Legal Juice

Not only did this doctor have sex with his patient ... he did so in his office, weekly, and at least one of those times ... her husband was in the waiting room! Per metro.co.uk:

A doctor 'nearly fell off the couch' when a patient told him her husband was in a surgery waiting room outside while they had sex, a disciplinary panel heard.

Dr Michael Rusling indulged in regular sex sessions with the grandmother, the General Medical Council heard. Known as Patient A, the grandmother enjoyed weekly liaisons with him in a seven-month affair at the Sydenham House Group Practice in Hull in 2006-07.

Dr Rusling, of Beverley in East Yorkshire, admits inappropriate conduct and an abuse of power but denies his fitness to practise is impaired. The hearing continues.

Dude. You really don't think your fitness to practice is impaired? One has to question the judgment of a doctor who doesn't question his judgment under these circumstances.

Mr. Joe Scola, of Gloucester, Massachusetts, heard the front door of his restaurant slam. As reported in the Gloucester Daily Times,

When he glanced outside, he saw his waitress returning from a break. She asked him, "Who's that guy carrying the meat down the street?" Scola recounted yesterday.

The dude was loaded up with 20 pounds of Scola's frozen meat. So Scola chased him and caught him.

"What are you doing with my food?" Scola said he asked the suspect. "I'm really hungry, man," the suspect replied.

As Scola began taking the meat back, the dude "raised the 5-pound, frozen solid log of prosciutto above his head, presumably to hit Scola." Bad move, meat man. What did Scola do?

"I slammed him with the ham in the face," Scola said from his kitchen yesterday. The would-be thief, stunned and with a gouge on his face, dropped the meat and ran.

He may still be running. The police couldn't find him. And don't think that Scola is a coldhearted, greedy guy.

"I felt bad," Scola said of the suspect's injuries. "If he had come in and said he was hungry, I'd have given him a breakfast."

Having once been homeless himself, he gives back to the community by donating leftover food to a local shelter. And it's unlikely the thief was stealing the food to eat because it takes several days to thaw out. Here's the Gloucester Daily Times article.

So this guy's estranged wife visited him regularly. How did he repay her kindness? He put mercury in her tea! At least five times! Why? So that when she got sick, he could take care of her, and win her back. How much jail time do you get for something like this? Zippy. Nada. Zilch. Squadoosh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There are mitigating factors. But still, not a single day in jail? To read the entire story at Metro.co.uk, and to see a video report, click here.

No nude sculptures or paintings were hauled away, but 26-year-old model KC Neill was. As reported by NBCNewYork.com:

Police arrested a woman at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for stripping naked in the middle of the Arms and Armour exhibit.

You can see the video here.

The model was posing yesterday for photographer Zach Hyman who has gained recent notoriety for his photos of nude models posing at New York landmarks, snapping shots of naked New Yorkers (all volunteers) from Times Square to Chinatown for his portrait series.

Hyman gives himself just 30 seconds to take 10 shots of nude models with his Hasselblad 500 C/M film camera and conducts his shoots in all natural light. The pictures typically can sell for anywhere from $2,000 to $9,500.

Let me get this straight: Hyman makes between $20,000 and $95,000 for a 30-second photo shoot, and he's not even the one at risk of being arrested? Hmmm. A good camera, a few models ... The Juice is taking a leave of absence ... (Ms. Neill was charged with public lewdness.)

Talk about chutzpah. Check out this burglary, as reported by Sweden's "The Local" and "Helsingborgs Dagblad"

A thief in southern Sweden took time off during a weekend break-in to surf pornographic websites on a company computer ... local newspaper Helsingborgs Dagblad reports.

Here comes the real chutzpah:

Already faced with the prospect of having to procure a new welding machine, the owner also suffered the indignity of being called out for lax sweeping procedures. A message on the company's computer screen spelled out the burglar's considered opinion:

"You need to clean up. Regards, Thief."

Did they catch "Thief?"

