Following up on Rep. Kennedy’s recent Ambien-related mishap, the Boston Globe notes that a class action lawsuit was filed in March against Ambien manufacturer Sanofi-Aventis by “several hundred patients who claim the drug caused them to awake in trance-like states and drive cars or engage in other strange behavior, which they often did not remember.” […]
READ MORESelling Marijuana On Facebook Is A No-no
For the cannabis advocates, Facebook has just announced that it will delete any page that makes reference to selling this agent. The reason- Facebook acknowledges that selling cannabis is a federal crime and they do not want to be held accountable by the authorities for allowing such pages to exist on their website. This is […]
READ MORESupreme Court Says No to Florida’s Death Penalty Law
In many states, the death penalty decision is left to the jury and not to the trial judge. Because of this, Florida’s death penalty law has now been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. The US Supreme Court stated that aggravating circumstances must be taken into account before reaching such a verdict and a jury […]
READ MOREOnline Prescription Case Ends in Conviction for Doctor
A former doctor from Colorado has been convicted of practicing medicine in California without a license for prescribing a generic form of Prozac over the Internet for a Stanford student who later committed suicide. Christian Hageseth, 68, could face up to a year in jail when he is sentenced April 17, in a precedent-setting case […]
READ MOREZimmerman was on the ground being punched when he shot Trayvon Martin
Trayvon Martin’s Parents Give Their Account in New Book: “Rest in Power” It was dark in a violent neighborhood the night of February 26, 2012. A black teenager was shot by a Hispanic man. That is the only thing on which everyone agrees. The other details are still discussed five years later. Trayvon Martin‘s parents […]
READ MOREAcquittal in Ambien-Related Vehicular Homicide
The Boston Globe’s John Guilfoil had an item a few days ago about an apparently successful “Ambien defense” to vehicular homicide: An Andover lawyer was acquitted yesterday of a charge of motor vehicle homicide in the death of a Methuen man who was changing a flat tire on Interstate 93 in Tewksbury in July 2006. […]
READ MOREYou Won’t Believe What is Considered Justified Grounds for a SWAT Raid on Your Home
The Fourth Amendment is supposed to ensure that law enforcement cannot conduct unjustified searches of a person or his home. Your house is particularly sacrosanct, as you have the ultimate expectation of privacy when you are in your own home. This is why it is so unbelievable that a federal judge recently ruled that a […]
READ MOREAmbien and Mens Rea, Take Two
Back in May of 2006 this blog noted some of the potentially complicated issues that can arise in criminal cases where the defendant claims his or her behavior was related to use of the drug Ambien. The issue arises in cases like the one I noted last June where a woman claimed that the drug […]
READ MORESleeping Pills vs. Salvia and the Rhetoric of Risk
Many times when legislators speak about the need to criminalize the hallucinogenic plant salvia divinorum, they cite the risk that somebody could drive when under its influence, a scenario that suggests that salvia is dangerous even if people normally just sit around in their living room while they use it and don’t harm anyone. (See, […]
READ MORENew York City homicide rate for 2015 tops last year’s tally, data shows
In a week punctuated by the killing of a 2-month-old boy in the Bronx, New York City’s homicide rate has passed 2014’s record low tally, with 339 killings through Sunday, according to the latest NYPD data. For all of 2014, New York City reported 333 homicides — the lowest number since the modern era of […]
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