Often referred to by defendants (without irony) as “getting violated” the old hair-trigger violation threshold of the Rhode Island criminal justice system is now a thing of the past. According to R.I.’s Future, as of last Saturday a law sponsored in the Senate by Senators Perry, Levesque, Miller, Metts, and Sosnoski, and in the House …
I did not see this coming. The editorial board of The Providence Journal has come out in favor of ending our government’s futile war on drugs by legalizing, regulating and taxing all illicit drugs and placing addiction in the public health realm where it belongs. The title of the piece “Silver or lead?” refers to …
The Senate commission chaired by Senator Joshua Miller (D-Cranston) has recommended the decriminalization of an ounce or less of marijuana. According to the ProJo, the panel . . .voted Tuesday to approve the contents of a 24-page final report that concludes that “marijuana law reform” would save Rhode Island a substantial amount of money by …
With the General Assembly’s likely overturn of the Domestic Partners Funeral Arrangements bill’s veto by Gov. Carcieri only days away, NOM-RI’s Christopher Plante has issued an entreaty not to overturn the veto — arguing, among other things, that adequate provision already exists under Rhode Island law. To wit: The right of any person, without regard …
‘Daylight Saving Time’ ends at 2am. Set clocks back one hour. According to National Geographic News the point of DST was to make more hours of light during the evening. The drive behind the switch was “to adjust daylight hours to when most people are awake and about,” Mosley said. Daylight saving time decreases the …
A federal jury has ordered Joel Tenenbaum of Providence to pay $675,000 to four record labels for illegally downloading and sharing music files online. That works out to roughly $22,500 per song which Tenenbaum considers quite reasonable. According to HuffPo, Tenenbaum said he was thankful that the case wasn’t in the millions and contrasted the …
State representatives David Segal and Edith Ajello have written a thoughtful piece in today’s Providence Journal laying out their reasons for voting against H5044, which would criminalize all prostitution (including that which occurs indoors). They lay out the realities that might actually cause this proposed legislation to weaken efforts to prosecute the traffickers while sending …
Providence Journal columnist Edward Fitzpatrick has used a situation facing Representative David Segal to illustrate problems resulting from the recent speech-in-debate ruling by the state Supreme Court. Always erring on the side of caution, Segal has sought a ruling from the Ethics Commission regarding his connections with FairVote, and has not as yet received any …
On April 26th, a sex worker from North Providence was held at knifepoint and robbed while escorting at the apartment of a Providence man. The woman went to the police–something she’s legally allowed to do, for now anyway–and it turns out the guy’s got a rap sheet a mile long with a history of pointing …
ProJo Aims For Moral High Ground, Gets All Stone-Throwy Read More »
According to The LA Times, California Governor Schwarzenegger suggested in a recent press conference that it might be time to revisit the whole marijuana issue. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says California should study other nations’ experiences in legalizing and taxing marijuana, although he is not supporting the idea. He says it’s time to debate proposals such …
Way worse than blocking intersections: drunk driving. And it sickened me to read this in the ProJo of David Hazard, who killed a mother of six: [Scituate Deputy Police Chief Stephen Lang] said Hazard had eight previous arrests and had had his license suspended six times. He also was convicted in 2008 of refusing to …
Residents of the Wayland, Fox Point and College Hill areas should head down to the RISD auditorium tonight and get to know the neighborhood police. Meet District 9 Commander Lieutenant John Ryan and join in a discussion of how you can become more involved in the community police process. I’m assuming the subject of graffiti …
If there’s not enough legalese in your life, you should check out Matt’s new blog, Closing Arguments, which he intends to be more academic and less political than his earlier offering, RIFuture. We wish him the best in his new endeavor.
Get used to the phrase “in a 5-4 decision”. I was brought to task recently for some unsophisticated blogginess regarding Chief Justice Roberts that perhaps did not serve my purpose. . . but I was not wrong. I find the current Supreme Court quite worrisome. If Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is any …
Today’s ProJo reports on the sorry plight of Patrick Griffin, owner of Patrick’s Pub on Smith Street, who has run afoul of federal copyright laws for songs played live in his bar. We all know that ignorance of the law is no excuse but still, Griffin makes one good point. “I wasn’t sure what I …
The $17,000 Candy Bar or… Irish Guys Like Reggae? Read More »