Police have so far been unsuccessful in their attempts to track down the hygiene-conscious bandit.

In this [alleged] car thief's defense, how could he have known that the POV ("personally owned vehicle") he stole belonged to a police officer. Oops. This is from the Colorado Springs Police Blotter:

Summary: On 08/13/2009 at 0600, off duty Officer Ruben Crews reported his POV as stolen from his residence. the vehicle did contain some police gear including his police jacket.

Officer Crews and his spouse were out searching for the vehicle and upon returning to their home they found the vehicle in the driveway. They also discovered that a window had been breached to the residence. Upon searching the outside of the residence, Officer Crews encountered a male identified as Michael Reeder, DOB: 05/30/64, wearing his police jacket. Officer Crews produced his badge and identified himself as a police officer. A struggle ensued and Reeder was taken into custody.

Officer Crews sustained a hand injury and was treated at Memorial Hospital. Reeder sustained a head injury as was taken to Penrose for a medical clearance.

Was Mr. Reeder also singing "Y.M.C.A." while wearing Officer Crews's jacket?

Reeder will be charged with Motor Vehicle Theft and Burglary.

This story is wacky for 2 reasons: it involves a robbery due to some bad beef jerky, and the alleged robber works 2 doors down from the scene of the crime! As reported by The Cleveland Plain Dealer:

Police say a Cleveland barber got so upset by what he considered bad beef jerky that he returned to the store where he bought it and tried to rob the owner.

Police say the 28-year-old barber walked into the store where he bought the snack, just two doors down from his barbershop, and tried to rob the owner Thursday night.

The owner told the man he recognized him and chased him outside with a baseball bat.

The first police officer who arrived on the scene was also familiar with the barber because he cuts the officer's hair.

Police arrested the man at his girlfriend's house a few miles away.

The barber told police the stick of beef jerky he bought sickened him and his dog.

That's exactly why I give it to my dog first ... (I'm kidding! I don't have a dog. Unfortunately, my cats don't like beef jerky ...)

I seriously doubt that Mr. James Lewis will ever complain about his wife's cooking again. I can tell you how I know this in 2 words: fifty stitches. As reported by wral.com:

Deputies responded to an assault call Friday morning on the 5000 block of Justice Branch Road and found paramedics treating James Lewis, 85, for head injuries. Lt. Stevie Salmon of the Halifax County Sheriff's Office determined that Lewis and his wife, Rosie Lee Lewis, 71, had argued over what she had cooked for breakfast.

The couple continued to bicker as Rosie Lewis cooked another meal, Salmon said, and the argument escalated to the point that James Lewis raised his cane as if he were ready to hit his wife. Rosie Lewis then hit him on the head several times with an iron frying pan, knocking him to the ground, Salmon said.

Damn!

James Lewis was taken to Halifax Regional Medical Center, where he received 50 stitches to close his head wounds, Salmon said.

And Ms. Lewis?

[She] was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, and authorities said she was being held without bond because the charge stemmed from a domestic dispute.

Click here for the source, including a photo of Ms. Lewis. And check out this wacky food complaint story. And this one.

Oscar Reynolds Jr. was acquitted of robbing the Liberty Bank in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Guess what Mr. Reynolds was doing about a month after the acquittal? He was robbing that same bank! Unlike the first time, where he was acquitted because he could not be positively ID'd, smart money says Mr. Reynolds will see the inside of a cell this time. Why? Per The Jonesboro Sun:

In a police interview Reynolds “admitted to entering the bank with a gun and committing the robbery.”

Doh! And ...

“There also was money found under the mattress in the bedroom where Reynolds was [hiding]. One of the bills found had a serial number that was logged by the bank as being stolen."

“A firearm was found in the adjacent apartment that matched the description of the gun that the suspect used.”

