The New York Times Room for Debate seized upon the Isla Vista murders to raise the question of why Elliot Rodger flew under the Santa Barbara sheriff’s radar.  It posed the question:

Once again, senseless slaughter has raised questions not only about how mentally disturbed people can obtain guns, but why authorities can’t intervene to prevent violence.

Do the laws regarding mental health professionals’ duty to warn the authorities of a threat need to be toughened to make them more effective?

The question itself is disturbing, aligned with the sheriff’s excuse for the failure to identify a dangerous mentally ill young man.  Continue reading →

As stories of terror go, it was a flash in the pan.  The likely reason was that it ended promptly, with the death of Miriam Carey, reports explained, who “tried to ram a barricade in front of the White House before speeding off.”  So she was shot to death from behind, as her one-year-old in a car seat survived.

Peculiar story, for sure, but there were a series of explanations for such bizarre behavior. Drugs. Mental illness, which overcame the suburban Connecticut dental hygienist mother. Who knows why someone would ram a barricade at the White House.

The results of the investigation might provide some explanation, except nothing has been publicly released. Same with the video outside the White House. Eight months later and there is nothing. Continue reading →

There is a guy who walks around Tuesday evening Cruise Night handing out flyers for the car show he runs, Cruizin’ For A Cure.  I went to it the first year it was held, and it wasn’t for me.  Mostly American cars, where I’m a British car guy, and the judging of the foreign cars (one class for all) wasn’t very good. So I passed after that.

The problem was that the car show wasn’t just for the sake of having a car show, but as the name suggests, it was charity-focused: he was raising money for prostate cancer.  You see, he was a prostate cancer survivor, and wanted to do something to help. Great cause and I respect his efforts.  But when he asked me if I would come, I told him no. I explained why, but he got angry with me. Didn’t I realize how serious prostate cancer is? Didn’t I want to help with the cure?  Didn’t I appreciate his cause?

Well, in fact I did.  I had nothing against his cause at all. It just wasn’t my cause. I have a charity to which I provide a great deal of support. He doesn’t contribute to my cause, but I understand why. Yet, he couldn’t understand why I didn’t back his cause, because his was so worthy. Continue reading →

It may not have been the best plan of action, but hey, this was Franklin County, Maine and it’s not like they have the volume of warm bodies that Brooklyn would produce on any given day.  So they did the best they could and at least they tried to do something.

From the Morning Sentinel:

Attorney Walter Hanstein, an organizer of the effort to raise pay for court-appointed lawyers, said it was unlikely that attorneys would refuse all court appointments. Hanstein and attorney David Sanders asked lawyers to refuse sexual assault cases, a category that only a small group of attorneys are approved to take as court-appointed counsel in Franklin County.

The effort began two months ago when Hanstein and attorney David Sanders told the Franklin County clerk’s office that they would no longer serve as state-paid attorneys for low-income defendants charged with sexual assault, until the wage is raised from $50 to $70 per hour in all court-appointed cases.

Continue reading →

The 8th Circuit made short shrift of the absurd arrest of Frank Snider for desecrating the flag. No big surprise there, as Snider v. City of Cape Girardeau was a slam dunk.  But then it raises the hoary question of how neither the cop, the prosecutor nor the judge who signed off was aware that the law in the United States of America allowed a guy to use the flag to express himself?  After all, it’s only been the law since 1989, when the Supremes decided Texas v. Johnson.

But the circuit went on to deal with the issue of Police Officer Matthew Peters’ qualified immunity.  After all, it’s not like Peters busted Snider on the spot. Oh no. He followed the procedure that we all hope an officer would follow.

Upon Officer Peters’ returning to the station, another officer informed him of a Missouri statute prohibiting flag desecration. After reviewing the statute, Mo. Rev. Stat. § 578.095, Officer Peters drafted a probable cause statement indicating he believed Snider had committed the criminal offense of desecration of the American flag. He submitted the probable cause statement to Cape Girardeau County prosecuting attorney H. Morley Swingle. After reviewing the probable cause statement, Swingle submitted a warrant application to the Honorable Gary A. Kamp, Circuit Judge of Cape Girardeau County, who issued the warrant for Snider’s arrest.

