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There are few things worse than hate for a person to expend their energy and mental wherewithal on. One of those few things is live streaming you and your friends torturing an innocent person while yelling politically and racially charged statements. In what should be held out as an example of just sheer brazen stupidity, four 18-year-old teens have been arrested as a result of a Facebook Live video they posted of themselves torturing another teen....

A U.S. appeals court has ruled that Texas can cut funding to Planned Parenthood because it performs abortions, Reuters reports. The emergency stay was granted by 5th U.S. Circuit Court Judge Jerry Smith. It reversed a lower court injunction in favor of the organization. Planned Parenthood sued Texas last year over a law that cut state funding to any abortion providers. The stay, in essence, bans Planned Parenthood from receiving any money from the state’s Women’s Health Program....

The Texas legislature’s voter ID law likely discriminates against hundreds of thousands of registered Hispanic voters, the Justice Department declared Monday in a forceful objection. The objection means the Texas law – which would require voters to present photo identification in order to cast a ballot – cannot take effect until a federal court in Washington, D.C., weighs in, the Associated Press reports. Texas lawmakers passed a voter ID law in 2011....

Worried about losing your phone? Smartphone manufacturers and American cell carriers have agreed to make “kill switches” standard on all smartphones manufactured for sale in the United States after July 2015. Huge names in mobile tech – Apple, Google, Samsung, and Microsoft – have all signed on to a new “Smartphone Anti-Theft Voluntary Commitment” aimed at beefing up anti-theft features on mobile devices. “Kill switches” would allow owners of compliant phones to remotely “erase contacts, photos, email and other information” as well as lock the device, reports CNN....

More than 167,000 Lexus and Audi crossover SUVs are being recalled in response to two separate safety issues. The Lexus crossover SUV recall affects the most vehicles. More than 154,000 Lexus RX 350 and Lexus RX 450hcrossovers need service, as the vehicles’ gas pedals can get stuck at full throttle, Edmunds Inside Line reports. The problem occurs when an incompatible or unsecured driver’s floor mat gets caught on the gas pedal, the National Highway Transportation Safety Agency said in announcing the recall....

Penalties for first-time pot possession, like real estate, depend primarily on three things: location, location, location. For example, in Washington and Colorado, possessing marijuana is no longer even a state crime for those old enough to buy it. Even in states where it is still against the law to possess pot, district attorneys are refusing to prosecute low-level pot cases. But what about the states that do still punish possession of marijuana?...

In a lawsuit that could raise some taxpayers’ eyebrows, CNN Money is reporting that Citigroup recently sued a Brooklyn, N.Y., pawn shop called “All Citi Pawn” over the use of the Citi abbreviation and a logo that Citigroup claims infringes on their intellectual property rights. Citigroup is seeking the entirety of All Citi Pawn shop’s profits since it adopted the All Citi name. All Citi’s manager Bob Kay explained the differences between the logos to CNN, “Theirs is a moon shape, mine is a V-shape”....

You may have never found your trash to be anyone’s treasure, but it easily could be the target of a police search. As the law stands, there is no expectation of privacy in trash that you put out by the curb, and law enforcement can rifle through your refuse with wild abandon. So what rights do any of us have to protect our trash from police searches? Here’s a quick general overview:...

You may not know it, but the item you just bought via eBay or Craigslist may have been stolen. But don’t worry. While there are laws against receiving stolen goods, they typically state that the purchaser or receiver must know (or should know) that the items are stolen. So what can happen if you unknowingly buy stolen goods (especially for purchases that, in hindsight, just seemed too good to be true)?...

A story out of Oklahoma today is as confusing legally is as it twisted. Police say Oklahoma City resident Mark Anthony Richardson Jr. faked being autistic and convicted unsuspecting young babysitters to change his diaper for sexual gratification. He is charged with sexual battery and multiple counts of outraging public decency. Mark Richardson, 21, advertised for babysitters to care for his autistic “son” who would need to be watched, fed and have his diapers changed, reports NewsOK....

