Recently, courts in Arizona, Hawaii, Indiana, Idaho and New York have allowed therapy dogs to sit with witnesses, many of whom are children, as a way of relieving the witnesses' stress. Defense lawyers of a man convicted in New York, objected:
No one denies that Rosie, a New York therapy dog who works with witnesses in criminal cases, is very cute. However the defense lawyers of a man convicted of raping his daughter claim that the golden retriever's cuteness swayed a jury too much.
Hey, let's not be so alarmist:
Chicago - Chicago's former top cop is coming out strong against the state's new gambling bill, which would expand gambling across Illinois and bring a new casino to Chicago. Gov. Pat Quinn has yet to sign the bill into law, and Jody Weis is hoping that won't happen.
It's hard to tell whether this loon is calling for his followers to start killing people or trying to call in God the hit man:
Is polygamist leader Warren Jeffs trying to put a mafia-style hit out on the judge, prosecutors and the jury in his rape case, which is underway in San Angleo?
I'd say it's time we all brushed up on our defensive driving. First, there is this, out of the Indiana Court of Appeals:
The Indiana Court of Appeals has reversed a man's conviction for operating a motor vehicle while suspended, saying the state didn't prove the moped he was riding was a motor vehicle under state law.
A judge in Georgia last week allowed the execution of a man named Andrew Grant to videotaped by lawyers representing another death row inmate. Who might end up seeing such a tape?
Looks like state legislators were a little too quick to get rid of that "much-ridiculed law" to make alcohol sellers check all IDS, regardless of the customers' ages:
You want to find an in-the-pen pal, you're on your own:
A federal court has upheld an Indiana Department of Correction policy that prohibits prisoners from advertising for pen-pals.
Indiana prison inmates had filed a class action suit against the state challenging the policy, claiming it violated their constitutional right of free speech.
The county plans to tighten the rules on tattoos and body piercings:
Operators of Fort Wayne tattoo and piercing parlors will need to buy an annual license from the health department costing $295 and each artist at the establishment will need an artist license that will cost $65 a year. No one under the age of 18 will be allowed to perform tattooing or body piercing.
I did not know Indiana had this distinction;
On the table was a proposal to set a monetary threshold for what would constitute a felony theft that carries prison time. According to the commission's researchers, Indiana is the only state in the nation that has no threshold, meaning a prosecutor can charge a suspect with a felony theft, no matter how big or small the value of the item stolen.
The nanny state is alive and well in Philadelphia:
