Archive for the 'Criminal Law News' Category

Instead of “Hope,” Shepard Fairey might consider the word “Truth” as inspiration.

The Los Angeles-based street artist, who rose to fame during President Obama’s campaign when he designed the iconic “Hope” image, will face criminal charges as part of an ongoing legal dispute between him and the Associated Press.

According to theLos Angeles Times, a federal judge based in New York City announced during a hearing with both Fairey’s and the AP’s lawyers present that the artist would face a criminal investigation after his admitted misconduct in the case between him and AP.

In February 2009, AP filed a suit against Fairey claiming that he violated copyright laws by using one of their photographs as the basis for the “Hope” image. In response, Fairey fired back with a suit of his own, alleging that he was protected to use the image under fair use laws.

Last October, Fairey released a statement that he submitted false images and deleted others files of images during the course of legal proceedings, according to the LA Times. He tried to conceal the fact that the AP had correctly identified the photo he used as a base for his “Hope” poster while President Barack Obama was then campaigning for the position.

The image catapulted Fairey into fame as an artist. Fairey had cultivated a reputation as a guerilla artist after he put up a series of images around Los Angeles with the words “Obey Giant” listed near a scowling face (of late wrestler/actor Andre the Giant), designed to be similar to images described in George Orwell’s bleak government oppressed future in the novel “1984.”

Fairey has come under fire before for allegedly plagiarizing images in his own art work.

Throughout the case, there has been a question as to which Mannie Garcia photo I used as a reference to design the HOPE image, Fairey said in a statement last October. The AP claimed it was one photo, and I claimed it was another. While I initially believed that the photo I referenced was a different one, I discovered early on in the case that I was wrong. In an attempt to conceal my mistake I submitted false images and deleted other images.

An AP spokesperson told the LA Times that the news association has been subpoenaed to in connection to Fairey’s accused misconduct during legal actions.

Fairey’s defense attorneys declined to comment to the LA Times.

Richard Scrushy - founder of Health South Corp. - was ordered to pay company shareholders a total of nearly $3 billion after an accounting scam - said to be the highest amount ever pressed upon a single executive. Scrushy is currently in jail for a seven-year sentence for a political bribery case.

The white collar crimes Scrushy has committed are making things difficult on lawyers, who are trying to locate all his assets to compensate for the huge payoff he owes. He was found in contempt of court for failing to provide details about his assets, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Scrushy’s wife and kids left Alabama, where most of Scrushy’s assets have been found so far - and went to Texas. Ms. Scrushy’s lawyer says she removed only the things from her home that belonged to her or her children.

Scrushy will be questioned about his assets this week - but the search for everything is expected to take over a year, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Ontario’s high-profile former attorney general, Michael Bryant, has been charged with dangerous driving and causing the death of a biker in an alleged fit of serious road rage.

During his tenure as attorney general, Bryant helped institute several controversial and severe traffic safety regulations.

According to a New York Times article, the incident was fairly minor at first, but escalated out of control. The accident involved a bicycle courier - Darcy Allen Sheppard, 33 - and Bryant who was driving his Saab convertible.

After the car and cyclist collided, Sheppard grabbed hold of the Saab’s driver’s side door, and Bryant, behind the wheel, allegedly took off while the biker held onto the car.

Witnesses said the car was speeding down the street with a person clinging to the side of it, and the car veered into oncoming traffic, the New York Times reported. Witnesses believed the driver was trying to get close to lampposts and mailboxes in an attempt to knock the person off the side of the vehicle.

After a final knock from a mailbox, Sheppard fell off the car. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died shortly thereafter, according to Toronto police.

Prior to the criminal charges that Bryant now faces, he was one of the province’s most prominent politicians, working hard to crack down on street racing and makes roads safer for Ontario residents.

It’s been all over the news that the state of California is struggling financially, and many have questioned what can be done and made suggestions to help the state out. Now, one slightly taboo suggestion might actually be considered.

According to a CNN report, California could rake in $1.4 billion in taxes if they legalized and taxed marijuana. The state already allows use of the drug for medical purposes, so making it legal would not be as big of a step as it would be for some other states.

Some of the pharmacies that dispense medical marijuana don’t discriminate about who they give the drug to, according to the report. While people in California caught with the drug can still face criminal charges, the laws regarding marijuana possession have become more lax.

As far as legalizing and taxing the drug, legislation might still be far away - but medical marijuana users in Oakland have already started paying a tax on their cannabis. It’s the first pot tax in the state, but it might not be the last.

Tennessee cannot collect taxes on illegal drugs because dealers are not merchants, the state supreme court ruled last week, overturning a controversial—and lucrative—2004 law, according to the Knoxville Sentinel.

The Unauthorized Substances Tax—modeled after a similar North Carolina law—applied taxes and interested to illegal drugs and certain illicit alcohol (such as moonshine) that did not have an Unauthorized Substances Stamp.

In its ruling, the 3-2 majority wrote that illegal drugs are not subject to taxation because the Department of Revenue—who issued the stamps—can only collect taxes on merchants, peddlers and privileges under the state constitution. However, the tax was applied to anyone in possession of illegal drugs, not necessarily selling them. And because drug possession is illegal, it is not a taxable privilege.