Wordsmiths and language lovers will delight in a fight federal prosecutors continued last week, appealing a federal judge’s ruling against them, which turns on two words. The prosecutors tried to charge five people who protested at the Supreme Court by singing and yelling during proceedings with haranguing or making an oration, but were denied. They are now trying again in the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. In their appeal, federal prosecutors say that neither word – oration or harangue – is unconstitutionally vague and that the charges are valid....

A U.S. District Judge has ruled that the sentencing method of the Florida death penalty is unconstitutional. Judge Jose Martinez relied in part on the Supreme Court ruling in Ring v. Arizona from 2002, where the court found that defendants are entitled to have the jury find and agree on the aggravating factors that contributed to the defendant’s punishments, reports the Miami Herald. The ruling came down in a case against Paul Evans, a convicted murderer who will now have a new sentencing hearing, reports the Miami Herald....

The products under recall include the following: Combo bin packages of “Randolph Packing Co., Inc. BONELESS BEEF;” Combo bin packages of “Randolph Packing Co. Knuckles 90% & 94%;” 30 lbs. boxes of “Beef Ribeye Rolls.” Each label of the recalled meat bears the establishment number “EST. 6590” inside the USDA mark of inspection. The products were produced on February 25, 2010, and were distributed to federal establishments for further processing in Ill....

Hepatitis C now kills more U.S. adults than HIV, and baby boomers are among the most-affected demographic, a new study shows. Hepatitis C killed more than 15,000 Americans in 2007 – surpassing HIV-related deaths, which totaled about 12,700 that year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Three-fourths of hepatitis deaths, and two-thirds of chronic hepatitis infections, occurred among baby boomers – those born between 1945 and 1965, the CDC study found....

If you can’t afford an attorney, you have the right to have a lawyer provided for you in a criminal case, which generally means a public defender. But what if you want a new public defender because of problems with your assigned one? A public defender is a government-paid attorney whose sole job is to represent criminal defendants who can’t afford their own lawyer. Public defenders are held to the same standard as any other lawyer, and generally do an excellent job for their clients....

Jurors in New Mexico are not required to know English, the state’s highest court ruled in a decision that serves as a reminder that non-English speakers have a right to serve on juries. The New Mexico Supreme Court reminded lawyers and judges the state constitution explicitly allows non-English speaking citizens to serve on juries. The reminder came via the attached ruling that refused to overturn a murder conviction over the dismissal of a juror with limited English skills....

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver announced yesterday that, after 25 years of marriage, they have separated. In a statement released to the press, the couple said that they are currently living apart, but are working on the future of their relationship. What are the legal implications of their separation? It’s unclear whether Maria Shriver and Arnie have legally separated, or are just taking this time to clear their heads. If it’s the latter, then the two won’t experience any legal changes; but if they’ve legally separated, then their rights vis-a-vis one another have changed....

He may have already pled no contest and agreed to three years of probation, but word has it that the Mel Gibson-Oksana Grigorieva domestic violence charges will no longer be part of the ex-couple’s custody dispute. Or at least that’s what her lawyer told the judge Wednesday morning. Ever since the whole Mel Gibson/Oksana Grigorieva domestic violence and blackmail fiasco hit the headlines, it’s been pretty clear that those nasty pictures and their underlying accusations were going to be a significant part of any discussion regarding their young daughter, Lucia....

On Monday, President Obama signed a criminal justice reform bill and it contains a strange provision, an International Megan’s Law. The new law will require people who have been convicted of sex crimes against minors to carry special passports that clearly identify their status as registered sex offenders, Slate reports. The reasoning behind the law seems sensible enough – it is intended to prevent sex tourism by people who have sexually abused children in the US....

Controversy surrounding New Mexico’s driver’s license verification program continues this week as state District Judge Sarah Singleton issued a temporary restraining order blocking the plan on Wednesday. Finding that the state’s attempt to re-verify the residency of over 10,000 foreign nationals could cause “irreparable injury…in the form of constitutional deprivations,” she set a September 13 injunction hearing, at which time she will consider making the order more permanent. Judge Singleton’s decision to temporarily block the immigrant driver’s license verification program is not particularly significant at this time....