Teen Scuffle leads to a Conviction for Punching out Boy’s Teeth

"Kids will be kids." A common phrase used to brush off when young teenagers get into fights, but that's not how Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney Raymond F. Morrogh and the Fairfax jury felt about two boys punching out the teeth of 14-year-old Cody Gibbons on Christmas Eve. James Clarke, 16, was convicted of misdemeanor assault and battery on Thursday, August 28, reported the Washington Post.

Originally, Clarke was charged with aggravated malicious wounding and other felony counts for punching out Gibbons' teeth, but Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Stanley P. Klein threw out the charges. Virginia law doesn't consider bare fists deadly weapons, and the judge ruled that the teenage attackers were not trying to permanently maim the victim.

Anthony Nelli, 16, has also been charged with aggravated malicious wounding; he is still awaiting trial. According to witnesses, Nelli is the one whose punch knocked out Gibbons' front teeth.

Sex Crime Defendants to be Tested for STDs

In Illinois, a new measure sponsored by state Senator A.J. Wilhelmi, with the backing of Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow, strengthens the current state law that requires people arrested for sex crimes to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases.

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has signed the measure into law, according to the Herald News.

The new law requires prosecuting state's attorneys to seek court orders to compel defendants who have been accused of sex crimes to submit to testing for sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV. These tests are to be done within 48 hours of a defendant being charged with a sex crime.

The new law gives teeth to the existing law that required testing for sexually transmitted diseases, but failed to specify a time frame for the defendants to be tested.

The Underground Life of the Oil Industry

On September 10, federal investigators announced that 13 former and current Interior Department employees in the Denver and Washington offices allegedly accepted golf and ski outings, received sexual favors and partied with employees from energy companies, according to CNNMoney.

Three reports released by the Interior Department's inspector general reported that the officials in charge of billions of dollars in oil royalties accepted bribes – including fixing contracts, working as private oil consultants on the side, accepting golf and ski trips and dinners, and having sexual relationships – in exchange for better business deals. The investigation was launched in 2006 after an employee in the Denver office called in to report the ethical issues.

Change in Ohio Self Defense Law

Gun rights advocates have pressed lawmakers for years on changing the law regarding the right to protect property with deadly force if necessary. Their efforts have paid off, and the self defense law in Ohio has now changed.

The Dayton Daily News reported that the law change went into effect on September 9 and will now give people who defend their homes the benefit of the doubt.

Ohio adopted a version of the Castle Doctrine, which states that a person who uses deadly force against an intruder of their car or home is automatically presumed to have acted in self defense. The adoption of the Castle Doctrine was adopted as part of several concealed carry law updates in Ohio.

Record High in Marijuana Arrests Gives Life to Old Debate on Legalization

New statistics have been released by the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI concerning crime in the United States in 2007. Since 1996, local and state law enforcement agencies have been reporting arrest records to an FBI program called the Uniform Crime Reporting program, giving us a fairly accurate portrait over the last decade of trends in property and violent crimes, as well as officers killed and hate crimes.

Out of all the statistics that bear examination, the records of drug arrests are perhaps the most intriguing and controversial. Total drug arrests were around 1.8 million. Within that figure, marijuana arrests made up almost half of total drug arrests, with around 873,000 arrested on marijuana charges. Unsurprisingly, a vast majority, 775,000 or 89%, were for simple possession. In total, marijuana arrests are up 167% since 1990, and have increased in each of the last five years.

When Those ‘Unenforced’ Laws Are Suddenly Enforced

After 39-year-old New Yorker Kimber VanRy put his sons to bed and finished the evening's chores, he retired to the front stoop of his Brooklyn brownstone to drink a bottle of beer and send messages on his BlackBerry, according to a recent New York Times article.

Not too long after he sat down, a cop car rolled up and rolled down its passenger-side window. VanRy left his stoop, walked to the car, and was issued a $25 summons for drinking in public.

VanRy, who's the president of his building's co-op, was stunned. He said he had no clue that it was illegal to drink on your front stoop. No one he knows has ever been ticketed for such an offense.

Do You Really Have the Right to Remain Silent?

A new book by Alan M. Dershowitz, "Is There a Right to Remain Silent?", raises an extremely interesting question about how far Fifth Amendment protections go in post-9/11 America.

The Supreme Court ruled in Chavez v. Martinez that the Fifth Amendment does not prohibit law enforcement officials from torturing an individual to prevent a future crime, such as terrorism.

In Chavez v. Martinez, a police coercion case from 2003, the Supreme Court justices ruled that an individual's right to remain silent is not violated if the information is not used against that person in a criminal case. The fact that they have been coerced into talking, in itself, does not constitute a violation of the Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.

