The law and the jungle

The Indiana Supreme Court is now considering the case of the man kicked out of a casino for card counting. The casino says common law allows it to refuse anyone entrance, as long as it's not for "a bad rason." The man's attorney counters that gaming is "a statutory creature" that didn't exist in common-law times. Justice Frank Sullivan Jr.'s comments make sense:

I visited my sister in Indy over the weekend, and the big news there was about the two Carmel 15-year-olds who died in a fiery crash after the driver, also 15, led police on a very short chase before running into a utility pole. Police had tried to stop the car for speeding. The time between the dispatch from the police car announcing the pursuit and the dispatch announcing the crase was two minutes.

Sometimes it's comforting to live in a down-to-earth safe zone where looniness comes so much later than in other places that we have a better chance heading it off.

Remember the "I can sit naked in my own home drinking coffee if I want to" guy? Turns out he was right:

A man charged with indecent exposure after two women said they saw him naked inside his own home was acquitted Wednesday by a Virginia jury.

Erick Williamson, 29, has argued since his October arrest that he should not be punished for being naked in the privacy of his own home.

During his confirmation hearings, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said, naively, that we wanted to build consensus on the court. After his speech at the Indiana University School of Law Wednesday, he was asked about that, in light of the fact that about one-third of the court's rulings last term were decided 5-4:

Roberts responded that justices differing in their interpretations of law cannot act like lawmakers and strike compromises halfway.

The Indiana Court of Appeals has ordered a new trial for an African-American convicted on drug charges, saying that prosecutors discriminated in at least one instance when they struck all blacks from a panel of jurors. At issue were statements by three jurors, one black and two white, showing they misunderstood the burden of proof faced by the state:

In at least one instance, the judges said, the reason given for striking a black from the panel applied equally to two white jurors who were allowed to serve.

Some students at the Indiana University Mauer School of Law apparently resent an e-mail sent out by the Dean of Students urging students to exercise good judgment on a planned "pub crawl," for example by drinking "a full glass of water between the two or three beers you will have":

A few points:

* Two or three beers? That's an appropriate limit for NASCAR drivers, but not crawling, pedestrian law students.

How can you not read a story with the headline "Police: man gets rowdy with bicycle pump"? The man in question, Brandon Greer, allegedly tore his and his roommate's room apart and socked the roommate on the chin, prompting the roommate to call police:

Oops. Jeffrey A. Akard thought his 93-year-sentence for brutally raping a homeless woman was too harsh, so he asked that it be reduced to 40 years. Things didn't go quite as he might have hoped at the Indiana Court of Appeals:

In an unprecedented and unanimous decision issued Tuesday, the panel of three judges ruled that Akard's sentence be increased to 118 years because of the crimes' heinous nature.

Police subdue a dangerous criminal:

MARTINSVILLE, Ind. — Indiana police say two officers have been placed on administrative suspension after they used a stun gun on an unruly 10-year-old boy at a home day care:

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