Of all the places to give birth, jail sounds the least appealing. While jails and prisons in every state are required to provide medical care for their inmates, the way pregnancy and birth are handled varies quite a bit from state to state. Perhaps one of the most shocking practices that is allowed in over half the states is restraining or shackling an expectant mother, even while in labor, to the bed....
Oral arguments before the Supreme Court for the October 2014 Term have ended. Now, the justices and clerks will focus on writing decisions for all the cases heard this term. Usually, decisions are issued about 90 days after they’re heard. However, there are several cases beyond the 90 day average, and we’ve heard of no decision yet. Maybe they’re extra special? Here are three Supreme Court decisions we’re eagerly awaiting:...
Three Alaskans pled guilty to violating federal marine mammal protection laws last week after authorities determined that they had traded and sold walrus tusks and polar bear hides despite a ban on such activities. Glennallen residents Jesse James LeBoeuf, Lorette Audry Sternbach, and Richard Blake Weshenfelder reportedly gave Eskimo villagers on Saint Lawrence Island cigarettes, guns, and snowmobiles in exchange for nearly 500 pounds of walrus tusks and 2 polar bear hides, which they then attempted to sell on the internet....
Just because you managed to get home, or wherever else you were driving, doesn’t mean you’re out of the woods yet. You may have managed to avoid the sobriety checkpoints or being pulled over, but if you drove drunk you can still be arrested and charged with a DUI. While arrests for DUI after the fact are rare, they do happen and the penalties can be just as serious. Here’s how the police (and you) may deal with a DUI arrest after the fact:...
Criminal convicts who receive an inappropriate sentence may have the chance to have it reduced, or even possibly increased, if they are resentenced. A federal judge in Miami resentenced terrorism convict Jose Padilla on Tuesday, increasing his original 17-year prison sentence to 21 years. Reuters reports that Padilla had been an al-Qaeda recruit, and an appeals court had deemed his original sentence “too lenient.” How do convicted criminals like Padilla get resentenced?...
Most Internet users are well aware that suspicious links and fishy-sounding emails may actually be attempts to gain access to your personal information or infect your computer with a virus. But what a lot of Internet users don’t know is that even something as simple as an image on your computer screen could contain malware. These programs, when downloaded to your computer, can potentially be used to steal sensitive information, leading to identity theft or at the very least compromised computer security....
If you ever wondered what goes on in prisons, an FBI bust last week will provide insight. Nearly 50 Georgia Department of Corrections guards were arrested after a 2-year FBI undercover operation revealed “staggering corruption,” reports CNN. Prison guards provided inmates with cell phones and sold drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. The cell phones allowed inmates to commit crimes on the inside, including identity theft and other frauds. Plus, as if that was not enough, among those busted were two officers from an elite special Cobra unit designed to target drug dealing in prison....
A former Las Vegas school teacher was sentenced to 90 days behind bars and five years of probation for a 2011 incident in which he fired a handgun at crewmembers of the reality TV show “Repo Games.” Carlos Enrique Barron, 43, was fired from his teaching job after the incident, Reuters reports. Barron was facing charges of attempted murder and battery, but was convicted on a number of lesser charges, including assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, and discharging a weapon....
High school girls in Florida can apparently be arrested for dating one another, as 18-year-old Kaitlyn Hunt was slapped with sex offense charges for being in a relationship with her 15-year-old high school girlfriend. The two girls were on the school’s basketball team together, and at the insistence of coaches and parents, Hunt was kicked off the team and then expelled from her school, CBS News reports. Does Florida criminalize high school consensual relationships?...
For Nicolas Cage, tax problems are nothing new. On the heels of a 2009 standoff with the IRS, TMZ reports that the agency has filed a federal tax lien against the actor, claiming that he now owes the government taxes on $1.8 million worth of gifts. The IRS wants its $624,934.64 and they want it now. Cage is already making payments to the IRS on $14 million in back taxes that he failed to pay from 2002 to 2007....
