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An on-duty mailman allegedly choked a girl in a public park restroom. What would have prompted such a violent attack an 11-year-old girl? Taunts, of course, according to sheriff’s deputies. The postal worker, 55-year-old Daniel Villasenor, reportedly wandered by accident into a women’s restroom at a park in Commerce, California, outside Los Angeles. An 11-year-old girl was in the restroom and did what 11-year-olds do: She made fun of the postal worker, Los Angeles’ KNBC-TV reports....

The Ohio Supreme Court has upheld the use of traffic cameras by state municipalities as well as the administrative procedure for hearing appeals by those ticketed. The ruling was split, with three of the court’s seven justices dissenting, reports The Plain Dealer. And the decision comes as legislation requiring a police officer be present at every traffic camera was passed in the Ohio legislature last week. That bill would effectively end the use of the cameras in much of the state....

Pop artist Ke$ha is being sued for millions by her former mangers, claiming that she failed to honor a commission deal. Ke$ha is now facing a $14 million breach of contract lawsuit as New York-based firm DAS Communications Inc, claims that the pop artist signed a contract in 2006 agreeing to pay a commission for helping her to land a major recording contract, the Associated Press reports. The former managers say that the singer squeezed them out of her career under pressure from hit song writer Dr....

The friendly skies apparently got a bit creepy over Thanksgiving weekend, when a college professor was allegedly caught watching child porn on a plane bound for Boston. Grant D. Smith, 47, of Cottonwood Heights, Utah, pleaded not guilty Monday to a charge of possessing child pornography on his laptop, WBZ-TV reports. A judge set bail at $75,000. Smith, a divorced father of two, teaches chemical engineering at the University of Utah, where he is now on administrative leave, CNN reports....

Talk about a strange set of circumstances. Two sisters who are serving life sentences have had the sentences suspended so that one can donate a kidney to the other. They had served 16 years for armed robbery. The case itself was strange as well. The Scott sisters were convicted in 1994 of an armed robbery on Christmas Eve. The robbery netted between $11 and $200, but landed them a stiff sentence....

A Tampa DUI scandal has led to a dozen DUI charges being dropped. Many more cases are being questioned after a Tampa police sergeant was fired for allegedly concealing his role in a “set-up” DUI arrest. According to The Tampa Tribune, Sgt. Ray Fernandez was allegedly involved in deleting text messages related to the planned arrest of a Tampa attorney – actions that led to his firing from the force and the dropping of “about a dozen cases....

A video depicting a teen boy stripped naked and then whipped by a gang of thugs went viral last week. Now, three people have been arrested. The attack was not for some strange sexual role-play, but was instead a brutal act of revenge over a $20 debt allegedly owed by the boy’s father, reports the New York Daily News. New Jersey police have arrested three people believed to be in the video....

Before there was Kimye, there was Brangelina. (And, I’m told, there are a bunch of black and white photos of famous couples from back in the day.) And the greatest celebrity coupling of its time is now coming uncoupled. Angelina Jolie has filed for divorce from Brad Pitt. I know, I know – it’s a dark time for all of us. But celebrity divorces can often teach us a few lessons about our own relationships, so let’s all take a deep breath and dive into quite possibly the biggest celebrity divorce of all time....

An Illinois judge has ruled that Tiffany Startz is not guilty in the party punch death of rapper John Powell. A fellow partygoer had offered $5 to anyone willing to take a punch from Startz. Powell, who was performing at the party, agreed to the bet. When his head snapped back, a vein burst open and caused a deadly brain injury. Prosecutors charged Startz with reckless conduct and battery. She successfully argued that Powell had consented to the hit....

When it comes to obtaining a search warrant, what evidence do law-enforcement agents need? In general, search warrants are governed by the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. That means there must be probable cause to issue the warrant, based on an affidavit that describes the persons or things to be searched and seized. So what is probable cause and what goes in a search warrant affidavit? Probable cause means that law enforcement must have a legitimate and reasonable reason to search or seize someone’s property or to make an arrest....