A 21-year-old woman in Sioux Falls, South Dakota was not arrested for anything she did to her 3-year-old charge. Actually, it's what she didn't do - WATCH THE CHILD - that led to her arrest. As reported in the Rapid City Journal:

Police were called to an apartment building after a woman reported finding a 3-year-old girl wandering the complex about 1 a.m. Wednesday. When officers took the girl to the apartment number she gave them, they detected the smell of marijuana.

Police arrested a 21-year-old woman on drug charges. The woman had been baby-sitting the 3-year-old for a friend.

Some friend.

It's easy to play Monday-morning bird smuggler. But do you have any better ideas? From the L.A. Now blog (by Scott Glover) of the Los Angeles Times:

A man who allegedly flew from Vietnam to Los Angeles with 14 live birds hidden in his pants was one of two men indicted on smuggling-related charges today by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles.

Duc Le, 34, and Sony Dong, 46, are charged in an eight-count indictment with conspiring to smuggle dozens of birds into the United States, including red-whiskered bulbuls, magpie robins and shama thrushes.

Both men were arrested last month after investigators determined that Dong had 14 birds fastened to pieces of cloth around his calves, said Asst. U.S. Atty. Mark Williams. A subsequent search revealed dozens more illicit birds, officials said.

The photo is from the U.S. Attorney's office.

So this homeless man in Lancaster, Ohio got burned by a taser. And I mean literally "burned." Per the Lancaster Eagle Gazette,

Officers said they spotted a man -- later identified as [Mr. Daniel C.] Wood -- allegedly placing the end of a can in his mouth then running away.

When the police caught him and tasered him, his chest caught on fire. The fire was extinguished and ...

Wood faces charges of assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest and abusing harmful intoxicants. His bond is $5,000.

To read more (a fair amount), click here. Click here to read another taser story.

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There's just no way 48-year-old William King was going to get away with the multiple burglaries he recently committed. How do we know this? Per The Toronto Star:

A man burrowed his way through drywall into two salons where he stole cash, cigarettes and a lighter, had a smoke and a bathroom break.

Then he made his big mistake: He dropped his wallet.

Doh! And what was in the wallet?

...a City of Toronto paycheque, a credit card, a parole card.

If you live in Toronto, you might find this a little troubling:

In the hair salon, the police found fingerprints but somehow walked over the caper's key clue. A store employee stumbled upon the wallet while sweeping up the damage.

Maybe the officer and the store employee should change jobs? Here's the source.

I love my car, or so I thought until I read this story. As reported by krqe.com:

An Albuquerque man faces indecent exposure charges after police say children saw him simulating a sex act with his car in a grocery store parking lot.

Danny Brawner, 46, was indicted on two counts of aggravated indecent exposure and one count of indecent exposure for the July 28 incident in the parking lot of the Smith's Food and Drug store on 101 Coors Blvd. NW, according to a news release from Bernalillo County District Attorney Kari Brandenburg's office.

Witnesses told police they saw Brawner "humping" his car's trunk while swinging his arms in the air and shouting. His pants were around his ankles, witnesses said.

An officer said he found Brawner asleep next to his car. The officer woke him up and arrested him. The officer said Brawner appeared to be intoxicated.

And if all of that were not embarrassing enough ...

Two children saw the alleged sex act, which is why Brawner faces the aggravated indecent exposure charges. They're fourth-degree felonies.

What is Mr. Brawner looking at?

If convicted on all counts, Brawner could be sentenced to serve up to four years in prison and attend mandatory counseling.

If convicted of the aggravated indecent exposure charge, under New Mexico law, Brawner would have to register as a sex offender.

Actually this incident is not without precedent.

Definitely not the way to treat your daughter... As reported by the Gainesville Sun:

Sometimes throwing pizza is a crime.

That was the allegation that resulted in the arrest of a 38-year-old Gainesville man early Friday morning. The man, whose name is being withheld to protect the identity of the victim, is charged with child abuse without great harm, a felony.

Sometime after 10 p.m. Thursday the man told his daughter to turn the music off on the computer. According to an Alachua County Sheriff's Office report, he said something like: "Get off the computer you [racial slur]-loving [sexist insult]."

