law

I am sure there are several 11-year-old boys who are terribly proficient at handling a gun.

But, given that I wouldn't trust an 11-year-old boy with a popsicle, I would just as well not be anywhere near them.

This, however, doesn't appear to have been the policy of the authorities in New Jersey. They were allegedly alarmed by a Facebook photo of Josh Moore, aged 11, holding a .22 rifle, and they allegedly wanted to get very near him.

The photo had been posted by his father, Shawn, to Facebook. It showed Josh, in his camouflage outfit and … Read more

The most effective crimes, like business deals, take a lot of planning.

You have to consider the eventualities and anticipate the unexpected.

There may, therefore, have been insufficient aforethought in the cell-phone scheme of newly convicted thief Florin Constantin.

Constantin, 28, who arrived in England from Romania earlier this year, used a unique means to store multiple cell phones. He wore a pair of specially-designed leggings beneath his pants.

As the Daily Mail reports, he then headed to the Waterfront bar in Norwich to allegedly help steal as many cell phones as possible from the unsuspecting.

All, apparently, went quite … Read more

Evidence can be a menace.

You think you've gotten away with something, and then that moment comes along when you suddenly remember that perhaps you've left a clue.

This thought may (or may not) have crossed the mind of an alleged cell phone thief.

As the New York Post reports, police in the Bronx feel sure that what happened is that a certain man -- whose picture they now have -- robbed a 27-year-old woman of her gadget.

He then allegedly used it to take a quite fetching picture of himself smoking pot.

This would not be the … Read more

Is it all getting too much?

Is your thinking crooked, your logic frazzled, and your every wire crossed?

Perhaps it's time to go and cut yourself off from your phone and Internet. No, not metaphorically, but literally.

That was allegedly the slightly illegal thought-process of Raymond Bischoff of Hastings, Minn.

As CBS Minnesota wires it, Bischoff, 65, allegedly thought it best to cut the wires and cables that happened to connect a local business to the Internet, the phone service, and even the satellite TV because he wanted to "relieve the pressure on his brain."

Some might … Read more

No one knows who Batman really is.

But when he arrests you and takes you to the police station, you know you're in trouble.

No, I haven't been reading comics or feasting on old episodes of Adam West and Burt Ward.

I've been reading the Guardian, which informs me that CCTV images released by police in West Yorkshire, England, reveal that a caped crusader marched a wanted man into a police station and handed him over to the authorities.

There is no evidence of there having been a struggle. Just as there is no evidence of a … Read more

You think you're so clever whipping out your iPhone to film police when they're giving someone an ill-judged whipping.

Well, the police can fight back, you know -- technologically speaking.

Officers in Laurel, Md., have decided that the way to prove that they are fine, upstanding policemen -- and sections of the populace are not -- is to get into wearable tech.

It's not quite Google Glass, and they won't look quite as manly as Sergey Brin.

However, attaching a little video camera to their shades or, say, their hats will apparently avoid doubt.… Read more

None of us is immune from being our own worst enemy.

We find ways to sabotage ourselves that aren't even assuaged by years of visits to our psychologists.

The extremely openhearted may, therefore, find a certain at-oneness with an alleged drug dealer whose bottom may have caused him to be arrested.

As KGW-TV deals it, Raleigh Reynolds, 25, was allegedly about to participate in a narcotic business transaction.

Unfortunately (at least for him), police say a 911 dispatcher got to listen in on the proceedings, as Reynolods inadvertently called it in.… Read more

Is a robot about to excise your prostate? Well stop right there, mister. Here's some litigation that might interest you.

In a surreal twist to the ads you often see for legal help with accidents, arrests, or debt, law firms in Louisiana and Alabama are fishing for victims of what they call "bad robot surgery."

The ad below from Becnel Law Firm, LLC and Riley & Jackson looks like something that would play in the background of a sci-fi film, but it's serious. The campaign Web site Badrobotsurgery.com says, "Robotic surgery can severely injure the bowel, bladder, and blood vessels. Some of these injuries can even occur without the surgeon knowing it, which can lead to severe complications if left untreated." … Read more

As a society, we have become used to difficult, inappropriate, and embarrassing pictures being uploaded to Facebook.

No, it hasn't yet stopped us from marveling, musing, and laughing at their content.

But we've become more understanding about humans' urges to display themselves being greater than their capacity to think through the consequences of such a display.

Still, we should reserve our judgment about an image posted to Facebook that featured Tom Keller, the police chief of Confluence, Penn.

It is impossible to know precisely what confluence of events led to this picture appearing on his Facebook page.

What'… Read more