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Florida has clarified its “Stand Your Ground” law with a new bill, expanding its protection to warning shots as well as the use of actual force. Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed HB89 on Friday, in part to prevent criminal convictions like that of Marissa Alexander – the woman convicted of aggravated assault in 2013 for firing a warning shot at her abusive husband. Law professor Eugene Volokh writes for his blog (now part of The Washington Post) that it seems sensible for a law that justifies lethal force to “apply equally to defensive threats of force....

The U.S. Supreme Court sided with an American father on Tuesday in a strange international custody dispute over a girl who has been living outside the country under a lower court order. The Supreme Court, by a 9-0 vote, ruled in favor of Chafin, who challenged the awarding of his daughter Eris to her mother, Lynne Chafin, a Scottish national. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had dismissed Jeffrey Chafin’s appeal, saying the issue was moot because the girl by then was already in Scotland and beyond its control....

Normally, when you think of good guys using tech to take out bad guys, you think of drone strikes on terrorists overseas. And, intentionally and sometimes accidentally, those drone strikes have started to hit a little closer to home – targeting and killing American citizens, but not on American soil, yet. But in the aftermath of the Dallas sniper attack on police, local law enforcement deployed an explosive-carrying bomb robot and detonated it near the suspect, killing him....

One of Hollywood’s solidest couples may be on the brink. Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith might divorce. Jada Pinkett Smith has contacted celebrity divorce lawyer Laura Wasser, according to In Touch Weekly. Wasser’s former clientele include other A-list stars like Britney Spears, Maria Shriver, and Kim Kardashian. Jada and Will Smith have been married for more than 13 years. Could this be the end? Whether or not the In Touch report is true remains to be seen....

Late-night comedian Jay Leno is being sued over bestiality jokes by the target of those jokes, a former flight attendant. Louann Giambattista, 55, of Nassau County, New York, claims that she was falsely accused of engaging in sexual misconduct with a rat, the ABA Journal reports. Leno’s jokes referenced a lawsuit Giambattista filed against her ex-employer, American Airlines. The suit involved a co-worker’s alleged comments about Giambattista carrying rats in her undergarments....

Actor Doug Hutchison, best known for his roles in Lost, 24 and The Green Mile, has reportedly married one Courtney Alexis Stodden. Why should you care? The aspiring beauty queen (she participated in Miss Teen Washington USA) and county-music singer is 16. Hutchison is 51. As for how a 16 and 51-year-old fell into a romantic relationship, The Washington Post reports that Courtney Alexis Stodden is a client of Hutchison’s company, Dark Water, which represents various artists....

National Small Business Week 2008 takes place April 21 - 25, with a full schedule of featured events and speakers in New York City and Washington D.C., most available for viewing via Webcast. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), National Small Business Week 2008 “focuses on the state of the small business economy, [covers] important policy issues such as health care and international trade, and honors the national small business person of the year....

Charlie Sheen just pulled off the biggest upset of the year in the world of celebrity crime. Sheen got no jail time despite allegedly assaulting his wife, Brooke Mueller, on Christmas Day 2009. Sheen allegedly threatened to kill Mueller and held a knife to her throat. Sheen pleaded guilty Monday to misdemeanor third-degree assault. As part of the plea deal, the prosecution dropped felony charges against Sheen. Sheen, star of television sitcom “Two and a Half Men,” was filmed leaving the courthouse grinning and blowing kisses to a crowd of fans and paparazzi eager to capture some Charlie Sheen news....

Maybe with such a high volume of crime-focused TV shows like CSI and Law & Order we shouldn’t be so surprised that criminals are taking note of new strategies. For example, New York resident Jerry Ramrattan, an alleged New York rapist, framed his own victim of burglary. Ramrattan enjoys watching police shows, which is perhaps how he managed to concoct the elaborate framing plot, reports The Daily Mail. It all started when he allegedly raped Seemona Sumasar, his ex-girlfriend....

