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A Tampa, Florida eighth-grader was charged with a felony for logging on to a teacher’s computer and changing the background image to two men kissing. Domanik Green said he didn’t like the teacher, so he “tried putting inappropriate pictures onto his computer to annoy him.” Florida computer crimes laws make unauthorized access of a computer, computer system, or computer network a felony. Green was arrested by sheriff’s deputies, processed, and released from a juvenile detention facility....

If we’ve learned anything from A Christmas Story, you find “the Christmas tree emporium of the Midwest,” avoid the balsas, bargain like an Arab trader, and get the salesman to throw in some rope and tie it to your car for you. But police in Sudbury, Massachusetts pulled over a driver who may have taken that advice a little too far. In that case, a single tree seemed to swallow a minivan whole....

Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer has filed a lawsuit against The Weather Channel app due to the company’s bait-and-switch geolocation policy and is hoping to send a message to other developers out there that plan to profit off mining their users’ data. That message: Be honest and upfront with app users about data-privacy. This case alleges unfair business practices under California law for misleading consumers when it came to the app’s user data-privacy policy....

If you’re handing over half a million dollars to a psychic palm reader, the least you could get is a heads up that significant prison time is in your immediate future. Such was not the case for Ervin Brinker, who paid his personal psychic fortuneteller $510,000 and was sentenced to at least 32 months in jail last week. The big problem for Mr. Brinker? Those were public funds he spent on said fortuneteller....

Miranda v. Bomel Constr. Co., Inc., G042073, involved a plaintiff’s negligence suit against a general subcontractor and a subcontractor, claiming that defendants negligently, carelessly and unlawfully allowed excavated dirt, located in a vacant lot next to his office, to be in a dangerous, defective, and unlawful condition so as to cause plaintiff to suffer severe injuries and damages when he breathed the particles from the excavated dirt. In affirming the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendants, the court held that the defendants met their burden of proof that it was only a possibility, not a reasonable medical probability, plaintiff contracted Valley Fever by inhaling an airborne Cocci spore that originated from the soil at the site....

Bart Hernandez, a certified agent by the MLB Players Association, was arrested last week and charged with human trafficking. According to Yahoo’s Jeff Passan, a federal grand jury indicted Hernandez on charges relating to the defection of Cuban outfielder Leonya Martin. Hernandez allegedly smuggled Martin out of Cuba, then held him and his family hostage while negotiating his contract. From Cuba, With a Price Stories involving the smuggling of Cuban players into Major League Baseball are becoming all too common....

Two major league ball players filed suit against the news conglomerate Al Jazeera after a documentary style film aired on their network which authoritatively claimed the two ball players took the performance enhancing drug (PED) Delta 2. The source that claimed knowledge on the documentary later recanted before the film was released. But, nevertheless, the film was aired by Al Jazeera. The players bringing the suit, Ryan Zimmerman and Ryan Howard, were cleared by an MLB investigation, and have now survived a motion to dismiss their civil lawsuit, at least as to the Al Jazeera network and its producer....

A Justin Bieber doll allegedly doubled as an attack weapon in a heated argument that landed a Denver police officer behind bars. Officer Michael Nuanes Jr., 37, was arrested in connection with domestic violence and charged with misdemeanor assault, property damage, and obstructing telephone service, Denver’s KMGH-TV reports. The argument began in January, when Nuanes said his 42-year-old girlfriend threw two Barbie-sized dolls at him. One, a Justin Bieber doll, hit him in the foot and left a bruise, according to a sheriff’s affidavit....

If you’re a recent grad and are having trouble landing that private law job, you’re in good company – or least you have company. According to a new report from the National Association of Law Placement, private law placement of law grads is the poorest it has been since 1996. The NALP Study Findings According to the NALP study numbers, of the 40,000 law grads minted last year, only about 17,000 secured employment in private practice....

There is a nice little country song by a guy named Rodney Atkins, that talks about the kinds of things a father would like to say to the boy dating his teenage daughter. The hook: “I’ll see you when you get back / Bet I’ll be up all night / Still cleanin’ this gun.” Just a song? Maybe not. In San Jose, Ca, a motorcycle cop is under investigation for slapping the handcuffs on a teen for sex with his daughter....

