Edward Ates "looked down and shook his head in court" as he listened to the jury's verdict against him on November 6. As he did, his ponderous jowls wobbled slowly from side to side. Or, at least, ponderous and wobbly jowls would…
The California Highway Patrol got a report of a stolen car on November 3 and were able to track it down quickly because it was equipped with LoJack. They found it parked near a courthouse in Vallejo, about a 30-minute…
I have to go back and make sure my numbering is consistent, but I think these would be Bad Disguises Numbers 6 and 7: I am going to count these as two Bad Disguises even though they are fundamentally based on the…
A federal judge has ruled that former Illinois governor and loony pseudo-celebrity Rod Blagojevich can indeed appear on "Celebrity Apprentice" in March. U.S. District Judge James Zagel decided on October 20 not to block Blagojevich from appearing on the show,…
As we learned from Alanis Morrisette, irony is a tricky concept, so I have looked up the definition: irony, n. 1. A figure of speech in which the intended meaning is the opposite of that expressed by the words used;…
"Clothes make the man, and a mustache couldn't hurt either," will apparently be the trial theme in Richard Rodriguez's case against the city of El Monte, California. Rodriguez sued the city in July, alleging that a police officer used excessive…
Lawyer speculates Balloon Dad wanted to make a lot of money in a hurry because the world was about to end.
I know this has been tried before, and I'd be surprised if it has ever worked, but it didn't work this time. In an opinion issued on October 14, the California Court of Appeal held that an insanity plea to…
In September, 22-year-old Scott Zeilinski sued the owner and staff of Nick's Short Stop Party Store in Clinton Township, Michigan, alleging that he was shot and wounded during a visit to the store. Those allegations appear to be true. The…
"Those drugs aren't mine" is probably a common argument, and commonly unsuccessful. And I would guess that it is an even tougher argument if you were found using a big bag of drugs as a mattress. Customs agents have charged two men with conspiracy and…