Survey Finds Many Election Officials Clueless on Voting Rights of People Convicted of Crime

Many people are calling the upcoming 2008 presidential election the most important election in our lifetimes.

So, it goes with out saying that every vote will be counted—right?

Unfortunately, Americans may have reason to question that notion.

The 2000 presidential election revealed the basic infrastructure problems of our voting system with the notorious debates about whether each American's vote was being counted.

You would hope that we've learned from our mistakes.

But a new survey conducted by the American Civil Liberties Union and the S.C. Progressive Network that we are still struggling to ensure that everyone eligible to vote is getting their voice heard.

Reversing the Trend toward Violence

Right now, the economy seems to be in a state of disarray. The market is in sad shape, and the government can't seem to agree on the best approach to bail out banks, lenders and borrowers all in one sweep. The numbers of foreclosures and people filing for bankruptcy is growing every month. Meanwhile, more than 600,000 people have lost their job and can't find a new one.

During this soon-to-be-deemed-a-recession period, it seems as though high numbers in divorce and crime would accompany the already dismaying facts of our current condition. Money problems can lead to a couple disagreeing on how paychecks should be spent, adding unneeded stress to relationships that is sometimes too damaging to get through. And with the number of empty houses continuing to increase, neighborhoods have provided many opportunities for burglaries.

Crime Numbers Experiencing a Drop

The value of stock, property and our faith in the economy isn't the only thing that is dropping.

According to a study released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, violent crime declined in 2007.

The New York Times reported that the presented data from the Uniform Crime Report reverses the two-year rise in crimes.

The report collects data from more than 17,000 law enforcement offices across the nation. A total of 1,408,337 violent crimes – murder, manslaughter, rape and assault – were reported, which is a .7 percent decrease.

According to the report, there were 9,843,481 property crimes in 2007, which is a 1.4 percent decrease from the previous year.

All of the subcategories – burglary, larceny and theft, motor vehicle theft and arson – saw a decrease, with the motor vehicle thefts seeing the most significant drop with 8.1 percent.

Former Teacher Argues that Custodial Sexual Battery Conviction Does Not Make the Grade

William Tinsley, a 28-year old former teacher, is waging a battle to have his conviction for custodial sexual battery dropped.

Tinsley was convicted of custodial sexual battery for allegedly fondling a 16 year-old in his home.

Tinsley's argument is that he and the alleged victim were not at school at the time the supposed fondling occurred.

Therefore, he could not be found guilty of custodial sexual battery because the alleged sexual activity did not take place on school property.

Title XLVI of the Florida Statutes addresses sexual battery. In this section the applicable statute states that custodial sexual battery is committed when…a person in a position of control or authority in a probation, community control, controlled release, detention, custodial, or similar setting, acts in such a manner as to lead the victim to reasonably believe that the offender is in a position of control or authority as an agent or employee of government.

Safe Haven Laws Cause Child Abandonment

Your morning started with the usual routine: shaking your children out of bed, getting ready for work, going back into your kids' rooms to get them up again, fixing breakfast, settling yet another bathroom dispute, packing brown-bag lunches for your youngsters, convincing your son he is not sick and can go to school today, putting up your daughter's hair and whisking them off to school. After a long day of rushing around the office, you hop in your car, only to realize the hard part of the day is not over.

You still have to get three kids to soccer practice, piano lessons, a student council fundraiser, a volleyball game and tutoring. Meanwhile, there is a message on your cell phone from a teacher requesting a meeting about your son's grades, you daughter has to go to the mall to get new jeans, you have to punish the youngest two for getting into a fight on the playground, and although you haven't thought about what's for dinner, four kids are already whining about the potentials.

Raising children is by no means a walk in the park, but would you ever reach the point where you would just drop them off at a hospital and drive away? Since Nebraska enacted its new "safe haven" law, which prevents parents or guardians from being prosecuted if a child is abandoned in a safe place, 16 children have been left to state custody in 11 days. How can it be possible that it is legal for parents to abandon their children?

Mislabeling Sexual Offenders

Our government has worked to develop laws that will fairly protect us, while punishing people who commit crimes. We have laws that require people to pay fines, serve time and limit freedoms when someone is convicted of a crime to keep our streets, workplace, schools and homes safe. But is it possible that some of these laws could actually be bringing harm to people who have been mistakenly labeled in the system?

Punishing sexual offenders is one area of crime that our country feels strongly about. The government has made several laws to punish offenders after they have been convicted as well as continue to keep the communities they live in safe by publicizing who has committed sexual acts against children. States like Ohio have sex offender registries to protect children who live in the same area as the person who has committed a sexual crime; however, an incident in Ohio is showing that sometimes these lists only bring harm to people whose names have wrongly been placed on the list.

Is it Possible to Move on?

