The brazen robbery of Kim Kardashian in a Paris hotel last year is looking a little less Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and a little more Ocean’s Eleven. A grand total of 17 suspects have been arrested by French police, including Kardashian’s limo driver and men dubbed “Old Omar,” Marceau “the gypsy,” and Nez Râpé, or Broken Nose. So just how elaborate was the $10 million jewelry heist? Police may just be scratching the surface....
Accidents happen to the best of us. But some accidents are more dangerous than others, and some accidents can carry criminal charges and penalties. So it is with accidental shootings. Accidental or negligent discharge of a firearm can be a criminal offense, depending on state laws. Criminal charges are most likely to apply when a person is acting recklessly while handling a gun. Here’s a look at a few state statutes on accidental shootings and the criminal penalties involved....
Requests for cell phone data have increased significantly over the last five years as police rely more on the evidence these phones provide. A cell phone is more than just a handy way to make calls. The data it stores has personal information about who you call. Because calls go through the nearest cell tower, it provides accurate location tracking as well. Given the amount of information stored by cell carriers it’s no surprise that all levels of law enforcement are making more requests for cellphone data....
At least there’s some vindication for distressed homeowners who were duped by irresponsible mortgage companies. Countrywide Financial Corp., the first domino to fall, now has to pay several Florida borrowers pursuant to a settlement with the Florida Attorney General. Why? Florida alleged that the former mortgage giant participated in deceptive and unfair business practices – in this case, predatory lending. The concept of predatory lending is broad. Federal and state governments have enacted laws to deal with this issue and to define which practices are, in fact, deceptive....
The Georgia Supreme Court has ruled that a 10-year prison sentence given to a teenager for a consensual sex act amounted to “cruel and unusual punishment” under the Georgia and U.S. Constitutions. In 2005, Genarlow Wilson, then 17 years old, was convicted of aggravated child molestation for having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl. In today’s decision, the court stated that, especially in light of the fact that the conduct for which Wilson was convicted is now considered a misdemeanor under Georgia law, “the extraordinarily harsh punishment of ten years in prison without the possibility of probation or parole, appears to be grossly disproportionate to [Wilson’s] crime....
Prosecutors have filed felony charges against Andrea Cardosa, a former teacher accused of sexually assaulting two students, one of whom made her accusations public in a YouTube video that went viral. Cardosa recently resigned following the YouTube confrontation with her accuser. But now, Cardosa is facing serious criminal charges. In addition, two Southern California school districts are also facing civil lawsuits over the alleged abuse, reports Los Angeles’ KABC-TV. Cardosa, 40, was charged with 16 felony counts, including:...
Former child actor Gary Coleman was arrested in Utah on warrant for a failure to appear, but not on domestic violence charges after Santaquin police responded to a dispute at the home of Coleman and his wife. He may be all grown up now, but this is not the first time that Coleman or his much younger wife have faced legal trouble. In a domestic dispute last July, Coleman’s wife Shannon Price was charged with disordely conduct and suspicion of domestic violence after the couple became embroiled in a heated dispute....
As a nation, we may soon learn more about warrantless cell phone tracking and the extent to which it is used by federal law enforcement. On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia directed the Justice Department to provide the ACLU with a list of cases in which law enforcement obtained cell phone location data from telecommunication companies without first obtaining a warrant. Though the initial list is limited to 255 cases resulting in a conviction or guilty plea, a lower court has been directed to consider a number of other incidents that ended in acquittal....
Conrad Murray is guilty of involuntary manslaughter. The Michael Jackson death trial ended when Conrad Murray’s verdict was announced this afternoon. Seven men and five women took 6 hours on Friday and three hours Monday to find Conrad Murray guilty in the much-publicized manslaughter trial. Michael Jackson’s fans had been following every movement of the trial for weeks. Murray was accused of administering a fatal dose of propofol, a powerful anesthetic, to Jackson....
Hulk Hogan is reportedly threatening to sue the website Gawker for posting a minute-long clip of his alleged sex tape online. The Hulk Hogan sex tape has been rumored to be in existence for some time, but it was not until yesterday that the video hit the Internet. Hogan, born Terry Gene Bollea, does not appear to deny the authenticity of the sex tape, but instead says that the video was taken without his knowledge or permission, reports TMZ....