The girl, whose age was not immediately available, refused and fired back with some crude language of her own.

"The defendant then intentionally threw a slice of pizza at the victim, striking her in the back of the neck, against her will," according to the report by Deputy Nick Vickers.

The girl called 911 and her father was arrested.

Um. Er. Sorry?

Cab Driver Tewfik Boukhelal jumped out of his cab - while it was moving! This was not okay with his two passengers, especially the one who was knocked unconscious as she too jumped out of the moving cab. Why did he do this? Because Mr. Boukhelal thought the passengers (1) had released a substance, and (2) were going to steal from him. Say what? I'm having a really hard time reconciling these thoughts. Headache coming. (See below.)

The Judge hearing the case remarked that it was "the most bizarre case of dangerous driving" he'd ever seen. The penalty? No more driving for Mr. Boukhelal, at least for the next 18 months. He was also put on probation for 12 months, given 160 hours of community service, and must retake the driving test. No worries, though. He found a new job as a translator. You will find the rest of the story here.

He's a 38-year-old former lay minister at a Lebanon County (Pennsylvania) church, and here are his priors, per the Lebanon Daily News:

[In] October 1997, he was arrested and charged with exposing himself to a Lebanon Valley College student in a college parking lot. He was convicted in November 1998 and was sentenced to 15 months probation.

He pleaded guilty to invasion of privacy and disorderly conduct in May 2000 and was sentenced to two years probation for taking pictures of a partially nude girl in a changing booth in a store at the Harrisburg East Mall.

In January 2001, he was charged with loitering outside a North Cornwall Township home and was sentenced to one to 12 months in county prison.

Krpata was sentenced in March 2001 to county prison for six to 12 months for violating terms of [the November 1998] probation.

He pleaded guilty to attempted invasion of privacy for trying to peek at customers in changing booths at the Jubilee Shop in Lebanon on Oct. 11, 2002. He was sentenced the following April to three months to one year in county prison for that offense.

In May 2007, Krpata was sentenced to 11 months in Lebanon County prison for violating conditions of his parole for walking onto a school bus in April at a Hummelstown-area gas station and talking to a woman. At the time of his sentencing in 2007, Krpata was on parole for a conviction on charges of loitering and peeping into a neighbor's home on April 29, 2006. He was sentenced for that offense in January 2006.

And most recently ...

Christopher Krpata ... was sentenced Monday to three years of probation and ordered to complete sex-offender treatment for an obscenity-law violation, said Jennifer Gettle, deputy Dauphin County district attorney.

Krpata of 211 W. Park Ave. violated the obscenity law by viewing pornography on a laptop computer at work, and someone who entered the room saw it, Gettle said. The offense happened when he worked at Coca Flats Hotel in Hummelstown in December 2007.

Here's hoping the treatment works.

So this dude is riding his bike in St. Charles Parish (in Louisiana) with a 3-foot-long alligator around his neck. And yes, it was alive. Per the Times-Picayune, when the police approached 38-year-old Terron Ingram and the gator ...

Ingram dropped the reptile and his bike and ran off, but was apprehended a few blocks away.

Good news for the gator ...

Alligator Control Officer Kenny Schmill said he released it into the marsh near Bayou Gauche.

Bad news for Mr. Ingram ...

Ingram ... was booked with a variety of charges, including cruelty to animals by abandonment, resisting arrest and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was being held on $15,000 bond.

Here's the source.

18-year-old burglar Jake Ormerod could have called any cab company. But he didn't ... As luck would have it [bad luck, that is], the burglary victim was a cab driver. And one of things Mr. Ormerod stole from his house was a cell phone - the very phone he used to call the cab company. You've probably figured out that the cab company he called was the victim's! Doh! As reported by The Sun:

Don [Smith, age], 53 - whose home was raided by Ormerod - said: "He must be the unluckiest burglar in the world. He could have chosen any cab firm to ring, but he called mine.

