This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Legal

  • A Legal Question

    It’s settled law that the power of a President to issue pardons is absolute.  (The same is true of 41 state governors; the remaining states have a board that performs the same function vice their chief executive.)   A pardon is not subject to being overturned by legislative action or judicial review.  Once a pardon is issued and accepted, it’s a done deal.  The individual concerned is legally “forgiven” their crime.

    Blanket pardons (e.g., for “any and all crimes that were or may have been committed”) are similarly settled law.  Ford did exactly that when he pardoned Nixon.

    The legal question I have is this:  can a chief executive – either Federal or state – issue himself a pardon for “any and all crimes committed while in office”?  To my knowledge, it’s never happened.  But it has been publicly discussed more than once during my lifetime.

    Any of the lawyers who regularly read, please weigh in.

  • 400 Years Later, Another Italian Galileo Trial

    A court in Italy has convicted six Italian scientists and a government official of manslaughter in conjunction with the 2009 L’Acquila earthquake that killed 300.

    Their crime?  Failing to predict the earthquake.  

    I wish I was joking.

    I’m not.

  • 8th Circuit reverses panel on Westboro decision

    In 2007, Manchester, Missouri wrote an ordinance in response to the spate of protests at funerals by the Westboro “Baptist Church” group which took to protesting at soldiers’ funerals. A three-judge panel had previously forbade the town from enforcing their law, but the 8th Circuit overturned that panel’s decision, according to the Associated Press;

    A lawsuit claiming the Manchester ordinance violated free speech rights was filed by Shirley Phelps-Roper, a Westboro member and daughter of pastor Fred Phelps.

    The Manchester ordinance allows for protest activities but with limitations. Among them: Protesters are not allowed within 300 feet (100 meters) of a funeral or burial service while it is occurring and for one hour before and one hour after.

    Eighth Circuit Judge Diana Murphy wrote that the ordinance “serves a significant government interest, it is narrowly tailored, and it leaves open ample alternative channels for communication.”

    In case you missed it, here’s some video of a soldier who liberated a defaced American flag from some Westboro fags at a funeral for SGT Donna Johnson in Raeford, NC this past weekend. Probably a poor decision for Westboro to protest near Fort Bragg. All reports are that the soldier was released without being charged.

    TSO ADDS: For those that want to read the case, you can do so here. It should be noted that our success in this case is a result of the Snyder v. Phelps case that we lost. In finding against Snyder, the court did say that time/place/manner restrictions are constitutionally valid.

  • More False Testimony to Congress?

    I’ve written previously (here, here, and here) about recent issues with the US Secret Service.  Well, it looks like they’re in the news again.

    There’s an old Vietnamese proverb that “A house leaks from the roof.”  And in one of my earlier articles, I wrote

    It’s beginning to look like there might well be a leadership problem at the Secret Service. A serious leadership problem.

    I hate to say it, but it looks now like that’s indeed the case.

    The DHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has conducted an investigation of the recent incidents of US Secret Service agent misbehavior in Columbia.  During that investigation, they appear to have uncovered evidence of serious wrongdoing – by the Director of the US Secret Service himself.

    That DHS OIG investigation reportedly concludes that there is evidence that the Director  may have lied in his testimony to Congress concerning those recent Secret Service incidents in Columbia.  It also reportedly concludes that the Director may have manipulated a report requested by Congress related to the matter.  Such conduct would constitute obstruction of justice, and possibly perjury.

    The matter is reportedly being referred to DoJ for further action.  The Director of the US Secret Service has also apparently retained private counsel regarding the matter.

    However, if I recall correctly that’s the same DoJ whose current head recently appears to have done essentially the same thing  – e.g., gave false or misleading testimony and/or written statements to Congress regarding “Fast and Furious”.  Fast and Furious left people dead.  This new incident only caused a little bad publicity.

    So I’m guessing we probably shouldn’t hold our breath waiting for anything significant to happen on this new matter this year.

  • Well Now Isn’t This Special

    Seems as if the town of Clover, SC, wants to keep its streets and yards tidy and clean.  No real problem with that, I suppose.

    Even if it means a 79-year old Korean War vet living on a fixed income has to go to jail.

    I wish I was kidding.  But I’m not.

    His original crime?  Apparently it was not cleaning up his yard to the satisfaction of the town code enforcement officer.  No one else complained.

