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A ruddy-faced man was arrested for drug possession in Florida. His defense? He didn’t know cocaine was illegal in the state of Florida. Whoops! 46-year-old Guy Lanchester told police “I don’t understand… I thought cocaine wasn’t illegal in Florida,” South Florida’s WTVJ reports. Even if we suspend our judgment and choose to believe he was telling the truth, his ignorance would still be no defense. But what you may not know is that if he’d worded his ignorance differently, it may have been a valid defense....

Former NHL hockey player Mike McBain is accused of molesting and raping a 12-year-old girl. If that is not horrendous enough, the girl is McBain’s stepdaughter and McBain is accused of impersonating a teammate so that he could hear his stepdaughter recount their sexual encounters. The alleged molestation was eventually revealed when the victim told her mom. McBain then reportedly tried to kill himself and admitted the crime, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal....

On Tuesday, California became the second state in the nation to criminalize the new phenomenon terrorizing ex-lovers – revenge porn, reports Bloomberg. For those not familiar with the internet trend, revenge porn is the posting of nude photos of an ex-lover after a bad breakup. The law has been murky because the person in the photo gave consent to having the photos taken in much happier times, but didn’t consent to the publication of such photos....

There’s big, there’s internet big, and then there’s Grumpy Cat Grumppuccino big. The last of these may prove out of reach for America’s cat-loving coffee drinkers, unfortunately. A California jury awarded $710,001 to Grumpy Cat Limited on Monday, pushing the owners of internet-sensation Grumpy Cat over the top in their lawsuit would-be cat coffee makers, and former business partners, Paul and Nick Sandford. Paul and Nick Sandford, father and son, thought they’d hit upon the next big thing....

Greedy associates rejoice! It’s that time of year when annual bonuses are announced, and hopefully, you’re getting one. Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP has announced that its junior attorneys will be receiving bonuses ranging from $10,000 to $60,000, depending on associate class, according to The Wall Street Journal. While some are lamenting the fact that bonuses are the same, there are others who are just happy to be employed and getting a bonus, according to Above the Law....

Those who lack in cable – or proper geographical region – often turn to websites that stream sporting events online. But federal prosecutors in New York have put the kibosh on that activity just days before this year’s Super Bowl. Officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have seized 16 illegal sports websites, also arresting a man who runs 9 of them. That man, Yonjo Quiroa, has been charged with criminal infringement of copyright – a crime that carries a 5 year prison term....

Juvenile court’s determination that the defendant sent threatening or obscene texts to his former girlfriend and placing him on informal probation and order to write a 500-word essay on the Columbine High School shootings is reversed as there is lack of evidence to support the conclusion that the text messages were threatening or obscene as those terms are used in section 653m. Read In re C.C., No. C061230 [PDF] Read In re C....

Rolling your eyes should not be contempt of court. Throwing your hands in the air shouldn’t do it either. Acting like the judge is some kind of idiot, however, is probably asking for it. But whatever you do, don’t do all of them all together. Surely in Contempt It was a serious case: the defendant was accused of homicide by negligent operation of a motor vehicle. Judge David Borowski told assistant public defender Puck Tsai to sit down during a pre-trial hearing, but he remained standing....

“Not bad meaning bad, but bad meaning good…”? Nope, NBC’s “Bad Judge” is just bad. As in awful. (Spoilers to follow.) The pilot begins with a clear shot of Kate Walsh’s (Judge Wright’s) posterior. She apparently partied so hard that she is now sleeping in her glittery underwear with her butt in the air. She wakes up late, does the “I’m late for school!” montage that we’ve all seen so many times, and then picks up a pregnancy test on the way to court before taking the bench hung over, and eventually taking a witness into her chambers – no pun intended, since the bailiff walked in on them....

An Illinois woman is suing the estate of a man killed by a train, claiming the man’s flying body parts hit her and caused injuries. A state appeals court cleared the way for Gayane Zokhrabov’s flying body parts lawsuit to proceed – though it also called the case “tragically bizarre,” the Chicago Tribune reports. The case stems from a horrific accident in 2008, when a train traveling more than 70 mph struck and killed an 18-year-old man who was running across the tracks....