As the April 15th income tax filing deadline approaches, the Internal Revenue Service is offering some last-minute tips for taxpayers, including helpful advice on how contributions to your Individual Retirement Arrangement (IRA) can affect your tax situation. Take a look at a few highlights from the top 10 below: Tip #1. You may be able to deduct some or all of your contributions to your IRA and you also may be eligible for a tax credit equal to a percentage of your contribution....
A lawsuit that accused rapper Jay-Z of unlawfully sampling a single syllable from an obscure funk record was dismissed in federal court on Monday. The lawsuit was filed by record company TufAmerica, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The company holds the copyright for the 1969 recording of “Hook and Sling - Part I” by Eddie Bo. In its lawsuit, TufAmerica alleges that Jay-Z had unlawfully sampled an instance of Eddie Bo saying “Oh” from “Hook and Sling - Part I” 42 times in the background of the rapper’s 2009 Grammy-winning single “Run This Town,” which also featured Kanye West and Rihanna....
John Edwards has been acquitted on one count in his federal campaign corruption case, and a judge has declared a mistrial on the remaining five counts. The mixed result ends a tumultuous afternoon in court. The judge in Greensboro, N.C., initially thought jurors had reached a verdict on all six counts, the Associated Press reports. But when jurors said they were deadlocked on five of the charges, the judge sent them back to try again....
John Lennon’s killer, Mark David Chapman, could potentially be freed after a parole hearing this week. Will Chapman’s seventh attempt at parole finally be the charm? Chapman, 57, is set to be interviewed by at least two members of New York’s parole board, CNN reports. A decision by the board, which has denied Chapman’s parole requests every two years since 2000, could come a few days later. What goes into the parole board’s decision?...
The RIAA has scored another win against internet music piracy, this time against P2P file sharing software maker LimeWire. The LimeWire settlement totaled $105 million, but was far less than the trillions of dollars of damages that the RIAA attorneys had previously sought. The settlement deal was made after a court had ordered an injunction against LimeWire last October. LimeWire was supposed to shut down its P2P file sharing service and wait for a jury to deliberate on the total amount of damages it owed to the RIAA....
The Sixth Circuit has upheld Warren, Michigan’s topless bar ban. Adult entertainment provider Big Dipper Entertainment, LLC, filed suit under 18 U.S.C. sec. 1983, after the Warren city council prohibited adult businesses anywhere within 750 feet of its downtown, a residential district or a planned unit development, reports Courthouse News Service. The city clerk denied Big Dipper’s license application four days late. In ruling for the city, a Sixth Circuit three-judge panel rejected the four-day defect, finding it “immaterial for constitutional purposes,” wrote Judge Raymond Kethledge for the majority....
The case of ‘Baby Doe’ took Boston, and eventually the nation, by storm when the female toddler’s body was found in a trash bag on Deer Island in the Boston Harbor. Yesterday, the girl’s mother and her boyfriend were arraigned in District Court, accused of murdering the girl and covering it up. Michael McCarthy has been charged with murder and held without bail, while Rachelle Bond was charged as an accessory after the fact and had her bail set at $1 million....
National news outlets have been reporting the sensational story of a Salt Lake City, Utah nurse who was arrested after refusing the command of a police officer to draw the blood of a comatose patient for an investigation. Fortunately for Alex Wubbels, the nurse involved in the incident, police body cameras recorded the entire event. The nurse cited the hospital policy of requiring a patient’s consent, a warrant, or an intent to arrest, before drawing blood for police....
Although Rap Super Star Lil’ Wayne is scheduled for sentencing next month and possibly headed off to prison to serve a year for gun possession, his legal woes are still mounting. Now, the prison bound rap super star is facing a $2.5 million copyright infringement lawsuit. According to MTV, he is being sued over royalties from his 2008 song Mrs. Officer. The song was featured on his top selling album Tha Carter III....
El DeBarge, the Grammy-nominated singer who scored a hit with “Rhythm of the Night” in 1985, was arrested in connection with a drug deal in the rhythm of broad daylight, police said. DeBarge, 50, whose real name is Eldra Patrick DeBarge, was busted by undercover cops near a freeway interchange in Los Angeles’ Encino neighborhood, an LAPD spokeswoman told the Los Angeles Times. Officers observed DeBarge and another man taking part in an apparent drug deal about 2 p....