One of the most common questions from those facing criminal prosecution is whether they have a right to a jury trial. And just what that right entails. The Sixth Amendment guarantees “an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed.” The right is also limited to “all criminal prosecutions.” Though this seems pretty simple, over 200 years of interpretation have changed the meaning of this clause....

Adnan Syed, the subject of “Serial” – the podcast that took the world by storm last fall – might get some relief from the Maryland Court of Special Appeals. Even though Syed was convicted of the murder of fellow high school student and ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee in 2000, and long ago exhausted his appeals, the podcast – which reached the milestone of 5 million downloads faster than any other in iTunes history – reignited interest in the case....

The Food and Drug Administration issued a request to pharmaceutical manufacturer Endo to remove their opioid Opana ER from the market amid growing concern of the opioid crisis. While this request is just that, only a request, the FDA is hopeful Endo will comply, though Endo’s shareholders might need a good reason why the company should comply. Opana ER is a very powerful and long lasting opioid pain killer. It is twice the strength of the well known, and often abused, OxyContin or OxyCodone....

A New York grand jury indicted Pro football Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor on rape charges, steming from an encounter with a a teenage girl. Former NFL star and Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor was indicted on six charges including rape, endangering the welfare of a child and patronizing a prostitute, the Associated Press reports. In general, statutory rape refers to sexual relations involving someone below the “age of consent.” People below the age of consent cannot legally consent to having sex....

A couple has filed a tort lawsuit against Gene Simmons, KISS bassist and vocalist, for alleged assault. The couple claims they were assaulted by KISS’ fire-breathing frontman. According to the Associated Press, Nathan Marlowe and his wife, Cynthia Manzo accused the 60-year-old Simmons of threatening and assaulting them and then swiping their video camera after they shot footage of the Kiss bassist at the Grove mall. According to the complaint and restraining order application Matthew Nezhad asked Simmons what his views on monogamy were and Simmons responded by telling him to get his shot and leave....

For fans of Louis CK, the recent news about the allegations against the comedian may not entirely be a surprise. After all, his comedy has always walked that fine line between inappropriate but still funny, and just totally wrong, which most “R” rated comics are known for walking. In short, CK, allegedly, has a storied history of indecent exposure and sexual misconduct. It is claimed that he has exposed himself to several female comedians that he worked with in the past....

Krista Bowman is the most infamous student at Valdosta State University. That’s in Georgia, by the way. Bowman is under fire for pressing charges against assistant professor Frank Rybicki. He closed her laptop on her fingers while she surfed the web during his class. The incident in question occurred last week during a Valdosta State Law & Ethics of Media class taught by Frank Rybicki. As is standard procedure in university classrooms, students are not to use the web for non-class related surfing....

Stan Lee needed a superhero, and the law came to his rescue. Lee, now 95, co-creator of such superheroes as Spider Man, the Incredible Hulk, and X-Men, has been the alleged victim of fraud, elder abuse, and embezzlement by his self-proclaimed business partner, Keya Morgan. Morgan was introduced to Lee by Lee’s daughter, C.J. What began as a business relationship between creator and collector soon morphed into co-creators, co-producers, and then attempted power of attorney....

Off-the-clock work in California, though not facing extinction, had its wings clipped today in a landmark California Supreme Court case. If your employer asks you to do one more thing on your way out, he may very well have to pay you for that. In what could be the first of many clashes between federal and California state employment laws, the California Supreme Court unanimously decided that employers in California must pay their workers for minutes they spend “off-the-clock,” even if only for a brief task, if that task is routine....

Patients at the country’s top-ranked hospitals are 71 percent less likely to die, when compared with patient mortality ratings at the lowest-ranked hospitals, according to a study released by HealthGrades, a healthcare ratings company. The study examined cases of patient mortality in 18 different medical procedures and health conditions. HealthGrades calls the assessment of about 5,000 hospitals nationwide “the most comprehensive annual study of its kind, cover[ing] more than 41 million Medicare hospitalization records over the years 2004 to 2006....