"If that wasn't bad enough, he happened to get the one controller on duty who would recognise my mobile number immediately."

Mr. Ormerod pleaded guilty. Here's the source.

You be the judge. Mr. Moyer "was accused of touching the woman's chest and buttocks in the Toontown area of the Magic Kingdom." As reported by clickorlando.com:

"I'm not guilty," Moyer told the judge. "I haven't, as the prosecution says, molested or grabbed -- maybe unintentionally touched, but that's as far as it went.

The defense [said] that there were nine other people in the room, including Moyer's family and other Disney employees who are assigned to watch over the characters, and none of them witnessed anything inappropriate.

"The state wants you to believe this man, in front of all these people, molested this woman. No one saw it. It was never caught on camera," said defense attorney, Zahra Umansky.

For the state of Florida:

Prosecutors said during the trial that photographs show the Disney cast member pushing Moyer's hands away from her after he touched her.

The woman playing Minnie Mouse said she did not yell for help because she feared that she could lose her job for being out of character. She did report the incident after Moyer left the area, according to investigators.

The verdict? Guilty. The time?

... 180 days of probation, 50 hours of community service and a $1,000 fine. [Mr. Moyer] also must undergo a mental health evaluation and write a letter of apology to the victim.

To read more, and see some video, click here.

Clifton Williams could tell you why yawning in Judge Rozak's courtroom is not a good idea. Per the Chicago Tribune:

As Circuit Judge Daniel Rozak handed down [Mr. Williams's] cousin's sentence -- 2 years' probation -- Williams, 33, stretched and let out a very ill-timed yawn.

Williams' sentence? Six months in jail -- the maximum penalty for criminal contempt without a jury trial. The Richton Park man was locked up July 23 and will serve at least 21 days.

Shazam!

"I really can't believe I'm in jail," Williams wrote his family in a letter. "I done set (sic) in this [expletive] a week so far for nothing."

... In the two-story brick home where Williams had been living with his aunt Cheryl Mayfield and caring for his 79-year-old grandmother, family members said they were in shock over the sentence but were unable to afford an attorney to appeal.

"This is ridiculous -- you've got all these people shooting up kids, and here this boy yawns in court [and gets 6 months]. It's crazy," she said. "This could happen to any one of us."

Of course there are 2 sides to every story.

Chuck Pelkie, a spokesman for the state's attorney's office, said the prosecutor in the courtroom that day told him that "it was not a simple yawn -- it was a loud and boisterous attempt to disrupt the proceedings."

... and ...

Observers describe Rozak as running the type of strict courtroom that was common a few decades ago. Defense attorneys say Rozak is "tough but fair" and runs particularly well-managed trials. Rozak has been elected in 2000 and 2006, both times with recommendations from the state bar association.

To read more (a lot), click here.

From the case of Salinero v. Pon, 124 Cal.App.3d 120, 177 Cal. Rptr. 204 (1981):

The owner of a six-story apartment building hired an independent contractor, the plaintiff's employer, to wash the windows of the building. No safety devices - from which window washers could be suspended - had been installed on the building. So the owner and the contractor agreed that the windows would be washed by means of a ladder extended over the edge of the roof from which the workers would be suspended in a boatswain's chair secured to the roof by a weighted sand bag. Brilliant! While the plaintiff was suspended in the chair some 35-40 feet above the ground, a fellow worker mistakenly removed the sand bag anchoring the plaintiff's chair, causing him to fall and suffer injury.

Doh! You can read the entire opinion by clicking here.
[13 pages!] Spoiler alert - Salinero, the falling guy ... [see below]

lost!

If Alexander Yermilov is saying this, you should listen. If not, you might find yourself on the business end of an ax. As reported by UPI:

Prosecutors said a man in the Chita region of Russia killed two friends he found dismembering his pet dog so they could prepare a meal.

