2006

“CSI” Fans Possibly Better at Crime

For years, police and prosecutors have complained about the effect of law-and-order shows (like — well, like "Law and Order") on juries.  They say that having watched the shows, jurors expect certain things from the attorneys at trial, and in…




FYI: Judge Mockery Should Not Be Done On-Line

Here we thought kids understood the concept of the "Internet," but at least some do not get the fact that what you post there can be seen by anybody, including the judge who previously let you off with probation.  They…


Just Say No to Door-to-Door Tattoo Salesmen

I was pleased to see that none of my Springfield (Mo.)  relatives were involved in this story, which involves a man who apparently went door-to-door there last week offering tattoos. Now, if I were going to let a stranger who…



Rich Hope to Freeze Assets as Well as Heads

Hundreds of people, maybe more, currently plan to join Ted Williams’s head in frozen storage when they die, hoping that medical technology will advance to the point that they can be reanimated and revived.  The Wall Street Journal reported on…


Seriously Defective Lawyer May Be Entirely Normal Lawyer

From the January issue of Scientific American magazine (pp. 24-25, in case you are a big enough dork to actually read that magazine): Take the 50-something lawyer who, fearing Alzheimer’s, came in for an MRI and got good news and…


How to Collect from a Stubborn Client

This one’s easy: you just kidnap him until the family pays the ransom, I mean fees.  Works best on the client’s wedding day. Police in Waco, Texas, said that Paula Allen, a 51-year-old attorney who had defended Rolando Castelan from…


Woman + Woman’s Fetus Held Not to Constitute “Carpool”

A municipal judge in Phoenix ruled in 2006 (Snopes, NBC) that a woman was properly ticketed for using the carpool lane, despite her argument that she was in fact riding with a "passenger" because she was pregnant. A good question for…