Legal Juice

It's an age-old story: two girls are involved with the same dude. What to do ... Conclude that they should both dump this two-timer? No. Go to the dude and tell him he has to choose between them? No. Flip a coin? Arm wrestle? First come, first serve? No, no and no. Fight? Yes. So, from the Colorado Springs Police Blotter:

April 25, 2010 - Assault

Summary: Officer Barry Worstell was dispatched to Memorial Central reference an assault. On the above date and time the suspect, Carriel Mackey age 18 and the victim, April Graham age 20 agreed to meet and settle their differences reference a male both of them were involved with. During this meeting Mackey produced a sharp object and cut Grahams face multiple times. Graham was treated at Memorial Central for the lacerations and received multiple stitches. Two of the most notable lacerations were a four inch cut along the right side of the head nearly missing the jugular which went all the way to her skull and the second was across her nose cutting the cartilage and laying it open. Mackey has not been located.

At approximately 0100 hours, on 4/26/10, Officers from the Sand Creek Division arrested Ms Mackey at her residence. Ms Mackey was booked into the Criminal Justice center on charges of 1st degree Assault.

A Good Samaritan in New York intervenes in a mugging and gets stabbed. As he is lying on the sidewalk bleeding to death, more than 20 people pass by him, and do nothing. Strike that. One guy did take pictures with his cell phone. It's just wrong that the one person who did care about his fellow man, and acted on it, died.

The Juice is a believer in some old-fashioned notions, like men holding the elevator door open for women. Too bad a fellow in Boston, Mohammed Warsame, is not likeminded. Here's why, as reported by The Boston Herald:

A Roxbury man was slopped with a plate of pasta, punched, kicked, spit on and beaten with handbags by two women who told investigators they needed to “teach him a lesson” for not holding an elevator door for them, police said.

When Boston police arrived at 1050 Tremont St. late Saturday night to break up the lift tiff, they said they found noodles dripping off the back of Mohammed Warsame.

Kenyana McQuay, 27, and Waltia Funches, 28, told officers Warsame “was rude to them” because he didn’t hold the elevator door open as they walked into the building, and so “they had to use their fists, their bags and their feet to teach him a lesson.”

Warsame said he threw water bottles at the two women to try and fend them off.

Police, who described McQuay and Funches as “extremely agitated,” “uncooperative” and “verbally abusive toward officers,” summonsed both women to Roxbury District Court on assault and battery charges.

Are you sure about that? As reported at metro.uk:

Police had put out an appeal for information on a black robber after six strikes on banks and pharmacies in the space of a month.

After a tip-off police tracked down 30-year-old Conrad Zdierak - trouble was though he was white.

The Springdale Police Department in the US claim he wore a silicon mask called The Player. He would also wear sunglasses to hide his blue eyes. Lieutenant Michael Mathis admitted police were completely taken in by the mask and said he had never seen anything like it.

He told the Mail Online: "He wore what I'm calling a 'Hollywood quality' mask. These things cost $600 to $700." Zdzierak remains in custody on a £2m bond.

So MCA Records put out a song called "Barbie Girl."(If you haven't heard the song, lucky you. Not only does it SUCK, it becomes stuck in your head.) Anyway, it doesnt' paint poor little Barbie in the best light, so Mattel sued MCA for using Barbie's name without permission. MCA then agreed to place the following language on the album: the song is "social commentary and not created or approved by the makers of the doll."

MCA's response: fuhgeddaboutit. "It's akin to a bank robber handing a note of apology to a teller during a heist. It neither diminshes the severity of the crime nor does it make it legal." MCA's response? Not pleased with Matell's use of the words "bank robber," "heist," "crime," or "theft," they countersued for defamation!

The Judge ultimately found for MCA Records, and offered this little nugget: "The parties are advised to chill." The case is Mattel v. MCA Records, 296 F.3d 894 (9th Cir. 2002).

You can't go through life without encountering folks who just plain like to hear themselves talk. I can deal with that. But what about people who just plain like to hear other people say ... "ouch" ... and don't mind making it happen? Per WSAU in Wisconsin:

A 41-year-old woman from Plover is in custody after shooting people with blow darts from her van. It's believed Paula Wolf hit five people. She told police that she liked to hear people say "ouch".

Police arrested Wolf and found the blow darts in her vehicle. Police also recovered a blow gun, a slingshot, and a bucket of rocks. Its also believed that she broke the front window of a business in Stevens Point.

There are many variations on the theme, including "You're in a shitload of trouble," or "You're in some deep shit." That last one is particularly appropriate in the case of 52-year-old Thomas Hovis Jr. As reported by WANE:

A wanted man in Albion literally created a big stink to avoid being captured by police. He was found hiding neck-deep in a pit of liquid manure.

Police were seeking to arrest Hovis for multiple felony drug charges out of Steuben County, including manufacturing and possession of methamphetamine. His previous offenses include multiple drug charges, aggravated battery, and even a murder conviction in Florida.

