Stick a fork in this guy – he’s likely done with being a free man, at least for a while, after an alleged fork stabbing got him charged with a hate crime. Nicholas Melo, 34, of Brooklyn, N.Y., is accused of getting into a racially charged shouting match with a black man who was seated with two white women at a diner last November, the New York Daily News reports....
Facetime, Skype, Google Hangout. These services help long distance lovers gaze into each other’s eyes. They allow grandmothers to see their grandbabies in other countries. They allow parents to have virtual visitations with their children. Now, video calls, also known as video visitation, allow family members to visit with inmates from the comfort of their own home. Since last year, over 500 jails and prisons in 43 states and the District of Columbia have implemented a video visitation system....
You’re doing it to be nice – to help out your favorite uncle or best pal. But if you take a look at FindLaw Answers, you’ll see that lending money to family and friends doesn’t always turn out well. Things happen. There’s a falling out or the exciting business opportunity turned out not to be so exciting. Whatever it is, you’re going to want your money and it’ll probably be difficult to get it back....
With the release of its decision in Turner v. Rogers, the Supreme Court has ushered in a new era of child support enforcement in the nation’s courts. According to the Supreme Court, deadbeat dads that face incarceration for failing to pay child support are not entitled to free counsel under the Sixth Amendment. However, they are entitled to some procedural safeguards. When a parent fails to pay court-ordered child support, a judge has the option of holding him in contempt of court, which can be punished with incarceration....
A 37-year-old woman has been arrested after allegedly sexting with a 16-year-old boy. Lori Darling David stands accused of two counts of online solicitation of a minor. David allegedly sent sexually lewd, explicit text messages, pictures of her and emails to the boy, who was the son of a friend of hers. In other words, it’s yet another sexting case. David was active at Katy Taylor High School as a volunteer, though one might question her motives in light of her arrest....
Shootings are an all-too-frequent occurrence in the USA. With the number unintentional shootings averaging about 2,000+ per year and continually on the rise, many folks might be wondering: what’s the criminal charge and penalty for accidentally shooting someone? Whether a person was cleaning their gun, dropped their gun, or claiming the gun malfunctioned or just went off, if someone gets hit with the bullet, criminal charges are likely to follow. Not everyone gets so lucky as to have the shooting victim apologize to them....
As the law seems to be changing in favor of marijuana legalization and decriminalization, many people often wonder where marijuana edibles, like pot brownies, or pot cookies, fall in regard to legality. In many states, the penalties for having or eating marijuana edibles can be much more severe than one might expect. For instance, in states like Texas, possession of a single pot cookie could result in worse penalties than being found with up to a quarter pound of marijuana....
Two black men brought a lawsuit against ABC’s The Bachelor charging that the show discriminated against men of color. A federal judge dismissed the case and said that the casting decisions by the producers of the show were protected by the First Amendment. The judge did call the lawsuit brought by Nathaniel Claybrooks and Christopher Johnson as “laudable,” but said that the plaintiffs had no right to regulate the show’s content, reports Fox News....
The next food item that you might not want see on your table for a bit is a egg and ham sandwich. On August 24, the USDA announced there is a recall on ham and roast beef deli meats distributed to Walmart deli counters nationwide, due to a possible contamination with Listeria monocytogenes. The deli meats were supplied by Zemco Industries in Buffalo, New York. Zemco is a unit of Tyson Foods, Inc....
A federal appeals court has refused to stay its ruling striking down Virginia’s gay marriage ban, potentially allowing same-sex marriages to begin as early as Wednesday. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had upheld a lower court’s ruling striking down Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage last month, but it is refusing to halt the effect of that decision while opponents appeal. The New York Times reports that in a 2-1 decision, a 4th Circuit panel declined to stay its earlier ruling....
Although an accused criminal is often arrested immediately following an alleged crime, that person’s criminal trial may take years to complete because of delays in the proceedings. The ongoing trial of accused Colorado theater gunman James Holmes, for example, was delayed several times before jury selection began earlier this week. According to Yahoo! News, the trial has been delayed for two and a half years, more than three times the timetable recommended by the Supreme Court of Colorado for felony criminal cases....
Air Force nurse, Capt. Michael Fontana was acquitted recently by a military court following his trial for causing three patients to die after giving them excessive pain medication during end of life care. The Air Force nurse stood accused of ending the lives of the terminally ill patients under his care at Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio, Tx. The Captain was also acquitted of one charge of altering medical records....
The State of California, along with Maine, Maryland, and Minnesota, has filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security following the Trump administration’s announcement that it would rescind former President Barack Obama’s executive order regarding Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. The program had provided limited legal protection for individuals brought to the country illegally as minors. California is claiming that Trump’s efforts to cancel DACA protections are “illegal and seriously harm States’ interests in ways that have already started to materialize and that threaten to last for generations....
Parolees and probationers are required to check in with their supervising officers as part of the conditions of their release. However, inevitably some of these individuals will fail to meet with their POs, triggering some nasty legal consequences. Going AWOL on your probation or parole officer could mean going back to jail or prison, unless you have a very good reason for why you failed to report. So what can happen if you fail to check in with your probation or parole officer?...
Seven “credit repair” companies have been charged with violating federal consumer protection and credit laws by promising to remove negative information from customers’ credit reports, even credit information that is accurate and up to date. According to a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) News Release announcing the filing of a complaint and restraining order, “the defendants charge consumers up to $2,000, including $300 in advance, promising to improve credit scores by removing information such as late payments, charge-offs, collections, inquiries, delinquencies, judgments, and accounts discharged in bankruptcy....
Last November, hackers who had gained access to Sony Entertainment Pictures data began releasing emails, un-released films, and personal information gained from a possibly year-long attack. Last week, WikiLeaks posted the entire collection of stolen data, around 200,000 documents and emails. The hack itself was illegal under nearly all state and federal computer crime laws. But does that mean posting and reading the leaked documents is criminal as well? Sony Solicits Silence In the immediate wake of the hack, Sony aggressively targeted media outlets with demands to not only refrain from publishing the leaked documents but also destroy any copies....
It seems like there is a lot more for Jesse James and Sandra Bullock to worry about than the rumors of infidelity. America’s sweetheart and the reformed bad boy owner of West Coast Choppers also have to worry about losing their custodial rights to Mr. James’ daughter Sunny. We wrote about how Mr. James’ ex wife Janine Lindemulder went public with her scorn over how Jesse James and Sandra Bullock petitioned for custodial rights to her biological daughter previously in Celebrity Justice....
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has recently decided that juvenile life without parole is constitutional. In this landmark case, Omer Ninham, then 14 at the time of the crime he committed, was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide for the killing of Zong Vang, then 13. The facts in the case were horrific. Zang was running an errand for his family when Ninham and a few other juveniles stopped him, accosted him, and then ultimately threw him over a 5-story parking ramp where he plummeted to his death....
In a scathing 135-page decision, a Connecticut judge has set aside Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel’s murder conviction and ordered a new trial. Skakel was convicted in 2002 for the grisly murder of Martha Moxley, his teenage neighbor in Greenwich, Connecticut, in 1975. Though Skakel has served about half of his 20-year sentence, he’s slated for a brand spankin’ new trial because his original trial lawyer did not competently represent him....
Carjackers, don’t mess with Texas moms. That’s what we learned from a mom in Baytown, Texas, who successfully fought off a carjacker with her two kids in the van. Robbed at knifepoint by a man hiding in the back seat, Dorothy Baker-Flugence fought back by grabbing the weapon from her attacker and punching him in the face, Houston’s KTRK-TV reports. What happened next ended with the suspect, Ismael Martinez, being flown to a hospital....
