South Carolina Criminal Defense Blog

From Fitsnews.com: attorneys in Alabama requested a continuance in a written motion on grounds that the trial date conflicted with Alabama playing at the national championship game in Pasadena, California, an event for which they had bought tickets. Motion granted. Excerpt:

8. It is also understood that many of the witness involved are trying to acquire tickets to the game and/or scheduled to be at the game in Pasadena on January 7th and certainly any juror selected to participate will likely be preoccupied and not able to devote their full attention to the case before them during the week of January 4, 2010, and therefore, the parties would be prejudiced by the distraction caused by such a major event of such significant importance to so many people in this State.

9. ROLL TIDE!! ( although my secretary is for the other great team of this State, she feels that I need to attend this championship game!); and may the Longhorns be defeated.

/s/ Jon B. Terry______
JON B. TERRY

Via Balko: a D.C. cop gets pissed at kids having a snowball fight and wades into the fray with his pistol.

CNN reports that anti-war protesters dressed in black, wearing masks, and carrying anti-war signs began to pelt passing cars with snowballs. Really, the first cop that appears to cause the ruckus is not shown drawing his weapon on camera, although he pulls his jacket back and has his hand on it. Then a second officer arrives on scene with gun drawn - apparently he was responding to a call that there was a man in the crowd with a gun. Except the man in the crowd with the gun was the first (plainclothes) cop, who was busy yelling at the kids (throw another snowball! go ahead!).

Looks like they were having a blast - except for the plainclothes cop named Baylor (sp?) who was pissed off because he got hit with a snowball. In the middle of a snowball fight. With his gun. The second officer clearly was only there looking for the dangerous guy (Baylor), and had his gun drawn but aimed down by his leg until he realized that it was a cop causing the ruckus.

Update: better video from Reason.com, showing Baylor with his gun, shoving one person, and grabbing another and dragging them to his hummer:

H/T Law and Baseball:

A Myrtle Beach man was arrested for punching a man and stealing his money after he told the victim he would help him buy marijuana.

This would be more amusing if we hadn't defended so many people with nearly identical charges. Still . . .

While driving home from the office this weekend I saw a trooper with his blue lights on in the parking lot of Remedies, a bar in Myrtle Beach, giving a guy field sobriety tests directly in front of the entrance to the bar. Now, either the guy was pulled over and just happened to stop in the parking lot of a bar, or he didn't get a chance to get out of the parking lot before the trooper put the blue lights on. I really should have driven back by to see who the trooper was, but didn't.

That's taking DUI prevention and enforcement to new levels - everyone in the bar sees blue lights through the windows and watches as the cops humiliate a guy with roadside exercises then put the cuffs on him. How many people, drunk or not, do you suppose called a cab after that dog and pony show?

Citizens self arrest form. Because:

If you witness a crime, it is your civic duty to report the crime to the police. When a crime is committed, you have the right and responsibility to make a "Citizen's Arrest". Thus, if YOU commit a crime, it would be extremely helpful (and provide a savings of tax dollars) for you to perform a Citizen's Self-Arrest.

Made easy with a handy dandy online form supplied by the University of Oklahoma Police Department.

This is hilarious, and what is sad is that there are real ads out there that come close to this - note that this guy uses some of the stock photos that you see in lawyer's websites:

Edit: I just realized that google is running ads for local attorneys across the bottom of the screen when you watch the video. Priceless.

Don't check your facebook page while robbing a house. If you do, make sure that you log out before leaving.

MARTINSBURG - The popular online social networking site Facebook helped lead to an alleged burglar's arrest after he stopped check his account on the victim's computer, but forgot to log out before leaving the home with two diamond rings.

Jonathan G. Parker, 19, of Fort Loudoun, Pa., was arraigned Tuesday one count of felony daytime burglary.