John Kasich, Ohio governor and former candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, signed off on a plan to legalize medical marijuana in the state. But that doesn’t mean state residents can spark one up in celebration just yet – the plan won’t take affect for at least a year and prohibits smoking weed or growing it at home. So what, exactly, does the new law allow and how does it compare to medical marijuana laws in other states?...
Just because you get caught on tape threatening to beat up a woman, followed by the same woman claiming she was beat up by you, doesn’t mean that you should be prosecuted or put to jail. The Los Angeles district attorney has struck a deal with Mel Gibson, where he will seek counseling instead of prison. Under the deal, where Gibson will plead no contest to battery, there will be no jail time in the alleged Mel Gibson battery, Reuters reports....
Accusing Silicon Valley’s Intel (NYSE: INTC) of “bribery and coercion to maintain a stranglehold on the market,” New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed an antitrust lawsuit against the chip-making giant. How serious were the threats? Cuomo’s lawsuit says that a February 2004 Dell internal e-mail charged that Intel executives, then CEO and Chairman Craig Barrett, and current CEO Paul Ottelini (inset, left to right) “are prepared for jihad if Dell joins the AMD exodus....
New York fashion designer and socialite Beata Boman allegedly stole a scarf - and a “Starbucks defense” is going to exonerate her, according to her attorney. Boman is accused of shoplifting a fur scarf valued at around $11,000 from Richards of Greenwich in New York, reports the New York Post. Boman says she accidentally stuffed the scarf into her purse after an emotional phone call with a friend who was about to get brain surgery, the New York Post reports....
With an influx of new grads and students looking for summer jobs, online job scams are becoming more and more common. As The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, reports, websites that host free job postings offer the perfect opportunity for a scammer to potentially capture your personal info or con you out of money. Here are five tips to help you keep your summer job hunt scam-free: Never agree to cash a check and return a portion of the money....
Maybe it was in celebration of his alma mater, General Hospital, not getting the ax along with other daytime soaps. Maybe he still really wishes he had Jesse’s girl. Whatever the reason, there’s no excuse for the news that Rick Springfield was arrested this past weekend for driving under the influence. And the Rick Springfield mugshot is certainly a memorable one. Pulled over while cruising in his vintage Corvette through the ever pretentious Malibu, Reuters reports that Springfield was spotted speeding on Sunday night....
A South Dakota woman reached a landmark transgender discrimination settlement, keeping in step with a growing trend of cases that say transgender discrimination is applicable under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The $50,000 settlement is bringing transgender workers one step closer to federally recognized equal opportunity in the workplace. Cori McCreery, 29, was fired in 2010 after telling her employer at Don’s Valley Market in Rapid City, S.D. that she would be transitioning from a man to a woman, reports Time....
Video shot by an Illinois truck driver pulled over for honking at a state trooper has gone viral, racking up almost 3 million views in less than a week. The video captures a traffic stop initiated by an Illinois trooper after trucker Brian Miner honked his horn at the officer, who Miner claims was speeding and talking on his cell phone, reports ABC News. The officer seems unapologetic, until he learns that the camera is on....
The Department of Homeland Security issued a warning Thursday, urging people to disable Java on their browsers. Yes, that means you. There’s a good chance you have Java installed even if you think you don’t. It’s a piece of software that’s often used for Internet applications, especially online games. To access webpages that use it, you have to have a plugin installed on your browser. The first time you used it, you probably installed it without thinking, just like Acrobat, Flash, QuickTime, and other plugins that are commonly used....
You may have heard the phrase ‘for-profit prisons’ in reference to private prison companies contracting with state and local governments to detain convicts. You may have also heard that this arrangement can lead to some perverse incentives on the part of private companies, whose profits are tied to the number of people in prison. What you may not have heard about is for-profit probation, whereby private companies monitor offenders, charge them for the privilege, and can even petition that they be sent to jail if they can’t pay....
Rape is a crime that most people have at least some understanding of, but do you know what rape by intoxication is? A Canadian tourist has been charged with rape by intoxication in California, after he allegedly had sex with an intoxicated woman in San Diego last year. Nelson Drake, 39, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday; if convicted, he could face up to eight years in prison, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports....
Grocery chain Whole Foods Market Inc has agreed to pay $800,000 after an investigation found the company had been overcharging California customers. The year-long investigation was followed by a civil consumer protection lawsuit brought by the city attorneys of Santa Monica, Los Angeles and San Diego reports Reuters. According to the Santa Monica City Attorney’s office, among the problems found by state and county Weights and Measures inspectors at the company’s California stores:...
We get a lot of questions about automatic contract renewals over on the FindLaw Answers Consumer Issues board. Are they legal? Can they be enforced? Is there any way to get out of them? Unfortunately, the answers to these questions aren’t particularly favorable. Ordinarily, an individual must affirmatively signal his desire to enter into a contract. But when there is a history of prior dealing, silence may be sufficient to prove assent....
There are a variety of ways someone can be guilty for a murder physically committed by someone else. In addition to being part of a conspiracy, or committing another felony (such as armed robbery) in which a partner kills the victim or a bystander, one of can be guilty of murder under something called the “provocative act” doctrine. The “provocative act” doctrine applies when someone commits an act that provokes someone into killing someone else....
Getting arrested for a senior prank? It’s possible. We all know that senior pranks are often a much-anticipated tradition for restless high school seniors. The pranks range from tame, to hilarious, to just horrific and bizarre, as seen in a recent senior prank in Knoxville, Tennessee. They can also, however, be illegal, and get you thrown in jail before you graduate. So before you gather your friends to draft the most epic practical joke your high school has ever seen, consider these potential criminal consequences:...
Troubled actress Amanda Bynes is facing fresh DUI charges after running a red light in front of a California Highway Patrol officer this weekend. The actress was driving alone in her 2013 Mercedes SUV at 3:30 AM Sunday morning when she allegedly ran the red light and stopped in the middle of the intersection, reports the New York Daily News. A CHP officer who observed the incident conducted a series of field sobriety tests on Bynes....
American Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, her Italian former boyfriend, went on trial in Italy on Friday for the killing and sexual assault of British exchange student Meredith Kercher in 2007. As reported by CNN, many of the allegations in the case are disturbing. The prosecution graphically claims that Meredith Kercher died as a result of a “drug-fueled sex game” with the two defendants and Rudy Guede (who was already convicted and sentenced for her murder)....
In a virtual clean sweep for Apple, Samsung must pay more than $1 billion for willfully violating Apple’s patents in developing a wide variety of phones and tablet computers, a Silicon Valley jury announced Friday. Jurors also found Apple did not infringe on any of Samsung’s patents and will not have to pay its rival a dime, Reuters reports. An appeal is likely. In a historic and closely watched case, Cupertino, Calif....
Just two weeks after body camera footage showed a Baltimore police officer placing drugs at the scene of an arrest, a second body cam video has surfaced, depicting other Baltimore officers allegedly planting drugs while searching a vehicle. None of the officers involved, it seems, were aware that the cameras actually save the 30 seconds of recording before they are turned on. State prosecutors were forced to drop dozens of cases that involved testimony from the officer involved in the first tape....
September 17 is Constitution Day, marking the anniversary of Constitutional Convention delegates signing the document in Philadelphia in 1787. Since then, the document has continued to evolve, both in its structure and its interpretation. While the Constitution lays out the foundations of our government, the Bill of Rights forms the basis of our protections against the government. This is particularly true in the realm of criminal law. Here are the three most crucial amendments regarding our criminal rights:...