Maybe Ohio inmate Donald Dudrow III will think twice before sending out jail mail. He was convicted on drug trafficking charges after trying to send a pen pal letter to his mother labeled with the wrong zip code. The Ohio inmate, Donald Dudrow III, was convicted of sending detailed instructions to his mother on how to sneak drugs into the prison, the Port Clinton News Herald reports. As a result, a grand jury indicted him on charges of attempted drug trafficking and trying to get drugs into a correctional facility....

Defendant’s burglary conviction is affirmed where the trial court erred by failing to instruct the jury on the claim-of-right defense, which requires substantial evidence that the defendant, in good faith, believed the property taken from the victim belonged to his co-principal, but the error was harmless because the instruction could not have influenced the verdict. Read People v. Williams, No. C059218 Appellate Information Filed August 26, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Butz...

In US v. Hall, No. 07-3036, the court of appeals affirmed in part defendant’s convictions for one count of conspiracy to commit crimes against the U.S., two counts of bank fraud, four counts of wire fraud, and one count of money laundering conspiracy, on the grounds that 1) a trier of fact could reasonably infer from the trial evidence that during the time period of defendant’s bank fraud, which was two to three years before the evidence showed federally insured status, the defrauded bank was in fact federally insured; and 2) the district court allowed sufficient cross-examination of the government’s witnesses on their plea bargains to satisfy defendant’s Sixth Amendment rights....

The music industry is very, very busy of late what with the litigation over illegal downloads, and now, dancing babies run amok. In its eagerness to protect its copyrights in 2007, Universal Music Group ordered YouTube to pull down the video posted by Stephanie Lenz, a mom who put up a 30 second video of her toddler getting down to the song by the artist currently known as Prince, “Let’s Go Crazy....

Well, consider this one of the most obviously stupid things you’ve encountered recently. In 2011, four supervisors at the West Kern Water District decided to stage a mock robbery in their work place. Following a training on responding to robberies, the supervisors snuck out of the office, with one soon returning dressed in a ski mask, demanding the office’s money, and claiming to have a gun. Of course, the “mock” victim hadn’t been informed of the scheme beforehand....

A few weeks ago, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts made a stunning turn and joined the four liberal members of the Court in upholding Obamacare. Now CBS reporter Jan Crawford is reporting that Roberts made a last second turnaround. According to a source for Salon’s Paul Campos, not only was Roberts prepared to vote with his conservative colleagues, but that he in fact penned both the majority opinion and the dissent....

The blockchain might be the number one tech buzzword of 2016, followed quickly by smart contracts. The blockchain works by creating decentralized, digital ledgers that encrypt, register, and verify transactions. Smart contracts rely on computer programming to create, verify, or execute deals. Smart contracts have been heralded as the future of contracting, received praise in the legal and tech press, and spawned startups that have earned millions of dollars in venture capital....

Topless drunk driver Keila De Oliveira Leite was charged with driving under the influence, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia in Florida. Yes, she was topless. And perhaps even more strange is that she was pulled over partly because she was driving under the speed limit, reports UPI. Leite was driving around 20 miles under the speed limit, something that likely drew the attention of police, reports WPTV-TV....

In People v. Chung, No. B212210, the Second District faced a challenge to the trial court’s denial of motion to suppress evidence in a conviction of defendant for animal cruelty. In affirming the denial of motion to suppress evidence of an injured dog on the patio of defendant’s residence and a dead dog in the freezer, the court held that exigent circumstances permitted warrantless entry of defendant’s residence to aid a live animal police officers reasonably believed was being abused in violation of section 597(a)....

U.S. News, the magazine known for its annual rankings of the best law schools and firms, has come out with a new list for lawyers in a struggling economy: five non-legal career options “in which you can leverage your law degree.” There’s no special issue or controversial tiers with this list, however. U.S. News’ “5 Unique Career Paths for Law School Grads” is a guest blog post, written by an attorney who started his own test-prep and admissions-counseling business....