Rap lyrics served as evidence in a murder trial stemming from a fatal altercation at an Olive Garden in South Carolina. Gonzales “Snoop” Wardlaw, 22, was sentenced to life in prison Friday in connection with the murder of 21-year-old Thomas T. Hoefer after a pot deal went awry. He boasted about the murder in rap lyrics. The lesson here is clear: never underestimate the power of words – or hubris....

A liquor license mix-up with the NYPD has left David Kelleran out thousands of dollars in alcohol, according to a complaint he filed in federal court. Last year, the bar owner sent a check to the New York State Liquor Authority to cover the liquor license at his bar, ‘68.’ The check bounced and he was told to pay it within 10 days or lose his liquor license. Five days later, cops showed up at his other establishment, ‘Coco 66,’ and shut it down for operating without a liquor license....

Defendant’s conviction for pimping and pandering while on probation for two prior felonies is affirmed as defendant’s claim that the two witnesses were both accomplices and co-conspirators whose testimony was worthless is rejected. Read People v. Cason, No. E047440 [HTML] Read People v. Cason, No. E047440 [PDF] Appellate Information Filed December 7, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Ramirez CounselFor Appellant: Marilee Marshall For Appellee: Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorney General, Dane R....

A California Court of Appeals has ruled rather controversially that federal filings with the SEC do not amount to “public disclosure” for purposes of qui tam relator suits under California’s False Claims Act (“CFCA”). This is the case of State ex rel. Bartlett v. Miller, decided on January 19th. How could this possibly be the ruling? CFCA cases based on public information, said the three judge panel for California’s Second Appellate District, are triggered only when such disclosure is through channels explicitly accounted for in the state statute, a mechanism known as the “public disclosure bar....

It’s possible to get a DUI charge on almost any vehicle: a Zamboni, a buggy, a motorized arm chair, we’ve seen it all. But apparently a Segway is where Minnesota draws the line. A state court of appeals ruled that the self-balancing, two-wheeled, 95-pound personal transit machine can be driven while drunk without violating the law. Or at least without violating any laws about driving while intoxicated. That’s good news for Mark Greenman, who was arrested for a DUI while riding his Segway last year....

Friends, let us file this case under the heading of: Only In New York. For only in the Big Apple would you find the comic combination of public (semi) nudity, sophisticated legal wrangling and generally outlandish behavior. Who could be the source of such behavior? Why, only little ‘ol New York gem, the Naked Cowboy and his unlicensed nemesis, the Naked Cowgirl. The Naked Cowboy, also known by his given name, Robert Burck, has delighted New Yorkers and tourists alike for years with his performance art of playing acoustic guitar in mid-town Manhattan clad only in cowboy boots, hat and underwear....

Deciding what classes to take in law school is a little like choosing from a restaurant menu. It depends on what you’re looking for: health foods, bargain items, or pure indulgence? We’ve all done one or the other, and you can do this, too. Here are a few tips to help you get a balanced meal. The last thing you want to do is leave law school feeling empty. Career Classes Hopefully, you have some career plans for life after law school....

In re D.R., No. A124573, involved the Alameda County Social Services Agency’s appeal from the juvenile court’s order denying the agency’s motion to terminate the de facto parent status of respondent, and granting the application of respondent’s partner for de facto parent status. The court of appeal affirmed on the grounds that 1) the juvenile court had the authority to determine that respondent’s conduct constituted serious physical abuse, but conclude that the single incident of misconduct found to have occurred did not rise to the level warranting termination of his de facto parent status; and 2) the juvenile court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion to terminate respondent’s de facto parent status....

A South Dakota woman woke up Easter Sunday to an unexpected sight, and it wasn’t the Easter bunny: It was a stranger who allegedly picked up her baby and tried to breastfeed the infant without permission. The bizarre incident happened about 5 a.m. Sunday in Brookings, S.D., local radio station KJJQ-AM reports. A woman called 911 to say she’d woken up to find a strange woman in her bedroom. The 24-year-old stranger reached for the woman’s 2-month-old baby and tried to nurse the child, according to KJJQ....

In a crazy twist of fate, life imitated art at Nashville Nightmare Haunted House earlier this week. Tawnya Greenfield stabbed her friend after an apparent employee handed her a knife and encouraged her to stab her friend, James “Jay” Yochim. She reasonably thought it was a fake knife, but when she noticed the huge gash that went completely through his forearm, and blood spouting from the wound, she realized it was a cruel hoax....