Continue reading →

Habersham County Sheriff Joey Terrell doesn’t know what could have been done differently. Neither, he says, does the GBI.  Sometimes, a flashbang grenade just lands in a crib next to a toddler’s head.  Bad things happen.

The child was burned when narcotics agents, assisted by members of the Habersham Special Response Team, used a distraction device as they entered a home at 182 Lakeview Heights Circle outside Cornelia . . .

“According to the confidential informant, there were no children,” Terrell said. “When they made the buy, they didn’t see any children or any evidence of children there, so we proceeded with our standard operation.”

Because of recent history with the individual involved in the alleged drug sales and knowledge of weapons in the residence, the special agent seeking the search warrant requested a “no-knock” warrant, Terrell said.

But couldn’t they have accomplished their goal without sacrificing the toddler? Continue reading →

The idea likely stemmed from personal injury lawyers, who produced what became known as “a day in the life” videos of their injured clients in order to convey to juries what was lost to a person and their family by the negligence of defendants.  Contemporaneously, criminal defense lawyers began submitting pre-sentence memoranda, detailing a defendant’s personal and medical history, combined with letters from friends and family about the defendant.

Now, the two have been combined:

Video may have killed the radio star, but it’s helping criminal defendants spend less time in prison.

Some private lawyers and investigators are attempting to unlock the potential of video in the sentencing phase of criminal cases, supplementing the memorandum and letters of support that are typically used to plead for leniency.

These “sentencing-mitigation” videos exist in a legal gray area yet are already having an effect, reports WSJ’s Joe Palazzolo.

Continue reading →

Seattle police had some issues. Use of force issues. Too much force issues.  DoJ issued a report in 2011 that concluded there was a pattern of excessive use of force.  It may have been somewhat underwhelming in its breadth for those who found themselves on the wrong end of a gun, but some members of the police force were not amused.

Now that new use of force rules have been announced, the unhappy cops have taken to the court to protect their turf:

In a highly public rejection of federally mandated reforms, more than 100 Seattle police officers filed a lawsuit Wednesday asking a federal judge to block what they called “mechanical” and unrealistic use-of-force policies imposed on them under a court-ordered consent decree.

The 43-page suit alleges policies stemming from an agreement between the city and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) stoked a “bold, new disregard for police authority in the streets of Seattle,” putting officers and the public in unreasonable danger. Continue reading →

It seemed like a fun idea to take the family to dinner at the Chelsea restaurant of celebrity chef Masaharu Morimoto.  My kids had watched him on Iron Chef, and since my son was in town (who damn near had a stroke when Wolfgang Puck came out to ask him how he enjoyed his meal at Spago), the time seemed right.  I had been there before, courtesy of my pal Brian Cuban, and enjoyed it. So why not?

We had the tasting menu, a pricey proposition at $135 per person that was to consist of eight courses.  The meal was hit and miss, with some courses being fabulous and others peculiar and even unpleasant. Oh well, different strokes, though a dab of sorbet in a shot glass is not a course. But what was neither acceptable nor forgivable was the service.  The wait staff was pleasant and enthusiastic, but did not understand what service meant at that level.

There were basic mistakes, water glasses that were not refilled until I had to beg someone to do so. Busboys trying to take away plates while people at the table were still eating. Or taking three of four plates, and never returning for the fourth. A butt shoved in my face while serving the table next to us, so close that I could see the fillings in my neighbor’s teeth. And a tray touching my nose as the waiter bent over the unclothed table to faux fuss over the way the plate was turned. Continue reading →

The Supreme Court’s 5-4 opinion in Hall v. Florida contained those words I long to see: Alito, J., dissenting.  There is no better assurance that the right decision was reached.  The case involved Florida’s rule establishing an absolute cutoff for execution under Atkins v. Virginia of IQ of 70 or below.

While Atkins held it unconstitutional to execute a mentally retarded person, it neglected to define the phrase. Florida fixed it at a specific number, refusing to consider the margin of error, because the words “standard deviation” mean something different to lawyers.  Justice Kennedy, writing for the majority:

Florida’s rule disregards established medical practice in two interrelated ways. It takes an IQ score as final and conclusive evidence of a defendant’s intellectual capacity, when experts in the field would consider other evidence.  It also relies on a purportedly scientific measurement of the defendant’s abilities, his IQ score, while refusing to recognize that the score is, on its own terms, imprecise…. Continue reading →