Right Juris

Dr. George Tiller, a Wichita Kansas Abortion Doctor, was shot and killed at his church today as he was attending services. George Tiller is best known for providing late term abortions and was acquitted in March of 19 counts of preforming illegal late term abortions.

A 51 year old man from the Kansas City area is currently being held in connection with the shooting. According to his attorney, Tiller was working as an usher at his church when he was shot. His wife was also at the church when he was shot.

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Phil Spector, legendary music producer, was sentenced to 19 years to life in prison for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson. Clarkson was found dead in Spector’s home, slumped in a chair and a gunshot wound to the head. Clarkson was killed over six years ago inside Spector’s California home. Spector was best known for his “Wall of Sound” technique and his work with The Beatles.

Spector’s first murder trial ended in a mistrial after jurors could not reach a verdict after 15 days of deliberations. The second trial began in October 2008 and jurors deliberated for 30 hours before concluding that Spector was guilty of second degree murder.

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Neveah Amyah Buchanan, age 5, has been missing from Monroe, Michigan since Sunday, May 24, 2009. The FBI has now joined in the search for this endangered child. See photo and read more below.

Nevaeh Buchanan

Nevaeh Buchanan, born February 3, 2004 vanished from the Charlotte Arms apartment complex parking lot Sunday evening, shortly after playing on a scooter with her little girlfriend. She is the biological child of Jennifer Orise Buchanan, 24, and Shane Hinojosa, 22.

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Sonia Sotomayor was picked today by President Obama to replace Justice David Souter on the United States Supreme Court. A biography of Sotomayor can be found here. If confirmed by the Senate Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic to be seated on the Court and the third woman to sit on the High Court.

In accepting the nomination Sotomayor stated the following as quoted by CNN here:

“Thank you, Mr. President, for the most humbling honor of my life,” Sotomayor said.

“My heart is bursting with gratitude,” she said. She gave special recognition to her mother, who was sitting in the audience.

“I am an ordinary person who has been blessed with extraordinary opportunities and experiences,” Sotomayor said.

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Melissa Huckaby, charged with the rape and murder of 8 year old Sandra Cantu faces new charges today. Mary Kay Letourneau, convicted child rapist, continues to make a mockery of our judicial system. Read about them here.

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Mary Kay Letourneau, made famous for her affair with her former sixth-grade student who is now her husband, has hosted a night out at a Seattle bar with the theme “Hot for Teacher”. The Seattle Sports Bar and Grill Fuel is hosting the event and Seattle’s KHQ is reporting about the story here.

This case drew a lot of attention for the fact that she began a sexual relationship with a former student of hers who was 12 years old at the time. Mary Kay spent over seven years in prison after being charged and convicted of rape. In my mind that wasn’t nearly enough time, but that’s just me.

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Stacy Peterson is the young mother that disappeared in October, 2007. There is now speculation her body may have been found in an Illinois river. Read more about it below and see photos.

Drew and Stacy Peterson

Much has been made of the recent arrest of Drew Peterson, former Bolingbrook, Ill. police Sgt. for the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio. He is currently being held on a $20 million dollar bail. Drew seems to have a hard time staying married. His wives end up divorcing him, dying or vanishing. Such is the case of 4th wife, Stacy Peterson.

Stacy Peterson vanished without a trace in October of 2007. Drew has claimed from day one that she ran off with another man, leaving everything, including her small children behind. Stacy’s mother had done the same thing years ago, and Drew thought Stacy was following in her mother’s footsteps.Friends and family thought otherwise, and suspected foul play from day one.

Stacy Ann Cales (born January 20, 1984) married Drew Peterson on October 18, 2003. She disappeared October 28, 2007. Cassandra Cales, her sister, reported her missing after she failed to hear from Stacy when as usual. Drew Peterson claims Stacy called him to let him know she had left him for another man and that her car would be at Bolingbrook’s Clow International Airport.

The last recorded words from Stacy Peterson were left on a voicemail on her father’s answering machine on October 17 at 12:37 p.m., 11 days before she disappeared. The message said, “Hey dad! It’s me, Stacy, I just wanted to call you and tell you I love you. I also wanted to give you my new phone number. OK, love you.

