Archive for the 'Criminal Law News' Category

According to CNET, searches in Google’s log helped convict a husband of murder. Justin Barber was convicted of murder when the prosecution introduced record of his Google searches into the court as evidence.

After searching Justin’s computer, investigators found that Justin had searched the terms “trauma, cases, gunshot, right chest” and “Florida & divorce.” He had also downloaded the Guns N’ Roses song “Used to Love Her” but deleted it after the death of his wife, April.

On August 17, 2002, Justin and April were walking along the beach in Florida. Justin told the police that the two were robbed and shot. He had been shot four times - in his left hand, left shoulder, base of his neck and chest. April was shot in the face and died. Although Justin described the robber, April’s family was suspicious. A $2 million life insurance policy had been taken out on Justin and April, and Justin was facing $50,000 of debt.  Justin was also involved in affairs.

The Chicago Tribune reported the Chicago Police arrested a 14-year-old boy on Saturday for impersonating a police officer. The boy has been charged, as a juvenile, with impersonating an officer.

According to the Tribune, the boy dressed in a police uniform and reported for duty at 1:30 p.m. at the Grand Crossing District station on 7040 S. Cottage Grove Ave. The boy told the office that he was reporting from another district and checked out a police radio and ticket book. For the next five hours, the boy and an office from the station went out on duty, making traffic stops and going on calls, including one for domestic violence. The officer began to get suspicious when the boy couldn’t produce any credentials.

Stan Garnett, the new district attorney of Boulder County, Co., will be looking into the murder of JonBenet Ramsey. In the first 30 days Garnett is in office, he wants to figure out who would handle the ongoing investigation more efficiently.

Six-year-old JonBenet was found strangled and beaten in the basement of the family home by her father, John Ramsey, on Dec. 26, 1996. A ransom note demanding $118,000 was near her body.

CNN reported that although the Ramsey case hasn’t made the news recently, tips and information are regularly reporeted to authorities.

A&E launched a new cops series this year called The Beast about Charles Barker (Swayze), a FBI agent teaching his partner about undercover work with a “hard-edged, psychologically driven approach.”

In a recent review on Slate, Troy Patterson notes that it might be hard to root against Swayze because of his past roles - a heartthrob in the movies Ghost and Dirty Dancing. However, maybe Swayze is a better tough guy than first believed…

According to CNN, the alleged victim is seeking the charges against director Roman Polanski for sexual assault be dismissed. Polanski admitted to having sex with Samantha Geimer in 1977 when she was 13-years-old. The director left for France after the charges were brought against him. He has lived there in exile since 1978.

Geimer released a declaration saying, “I am no longer a 13-year-old child. I have dealt with the difficulties of being a victim, have surmounted and surpassed them with one exception…That attention [from the case] is not pleasant to experience and is not worth maintaining over some irrelevant legal nicety, the continuation of the case.”

Last week 11 gay bars in Seattle’s Capitol Hill district received threatening letters that said patrons would be poisoned with ricin, according to CNN. This chemical occurs in castor beans and are fatal if ingested or inhaled.

Police continue to investigate the letters and have no evidence that the threats are real.

The letters stated, “I have in my possession approximately 67 grams of ricin with which I will indiscriminately target at least five of you clients. … I expect them to die painfully while in the hospital.”

Originally, the area was scared about the threats but have now become defiant. The bars have posted signs that read, “Do not leave drink unattended.” Friday night, hundreds of people joined in an organized pub crawl to support the bars.

One of the most sweeping judicial bribery investigations in Mississippi lead to law enforcement taking $425,000 from former district attorney. Ed Peters was the Hinds County District Attorney for almost 30 years. No formal charges have been made public, but prosecutors have alleged his involvement in judicial bribes in court documents. A court order has issued the money be held by the U.S. Marshals Service until further ruling.

Peters retired in 2001. He is most well-known for prosecuting a white supremacist in the cold case murder of a Mississippi civil rights leader.

A man robbed a Chicago bank with a note written on his own pay stub on Friday.

The 40-year-old Thomas Infante walked into the Fifth Third Bank at 4017 W. Lawrence Ave. Friday, Dec. 26 around 5:50 p.m. The man, who lives in the northwest suburb of Cary, handed the teller a note reading, “Be Quick Be Quit. Give your cash or I’ll shoot.”

The Chicago Tribune reported that Infante wrote his note on half of his own pay stub. The FBI found the other half of the pay stub outside the front doors of the bank. The stub had Infante’s name and address on the other side. FBI spokesman, Ross Rice, said that the FBI sees a lot of crazy bank robberies, but that “it’s fairly unusual that we see something that specifically stupid.”

We all know how annoying it is to pay to listen to people talk at the movies. You just shelled out more than $10 to watch a show you have been wanting to see, and you can’t hear it over two junior high girls talking about boys two rows in front or the couple arguing five seats over. You may be a little annoyed and suffer through it or make comments about the noise, but one man took retaliation a little too far.

On Christmas Day at the Riverview Movie Theatre in Philadelphia, Pa., an argument started after James Joseph Cialella told a family sitting in front of him to be quiet, reported CNN. Cialella, 29, approached the family and shot the father after throwing popcorn at the son. According to a police report, Cialella was charged with attempted murder, arrgavated assault and weapons violations.

A different kind of law enforcement crackdown has hit Santa Monica, CA. Park Rangers are being dispatched by the police department to respond to neighborhood complaints around the Fourth Street median. The area offers an ocean view, distracting architectural scenery and beautiful weather for people looking for a spot to exercise outside.

According to The New York Times, in the last six months, the area has seen an increase in officers stationed on the corner of Fourth Street and Adelaide Drive throughout the day. Their job is to make sure that the median is used strictly for walking, jogging and running - no more stretching or kickingboxing allowed.

So far, the city has warned more than 600 people a month and issued a total of eight citation at $158 each. The neighbors and runners cannot reach an agreement on how the median should be used, so a community meeting is set up for January 8 to talk about how to use the area.

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