State v. Cuevas

Read the case here

Interesting variation on Livingston, based here entirely on a legal argument: does the left turn statute specify where a driver must make a left turn? Or, is it implicit in the statute that a driver must initiate the turn before reaching the center of the intersection?

I haven't read the briefs, but this strikes as an attempt by the Court of Appeals to overrule a largely factually based ruling by the trial judge on the most precarious of legal grounds.

TMI

From a recent Division Two Court of Appeals issue summary:

"Does an officer transform a lawful warrantless strip search into an intrusion beyond the body’s surface that requires a warrant when he or she handles an object protruding from, and extending into, an arrestee’s anal cavity?"

Paul Charlton: "Fired"?

The storm over the Bush Administration's dismissal (firing? coerced resignation?) of seven U.S. Attorneys has been brewing since December. But Paul Charlton, former U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona, hasn't been a big part of this story. It's been widely reported locally that he quit for personal reasons.

So why is Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), in a letter to Harry Reid (D-NV) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) now claiming he was "fired"?

Read the letter at TPMmuckraker here.

Re: the homeless "sport killing" story a week or so ago (see CNN), in which a 15-year old compared the killing to a "violent video game." Gabe from Penny Arcade posted on this on Monday. In response he received this interesting reply, from an anonymous party involved with the case:

"If you want to add another element to the “nature vs. nurture” idea, this boy has a brother. Both boys were raised in the same house, with the same values. The brother has developed into a kind, considerate, responsible, and independent young man. He is currently working his butt off right now to save up money to go to school for architecture. The only thing I regret is that we spent so much time and energy dealing with the bad kid that this boy missed out on having a normal family life with a normal sibling relationship.

I am sorry this got so long. I have been reading PA since the very beginning, and I feel that both of you are very much like me. I think we are the same age (29) and I have been a lifelong gamer like the two of you. I can’t stand hearing about the so-called correlation between games and real-life violence. Video games DID NOT make this kid who he was, and it’s unfortunate that the correlation is there.

The thing that really gets me with this whole thing is that the kid knows full well that by equating what he’s done to a video game, that he will generate controversy and media coverage. It makes me sick that the media is jumping all over this, because that is exactly the result that he wants."

Read the whole thing.

Hola Chochachos.

A brief word of explanation:

It's KEY-rock.

The name comes from the "Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer" sketch on Saturday Night Live. He's always been a strange source of inspiration for me.