Criminal Law Blog

Should the government be permitted to regulate sex in your house?  What if it’s sex among a few friends?  What if your friends contribute money to the party?

A private “swingers” club (sex club) called “The Cherry Pit” has been battling the City of Duncanville, Texas which is trying to close it down.  The swingers club is in a private residence in an upscale neighborhood near Dallas.  Whether the large number of guests or morality is the issue, apparently neighbors have complained about traffic from a large number of club members, crime and “unsavory” elements created by the club.

What happens when legislators write a law about a subject which they know nothing about, such as repairing computers? A Texas law enacted in 2007 turns computer technicians and consumers into criminals under certain conditions when a consumer or anyone seeks to have a computer repaired.

The Texas law requires a computer technician to have a private investigator’s license to analyze someone else’s data on a hard drive. The problem is that some repairs require the technician to look at the data.

A federal judge, Alex Kozinski, Presiding Judge of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, recently created a furor among legal ethics lawyers. The Los Angeles Times reported the judge admitted that he maintained a sexually explicit website with both sexually artistic photos and apparently, what some people would deem to be, pornographic photos including “images of masturbation, public sex, contortionist sex, defecation and urination”. The judge stated that the website was not for public use and required an access name to view the sexually explicit photographic material.

Drivers in the states of California and Washington will now have to use hands free cell phones while driving. Both California and Washington have enacted new laws banning hand-held cell phone use while driving. The new cell phone ban laws are effective as of July 1, 2008.

California Vehicle Code Section 23123(a) prohibits drivers from using a wireless telephone while driving unless the cell phone is capable of both hands free listening and talking and is used in that manner while driving. The law provides some exemptions which defy belief, such as school bus drivers.

Every state in the country has been cracking down on DUI over the last few years.  Blood alcohol tolerance has been lowered, penalties have been increased and enforcement has increased.  Why it took so long and so many people to be killed for this to happen is the subject of another article. 

Because so many injuries and deaths are the result of unlicensed drivers, expect the next wave of increased penalties and enforcement to remove unlicensed drivers from the roads.  J. Peter Kissinger, President and CEO of AAA said “Our research shows that unlicensed drivers are among the greatest safety threats on the nation’s highways”.  According to AAA magazine Car & Travel July 2008, the AAA study found that more than 20% of all deaths occurring in automobile accidents involve someone driving with an invalid drivers license or no drivers license.

Soon to be former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has been compared several times on TV news to James “Jim” McGreevey, the former governor of New Jersey.  However, this is not a good analogy.

It is generally reported that Jim McGreevey left office three months after admitting that he had had an extramarital affair with a male employee. This is probably because McGreevey announced at a press conference, “My truth is that I am a gay American.” He also said that he “…engaged in an adult consensual affair with another man” (Golan Cipel).  If this was the extent of the issue, it would truly be a private affair and would not have caused him to resign as governor of New Jersey.

A taxi driver was charged yesterday with the crime of filing a false police report after the cabdriver dropped off a baby at a firehouse. The cab driver claimed that a passenger abandoned the baby in his taxi when he left to make a telephone call and never returned.

It was later determined that the taxi driver and his girlfriend came up with the story and the idea to bring the baby to a firehouse when his girlfriend’s sister allegedly ran off and the father was unable to care for the baby.

I was watching CNN yesterday waiting to see Roger Clemens testify. I was stunned when Committee Chairman Henry Waxman stated in his opening statement that he intended to conclude the hearings without the testimony of Roger Clemens. Chairman Waxman said that he agreed to continue the hearings only because Roger Clemens’ lawyers begged for him to have a chance to make a statement.

Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison. Could he have been sentenced to a shorter time or even probation?

In a written letter to the judge pleading for leniency, Michael Vick stated “I am not the bad person or beast I’ve been made out to be.” He also stated, “I take full responsibility for my actions and am ashamed that my actions hurt animals and allowed animals to be hurt and killed.”

It’s no wonder that he got more time than the prosecution requested. These statements indicate to me that he wrote them himself showing his true feelings and without any understanding of his actions, remorse or counseling to write his letter.

Ryan Smith, a sports attorney and host at BET TV, said on CNN today that the indictment of Barry Bonds seemed to have come out of left field. He said that he was surprised because it has been two years since the investigation started.

It is not uncommon for FBI investigations to take two or three years. All of the FBI investigations I am familiar with have taken three years before indictment. They apparently take their time and work methodically to assure a solid case and likelihood of a conviction.