Archive for the 'crime' Category

Lori Drew & cyberbullying: sometimes justice means freeing the unspeakable

Published on 2 July 2009 in crime. 5 Comments Tags: , , .

The Judge, George Wu, presiding over the sentencing of Lori Drew declared that she had to be exonerated of bullying a 13 year old girl to death. Drew, 50 years old, allegedly in revenge for the bullying of her own daughter by the victim, created a fake 16 year old male identity to seduce Megan Meier. Having struck up a relationship the girl was eventually told by the 'boy' that the world would be better off if she was dead. She committed suicide.

Ghastly, ghastly, wicked behaviour. Even if Drew never intended Meier to commit suicide she deserves the strongest social opprobrium. But does she deserve jail? Most people, including Geeklawyer, would say 'yes'. Unfortunately neither Missouri nor California had (have?) cyber bullying legislation and the only way to throw meat to the media was to engage in some creative criminal law theorizing. This is where the law of unintended consequences starts to kick in.

California prosecutors hit on the idea that by breaking the terms and conditions of the MySpace website she had, apart from any breach of civil law, committed a felony computer misuse offence. Drew was convicted by a jury.

At this point alarm bells started to ring: did everyone who provided inaccurate details to MySpace, or Twitter/Facebook etc etc, thereby commit an imprisonable offence? If so then many of us who use the Internet will have committed such an offence and Judge Wu, one imagines reluctantly, felt compelled to throw the case out.

Hard cases make bad law. And sometimes the 'guilty' do need to go free for justice to survive.

It would never do to jail Geeklawyer just because he described himself as "loving and compassionate" on a dating website.

Defending the unpopular: an Indian perspective

Published on 16 April 2009 in Civil liberties & human rights, crime and legal profession. 2 Comments Tags: , , .

This one is a bit odd. One would imagine most people respect the idea that even the guilty and wretched deserve a fair trial and a lawyer. One would hope that a lawyer would not become regarded as one with his client and reviled. Interesting then to note the reaction in Mumbai to a lawyer defending a terrorist suspect.

That said ,mind you. Geeklawyer is reminded of the complicity of the Northern Ireland police  in the Loyalist killing of solicitor Pat Finucane.

Lead exposure linked to criminality?

Published on 28 May 2008 in crime. 5 Comments Tags: , .

The human body is a bizarre mix of complex systems. Who'd have thought lead in the blood would be linked to criminality? Good news is that global lead pollution is dropping.

The bad news that some lead in the blood pollution is definitely still a crime issue.

The law of intended consequences?

Published on 7 May 2008 in Civil liberties & human rights and crime. 3 Comments Tags: , , .

Geeklawyer was a trifle amused by the story of an accused being able to retain £14million following a botched civil seizure action by the government. As outlined here the government lost a case because it wouldn't pay barristers a proper rate. No barrister would accept the defendants brief so he had to defend himself while the state had an army of lawyers. The judge said this was an abuse of process. No fucking shit Sherlock: reverse the burden of proof deprive the accused of the means of defending himself.

The governments robbery scheme seems to have been undermined by the own parsimony. Idiots.

Geeklawyer visits the bottom end of the profession & nearly destroys a large criminal trial

Published on 1 May 2008 in Ruthie, crime and the Bar. 10 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Ruthie was, as many were aware, recently pretending to be junior counsel in a multi-million pound criminal trial that Geeklawyer visited as it was drawing to its inevitable conclusion. In fact it nearly drew to a conclusion more rapidly as a result of Geeklawyer's friendly visit.

Geeklawyer had merely intended to show up, provide Ruthie with moral support, dinner and some post-prandial 'entertainment' for a couple of hours while her Leader's attention was off in another part of the country.

Disappointingly Geeklawyer did not get to hear the sluttily voiced Ruthie provide each and every member of the jury with remote oral sex from across the courtroom. Her leader was at fault: a thoroughly charming old school barrister, he insisted on using her for the jobs for which junior female counsel are conditioned by nature; fetching coffee cooking and ironing shirts. That is to say, a wife: but one to whom one need not give over 50% of one's assets at the end of the trial/marriage.

It transpired however that the graceful and supple Geeklawyer's dark presence caused pandemonium to Ruthie's client. Not pandemonium of the usual heart, pitter patter, variety. No. Apparently Geeklawyer bore an uncanny resemblance to one of the defendants. When Geeklawyer turned up at court and sat at the back of the public area he was unaware of the turbulence he caused.