"We had units that were observing the location," explained Doug Harp, Chief Deputy for the Noble County Sheriff's Department. "We decided based on the information that we had about his criminal background, the charges he was faced with, that we should use our tactical teams [and our clothes pins...]."

When officers arrived, they saw Hovis run into an outbuilding at the rear of the residence. Police attempted to coax Hovis out of the building, but he refused.

SWAT Team members eventually deployed tear gas to enter the building and locate Hovis hiding inside a manure pit.

Hovis was removed from the pit and continued to fight arrest. Officers had to tase him before taking him into custody.

A search of the home where Hovis was found also turned up three one pot meth labs, 18 marijuana plants and two grams of methamphetamine. Three guns were also seized, including an assault rifle.

Although it's dangerous to handle explosives for a living, a lot of these folks would probably prefer dealing with bombs than having to do what South Lake Tahoe, California Explosive Ordinance Team members recently did. What was that? Just remember that this is posted in the "Gross" category. As reported in the Tahoe Daily Tribune:

The incident began about 4:30 a.m. when a California Highway Patrol officer contacted Steven Ferrini, 60, in a “No Parking” zone on Highway 89 near Luther Pass, according to a CHP report.

The officer arrested the man after allegedly finding what was believed to be methamphetamine.

During a subsequent search, officers found “a suspicious wire, with an on/off switch” in the man's front left pocket leading to his anal cavity, according to the report.

Officers planned to have the device removed by medical personnel at Barton Memorial Hospital, but during an interview with the man at the CHP office, “the subject began to explain his knowledge of explosives and bomb-making,” according to the report.

The man's statements caused officers to become suspicious. They contacted the El Dorado County Explosive Ordinance Disposal Team and evacuated the office around 5:45 a.m.

About 9 a.m., “the EOD team rendered the device safe and determined it was not an explosive device. The vibrator was subsequently removed and placed into property,” according to the report.

The man was booked into El Dorado County Jail in South Lake Tahoe on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance.

Ecotourism is so yesterday. There's a new kind of tourism you may not have heard of. Per Whatcom County (Washington) Sheriff Bill Elfo, as reported in The Seattle Times:

[Douglas Spink] was "promoting tourism of this nature for bestiality."

When county deputies and federal investigators searched the property they found videotapes that included images of a man, who was visiting the property, having sex with several large-breed dogs.

The man, a 51-year-old British national, was arrested for investigation of four counts of bestiality, Elfo said. He is being held in the Whatcom County Jail in lieu of $150,000, Elfo said.

Douglas Spink, 39, a one-time dot.com millionaire, convicted drug smuggler and horse trainer, was quietly living on rural property south of Sumas when he connected with James Tait, who was in a Tennessee jail on a bestiality charge.

Tait had earlier been convicted of trespassing in 2005 in the Enumclaw case, in which a Gig Harbor man died after having sex with a horse.

The two men's communications set in motion an investigation that resulted in Spink's arrest Wednesday at the Sumas farm for suspicion of violating his federal probation for drug smuggling. Federal prosecutors and Whatcom County sheriff's officials say Spink also allowed people to come to the farm and have sex with animals.

How embarrassing? Check this out, as reported by The Telegraph:

A man who was caught drink-driving in a toy car with a top speed of 4mph has been banned from driving.

Paul Hutton, 40, was pulled over by police as he drove an electric Barbie car, which moves slower than a mobility scooter, near his home in Essex. Mr Hutton, who has four children Simon, 17, Calum, 14, Laina, 12, and John, 11, admitted being a 'complete twit'.

Speaking after the hearing at Colchester magistrates court, he said: "You have to be a contortionist to get in, and then you can't get out. "I was very surprised to get done for drink-driving but I was a twit to say the least. "It is designed for three-to-five-year-olds.

"Originally it was a pink Barbie car but I put bigger wheels on it but it's not fast. "I'm not unhappy with my punishment, just a little bit surprised."

Mr Hutton, who is divorced, is a former RAF aeronautical engineer who now studies electrical engineering at Colchester Institute. He explained: "I'm in the third year of my electrical engineering course and it was a little project I was doing with my son who is doing a car mechanics course. "When it was done I couldn't resist the temptation to take it out.

"Mr Hutton, was found to be twice the drink-drive limit, he said. Appearing before magistrates last week, he admitted driving the toy car while drunk. He was given a mandatory three-year ban because he had received another drink-drive ban within the past ten years. Magistrates also gave him a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered him to pay £85 court costs.

Chairman of the bench Neil Munson said: "This is most unusual. "I have never seen the like of it in 15 years on the bench.

"The vehicle is not even capable of doing the speed of a mobility scooter and could be outrun by a pedestrian. "Taking this into account, we feel we can impose a sentence of a conditional discharge for a period of 12 months."

The car was confiscated by police until the hearing but Mr Hutton now hopes to get it back.