Thursday, September 18, 2008

Legal Short Takes

A few bits of trivia from the criminal justice system:

  • Too fat for prison? Too fat to be executed?! You know the obesity epidemic is getting out of hand when it starts to be a problem for jailers and executioners! Seriously, tho', one wonders how the half-ton woman in the first story managed to work up enough energy to move herself to (allegedly) beat her nephew to death?
  • Good Samaritan = 15 months in prison. I guess the message the US Attorney in Delaware wants to send is "if your loved one is about to blow her brains out, whatever you do don't take the gun away from her!" If that's not bad enough, guess who turned in the Samaritan to the feds? The baby mama he saved from suicide! Talk about ungrateful.
  • It's no surprise that we've been losing prestige in the world for the past eight years, but who knew it was hitting the Supreme Court? Adam Liptak, in part of his continuing series on American exceptionalism, explores how similar courts in other countries are looking the Supremes for guidance less and less.

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