Criminal Law Blog & News

On this date, May 4, in the year 1970, four students were killed and nine others wounded when members of the Ohio National Guard opened fire during a Vietnam War protest.  Approximately 67 shots were fired by the guardsmen over thirteen seconds.  Jeffrey Glenn Miller, age 20, was shot through the mouth and killed instantly.  Allison B. Krause, age 19,was shot in the chest and died later that day.  William Knox Schroeder, age 19, was also shot in the  chest and died almost an hour later in a hospital while undergoing surgery.  Sandra Lee Scheuer, age 20, was shot in her neck and died within a few minutes from loss of blood.  Among the wounded was Dean R. Kahler, who was shot in the back, causing permanent paralysis from the chest down.  All of those killed or wounded were unarmed.

On this date, April 30, in the year 1871, more than one hundred Apache Indians in Arizona were murdered by local settlers in what became known as the Camp Grant massacre.  Apaches refer to the site as g’ashdla a cho o aa or “big sycamore standing there,” with the unspoken understanding of what took place.

On Tuesday , April 11, 2012, the so-called former attorneys of George Zimmerman announced to the media, and thus the public at large, they were withdrawing from further representation of the man under investigation for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida.

Although attorneys have the ability to withdraw from cases under certain circumstances and although there really wasn’t an actual case to withdraw from as of Tuesday, questions remain regarding the decision to publicly disclose certain matters which may have the potential to negatively impact the defense.

I suppose I should not write this.  I suppose I should just go with the flow created by the apparent overwhelming ground swell of the media and popular outrage over the Sanford Police Department’s failure to arrest George Zimmerman on a murder charge.  As a criminal defense attorney that knows well that the police are not only fallible but also capable of outright dishonesty, I still feel the need to speak in opposition to the idea that we can know with certainty the facts of this investigation by reading news reports or listening to popular media accounts.  As my friends and associates lineup on Facebook acknowledging that they have signed a petition essentially demanding that Zimmerman be immediately arrested, I can’t help but smell a lynch mob mentality that causes me to step back and urge caution.

The Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, in conjunction with several other local law enforcement agencies, has arrested at least twenty different individuals for utilizing various Internet social meeting sites to allegedly attempt communication with a person believed to be a minor regarding sexual activity.   No actual children were involved - only adult law enforcement officers posing as minors.  The Gainesville television station WCJB reports that one of those arrested was an elementary school teacher.  This blog will not report the names of those arrested as all are presumed innocent.

On this day, January 30, in the year 1956, the home of Reverend Martin Luther King was bombed in Montgomery, Alabama.  To this day no person has ever been prosecuted for this violent criminal act.

In a rare unanimous decision, the United States Supreme Court ruled on January 23, 2012, in U.S. v Antoine Jones,  that attaching a GPS device to a suspect’s vehicle is a search under the Fourth Amendment.   In one of the first major cases to test constitutional privacy rights in the digital age, the court ruled that police must obtain a search warrant before attaching a GPS tracker to a vehicle in a criminal investigation.

On this day, January 28, in the year 1981, Plasmatics band member Wendy O. Williams was arrested on an obscenity charge for allegedly simulating a sexual act with a sledge hammer.  During her physical arrest, Williams was injured and was also charged with battery on a law enforcement officer.

On this day, January 17, in the year 1989, at Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton, California, Patrick Purdy shot and killed five schoolchildren, and wounded 29 other children and one teacher, before committing suicide.  This event became known as the Cleveland School massacre.

At least one Florida Appellate Court has ruled that it is lawful to stop a vehicle because the driver was seen drinking a beverage in a paper bag.

On this day, January 12, in the year 1991, civil rights activist Al Sharpton was stabbed while leading a protest.  The attacker, Michael Riccardi, would later be convicted and sentenced to prison.

On this day, January 11, in the year 1794, Robert Forsyth became the first U.S. Marshal killed in the line of duty.

On this day, January 10, in the year 1994, Lorena Bobbitt's jury trial for cutting her husband’s penis off began.  She would ultimately be found not guilty by reason of insanity. 

On this date, January 9, in the year 1979, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Pennsylvania law that subjected abortion providers to criminal sanctions if they failed to attempt to preserve the life of a fetus when there is "sufficient reason to believe that the fetus may be viable" or when the fetus “is viable.”

On this day, January 6, in the year 1909, a young Afro-American, Arthur Davis, was lynched in Florence, South Carolina, for injuring a mule owned by a prominent white family.

On this day, January 5, in the year 1968, a federal grand jury indicted child psychologist Dr. Benjamin Spock and four others for conspiring to aid draft dodgers.  Spock was tried and convicted, but his conviction was later overturned on appeal.

On this date, January 4, in the year 1923, a white vigilante mob began a two day rampage, resulting in the burning and dislocation of the small Afro-American community of Rosewood Florida.

On this day, January 3, in the year 1967, Carl Dean Wilson, of the band the “Beach Boys,” refused to be drafted for military service, leading to his indictment and criminal prosecution for draft evasion.

On this date, January 2, in the year 1932, two brothers, Harry and Jennings Young, killed six law enforcement officers who were trying to arrest them just outside Brookline, Missouri.  Known as the “Young Brothers Massacre,” it was the worst single gun battle killing of U.S. police officers in the 20th century.

On this day, December 30, in the year 1994, John Salvi, III, carried out fatal attacks at two Planned Parenthood reproductive health clinics in Brookline, Massachusetts.  During the attacks he shot and killed two receptionists and wounded five other individuals.