The regional branch of the Prosecutor General's Office said Alexander Yermilov took an ax to his friends whom he found butchering his Great Dane when he returned to his home in Natsigun in December, The Moscow Times reported Thursday.

After Yermilov struck Irina Maryasova and Nikolai Sedunov several times, killing them on the spot, he called the police and confessed, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said the reason why the two killed the dog or wanted to eat it was unknown.

For 57-year-old truck driver Mohamed Nor of Malaysia, 3 wives and 18 kids (ages 4 to 34) are not enough. So he is seeking the permission of the Syrariah High Court to marry a fourth women. And guess who has consented to the marriage? Wives 1,2 and 3. Said Judge Shaikh Ahmad, per the New Straits Times:

“I find it rather strange because since becoming a (syariah) judge, this is the first time where all three wives not only allow their husband to marry another woman but are very supportive of it,” he said during the hearing of Mohamed Nor’s application.

Do you think the Judge allowed the marriage? Nope. His concern? How can a truck driver making RM 1,500 per month (US $468.75) take on another wife? So Mr. Nor has to answer this question to the court's satisfaction before the marriage will be approved.

Nor would you want to be, because many folks have died with lower blood-alcohol levels. Would it surprise you if a fraternity was involved? Or pledges? Five hours of drinking? Me either. Pledges to Beta Theta Pi at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania kicked off the pledging season with a bang. The brothers made sure of that. As reported in The Brown and White, the school's paper:

After dinner, all members of the pledge class were taken into the party room and offered shots of Old Crow whiskey for about one and a half to two hours. They were then taken into the chapter room and given champagne to drink out of the "loving cup," which is a ritual at the fraternity, according to a police affidavit.

Shots of whiskey for 1.5 - 2 hours? It's no wonder, then, that one of the pledges had a blood-alcohol level of .505, more than 6 times the level of legal impairment (.08) in Pennsylvania! Incredibly, the kid didn't die, though he and another pledge (.31) were in the hospital, unresponsive and breathing through ventilators. (Last year a Rider University student with a .426 blood-alcohol level died.)

What happened to the brothers? Per The Brown and White:

The hospitalizations, along with 14 citations for alcohol-related offenses that night resulted in Beta Theta Pi fraternity being suspended by both the university and its national headquarters. Of the 14 citations, 11 were given to freshmen for underage drinking.

Following the incident, Beta President, Andrew Edmonds, '09, was charged with one count of furnishing alcohol to a person who is under 21. As president, he is responsible for activities that occur at the fraternity.

Here's the link to the article from The Brown and White.

Actually in the United Kingdom, what Americans call potato chips, they call "crisps." The burning question before a UK High Court judge was: Are Pringles "crisps" or not? Why is this important? Because if they are crisps, they get taxed at 17.5%! If not, they are exempt from the tax, as is most other food. So what was the decision?

Judge Justice Warren said Pringles' "unnatural shape", distinctive tube packaging, and non-potato ingredients meant that the snack could not be classified as a crisp.

The ruling yesterday pointed out that Pringles – who are most famous for their irritatingly catch adverts "once you pop, you can't stop" – contain corn flour, wheat starch, maltodextrin, emulsifier, rice flour and dextrose, and just 42 per cent potato content.

I am shocked, shocked I say ... that anyone would argue Pringles are potato chips. You can read more in The Telegraph article here.

So Shelley Gallant was approaching the 12-mile mark of the Chicago Marathon when, out of the blue, a man she didn't know "came out of nowhere" and sucker-punched her in the face! And she crumbled to the ground. She stopped running right? Nope. She sat down, dazed, for about 30 minutes, and then ran another 8 miles before the race was terminated due to the heat. Oh, and she vomited 4 times. Tough lady. Does she want revenge? Nope. Said Ms. Gallant:

I don't want to press charges. I just want to know what happened. Was he out of his mind? Why did he do that to me?

