Legal Juice

Englishman Elliot Carnell caught one hell of a break. After drinking 15 pints of beer at a Christmas party, Carnell punched his ex-wife's Sri Lankan boyfriend in the head - 6 times! Oh, and he hit his ex-wife and her daughter when they tried to stop him. Carnell copped to the racially aggravated assault, and was sentenced to 150 hours community service and alcohol counseling. But wait ...

As if that sentence wasn't light enough, it gets worse. When Carnell showed up to begin his community service (picking up litter), he was ordered to stop! Why? Because he's a truck driver, and officials were concerned that, with the additional work [the community service], he would exceed the maximum of 48 hours per week for a truck driver! And he might be tired and get in an accident. Said Mr. Carnell:

I was a bit bewildered by what happened but I'm happy. I was willing to do the punishment.

I'm really upset. It's not right. Now he's free to go to the pub drinking with his friends and causing trouble. He should have gone to jail. It's not a strong enough punishment. He must be laughing.

Straight from Judge in the case, as reported by The Palm Beach Post:

"This case presents the strangest facts and set of circumstances that I've witnessed in my 28 years as a lawyer," Circuit Judge Jorge Labarga said as he sentenced Dean to life in prison.

... Marlow [the "victim"] found his apartment in the Villages neighborhood in West Palm Beach ransacked and saw Flint [the deceased] leaving on foot and Dean driving away.

Marlow pursued Dean up through the neighborhood and eventually back down Interstate 95. There he encountered Flint, 25, who had jumped a fence and was waiting alongside the highway for Dean to pick him up.

Marlow initially told police that, as his SUV approached, Flint turned and appeared to point something at him. Marlow said he ducked in his seat as his Suburban ran off the road and struck the suspected burglar.

Under state law, a person can be charged with felony murder if someone else dies while the person is committing a felony crime.

Actually, "Snowzilla" is the real name of the 16-foot snowman in question. Some families in Anchorage, Alaska began building him in 2005. He was a huge hit. Per The Anchorage Daily News:

It was just a few years ago that 16-foot-tall Snowzilla arose in a residential yard in Airport Heights, launching an annual procession of local gawkers and an international media blitz.

Camera crews came from Russia and Japan.

So, city officials have deemed Snowzilla a public nuisance and safety hazard.

A few weeks ago, city code enforcers left three red signs at Snowzilla's bottom body ball telling its builders to cease and desist.

The city also tacked a public notice on the door of the Powers family home at 1556 Columbine St.

Under the city's nuisance abatement order, if [Mr. Powers] tries, he could get arrested.

Beyond a reasonable doubt, this violates the 8th Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. Seems that Colorado Judge Paul Sacco was tired of seeing the same rockers in his courtroom for noise violations. It was obvious to him that the fines were not a deterrent. So he came up with a new form of punishment, as reported by 9news.com:

"These people should have to listen to music they don't like."

Does it work?

Judge Sacco says it has really cut down on "repeats."

Yes, you read that correctly. A police officer and a cow. As reported by CBS.com, a Bulington County, New Jersey police officer has been charged with ...

...four counts of animal cruelty after allegedly engaging in sex acts with cows between June and December of 2006.

For service of court papers. For real. As reported by the BBC:

Mark McCormack, a lawyer in Canberra, persuaded a court to allow him to use the unusual method after other attempts to reach them failed.

The couple's home is being repossessed after they reportedly missed payments on a loan of over A$100,000 ($67,000; £44,000).

Mr McCormack says he resorted to Facebook to trace the couple after unsuccessful attempts to contact them at their home address and via email, and they failed to attend a court appearance on 3 October.

In granting permission to use the social networking site, the judge stipulated that the papers be sent via a private email so that other people visiting the page could not read their contents.

A 19-year-old New Zealand man named Eptai Taiwhanga, as reported by 3 News ...

...walked into Westport police station drinking alcohol and carrying cannabis resin.

Unsurprisingly, except to him perhaps, he was hit with breaching Westport's liquor ban and possessing a Class B drug.

Judge Jane McMeeken said Taiwhanga was "incredibly stupid" and fined him $400.

