Random shots around the web:What is it with Illinois and bizarre double jeopardy cases? In the 1990's we had the Harry Aleman murder trial do-over which wiped out his earlier acquittal (a classic Chicago tale), and now the state is requesting to re-try Esteban Martinez after refusing to present its case in the first trial. (Gideon covers it too.)Greenwald and Snowden … [Read more...] about Scattershot 2014-02-28
Why Helix Kinda Sucks
(Spoiler Alert for potentially all 8 Helix episodes to date.)I loved the Andromeda Strain, both the book and the movie, and so I'm always willing to give a good plague story a try, which is why I really wanted to like Helix, the new series on SyFy, about a CDC team sent to investigate a mysterious situation at a biological research complex somewhere in the … [Read more...] about Why Helix Kinda Sucks
Paying For Prosecutions in Virginia?
Over at Crimlaw, Virginia prosecutor Ken Lammers writes about the state's law allowing private prosecutions. It's a fascinating concept, and Ken goes into a bit of detail, but it comes down to this: So, basically, if doubly approved by the judge and the public prosecutor, the hired gun prosecutor can take part in the case as long as he is under the control of the Commonwealth … [Read more...] about Paying For Prosecutions in Virginia?
Liberty Is Not Suicide
Over at Defending Dandelions, "nidefatt" isn't happy with libertarians like myself and Scott Greenfield. (I don't think Scott's ever identified himself as a libertarian, but he sometimes sounds like one.) In an earlier post, he commented on Scott's constitution-is-not-a-suicide-pact post, and more recently he responded to my own response to Scott's post: [...] The ideas are … [Read more...] about Liberty Is Not Suicide
Law Enforcement
Now here's a Facebook meme that makes sense. It's from Filming Cops, but the true adversary here is not the police officer:howlawsareenforcedThis isn't some paranoid, whack-job, cop hating-nonsense. It's an accurate description of how all criminal laws are enforced.Even a minor violation such as loitering can have a penalty of several hundred dollars, which is … [Read more...] about Law Enforcement