The law and the jungle

The big-city Chicago Tribune does a tough, fearless crime story:

A Skokie man told police a woman with a shopping cart stole more than 100 peaches from a tree in his backyard.

[. . .]

The neighbor said the woman left after he yelled at her.

Wow, now I really know the cost of gasoline has become a serious problem:

PORTAGE -- Gas prices seem to affect even drug dealers, according to Porter County Courthouse records.

A Hammond man now facing two counts of dealing cocaine was charging an extra $25 to deliver about 7 grams of the drug to Portage in June.

[. . .]

A monster and a moron:

A Wayne County man has admitted that he videotaped himself having sex with a girl younger than 1 year old.

Richard A. Florack, 55, pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court to a felony of knowingly producing child pornography for making the tape from Dec. 1, 2001, to Jan. 31, 2002.

[. . .]

And the Final Jeopardy answer is: "The Baby Boomers got older":

Violent crime in the United States fell slightly last year, reversing the upward swing of the previous two years, according to statistics released by the FBI yesterday.

[. . .]

Well, heaven forbid that we reduce the number of abortions:

Sarah and Todd Palin's decision to complete her recent pregnancy, despite advance notice that their baby Trig had Down syndrome, is hailed by many in the pro-life movement as walking the walk as well as talking the talk.

Attorneys for John R. Myers II, 33, convicted of murder for killing 19-year-old Indiana University student Jill Behrman, are seeking to have the guilty verdict overturned because of (among other reasons) "shocking jury misconduct":

Jurors in the case have previously acknowledged some behavior characterized as "giggly," including playing Frisbee and painting some of the men's toenails.

Young, dumb and dangerous:

Indiana State Police say a 17-year-old girl stopped for driving 118 mph on Interstate 65 told the arresting officer she and her friends were headed to school.

Police stopped the 2000 Toyota Celica driving south on I-65 near Merrillville at about 6:30 Wednesday morning. There were three teenage boys in the car besides the girl, who was driving. Police say all four tested positive for alcohol.

I heard a lot of people talking about this story today, along the lines of, "What else don't we know yet?"

Jene A. Chadwell is accused of stealing axle assemblies, bolts, bearings, brackets, discs, gears, nuts and plates. Chadwell, who didn't return a request for comment Monday placed through a relative, has been charged with receiving stolen property.

No guarantee the the Supreme Court will revisit the spectacularly incompetent 5-4 decision in the Kennedy v. Louisiana case last term, but it has at least set up that possibility:

In a rare move, the Supreme Court said it might reconsider its June decision that struck down the death penalty for crimes that fall short of murder, after a law blog revealed that the government left out a fact that would have bolstered its argument that executions for such offenses are constitutional.

Dismaying evidence that those on the left are very unclear on the constitutional concept:

While 82% of voters who support McCain believe the justices should rule on what is in the Constitution, just 29% of Barack Obama's supporters agree. Just 11% of McCain supporters say judges should rule based on the judge's sense of fairness, while nearly half (49%) of Obama supporters agree.