"You had cannabis in your pocket and drew attention to yourself by drinking in a police station."

What was so unusual about this ATM withdrawal in Beaumont, Texas? Well, it wasn't that Mr. Leandro Sanchez made the withdrawal around 3 a.m. It was simply this - he took the entire ATM! From a bank! With a forklift! I guess he didn't think it would set off an alarm. It did. Here's the source (kfdm.com).

Having been charged with OUI (operating under the influence), Jorge Pinto appeared for a Hearing before Judge James McGovern of Bristol County, Massachusetts. The problem? Pinto was drunk - in court! The Judge was tipped off to this, so he ordered a breathalyzer test. It showed that Mr. Pinto's blood alcohol level was .08, over the limit. And how did Mr. Pinto get to court? He drove!

According to the report in the Taunton Daily Gazette, despite the fact that he knew Mr. Pinto drove to court, Judge McGovern let him go! And?

Minutes later, state police pulled Pinto’s car over and he was arrested for drunk driving after failing several field sobriety tests.

Reports say [Assistant County Attorney] Smith told police that upon hearing the information, the judge told her, “Well I assume that [Pinto] will be brought back to this court today for arraignment... and I’m telling you right now I’m inclined to dismiss the entire thing.” ...

According to reports, [Sgt. Thomas] Higginbotham remarked that the interference from the court was “completely out of line and likely amounted to judicial misconduct.”

[District Attorney spokesman Gregg] Miliote said any allegations of wrongdoing by a state judge are handled by the Massachusetts Commission on Judicial Conduct. The agency’s Executive Director Jill Pearson would not say if there is a complaint regarding McGovern.

Let's just say you're divorced, and your ex-wife calls to tell you one of your kids is being held for ransom. I think most folks would pay up. Just suppose, though, that your ex-wife called to say that one of your children was again taken hostage, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again! For real. This woman told her ex-husband that one of their kids (sometimes their son, sometimes their daughter) had been kidnapped SEVEN TIMES over a five-year period! And you know how many times he paid? Six! For a total of £530,000 ($808,000 US!). As reported by The Telegraph:

In the summer of 2001, she told her estranged husband, named only as Pedro GM, who was living in a different town, that strangers had entered her home and taken her daughter Sara, demanding payment of 30,000 euros (£23,000) for her safe return.

A year later, she claimed that the girl had been taken again, this time to settle a drug debt, and asked her husband to cough up 48,000 euros (£38,000) for her release.

In 2003 she again approached her husband, this time claiming that their son Emilio had been snatched after she failed to pay 36,000 euros (£28,000) she owed to a clothing wholesaler. He once again paid the money and the child was “returned” unharmed.

In 2004, she faked another kidnapping, again of her teenage son Emilio, claiming that drug dealers were demanding 54,000 euros (£43,000) for a package of cocaine that the boy had lost. Once again, the father paid the ransom demand to his wife to pass on.

In December 2005 and January 2006 she again claimed that their son had got himself in trouble and was being held to ransom, but this time she said he had been taken by members of a gypsy family who wanted blood money totalling 180,000 euros (£142,000) because he had taken the virginity of a 13-year old relative.

Finally, in Sept 2006 she and her friends concocted a story claiming that Emilio had again been abducted from outside their home in the Madrid suburb of Fuenlabrada. On this occasion, the boy himself called his father, claiming his attackers were torturing him and were threatening to kill him unless a ransom of 252,000 euros (£200,000) was paid.

Minutes later [after the boy called his father] he was spotted in the street having a drink with friends, said the private detective hired by Pedro G M to investigate the case.

"To be perfectly honest, what I'm really thinking about are dollar signs." Tonya Harding

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed” Gandhi

"I'm a marvelous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man I keep his house." Zsa Zsa Gabor

"Greed is a fat demon with a small mouth and whatever you feed it is never enough." Janwillem van de Wetering

"How did I get involved in a terrible film like Best Defense? The door opened and four men came in carrying a check." Eddie Murphy (Note that, although it might seem criminal, Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress is a civil claim.)

"Money doesn't talk, it swears." Bob Dylan