No one other than Drew Peterson believed that Stacy had run off. Drew’s own step-brother told a grand jury he may have inadvertently helped helped Drew carry Stacy’s body from her bedroom to Drew’s vehicle. He stated he helped Drew carry a blue barrel, weighing about 150 pounds down the stairs, and he realized at some point it may have been Stacy’s body. His guilt led him to an attempted and almost successful suicide.

UPDATE: May 28th,2009

The remains that were found are not those of Stacy Peterson or Lisa Stebic. They are the remains of an unidentified male.

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Tiffany Toribio was arrested today after being questioned by police regarding the case of a small child, named “Baby Justice” or “Baby Angel”, who was found buried in playground sand the 23 year old Albuquerque New Mexico. The story is found on CNN here.

KREQ in Albuquerque reported on the arrest here. The baby was found buried at Alvarado Park in Albuquerque. The residents of the area began referring to the baby as “Baby Angel” or “Baby Justice” because he was unidentified.

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Congress restored a policy first enacted by the Bush administration which allowed loaded, concealed, firearms in National Parks for citizens who possess a valid concealed carry firearms permit from their state. Fox News is reporting on the story here. Last year 51 senators, from both parties, asked the Department of Interior to change the rules related to firearm possession inside national parks. The senators asked the Department to change the rule so that the rules in National Parks would mirror those of the state where the park is located. Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla) sponsored the bill, which was added as an amendment to the Credit Card Reform bill that is working its way through Congress.

The rule was changed under the Bush administration to allow concealed carry permit holders to carry firearms in national parks in accordance with State Laws. I know that guns are an emotional subject, but this rule change was a nice dose of common sense. Like all good things it has faced opposition, and in March 2009 a Federal Judge invalidated the rule change and prevented the implementation of the rule from going forward.

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In the wake of the whole Enron/Worldcom scandal the United States was burdened with one of the worst pieces of legislation to ever come our way; Sarbanes-Oxley.  The idea was that we must protect investors/shareholders and the public from malicious actors like Enron.  In principal this is a good idea, however the way they approached it has been a real drag.  There are some economists who partially blame the current recession direcly on SOX due to the fact that it has made starting a public company nearly impossible, or at least much more difficult.  I have seen estimates that state SOX has cost US business in the range of 2 trillion dollars since it was enacted (both in terms of compliance costs and loss of business activity).  This is a hefty surcharge to place on American’s simply to stop the occasional bad actor like Enron.  We have also seen many big companies change their listing from the New York to the London stock exchange and an almost freeze in new start-up funding in the tech industry.  The WSJ once said about SOX,

“The new laws and regulations have neither prevented frauds nor instituted fairness. But they have managed to kill the creation of new public companies in the U.S., cripple the venture capital business, and damage entrepreneurship. According to the National Venture Capital Association, in all of 2008 there have been just six companies that have gone public. Compare that with 269 IPOs in 1999, 272 in 1996, and 365 in 1986.”

With this in mind, apparently the US Supreme Court has decided to hear a challenge to the constitutionality of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, which was created by SOX.  What is somewhat strange is that in August of 2008 the DC Circuit ruled that the board was constitutional, although the dissenting opinion called the case one of the greatest separation of powers cases that he has ever seen (you can view the case here).  The majority opinion really is a self-contradictory mess of nonsense.  In one paragraph they argue that the SEC chairman is not the SEC’s head but “simply one” of several commissioners and a few pages later the same opinion suggest the exact opposite, that the SEC chairman was the SEC’s head.  THe inconsistency is really amazing, you have to read it to believe it.

There is no circuit split or immediate reason why the SCOTUS should take the case, yet they have.  The big question presented in the case is can Congress encroach on the President’s authority by creating such a board, which really does have large executive power.  The lawsuit alleges that because the PCAOB has regulatory powers, the officers must be appointed by the president, not the SEC.  Interestingly SOX also does not have  severability clause, which essentially means that if a part of the law is found unconstitutional, then the whole thing gets thrown out.

We will certainly keep our eyes on this and see where it goes, I’m hopeful that the reason why the court decided to take this is because several of the judges feel that SOX is a mess and needs to be thrown out.

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