Baggy Saggy Pants now Illegal in Dublin, Georgia

http://articles.cnn.com/2010-09-05/justice/georgia.baggy.pants.law_1_baggy-pants-dublin-residents-indecent-exposure?_s=PM:CRIME http://articles.cnn.com/2010-09-05/justice/georgia.baggy.pants.law_1_baggy-pants-dublin-residents-indecent-exposure?_s=PM:CRIME

Should wearing baggy pants be made illegal? Yes! According to the mayor of Dublin, Georgia, Phil Best and presumably many of its residents, it is now a crime punishable by up to 200 dollars in fines.

The amendment to the municipality's indecent exposure ordinance prohibits the wearing of pants or skirts "more than three inches below the top of the hips exposing the skin or undergarments." Patrolling for offenders will be left to local police in the town about 140 miles southeast of Atlanta. Violators could face fines ranging from $25 to $200, or court-mandated community service.

"That's not our intent, we'd (rather) not fine anybody but we are prepared to," Best said.

The mayor said after about a year of fielding complaints, he put the city attorney to work researching how other localities have dealt with the derriere dilemma. The result was that council members decided to put exposure due to baggy clothing in the same category as masturbation, fornication and urination in public places.

Personally i think it's a trend that has captured the youth of today. It is for all practical purposes a fashion statement, a way for young people to express themselves among themselves.

However, many people especially older people find it offensive to display your underwear in public. Many schools have banned this dress style but it is prevalent on the streets of any town in America. It transcends race and economic status.

It may be offensive to some people but is it illegal? Are laws against public indecency to be decided by local ordinances or is there a national standard for indecency?

Is it a generational thing or is there something more sinister to it? Is it a way for young people to rebel against society? Are our morals under attack?

These are some of the questions that lawmakers and parents as well have to consider. Parents especially have to ask themselves is it okay for my child to dress like this? In the end however, the way one dresses is their own business. I find it hard to equate showing underwear with "masturbation, fornication and urination in public places" as laid out in the Dublin ordinance.

It may be offensive to some people but if no "private parts" are exposed how can it be considered "indecent"? Is there a basic difference between a bra and panties and a bikini? At the beach a bikini is completely acceptable attire. What if someone wore that same bikini and walked down the middle of main street, would that be considered indecent exposure? Or if someone stripped down to bra and panties at the pool, would that be considered indecent exposure?

I think there needs to be a distinction between "indecent" and "inappropriate". When schools and businesses set a dress code policy, they are well within in their rights to do so. When government tells people how they should dress in public, they are, in my opinion, trampling on people's right to free speech, protected by the Constitution. Just because you don't like how I dress does not give you the right to legislate away my right to dress as I see fit.

It may not be appropriate in some people's mind to expose your underwear but there is no indecency in doing that. I consider the KKK an inappropriate organization to join but it is protected under the Constitution.

Riviera Beach, Florida passed a ban against sagging pants in recent years, but the legislation was later declared unconstitutional after a court challenge. It remains to be seen if this ordinance in Dublin, Georgia gets challenged in court, but if it does, it will be the case to watch.

Court Drama: Attempted Suicide on the Stand

What do you do if a judge gives you a sentence that you consider overly harsh?

Beg, Plead, Cry, Get Angry? Not if your name is Marcial Anguiano.

What you do is try to commit suicide! In court, on the stand, in front of the judge. 

Marcial Anguiano, 47, of Duncanville, Texas had an extensive criminal history, in fact he had previously served five separate prison terms. He had just pleaded guilty in front of state District Judge Larry Mitchell, to aggravated assault for cutting his niece with a butcher knife.

He had hoped to be sentenced to probation for the charge. Instead Judge Mitchell, perhaps influenced by Anguiano's criminal past, sentenced him to 40 years in prison.

"He looked up at me kind of quizzically and said, '40 years?'" Mitchell told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "And I said, 'Yes, 40 years.'"

What happened next was a complete surprise to everyone. Marcial Anguiano pulled out a razor blade and "put it to his throat hard, and blood started gushing out." The courtroom bailiffs rushed the defendant, handcuffed him and led him to the holding cell adjacent to the courtroom, where he waited until paramedics arrived.

Dallas County sheriff's spokeswoman Kim Leach said the blade cut into muscle but did not strike an artery. Anguiano was taken from the Dallas County courthouse on a stretcher with his neck covered in bandages. He was talking as he was carried out and was hospitalized in stable condition.

Anguiano bled on the railing that separates the courtroom audience from the front of the court, and on the first row of benches. Mitchell's court shut down for about 30 minutes while custodians cleaned up the mess.

"If the bailiffs hadn't intervened, he was certainly capable of causing his own death," Mitchell said.

It looks as if Anguiano tried to sneak two razor blades into the courtroom. Before the hearing began, a bailiff noticed Anguiano holding something in his hand. The bailiff ordered the defendant to put the object down on the defense table. He complied, and the bailiff confiscated one blade. But a second blade went undiscovered.

"We have great safety procedures and policies in place, but we are looking to see how this happened," Leach said. "If there was human error involved, there could be possible disciplinary action."

What is not known is if Anguiano will faces additional charges related to his suicide attempt. Judge Mitchell said his actions were almost certainly illegal but speculated that the "40-year sentence is probably more than enough for him."

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Love Triangle Leads to Death and Imprisonment

Its an age-old story: Two women fight over the same man.