Danny Seals has accidentally been labeled a sexual offender and is now facing criminal charges for failing to register his address, according to the Newark Advocate. More than 10 years ago, Seals was charged with kidnapping and abduction. He served his sentence and was released in 1999, but he was placed on the Ohio Sex Offender Registry even though he did not commit a sex crime

Supreme Court Postpones Execution

By: Gerri L. Elder

The execution of a Georgia inmate was recently stayed by the U.S. Supreme Court during a special hearing held just hours before the man was scheduled to be put to death.

On September 23, the execution of Troy Anthony Davis, 39, was postponed for a second time. Davis was convicted of murdering a police officer in Georgia.

Davis and his family insist that he is innocent and hope that they will now have time to press forward with requests for a new criminal trial.

Supreme Court Asked to Rehear Kennedy v. Louisiana

By: Gerri L. Elder

When the U.S. Supreme Court recently issued a decision to prevent the execution of convicted child rapists, many people were outraged. Among the people who had negative reactions to the ruling were Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

The Legal Times reported on September 25 that the criticism of this Supreme Court decision by both McCain and Obama was cited in a rehearing request filed by the state of Louisiana in the case of Kennedy v. Louisiana. The Supreme Court justices had decided in this case that it is unconstitutional to execute people who are convicted of child rape when the victim survives.

This controversial Supreme Court decision was handed down on June 25, 2008. Soon after the decision, it was exposed by a military law blogger that the justices and all of the parties involved in the case failed to mention that Congress had recently passed legislation that mandates that the death penalty be imposed for the crime of child rape under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Reduced Sentencing in Reckless Homicide Case Considered Outrageous by Victims’ Families

The Chicago Tribune reports that Jeanette Sliwinski, a former trade-show model, will be released from prison on October 2nd. Sliwinski was convicted of reckless homicide in July of 2005.

She was attempting suicide when her car crashed into a Honda Civic, killing three people. Family members of the victims are outraged that Sliwinski will serve less than half of her 8-year sentence.

In the State of Illinois, reckless homicide is defined as the unintentional killing of an individual while driving a vehicle and using an incline in a roadway, such as a railroad crossing, bridge approach, or hill, to cause the vehicle to become airborne.

Appeals Court Upholds Sex Offender Ban

By: Gerri L. Elder

The town of Plainfield, Indiana has won an important battle in the fight over banning sex offenders from parks. The ruling may also affect other cities and towns in Indiana with similar bans, according to the Indy Star.

Two years ago, the courts struck down a ban in Indianapolis that kept sex offenders out of public parks. Plainfield's ordinance is a purposefully narrower measure, which was carefully written specifically to endure court challenges. In Lafayette and Michigan City, bans that have withstood the court's scrutiny have been enacted.

Under Plainfield's ordinance, people who are publicly listed on the state registry of sex offenders may not enter town parks and recreational areas. Convictions for crimes such as rape, child molestation and incest require people to register with the state.

Incriminating Evidence Extracted from Jail Calls

By: Gerri L. Elder

Thanks to many high profile cases in the news, the public has had the opportunity to hear parts of some inmates' telephone conversations with their families and friends.

While entertaining (or not), these conversations are not recorded for the benefit of the press. Many jails across the country now use automated recording systems to monitor and record inmates' phone calls. In some cases, comments made during these calls can become evidence in criminal trials.

David Harris, a deputy prosecutor in Washington County, Arkansas, has spent hours listening to recorded jailhouse calls in search of incriminating evidence.

Criminal Prosecutions over Financial Crisis Expected

By: Gerri L. Elder

White-collar criminal defense lawyers are gearing up for a busy season (or few) ahead.

Some say that the public fury over the greed on Wall Street and the financial meltdown will prompt an onslaught of indictments. After all, someone has to pay for all of the money, homes and jobs that have been lost, right?

Other criminal defense lawyers say that they are sure that prosecutors will show responsibility in deciding if criminal charges should be brought against white-collar executives, despite public outcry for perceived justice.

Inmate Executed After Obesity Argument Fails

By: Gerri L. Elder

Richard W. Cooey II, 41, was arrested, tried and given the death penalty for the brutal murders of University of Akron sorority sisters Wendy Offredo and Dawn McCreery. Offredo and McCreery were raped, stabbed, tortured and beaten to death in 1986.

During the last minute flurry of appeals in an attempt to stop the execution, Cooey and his criminal defense lawyers argued that he was too obese to be put to death by lethal injection. During these appeals, it was argued that prison food and lack of opportunity to exercise had caused Cooey to become obese while in prison.

Cooey also argued that regular medication he took for migraines would weaken the effectiveness of the anesthetic used in the three-drug cocktail used during execution by lethal injection. He said his veins were weakened because of his health issues, and t