However, the court also rejected an argument that purchasing the stamp is a form of self-incrimination, leaving the door open for legislators to draft a new version of the tax.

The Department of Revenue allowed anyone to purchase the stamp anonymously, and was required for any person in possession of one or more marijuana plants or more than 42.5 grams of marijuana ($3.50/gram), seven or more grams of any other unauthorized substance that is sold by weight ($50/gram for cocaine), 10 or more dosage units of any other unauthorized substance not sold by weight, or any illicit alcoholic beverage, according to the Tennessee Department of Revenue website.

A 2007 Time article about the tax said Tennessee had already brought in $3.5 million in revenue in its first three years—75% of which went to state drug enforcement agencies, and the majority of which came in fines and penalties.

The Senate has passed a controversial bill that could expand the definition of hate crime.

The bill extends hate-crime protection to include crime committed because of the victim’s sexual orientation and gender identity, according to The New York Times. A version of the measure has been considered by Congress in Washington DC since 1999.

The bill also allows federal authorities to intervene in cases where local agencies are not pursuing a suspected hate crime.

The hate crime expansion, named after Matthew Shepard, a Wyoming man brutally killed in 1998 because he was gay, has drawn criticism from conservative group who worry that it might infringe on religious speech protections.

These critics are afraid that, because hate crime covers hate speech, conservative preachers could be prosecuted for sermons that call homosexuality evil.

Others were critical that the bill was attached to a Pentagon spending bill, and was not allowed proper time for debate.

President Obama is excepted to sign the bill.

A small California town in the San Francisco bay studied its crime statistics and found a surprising trend: most of the convicted criminals were from other counties. These “commuter criminal” were responsible for the majority of the town’s modest 99 thefts, 20 burglaries and two auto thefts in 2008, according to police.

Tiburno, Calif., is located on a peninsula in the North Bay, with only two roads leading in and out of town. Police want to set up cameras on the roadways to keep track of every person going to and from Tiburno, according to Yahoo news.

The cameras would photograph the rear license plate of every car as it passes through the city limits.

While cameras on America’s highways have been used for decades to track speeding and other traffic violations, Tiburno’s situation is rare, because it would effectively allow police to know the location of each of its 9,000 citizens.

“The point is we live in a land where people are considered innocent until proven guilty,” said privacy rights attorney Melissa Ngo. “Not a land where it’s supposed to be — prove that you’re not doing anything wrong by letting us watch you do everything.”

Critics say the system would violate privacy rights and search and seizure laws. However, police insist that if the plan goes forward, there would be effective safeguards in place.

The photos would not be used for traffic enforcement, and would not be available for public record. Photos would only show the license plate, and not the driver. Photos would be erased after 30 to 60 days, and the record would only be looked into in the investigation of a crime.

“There’d be just none of the real-time monitoring that people worry about or that we’re somehow wanting to be unfriendly or discourage visitors in any way,” Curran said.

Attorney H. Beatty Chadwick was released from a Delaware County, Pa., prison last week after spending 14 years behind bars — for contempt of court.

In 1995, a county judge overseeing Chadwick’s divorce had issued incarceration for contempt — a coercive measure used by judges — after Chadwick failed to deposit $2.5 million in a court-controlled bank account for his wife’s alimony, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Chadwick maintained that he had lost the money in a bad investment overseas.

The imprisonment is a record in the U.S. for contempt.

Contempt is a court order issued by a judge during a trial or hearing, indicating that an individual has shown the court or its proceedings disrespect, such as violating a court order. Under civil contempt of court, the individual may be held indefinitely until the court order is satisfied — without the constitutional protections that criminal courts provide.

During his imprisonment, Chadwick, 73, and his defense attorney Michael J. Malloy repeatedly petitioned for his freedom. After 14 years, the judge realized that the coerce measure had become punitive.

Chadwick, who was a corporate attorney, lost his law license in the state of Pennsylvania during his incarceration, and has no income other than Social Security.

Police investigating the death of Michael Jackson say it could be a criminal case, depending on the results of Jackson’s toxicology report, according to CNN.

Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton told reporters that the coroner’s report will determine whether Jackson’s death is ruled a homicide or an accidental overdose.

Meanwhile, new details have emerged about Jackson’s prescription drug use. CNN cites a confidential source alleging that Jackson received Xanax prescriptions from doctors in different states, and even had employees receive prescriptions in their name, then pass on the pills to him — all forms of prescription fraud.

The pill use details, from a 2004 document, allege that Jackson had a sleep disorder, and took up to 10 Xanax a night.

The document contains the names of five doctors — some practicing in California, with others in New York and Florida.

Chief Bratton did not say who a potential criminal investigation would target.

A class-action lawsuit in Washington state may put an end to traffic cameras and costly tickets in the state, according to KXLY.

The problem, according to the lawsuit, is the excessive fines issues to violators.

A 2005 state law stipulates that fines for traffic violations caught by the cameras must be in line with fines for parking tickets — $25 to $50 in most cities. However, some red light violators have been sent tickets of up to $125.

The lawsuit could force 18 cities to pay back thousands of dollars collected by the red light cameras.

Spokane, for example, has collected $189,000 in just seven months since installing the cameras.