On March 23, 2000, Jerry Amaro, age 36, was beaten to death by officers of the Oakland Police Department during a drug arrest sting. Recently, his family settled their case against the City of Oakland for $1.7 million dollars. The cause of his death on October 21, 2000, was pneumonia, which resulted from multiple rib fractures and a collapsed lung, … [Read more...]
Mediating Your Divorce
If you seek a non-confrontational approach to ending your marital relationship, mediation may be the route for you to take. Mediation is a type of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), which can be a very cost-effective and efficient manner of amicably working out divorce related issues. Mediation, Not Litigation Mediated divorces are not … [Read more...]
Prisoner’s Death Results In Large Damages Award
Philip E. Parker, a former inmate in a Baltimore jail, was being transported by correction officers in a jail bus when he was murdered by a fellow inmate. His family brought a lawsuit claiming that the four correction officers and the State had acted negligently in the supervision of the prisoners on the bus, and as a result of their failure to … [Read more...]
Teenagers Should Not Be Tried As Adults
Jonathan Lipman is the Chief Judge of the State of New York. He seeks to reform our legal system with regard to the prosecution of teenagers as adults. He believes that teenagers who commit minor crimes should have these matters handled by the Family Courts and not the Criminal Courts. New York is one of only two states in the United States that … [Read more...]
Movie Style Jewel Robbery
During a busy Friday, four masked men in blue painter's overalls proceeded from a Cadillac Sedan into the Americana Mall in Manhasset, New York. They entered a jewelry store and took out their guns. In addition to their guns, they took out sledge hammers. This all took place at about 2:00 pm in the London Jewelry Store located in Manhasset, New … [Read more...]
Teacher Gets Student Pregnant, School District Sued
Kenneth Rettler, a teacher in the Desmoine Iowa School District impregnated one of his student, after making repeated sexual advances to her. Even more troubling, the Principal of the school, Rich Blonigan, was aware he was spending time alone with Josephine Stevens in his classroom with the door locked - against school policy. Mr. Rettler had sent … [Read more...]
Men Who Spent 40 Years in Prison Exonerated and Released
The Innocence Project, a non-profit organization that works to overturn wrongful convictions, has set two men free. Obi Anthony, age 37 and Michael Morton, age 57, both got released from prison to the innocence project. Both men had continuously maintained that they were innocent of the crimes they were convicted of and were serving life sentences … [Read more...]
Women Given Equal Rights to Become the Queen of England
Female children in England now have an equal chance to become the Head of State. If newlyweds Prince William and Kate Middleton have a daughter, she can now become Queen. This is true even if she has younger brothers. The countries in the English Commonwealth have recently agreed to change the century-old rules concerning who can become the Head of … [Read more...]
Omaima Nelson, Who was Convicted of Killing Her Husband and Cooking Him has Applied to Be Paroled
Omaima Nelson was convicted of killing her husband, William Nelson. Omaima, then 23, killed her 56-year old husband and planned to steal from him as she had done with other middle-aged men. Her modus operandi was to seduce middle aged men, marry them and kill them for their money. After being married to her husband for less than a month, she tied … [Read more...]
Life Sentence For Possession of Child Pornography
It is against the law to download child pornography from the internet. It violates both State and Federal laws. But A Life Sentence? Daniel Enrique Guevara Vialca, age 26, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Court Judge in Florida for downloading pornographic images from the internet. Is this sentence too severe? Criminal Justice experts … [Read more...]