Sacramento man Robert DeShields, 55, was convicted of Chihuahua sex assault. He was sentenced last week to 10 years in prison. A judge also mandated he register as a sex offender. DeShields is a chronic methamphetamine user. He is wheelchair bound. The owner of the dog had given him a temporary place to stay. That’s when the animal abuse occurred. DeShields strangled and penetrated the dog, named Shadow, with a foreign object....
On April 14, the Attorney General of New York, Andrew Cuomo, announced his office has won a temporary restraining order to shut down what he says is a fake charitable organization purporting to raise funds to fight breast cancer. The New York AG is suing to stop the Long Island based Coalition for Breast Cancer Cures, Inc., (“CBCC”) from soliciting any further funds, collecting money, or destroying documents. According to the Attorney General’s press release, the suit alleges that David and Mindy Winston of Great Neck, New York, and other members of their family, collected $500,000 from New Yorkers with their scam....
A grand jury has decided not to bring criminal charges against the white New York City police officer videotaped applying a chokehold to an unarmed black man who was fatally injured in the struggle. The man killed in the incident, 43-year-old Eric Garner, was suspected of selling loose cigarettes on the street, reports The New York Times. The decision not to indict the officer, Daniel Pantaleo, comes less than two weeks after the grand jury in Ferguson, Mo....
What is a fair sentence for pointing a laser pointer at a police helicopter? Fifteen months in federal prison, said a California court. Nineteen-year-old Nathan Ramon Wells was in his car in Cathedral City, California finding himself a bit bored. Then, he thought to himself: I have a laser pointer! I wonder who I can annoy with that? Seeing as how he was not at a movie or a concert, he turned his gaze above, to a nearby police helicopter....
Nassau County prosecutors recently charged seven Long Island teens in an SAT cheating scandal. Six students at Great Neck North High School are accused of paying alumnus Samuel Eshaghoff between $1,500 and $2,000 to sit for the exam in their names. The SAT cheaters were caught after teachers reported rumors to the Educational Testing Service (ETS). An investigation uncovered a wide gap between SAT scores and GPA , and was eventually referred to prosecutors....
For reality TV star Nicole Polizzi, better known as “Snooki,” a police car crash has made headlines. After the crash, Snooki was in police custody - but it wasn’t a formal arrest, according to celebrity gossip site TMZ. Snooki was taking part in the filming of MTV’s Jersey Shore in Florence when the incident occurred. Snooki’s police car crash seems to be a simple case of bad driving. In fact, the cops that she hit were actually part of the police escort assigned to the cast of Jersey Shore....
The governor of Maryland has declared a state of emergency in Baltimore after protestors in the city clashed with police and others engaged in looting and extensive property damage on Monday. The night of violence followed the daytime funeral for Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died from a severed spine while in police custody. It’s the second time in six months that a city has called on the National Guard to help quell violent protests, after Missouri deployed Guard troops in Ferguson in response to protests last summer and fall over the shooting of Michael Brown and the failure to indict the officer who shot him....
This is one legal decision that is anything but boring. A mix of great art, Nazis, and delayed compensation for a stolen family possession would interest just about anyone. A settlement of $19 million was announced on July 20, between Austria’s Leopold Museum and the family of a Jewish art dealer from whom an Egon Schiele painting was stolen more than half a century ago. According to The Wall Street Journal, the original owner of the painting was an Austrian art dealer by the name of Lea Bondi Jaray....
College parties can get crazy. It’s no wonder that young co-eds drinking too much cheap beer is a popular scene to depict in Hollywood. But when over a dozen partygoers experience more than just a hangover, some foul play may be involved. That is exactly what happened when twelve partygoers were drugged in a Washington college house party incident last week. After the several girls began uncontrollably vomiting and passing out everywhere, they were rushed to the hospital, and police are now investigating whether the drinks were spiked....
Texas tycoon R. Allen Stanford was convicted Tuesday of running a $7 billion Ponzi scheme – the biggest investment fraud since the Bernie Madoff scandal. A jury found Stanford, 61, guilty on 13 of 14 criminal charges, including fraud, conspiracy, and obstructing an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Reuters reports. Jurors acquitted Stanford on a single wire-fraud charge. “For all the investors, I think there is a sense of relief that they weren’t just fools,” one of Stanford’s victims told Reuters....
