wound to the head when he lost control of a Micro Uzi submachine gun he was firing."
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Nice. 

Maybe my lack of compassion for these asshats is predicated on my lack of interest in weapons.  I have no desire to hold, or shoot, or hear weapons.  I was 17 when I went into the U.S. Army, and almost 21 when I was released.  I spent three years with weapons large and small, these devices are utilitarian machines intended to kill.  They make bone rattling noise--I lived at Fort Knox for 3 months, the firing never stops--morning noon, nor night.  When my time in the Army was over, I had no further interest in guns.  Likewise, I was trained and schooled in mechanics, after my time in that job was over--I have no desire to go play with ratchets, wrenches, and screwdrivers. 

Yes, I can understand that there are men and women who are curious, go to a range (at the proper age,)  Shoot the guns, go home.  Get over it.

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?

Sheriff Joe--Taxpayers Pay $990 per Hour for Joe's Lawyer in Feud with County Judges

When you look up Big Firm, illustration 1, might be Sidley Austin LLP, oh Jones Day is in the mix as well.  If you click the link to the Sidley Austin homepage you'll see a crawl of their offices worldwide.  Beijing, Brussesl, Washington, D.C.--you get the picture, Big Law.  Surprisingly they do not have an office in Maricopa County, Arizona, but that didn't stop Sheriff Joe!

To the tune of a"discounted" $990 per hour, the Maricopa citizens are providing America's toughest Sheriff with Sidley Austin counsel in Joe's war on the Maricopa judiciaiary.  This is the Phoenix New Times report on the Maricopa-taxpayer funded feud:

"According to documents obtained by New Times, Arpaio has actually agreed to pay Washington, D.C., attorney Carter G. Phillips $990 -- per hour -- for his legal work in this fight.  And Phillips' fee -- unbelievable as it sounds -- actually represents a small discount. According to the engagement letter submitted by Phillips' firm, D.C.-based Sidley Austin, Phillips normally charges $1,100 per hour.  For that kind of fee, you'd surely expect Phillips to get results.

Ha!  

We first got interested in Phillips' fee last fall, when we learned that Arpaio had brought him on pro hac vice (which basically means as an out-of-state lawyer) to file a special action on the sheriff's records dispute with the appellate court. Arpaio, of course, has been dying to read e-mails and other internal documents written by court staff. But both the superior and appellate courts had ruled that the sort of work product generated by judges -- despite Arpaio's intense interest -- simply isn't public record under state law.

Matters of law, though, rarely stop Sheriff Joe or his cohort County Attorney Andrew Thomas. They'd prefer to hire expensive firms to tilt at windmills for them than to accept a loss.  Just witness Thomas' hiring of another pricey D.C. firm, Jones Day. As we reported here, they managed to ring up bills of nearly half-a-million dollars on Thomas' silly fight against Spanish-language DUI probation services -- even while losing at every stop.

As for Phillips, he has a resume. He was a law clerk to former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger. He's argued 56 cases before the highest court in the land.  But on this dog of a case, he had no luck whatsoever.The appellate court rejected Phillips' request for special action on the judges' e-mail issue just two days after his 40-page motion was filed. The appellate judges didn't even bother to comment in their rejection. Ouch!  Undoubtedly, Arpaio and his minions promptly told Phillips to start preparing an appeal to the state Supreme Court -- damn the cost! -- and surely, the U.S. Supreme Court, too, if need be. That's just how they roll."

Too Stoopid Client, Too Stoopid Lawyer

This is courtesy of the Crime Scene KC Blog another account of self-representation gone awry.  Clifton D. Taylor robbed a Kansas City Bank, stuffing the proceeds into his leather coat and hoofing it down the street.  Let's let Mark Morris of the Kansas City Star fill in the details:

"Armed with nothing but a threatening note, Taylor on March 12 stole $2,700 from the bank at 2301 Independence Ave. Just after noon, he bolted from the bank and began cutting through parking lots. Two bank employees — a customer service representative and an administrative assistant who had just returned from lunch — began following him in a car about a half-block back.

Taylor dumped his black leather jacket and green knit cap in the bed of a pickup he passed along the way. The bank employees lost sight of him after he cut back north toward Independence Avenue and headed east.

Figuring that he had gone into one of the small shops at Independence and Prospect avenues, the employees parked, waited for police and watched the stores.Taylor, meanwhile, had ducked into a cell phone shop and began looking at telephones. Security cameras inside the shop captured what followed. After feeling his pockets and turning one inside out, Taylor realized that the $2,700 from the bank was in the pocket of the coat that he had dumped about two blocks away. Slowly, Taylor put his hands on his head and bent forward, apparently in agony, then bowed his head on the top of a glass display case.

He walked onto the street, where the bank employees pointed him out to police."

Of course, this idiot decides his best representation is self-representation.  We'll let reporter Morris tell us how that went:

"Crime lab technicians found Taylor’s DNA on the knit cap and leather coat, from which police recovered the bank’s money. Investigators also used bank surveillance photos to match the distinctive fade pattern of Taylor’s blue jeans and his designer boots to those the robber wore. The robber’s face was not clear in the pictures.  Taylor argued his innocence at trial, contending that police had manufactured the case.

Hoping to prove that his former defense lawyer was somehow working for the prosecutors, he presented the jury a letter describing the defense’s attempt to poke holes in the Kansas City Police Department crime lab’s DNA procedures. But an independent lab had found the procedures and test results sound, jurors learned.  Addressing jurors in his closing argument, he acknowledged being convicted of a drug offense 18 years ago. Taylor said he did not rob the bank but merely was shopping for a cell phone when arrested without cause.  'I believe all the evidence was tampered and all the witnesses were coached,' Taylor said."

Um, the jury convicted.

Free Speech Is Not Free

Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press[.]

Yesterday, the Supreme Court of the United States in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission held that the McCain-Feingold limitations on corporate SPENDING was violative of  prohibitions on abridgment of free speech.  Years of judicial precedent, were swept away by this non-activist conservative court in a 5-4 ruling.  

Money=Speech, and as I said previously corporations are "persons" with enhanced free speech rights, because they have the money, lots of money.

This may be a good thing, if Congress enacts laws to attach "faces, names, and addresses" to the officers and shareholders making the corporate "speech."  A corporation wishes to spend money:  to elect a bigot; oppose a Judge who ruled agasint them; enact enabling legislation to permit them to pollute; oppose regulatory reforms, or health care;--fine, let them, if simultaneously they electronically publish a list of their officers and shareholders, their officers and shareholders photos, and their officers and shareholder's addresses.  Free speech, yes!  Accountable speech, you betcha.

Now, Canoe,com is reporting  this morning that Mexico is moving in the other direction.  The PRI (aka, the "ruling party") is proposing legislation to criminalize compositions and music which praises criminals.  In the history of bad ideas this is right up there with Guns in Bars.  Seriously, Mexico is suffering terrifying narco-crime waves.  Horrific stories from Mexico emabrass me, as I piss and moan on this Blawg about petty corruptiion.  But Mexico's ills relate to CORRUPTION, not mariachi.  The songs "glorifying" the narco-gangsters are a reflection of the horror, not the cause.   We have the same reflexive tendency in this country. While we glorify guns, even assault weapons--we take steps to abridge individual free speech when a particularly offensive Gansta Rap "composition" becomes a hit, or some fleeting expletive is uttered on the airwaves.

Free Speech, is not free--it has consequences.