The Law Site

The three exonerated Duke lacrosse players falsely accused of rape keep having a better and better week. First, the prosecutor who lead the witch hunt against the men resigned, was disbarred, and shamed publicly for his shady dealing of justice. Now, Duke University has reached a financial settlement for an undisclosed amount to help pay the millions lost by the families in the legal proceedings. Duke, however, was careful with words and never once admitted any wrongdoing in this whole ordeal. Hopefully, prospective college students will see how shamefully Duke handled this situation and how they could not muster an apology or admit being wrong, just making everything right with an unknown check amount.

Michael Weston came to work one day and noticed two guys in coveralls removing the contents of his office, moving everything into the hallway. Even his potted ficus was being hoisted out of his space. Perhaps they were just moving him to another office, he thought. Thinking nothing about it, the savvy CIA agent knocked on his boss’s door.

“Agent Weston, I’m so glad you came,” said the stoic man in the black suit behind the desk, sipping coffee. “I need you to give me your badge, effective immediately.”

Michael gulped. “Why?” was all he could muster, but deep inside he knew. His real name was Vladimir Petovsky, a former agent of the KGB. Though he had been nothing but loyal to the CIA, he entered with false information and a bogus case history.

“Well, I haven’t been told, but the higher-ups have reason to believe you’re a Russian spy. Therefore, your badge is hereby revoked, and you are under arrest,” said the boss.

The two men in overalls came into the office and dragged Agent Weston down the hall…

Being in the CIA must be pretty stressful, don’t you think? How about being fired from such an organization? That’s exactly what happens to Michael Weston on USA Network’s Burn Notice, coming on June 28th. Check out the link to see how Weston was really fired, and be sure to turn in to this exciting new series.

This Paris Hilton thing has gotten well out of hand. As if letting her out wasn’t insult enough to the American judicial system, they are now carting her back and forth to the hospital for her fake medical condition. Do you know what kind of people are in our prisons? There are people with serious and grave conditions that have to beg for medical care, while this heiress gets preferential  treatment. You can’t say she doesn’t - it took last stage Hepatitis C for them to let Jack Kevorkian out, so why should Paris get a free pass for whatever her lawyers say her condition is? It is a sickening perversion of American justice.

A fourteen year old Florida boy should learn his lesson when it comes to dealing drugs. In what police believe was random dialing looking for potential customers, the boy, whose name is not released due to his age, got a hold of an off duty officer who agreed to meet him near a local school. When he arrived, he was arrested with intent to distribute drugs within 1000 ft. of a school or child care facility, a felony.

 Hopefully they won’t bring down the hammer too hard on this kid. He obviously isn’t that bright, and he could legitimately contend entrapment since he was coaxed into a location he would not have gone to if not for the instructions of an off-duty officer.

The headline is correct. Today, a story came out of Iowa, where a 38 year old woman named Suzanne Butts stands accused of stealing rolls of toilet paper from the Marshall County Courthouse. After being caught in the act by an employee, Butts was sent to jail. She now faces up to three years in prison for her part in stealing rolls of toilet paper from the court house. Everyone involved is laughing, except Mrs. Butts, who had no comment as of today.

Here is a good opportunity for debate in the law community. A woman seeking to use the eHarmony dating site was put off when she found out there were no options for “women seeking women”. (There is also not a “man seeking man” option). As a result, lawsuits are already in the works. Can a private business like eHarmony stand accused of discrimination because they don’t offer a particular service? Legally, I don’t think this woman has a leg to stand on. In all reality, though, it is rather insulting to recognize only heterosexual relationships as important enough to seek in an online dating site. I guess its to be expected from a society not even tolerant of civil unions for gay couples. She probably wasn’t missing a whole lot at eHarmony, anyway.

Here’s a new item to add to TSA’s listing of substances banned from air travel: coffee. Apparently, police are after a guy in Dallas, Texas who used scalding coffee against his victims by hurling cups of it at them. The victims suffered minor burns, but the robber is still at large. It always seems something stupid comes up like this, and it costs everyone. Don’t be surprised is coffee is harder to get at convenience stores over fears it may be used as a weapon. All this guy did was huck the coffee as the cashier when the drawer was open. The shock and pain from the coffee had the employee rolling around on the ground, while the assailant emptied the cash drawer.