The law and the jungle

What a great defense -- the "my affections were not alientated, I was always a cheater" argument. Cynthia Shackelford sued Anne Lundquist, the mistress of her husband Allan, under North Carolina's odd "Alienation of Affection" law for the breakup of her 33-year marriage and was awarded $9 million by a jury:

The times are a changing, so jury rules have to as well:

The Indiana Supreme Court earlier this month issued new rules that, in greater detail, address technology and quick, easy access to outside information via the Internet.

For instance, computers, laptops, cell phones and other electronic devices will be banned from the courtroom and jury room. Jurors also will be prohibited from using the Internet to do independent research at home.

Chief Justice and Hoosier native John Roberts might be too controversial for Butler University, but he's apparently just fine for Indiana University. On April 7, he'll become the third justice -- but the first chief justice -- to give the annual James P. White Lecture on Legal Education:

There is at least one trend Indiana is bucking. The number of inmates in U.S. prisons has dropped for the first time since 1972. There were 1,403,091 prisoners as of Jan. 1, down 5,739 or .4 percent from a year ago. The number of prisoners decreased in 27 states and increased in 23. Guess which group we're in:

In 23 states, the number of prisoners increased in 2009 — notably in Indiana by 5.3 percent and in Pennsylvania by 4.3 percent.

[. . .]

Lot of people in the news lately because they feel their rights aren't being respected. In Fort Wayne, some Burmese are mad because a laundromat put a sign on the door telling them to keep out, and a city councilwoman is upset because she can't get her proposal introduced to add the transgendered to the city's anti-disctrimination ordinance. Elsewhere in Indiana, a high school valedictorian wants to stop a student-led prayer at graduation because it would violate his First Amendment right to be free from religion.

Somebody apparently forgot to tell Judge Jennifer Evans-Koethe of LaPorte about the need for dignity and decorum and that "I'm sorry" doesn't cover everything.

Evans-Koethe's troubles began in December 2008, shortly before she was to be sworn in as judge.

After a night of drinking, Evans-Koethe and her husband, Stephan Koethe, got into an argument.

She said she accidently shot herself after retrieving a gun to make her husband think she was contemplating suicide.

So, to recap. Some people get upset when customers spit on the floor of their business. Some people are freaked out by the possibility of having to work with men wearing dresses. That means Fort Wayne is an intolerant city. Or something.

You can't say Fred Phelps and his merry band of 70-some pranksters at the Westboro Baptist Church are an inconsequential group. After his church picketed some soldiers' funerals in Indiana (to make the point that our soldiers are getting killed as divine retribution because "God hates fags"), the state legislature approved a law making disorderly conduct within 500 feet of a funeral a felony. Now the group has the attention of the U.S.

I've posted before that I've been all over the map on the death penalty. When I was in college, I was firmly against it, which is one reason I voted for Otis "Doc" Bowen for governor in the first election I was eligible to vote in here (and the second one ever -- I cast my first vote as a soldier in Texas). He opposed capital punishment because all of his training as a physician was aimed at saving lives. He had even voted in the General Assembly in 1965 to abolish the death penalty.

Gary's can't attract businesses, but it does have a clever plan to grow:

Mayor Rudy Clay wants his city to be able to count Gary residents incarcerated outside the Northwest Indiana city as residents on the 2010 census.

[. . .]