Why, said "impressive client", is junior counsel 'canoodling' with a defendant. Problematic? Err yea, just a bit. impressive client took a bit of convincing that nothing untoward was occurring.

Regrettably there was worse. Much much worse.

One of the key defendants in the trial was an alarming looking gentleman with a nervous tick and a reputation for, unproven, extreme violence due to a well known untreatable psychiatric disorder. He spent much of the day, according to watchful observers, pacing up and down eying Geeklawyer, when they were both in the court corridors, or glaring at him as he sat in the public area of the trial room. This was all misinterpreted by your author.

The assumption was that Mr Loonytoons believed that Geeklawyer was not a respectable, indeed glamorous compared to his criminal colleagues, barrister but a defendant engaged in surveillance to unknown and (for Mr Psycho) detrimental ends.

Geeklawyer is, of course, well known for being brighter than the entire population of the planet Mensa put together. Readers might thus ask "OK, why did you not spot all of this?". The problem is that Geeklawyer's ego is not that small. He had spotted the observation but the truth is that, while straight, he knows how very hot he is to gay guys as well as the ladies; and, well, you know, he just assumed that gay lust rather than a psychotic killing instinct was the basis for the attention ....

Fortunately for the psycho hardman he wasn't brave or stupid enough to try it on with Geeklawyer. Geeklawyer is known not just for his charm and wit but also his steel hard edge: he'd would have hated to have to deprive the court of its opportunity to mete out justice.

Gay Royal blackmail victim wont go into the witness box …

Published on 14 April 2008 in crime. 12 Comments Tags: , , , .

Which was not his attitude to his manservant's 'box'.

Geeklawyer has covered the story before. It seems that this is the first time in a century that a Royal has been blackmailed (though of course if it were successful how would one know?) Obviously it can't be true because the victim is a married Royal with children; and anyway there can only be one Queen in the Royal Family.

It did seem a bit odd to Geeklawyer not to have the victim on the stand - one imagines that that would significantly damage the prospects of the accused being convicted. Still even if the prosecution can't make a case perhaps the victim can? But he would need expert woodworking skills (please don't use that as a clue to try and hunt down the identity of the royal involved ;) )

Nothing changes

Published on 8 April 2008 in crime and politics. 10 Comments Tags: , , .

Twatty government minister are prone to saying that we are facing new types of [something dangerous/annoying] in society that needs legislating against to protect the public, or actually to appease Daily Mail readers. Hoodies are a classic example but Professor Robert Bartlett has done research and found that gangs of lawless binge drinking hooded yoofs were widely perceived as a problem

Prosecutor tripped by unexpected court argument

Published on 15 March 2008 in crime and trials. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

The Sun reports that a trial in Reading descended into anarchy when the defendant, a pikey accused of a shooting, leapt from the dock and made a successful dash for freedom. In the process he bit a cop's nose. He seems to have been helped by a friends who were waiting.

The funny bit that caught Geeklawyer's eye was that the prosecuting barrister Ian Hope tried to be a hero. He threw off his wig and gown and gave chase. It could have ended so well but one of McInerney's accomplices tripped him up as he ran.

Mr Hope will now be rueing the fact that he didn't prepare well enough for his case.

Police are stopping all pony and traps in the area.

IPCC & Police complaints

Published on 25 February 2008 in cops and crime. 5 Comments

Geeklawyer is in despair over the reports (via the hugely useful Inner Temple news blog) of the criminal ineptness of the Independent Police Complaints Commission. Charges allege that, almost universally, poorly trained inexperience junior staff who are rude slow and police biased are supervised by unqualified inexperienced barely trained managerial staff.

Fucking jesus!

Justice?

Published on 25 February 2008 in crime and trials. 6 Comments

However much Geeklawyer may whinge we do at least have some semblence of a system of fair trials. For those in Afghanistan the story is different: a 4 minute trial with no right to defend oneself or appeal followed by a death sentence.

Even sicko Blair wouldn't have turned our justice system into this: but only because he'd never have succeeded; not that he didn't want to.

And what are those cunts on about at the Sun with their campaign for the death sentence to be reinstated? Oh yea Geeklawyer remembers, cheap publicity gimmicks. Geeklawyer is all in favour of the death penalty for Sun journos but no-one else (ooh, is that calling for their death too? :)