Earl Simmons, better known as the rapper DMX, is serving time in an Arizona prison for cocaine-related probation violation. DMX has been moved to the mental health unit of the prison over concerns of a potential mental health condition, which the judge that ruled on his felony probation violation believes is causing his law-breaking behavior. More specifically, the judge felt that DMX had an “undiagnosed mental condition.” While in the mental health unit, DMX will be detoxing and will not be able to see any outside visitors for thirty days, according to MTV News....

As discussed in a prior post, two three-judge panels of the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Pennsylvania ruled on two very similar MySpace cases in February of this year, coming to two dissimilar decisions. In the case of Layshock v. Hermitage School District and of J.S. v. Blue Mountain School District, students posted parodies of their school principals on the social media site MySpace. In one case, the court found the parody was protected speech, in the other, it was not....

As previously discussed in a prior post on this blog, the City of San Francisco has been moving toward passage of an ordinance that would require retailers of cell phones to post the “specific absorption rate” or SAR of each cell phone for sale. The SAR is the amount of radiation absorbed by the body when the phone sends a signal to the network. The maximum SAR level set by the FCC is currently 1....

The US Supreme Court’s ruling on Tuesday will have a significant impact on President Trump and potentially all presidents that come after. In short, the court found that a particular appointment by President Barrack Obama in 2011 violated a federal regulation regarding the nomination of an individual for a position that requires a senate confirmation hearing. The ruling is expected to put more scrutiny upon future presidential appointees. However, the rule that President Obama is alleged to have violated is one that has been violated countless times since it was passed in 1998....

We increasingly hear about gang injunctions on the news, but what do they do and why are they so controversial? An injunction is a court order, generally speaking. A gang injunction is a court order targeting a specific group that prosecutors have deemed a public nuisance. The practice of seeking these injunctions has come under fire from civil rights groups and some cities have paid a high price for using these orders as a criminal justice shortcut....

Pistols, plagiarism, and public sex. Oh and the ever-present law firm politics and the never-ending grand jury investigation. Just another day here at “The Good Wife” offices. With only a few episodes left in the landmark series, it’s hard to tell where this story is going, if anywhere. Is Alicia going out with a bang, or a whimper? And what’s the deal with suing gun shops? Here’s your legal and love story recap from last night’s episode, “Shoot....

Websites that post arrest mugshots online have been the subject of much laughter, but only at the expense of humiliating arrestees, both innocent and guilty. Additionally, the online posting of mugshots can create personal, social, and career problems for the individuals whose mugshots get posted. The real problem herein lies in the fact that mugshots are taken after an arrest, but before a conviction. Even if a person is found innocent, arrested on accident, or even framed by the police, their mugshot can live on in infamy....

It seems “Joe the Plumber’s” lawsuit against state employees in Ohio is heading down the drain. “Joe the Plumber,” whose real name is Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, gained national attention when he confronted then-candidate Barack Obama about taxes in 2008. After video of the confrontation went viral, three Obama supporters who worked for the state of Ohio delved into state databases seeking information about Wurzelbacher, the Associated Press reports. Those searches violated Wurzelbacher’s First Amendment and privacy rights, Joe the Plumber’s lawsuit claimed....

When a product recall is issued, how do you know? Social media services like Twitter are playing an increasingly important role in spreading the word about recalls. The major federal government agencies that issue product recalls are all on Twitter, so they can send out instant messages whenever they announce a recall. Consumers with Twitter accounts can simply click “Follow” to get the agencies’ tweets delivered straight to their Twitter feeds....

Last month a Florida jury awarded former wrestler Hulk Hogan $115 million in damages in an invasion of privacy suit against Gawker Media. The case was about exposure of a sex tape and now the media is asking what this verdict means for the culture. Is it a sign that the Internet’s wild west days are over and that the standards of online journalism will be raised? Does it show that social media has taught everyone, even those of whose actions would normally go unreported, the importance of privacy?...

As previously reported on this blog, a recall was announced by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) on December 24, 2009 of 248,000 pounds of beef produced by Oklahoma based National Steak and Poultry. The beef had been mechanically tenderized, making this at least the second time in the past two years that such a product has been implicated in an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak. Several restaurant chains were specifically included in the recall which centered mostly in the West and Mid-West....