There are innocent high school pranks, and then there are outright acts of vandalism. And the line between the two can be nearly invisible. Ten Arkansas teenagers allegedly crossed that line and then some by spray painting, super gluing, and etching a rival team’s beloved panther mascot statue. So what kinds of charges, and punishments, could these kids be facing? (And could their parents be in trouble, too?) Here’s a look....
A Florida jury awarded $61 million to the family of a teenager killed in a Ford SUV rollover accident when the boy’s 17-year-old friend fell asleep driving the vehicle. While the jury didn’t assess punitive damages in the case, it ordered the car manufacturer to pay $1.2 million in damages, and $60 million for the pain and suffering of the dead boy’s family. As in many personal injury trials where significant damages are awarded, it appears likely that Ford will appeal the verdict, a process that could prolong resolution of the case for years....
Kelly Clarkson bought a Jane Austen ring for close to a quarter-million dollars, but now British authorities are trying to block her from taking it home to the good ol’ U.S. of A. Clarkson bought the ring, anonymously, last year at a jewelry auction at Sotheby’s for about $233,000, after outbidding seven other potential purchasers, according to The Telegraph. But the UK’s national culture minister put a temporary export ban on the ring, hoping for a “native” to buy it and keep it in Britain as a national cultural treasure....
PETA suffered a defeat on Wednesday when U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey Miller dismissed its lawsuit against SeaWorld. The animal rights organization had sued the park, claiming that Shamu and his friends are “enslaved” in violation of the 13th Amendment. Judge Miller began his analysis by noting, “Plaintiffs are members of the Orcinus orca or “killer whale” species, the largest species of the dolphin family.” This little fact is what ultimately doomed PETA’s SeaWorld lawsuit....
The Navy Yard shooting on Monday left 12 people and the gunman dead. It also presents several troubling legal questions. As investigators look into what may have motivated suspected gunman Aaron Alexis to commit such a heinous crime, who will be held accountable for the dozen civilians murdered? Here are five legal questions that may help to illuminate the future contours of this tragedy’s effects on the victims, their families, and even the shooter’s employer:...
The six stars of the TLC program “Kate Plus 8” could lose their spot on the reality television series. A Pennsylvania state lawmaker is questioning the legality of work permits issued to Kate Gosselin’s sextuplets for the reality show, the Associated Press reports. Under Pennsylvania law, children under 7 can work in movies, but not television. Rep. Thomas Murt sent a letter to the state attorney general and labor secretary asking for clarification....
Sadly, undocumented immigrants find themselves victims of crime on their way to the United States or upon their arrival. Often, they are targeted specifically because of their immigration status and fail to report crimes for fear they will be deported. In response, many cities, states, and the federal government have begun offering temporary visas and a path to legal permanent residency for undocumented immigrants who are the victims of crime. Here’s how these visas work:...
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has issued a final safety rule that will make it mandatory for many new vehicles to include a “backup camera” to increase rearview visibility. NHTSA will require new vehicles under 10,000 pounds to include rear visibility technology if they’re manufactured on or after May 1, 2018, according The Associated Press. The ruling includes buses and trucks. The backup cameras will expand the driver’s field of vision to encompass a 10-by-20-foot zone directly behind the vehicle and hopefully reduce the number of traffic injuries and fatalities in backup accidents....
Days after Najibullah Zazi pleaded guilty for his role in an al Qaeda terror conspiracy to bomb New York City’s subway system, two of his alleged co-conspirators were indicted by a federal grand jury on five felony counts of conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction to blow up subways in Manhattan sometime between September 14 - 16, 2009. Zarein Ahmedzay and Adis Medunjanin, both 25 year-old U.S. citizens living in Queens, could get life in prison if convicted of the terror charges (see below)....
Jenny Lewis, a 47-yearold Playboy Mansion party planner filed a wrongful termination lawsuit in Los Angeles, charging that Playboy Enterprises, Hugh Hefner, and others fired her while she was recovering from surgery on an approved medical leave. Her party planning prowess included managing a staff of more than “25 temporary or on call indivuduals, and other Playboy Mansion Staff and contract Security Staff.” You can read Jennifer Lewis’ age discrimination and wrongful termination lawsuit against Playboy here:...
