Information and Insight on Criminal Law and Civil Rights
After three weeks, I am finally out of trial. Well, out in the sense that I am waiting on a jury verdict. Waiting is a killer for everyone in this situation, and I don’t write about cases while they are being tried. So more about that case soon, but this morning I read a little blurb about Boise soldier Andrew…
Continue Reading Boise Soldier’s Article 32 Hearing – think probable cause
A reader of this blog sent me a link to a post on matchcollege.com that identifies ten colleges that permit students to show up for class "armed and dangerous." This is an interesting reminder that the debate has been resolved in some locales.
I grew up in Montana. Every male student took shop class and nearly everyone built two projects…
Reputed Boston mobster Enrico Ponzo is leaving Idaho in the custody of the United States Marshal’s Service, headed to Beantown to face charges arising out of his life before Marsing. United States Magistrate Judge Ron Bush refused Ponzo’s request to remain free and appear voluntarily at his next hearing, finding that he had been too successful at hiding his true…
Continue Reading Enrico Ponzo Headed To Boston – So How Important Is A Changed Life?
KTVB news reported last night that all felony charges filed against five former Blackfoot high school football players have been dismissed, leaving only misdemeanor charges of battery. A few weeks ago the allegations gained international news status, and were discussed openly by national news programs and radio call in shows. Generally, the stories made it sound as if the school…
Continue Reading Blackfoot Sex Charges Dismissed – Lessons In Discernment
There is this practice in Idaho of allowing County prosecutors to handle City cases on a contract basis. So small town hires County PA to prosecute misdemeanor cases, rather than have their own City prosecutor or some private law firm that functions as the City’s lawyer. County Prosecutors have been doing this across the state forever, and it likely works…
Continue Reading Canyon County Prosecutor Owes $280,000 To County – How Did This Happen?
I decided that I should direct you to an article in today’s Idaho Statesman in which Sara Weaver reports that she has forgiven federal agents who shot and killed her mother and brother on Ruby Ridge. I was lucky enough to represent Randy Weaver with Gerry Spence and Garry Gilman when he was charged with the murder of Deputy US…
Continue Reading Sara Weaver News From Statesman – “Forgiveness”
Laura Silsby is still sitting in a Haitian jail while a judge decides whether to order a trial on charges that she tried to take children from Haiti to the Dominican Republic who she believed were either orphaned or abandoned. The new charge is "arranging irregular travel." You will recall that she and other Idaho missionaries were in Haiti, ostensibly…
Continue Reading While Laura Silsby Sits In Jail – Children Are Sold As Slaves In Haiti
I have had some comments (some not so supportive) and calls (a few agreed) about my last post on Haiti. I know I am off topic here, but take a look at the Associated Press report today about the dismal failings of the government in Haiti to handle the job of providing support to its people. After seizing control of…
I was struck by the irony of it all – abandoned and orphaned children being delivered to another orphanage by apparently well meaning Americans – while the government of Haiti cannot deliver even the most basic essentials to its people. They cannot take so much as water to their own but they presume American missionaries are trafficking in children. Sick.
Continue Reading In Haiti There Is No Presumption of Innocence
In another one of those confusing 9th Circuit fraud decisions – the Court of Appeals has upheld the convictions and sentences of three men who summoned the likes of Charles Ponzi and swindled 1700 investors out of $40 million. In US v. Treadwell the Court upheld an instruction that “intent to defraud is an intent to deceive or cheat,” and…
Continue Reading 9th Circuit Says Intent to Defraud is the Intent to Cheat