And what did police tell Mr. Gallant, who was at the race but did not see the attack? Only that the attacker "was apparently low on electrolytes." Gee, thanks officer. Here are a few comments from runners who witnessed the attack:

We were running on the left side of the course when, suddenly, a runner on the other side of the course turned around and starting running in a curve towards our side of the course. He was wearing a red top and looked to be in his 20's. He was yelling and screaming, and, without warning, ran up to a young woman, running nearer our side of the course, and punched her in the face. It was a wild hay maker that connected. She had no chance to defend herself and anyone with her would have had no way to protect her. She went down. In the few seconds it took for us to reach her, some runners had grabbed the berserk young man and others were giving aid to the young woman, who was in tears and utterly distraught. We saw no sign that she could have done or said anything to him that would trigger such a violent reaction...Pat Dooley, Cleveland

It was pretty appalling. What I distinctly recall is that he was running against the crowd as if to find someone behind him. He looked angry and was zigzagging around the runners. It seemed like this poor woman got in the way and within a second of crashing into her, he just punched her and she went down. He kept running and was tackled within 10 seconds or so. Once the cops arrived and the guy was restrained, he was crying....Martha-Victoria Diaz, South Loop

It was extremely strange...Either the guy lost his mind because of the heat, was off his meds, or was upset about something this woman did and attacked her. Anyone know what happened to this guy?....Ryan McQueeney, LaGrange Park

To read more, click here.

I'll call him Fuzzy because, well, I don't know his name. Since he's a minor and wasn't charged with a felony, his name has been withheld. Now technically, Fuzzy didn't actually "streak" across the Parkland High School (Pennsylvania) gym [during a basketball game!] because he had a sock on his ... jimmy. You're the school superintendent. What do you do? I would suspend him for a couple days. But nooooooooooooo, not Superintendent Louise Donohue. She booted him, for the rest of the year, to an alternative school (also attended by [former] knife-wielding students) run by a private company. Said Fuzzy of the punishment:

It's just because of the publicity, I think. I'm still sorry for what I did -- I would never do it again -- but that punishment is … out there.

We're with you, Fuzzy.

So said Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes of the United States Supreme Court in a case that blew me away when I first encountered it in law school. The case is Buck v. Bell, 274 U.S. 200 (1927). Virginia passed a law allowing the state to forcibly sterilize certain "mental defectives" to promote "the health of the patient and the welfare of society." Shockingly, not all of these folks wanted to be sterilized. Carrie Buck, a resident of the State Colony for Epilectics and Feeble Minded, was one such person. When you read how Justice Holmes sets forth the case, you can probably guess how it came down. (I guess the title of the post offers a small hint too.) Here's what he said:

Carrie Buck is a feeble minded white woman who was committed to the State Colony ... She is the daughter of a feeble minded mother in the same institution, and the mother of an illegitimate feeble minded child.

Here is Justice Holmes' reasoning and conclusion:

We have seen more than once that the public welfare may call upon the best citizens for their lives. It would be strange if it could not call upon those who already sap the strength of the State for lesser sacrifices, often not felt to be such by those concerned, in order to prevent our being swamped with incompetence. It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for a crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes. Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11. Three generations of imbeciles are enough. (emphasis added)

Almost 20 years after I first read the case, it still sends chills down my spine.

I'm not saying Florida Judge Jorge Labarga was wrong. I'm just saying that, if 18-year-old Alexandria Severino believes in a higher being, she should now call him "Labarga." The crimes? Ms. Severino pleaded guilty to 2 counts of trafficking in ecstasy, and one count of trafficking in hydrocodone. The mandatory minimum for each count is 3 years. Guess how much jail time she'll be doing? Squadoosh. Zippy. Nada.

This is one of those times. Remember the New York judge who jailed 46 people because a cell phone went off in his courtroom? (If you don't, click here. It was outrageous.) Guess what happened to him (Niagra Falls City Court Judge Robert M. Restaino)? He's gone! He was removed from the bench by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, whose decision was upheld by the State Court of Appeals.