Free Talk Live

So here's a sticky 1st amendment issue. Websites that publish mugshots which are available publicly often charge the arrestees hundreds of dollars to have their pictures removed, even when charges are dropped. The plaintiffs in the case are such victims of police abuse whose charges have been dropped but whose mugshots are still published online with a full list of the original (and often stacked) charges and can then turn up in a google search. How much of their revenue comes from this?

Barry Cooper, a former Texas police officer who turned against the drug war and executed a reverse-sting operation against the Odessa police department, will walk free on all related charges, an attorney for Ector County announced Tuesday.

Diplomatic immunity may be intended to keep diplomats from running afoul of local authorities while serving abroad, but some workers take it as a license to act like jerks. While the Vienna Conventions on International Relations of 1961 outline a series of safeguards that protect diplomats from being unfairly punished should tempers flare between their country and their host nations, more than a few diplomats have taken advantage of their privileges in an irritating way. Here are just a few annoying little liberties diplomats have taken.

A follow-up to a story about a couple who had their daughter taken away while they were both arrested for allegedly stealing two sandwiches

The US Government has yet again shuttered several domain names this week. The Department of Justice and Homeland Security’s ICE office proudly announced that they had seized domains related to counterfeit goods and child pornography. What they failed to mention, however, is that one of the targeted domains belongs to a free DNS provider, and that 84,000 websites were wrongfully accused of links to child pornography crimes.

The article describes another app those interested in cop accountability might want to download.

Out in my neck of the woods, a hazing incident happened on a bus that was making it's way back from a basketball game. A separate incident also occurred in the locker room. Both happened in January, and it's taken four months for charges to be filed, and it was only recently that it even became a criminal investigation.

I could bore you with the legalities, and how possible felony charges were originally considered, but instead, I'll ask a question:

John Stagliano was cleared of all charges today in a federal obscenity prosecution that could have put him behind bars for 32 years. After hearing the prosecution's case, the judge declared that there was not enough evidence to continue the trial, throwing out all charges.

Reason.tv caught up with Stagliano outside the courthouse just minutes after the decision.

Rahn was found guilty in April of seven charges including official misconduct and falsifying business records.

Today, Judge Francis Affronti told Rahn this was one of the most difficult things he's ever had to do but then he handed down the sentence.

Rahn will serve a minimum of one year and eight months to a maximum of five years in prison. With good behavior, he could get out in 13 months.