Rapper Rick Ross is facing a paternity suit filed by Georgia woman Tyrisha Childers. The child in question is three years old. Childers filed a suit in Broward County, Florida. She asserted that Ross was the father. She also claimed he failed to pay her child support. Childers doesn’t have much money, according to HipHopDX.com. She makes approximately $694 a month from disability payments. Ross claims that he’s never slept with Childers and is not the father....
Road rage leading to murder? That’s what investigators say happened Saturday night, and now an off-duty police officer is facing charges. The officer, Joseph Walker, 40, is assigned to the Hudson County, New Jersey, prosecutor’s office. He allegedly shot and killed another driver, Joseph Harvey, 36, of Maryland, in what police believe was a road rage homicide, Reuters reports. Walker driving with his wife and three children on Route 3 south of Baltimore, and apparently got into some kind of altercation with Harvey and pulled over....
Two Pennsylvania men have been charged with felony gun charges and criminal conspiracy after they fired 40 rounds with a .22 caliber rifle with a scope and silencer directly at a supermarket parking lot. Joseph B. Carr and James W. Pearson allegedly fired the shots at the shopping center at approximately 5:15 a.m. and struck a bench in front of a ShopRite supermarket and the window of a nearby Sovereign Bank....
The quiet half of magic and comedy duo Penn & Teller is suing for copyright infringement. Teller’s magic trick lawsuit alleges that Dutch magician Gerard Dogge infringed on his magic act “Shadows.” Dogge, stage name Gerard Barkardy, titled his version of the trick “The Rose & Her Shadow.” Dogge allegedly posted videos of himself performing the act on YouTube, Reuters reports. At the end, Dogge offers to reveal the trick’s secret for $3,050....
Like all too many government programs, CARS (a.k.a. Cash for Clunkers) has attracted scam artists looking to turn a cheap buck. Do not give personal information to websites claiming to help you utilize the program. As detailed in our sister blog, the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) recently launched. Commonly referred to as “Cash for Clunkers,” it is a $1 billion program designed to help people get out of old inefficient cars and into new greener wheels....
California has outlawed revenge porn, in a bill that was signed into law this week. It immediately serves to make this spiteful, harassing practice a crime. As Reuters reports, the new law targets an increasing number of persons posting nude images of an ex-romantic partner online as “a way of exacting revenge after a breakup.” What exactly does this law say, and what does it mean for California breakups? California Law Criminalizes ‘Revenge Porn’ California Gov....
Since 1790, the government census also has been used to count every single person residing in the United States, to determine state and federal political representation and collect demographic data about the country’s population. That demographic information includes race, sex, and age, and from 1820 to 1950, the census also gathered information on citizenship status. Starting in 1960, though, the government dropped the citizenship question, reasoning that noncitizens and Hispanic citizens would be less likely to participate for fear of census information being used against them and their loved ones....
A trial date was finally set for the boyfriend and doctors accused of conspiring to illegally provide the late Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith with sedatives and opiates before she died. Superior Court Judge David Wesley scheduled the trial for the three defendants for Aug. 4, the Associated Press recently reported. Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, Dr. Khristine Eroshevich and Smith’s ex-boyfriend Howard K. Stern all have pleaded guilty to illegally supplying the late actress with sedatives....
When it comes to consumer risk, reverse mortgages present many of the same problems that subprime home loans did, and regulators need to take steps now – by applying some of the lessons learned in the wake of the subprime crisis – to avoid a similar meltdown, a federal bank official said this week. What is a Reverse Mortgage? In a standard mortgage, payments are made to a lender each month....
After deliberating 14 hours over two days, a Norristown, Pennsylvania jury found Bill Cosby guilty of drugging and molesting Temple University employee Andrea Constand in 2004. It was Cosby’s second time facing a jury on sexual assault charges based on Constand’s allegations – the first was declared a mistrial in June 2017 after a different jury failed to reach a verdict. Cosby remains free on bail until sentencing. Cosby guilty of three counts of aggravated indecent assault, defined under Pennsylvania sexual assault laws as penetration “without the complainant’s consent,” or if a “person has substantially impaired the complainant’s power to appraise or control his or her conduct by administering or employing, without the knowledge of the complainant, drugs, intoxicants or other means for the purpose of preventing resistance....