    So what if he collects items in order to supplement his income so he can pay for medicine for his disabled wife?  After all, he did violate the law – at least in the eyes of one local bureaucrat.  And he did fail to pay the $500 fine he was later assessed for not cleaning up his yard.

    He started serving 30 days in jail, on weekends, yesterday evening.

    Two millenia ago Marcus Tullius Cicero wrote:  “I have yet to meet a bureaucrat who was not petty, dull, almost witless, crafty or stupid, an oppressor or a thief, a holder of little authority in which he delights, as a boy delights in possessing a vicious dog.”   If I didn’t know better perhaps I’d wonder when Cicero visited Clover and met their code enforcement officer, or the town judge.

    Or maybe both.

    Contact information for Clover’s mayor and town council can be found at this link.

  • Violating Your Probation Publicly Has Consequences

    Remember that Egyptian Coptic guy Nakoula Basseley Nakoula – the one who coordinated the making of Innocence of Muslims under an alias?  The film with the trailer on the internet that the Obama administration publicly and incorrectly blamed – apparently knowingly or with abject incompetence – for causing the recent unrest in the Islamic world that broke out last month on September 11?

    Well, he’s now in Federal custody.  And IMO, he deserves it.

    What?  Isn’t Nakoula being held as a political prisoner for exercise his right to free speech?

    In a word:  no.  Nakoula is being held because he thumbed his nose at the US justice system. Publicly.  Like a freaking idiot.

    Nakoula is NOT in jail because he made the film in question.  He is NOT a political prisoner.

    He’s in jail because he’s a convicted felon on probation who publicly and in a very “in your face” way violated the terms of his probation.  And he did that in two different ways.

    While making Innocence of Muslims under an alias and apparently posting the trailer to the Internet, Nakoula was on parole probation for a 2010 felony conviction for bank fraud.  He got parole probation apparently as part of a deal for cooperating with Federal authorities during that case.

    Two of the conditions of his parole probation were that Nakoula (1) not use an alias, and (2) not use computers or access the Internet for five years without the approval of his parole probation officer.

    Nakoula made Innocence of Muslims using an alias.  And it looks like he posted the trailer for the film to the Internet.  Did this tool really think no one would ever notice the alias or the film?

    So, regardless of freedom of speech issues – yeah, this tool deserves to be in jail.  Felons who knowingly violate the terms of their probation deserve jail time.

    Especially when they’re idiots.

  • One Way to Finance Retirement

    Unless, of course, you get caught.

    Seems as if a recently-retired Army Master Sergeant decided his retired pay would be less than he and his wife desired.  So starting in 2004, for about 6 years he and his wife took measures to ensure a better retirement.

    Unfortunately, those measures weren’t legal.  He was making illicit requisitions, ripping off the incoming property, and selling it.  She was helping him launder the money.

    They got caught.  And about three weeks ago they pleaded guilty in Federal criminal court.

    He got 40 months in prison, plus was required to forfeit $861,000 and four properties.  She pleaded guilty to money laundering, but only got 5 years probation.

    I kinda wish James H. “Bigamist” Johnson III had had the same judge and jury.

  • “Bigamist” Johnson Pays Fine, Avoides Doing Time

    Well, it looks like it’s official. Per the Army Times, that philandering former bigamist Brigade Commander, James H. Johnson III, won’t be doing any time. Looks like he came up with the $300,000 he was fined, and has apparently paid up. Full details are behind a pay wall, but the story’s “teaser” tells enough – well, assuming the Army Times got the facts right this time.

    Yeah, this was a travesty. IMO Johnson should be doing at least a couple of years at the Leavenworth crossbar hotel, followed by dismissal, along with that fine. But the courts-martial panel turned candy-ass and didn’t slam him like it should have, probably out of sympathy for his first wife.

    However, Johnson’s now a convicted felon – which likely rather severely limits his post-service employment prospects. In many states that also means voting and firearms ownership could be problematic.  I’m guessing his Army career will end fairly soon, too. And I’d also guess the judge at his civil divorce trial will look at all of this when he decides division of property and future alimony his first wife is owed.

    I hope that Johnson had to cash out 100% of any savings/retirement accounts and/or investments he owned to pay that fine. And I hope the judge in his divorce trial awards his first wife all community property, plus a big chunk of his retirement pay – say, 75% or so – as alimony.

    Have a nice rest of your life, Johnson. Good riddance, and don’t let the door hit you on the ass as you outprocess – hopefully very soon.