Mississippi Lawyer Blog

I normally don't write this type of blog but this has been one of the strangest weeks for legal news I've seen in a while. I don't know where to begin. How 'bout Burt Reynolds and his foreclosure woes? As many Americans face foreclosure due to predatory loans, Mr. Reynolds is looking at losing his Florida mansion. Bet he wishes he could do another Smokey and The Bandit sequel. If you have foreclosure issues, you need to call Frank Coxwell for advice.

You like hot sauce on your food? That's good but please don't use it to punish your children like this Alaska woman did. I just don't even know what this woman was thinking. Her trial is going on as I type this.

And what's up with Gerard Depardieu? The French movie star apparently had a bladder issue on a recent flight and, well, relieved himself on the plane. What's wrong with that you ask? Well, he relieved himself on the floor of the plane. Allegedly. He went oui oui oui all over the place! (You see what I did there? He's French so I used "oui" instead of "wee". Nevermind) Good thing he didn't do DeparTWO instead.

But what about the University of Miami athletic program? Nevin Shapiro, one of the university's biggest boosters has decided to blow the lid off all the money and other perks he has been showering on "the U's athletes for the last decade. Shapiro made his money defrauding investors in an elaborate Ponzi scheme. Well, at least he did reinvest some of his money back into the community, right?

Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg if facing a lawsuit by a former classmate who is seeking half ownership of the popular networking site. The former classmate, Paul Ceglia, claims that he has a contract signed by himself and Zuckerberg which shows that he gave Zuckerberg $1,000 in startup money to create his idea, which was Facebook. The man's lawsuit claims that when he hired Zuckerberg as a Harvard University freshman to work on the Streetfax business in 2003, he gave him $1,000 in start-up money for his fledgling Facebook idea with the condition he'd own half if it expanded. The problem? Facebook believes that for his lawsuit, Ceglia altered the Streetfax contract to insert references to Facebook. Ouch.

And then there's the crystal meth dealer. When police raided his California home they found...tombstones. And I'm talking about Tombstone Pizzas but real tombstones. Apparently he had taken the tombstones from a local cemetery. Why? I don't know and neither do the police but you kids out there can learn a lesson from this: doing drugs will make you steal tombstones so don't do it.

Late show host David Letterman received a death threat from a Muslim militant which the FBI is taken seriously. Apparently terrorists are not fond of Letterman's Top Ten Lists. Who knew?

Continue reading "Weird Legal Week in Review and the Chupacabra" »

Just a few days after the Choctaw Tribal Council threw out the election results for tribal chief, the F.B.I. raided the Choctaw casino. This wouldn't be the first time the Choctaws have been caught up in a political scandal.

It will definitely be interesting to see if the two events are linked somehow. Stay tuned.

Continue reading "FBI raids Choctaw Casinos Just A Week after Chief Vote is Thrown Out: Coincidence?" »

This is a shocking and sobering story. The homes of three separate individuals were raided by FBI agents for allegedly downloading child porn on their computers. The feds accused the three of being "creeps" and urged them to come clean of their crimes.

However, the Feds were wrong. Neighbors of the three innocent parites had utilized their unsecured wireless network address and downloaded the child porn. I'm sure the Feds apologized for their actions towards these innocent persons. Yeah right.

Continue reading "Hey Mississippi: FBI child porn raid a strong argument for locking down WiFi networks" »

The United States Constitution and the Mississippi Constitution contain a Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights of each constitution apply to every person in American. In the areas around Jackson, Mississippi, including Ridgeland, Madison, Brandon, Pearl, and Clinton, criminal defense lawyers have witnessed a disregard for those rights by law enforcement. The right to be free from an unreasonable search and seizure is one of the most valuable of the individual Bill of Rights. A great source for gaining a better appreciation and understanding of the Bill of Rights can be found at the Bill of Rights Institute.
I bring this topic up because I have watched for years with interest the national news stories about Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Sheriff Arpaio first turned up years ago talking tough and promoting policies that in my opinion bordered on cruel. His policies became more and more extreme until they took on what now seems like outright civil rights violations and political attacks against his opponents using his law enforcement powers. What is even more interesting is how Sheriff Arpaio is refusing to comply with a request from the United States Government for him to turn over records. The Sheriff's Office is the recipient of millions of dollars in grants from the Federal Government and when you get these types of grants the receiving agency has a duty to provide the U.S. Government with these types of documents.

The Sheriff however is not without his supporters. He has many supporters in Arizona who are opposed to the immigrants coming into this country. As you may recall Arizona recently enacted an immigration law that is being challenged by the U.S. Government as a violation of the Federal Government's right to enact and control the national immigration issue. You can read about this contentious Sheriff on the MSNBC website in an article styled Feds Sue Arizona Sheriff in Civil Rights Probe. It is interesting to me that Sheriff Arpaio, a law enforcement officer who is sworn to uphold the law is charged with violating civil rights and in the case investigation he wants to disregard the laws that apply to him if he does not like the effect of those laws. The root of Sheriff Arpaio's problems seem to be his disrespect for the law.

Those of us who handle criminal cases see this disrespect for the Bill of Rights every day. It is very common among law enforcement. If you watch all the cop shows on television the rights we all enjoy are treated like nuisances to the police. The Bill of Rights have made America a great, free country. Instead of treating the Bill of Rights like an obstacle to law enforcement, we should view them as the breath of liberty.

Continue reading "Your Right To Be Free From An Unreasonable Search in Mississippi" »