This story, which involves a Facebook feud, a high-speed car chase and a 3-year-old, however has very tragic consequences. In the end one woman (not a party to the dispute) is dead. Another woman is in critical condition in hospital and a third woman is in jail facing multiple felony charges.

Torrie Lynn Emery, 23, of Pontiac, Michigan was ordered held without bond by 50th District Judge Preston Thomas on July 24, 2010. She is charged with second-degree murder, assault with intent to commit great bodily harm and child abuse.

Torrie Lynn Emery and 20-year-old Danielle Booth had been feuding over a 23-year-old unnamed man who is incarcerated in a Michigan prison. Their dispute was at times carried on through the online service Facebook. Police said Booth had filed a threatening and harassing report against Emery.

On Wednesday, July 21st Emery spotted Booth in a car driven by her friend Alesha Abernathy, 21. An argument ensued and Booth and Abernathy drove off with Emery chasing them. Emery also had her 3-year-old daughter in her car. According to reports Emery rammed the other car during a high-speed chase which at times reached 100 mph. A frantic Danielle Booth was on the phone with the police during the chase.

Police Det. Paul McDougal, who was in an unmarked squad car, saw both vehicles rush by at speeds approaching 100 mph but was unable to catch them before the car in which the two girls were driving ran a red light at the corner of Woodward Avenue and Rapid Street and plowed into a dump truck, knocking it onto its side.

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Alesha Abernathy died as a result of the impact. Danielle Booth was critically injured and taken to POH Regional Medical Center in Pontiac. Torrie Emery, her 3-year-old daughter and the truck driver were not injured.

"It's unbelievable," Pontiac police Chief Valard S. Gross told The Associated Press as he described the escalating dispute that ended with Wednesday's deadly crash. "It's just crazy."

"How can you get that angry or that jealous, really, that you jeopardize the life of your 3-year-old?" Gross asked. "One person's stupidity, and look at the repercussions. It's just a ripple effect."

Torrie Emery’s friends and family members packed the courtroom Friday and shed tears during the brief proceeding. Emery struggled to speak over sobs and sighs during the video arraignment. At one point, Thomas had to ask Emery to speak up.

With tears in her eyes and a strain on her voice, Emery said, “I didn’t mean to kill nobody”

Immediately following the court appearance, Emery’s friends and family gathered outside and attempted to console her mother, Tracy Emery.

“She wasn’t trying to kill anybody,” Tracy Emery screamed while sitting in front of the courthouse. “Please have mercy on her, Lord.”

“I’m not asking that she don’t pay for her mistakes,” Tracy Emery said. “She made a mistake, but her intentions were not to kill nobody. Her intentions were to fight.

According to Sue Edmonds of Oakland County Pre-trial Services, Torrie Emery is bipolar and she has a history of failing to appear in court and violating probation.

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Necrophilia in Guyana

According to Wikipedia: Necrophilia, also called thanatophilia and necrolagnia, is the sexual attraction to corpses. In many countries it is a crime and -- I would go as far as to say -- abhorrent to most people all over the world. However it does exist and as a testament to that fact there is the story of Roopram Bacchus.

Roopram Bacchus is a 20-year-old man also known as ‘Toe Toe’, of Lot 25 Adelphi Village, East Canje, Berbice near New Amsterdam in Guyana. He is employed as a garbage collector.

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He was brought before Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo of the New Amsterdam Magistrate’s Court accused of two charges:

• Exhuming the body of a 75-year-old woman, Sumintra Shaw Narayan and 
• Committing an act of Necrophilia 

Prosecutor Inspector Satrohan Dayaram told the court that sometime between March 5th and 6th Roopram Bacchus broke into the tomb where Sumintra Narayan had been buried just hours before. He took out the coffin and removed the body and then committed an indecent act on the corpse. Afterward he took away money and jewellery that was left in the coffin by relatives.

When asked what he had to say, the defendant said that he was guilty of the first charge and told the court that it was the first time he was “ever involved in police story”. He said that he is sorry for what he did and begged for a chance. He blamed his actions on a drinking problem and said he would not drink anymore. He then begged the magistrate to fine him and not put him in jail. He faces a possible 5-year jail sentence.

Magistrate Nagamootoo, suspecting something was wrong with the man, asked the prosecutor if the defendant has psychological problems. The prosecutor responded that the defendant was examined at the Fort Canje Psychiatric Hospital, and was deemed to be ‘fit and sane’. Not being satisfied with the prosecutor's response, the magistrate said she wanted to see the actual report before deciding on the sentence and set a new court date.

As he was leaving court Bacchus begged the relatives of the deceased woman, who had gathered in large numbers at the court, to “help meh out, see wha’ yuh could do for meh and give me a chance”.

When they next appeared in court the magistrate fined Roopram Bacchus $200.

This story began when 75-year-old Sumintra Narayan took ill on March 1st. with a heart condition and was rushed to the New Amsterdam hospital where she later died. She was buried on Friday, 5th March. The next day the dead woman’s son, Badranauth Narayan, 44, an employee at the Rose Hall Estate, had told investigators that he received a call that someone had broken into his mother’s tomb.

After arriving at the tomb Badranauth Narayan found his mother's corpse was naked, the legs sprawled and there was what looked like semen in the corpse’s vaginal area. There were also bite marks on the body and the legs looked like they were broken. 

Who ever committed the act also burnt the casket and the woman’s clothing. Foreign and local currencies, as well as jewellery, which were placed in the hands of the deceased, as is customary in Hindu burial rites, were also stolen.

Acting on a report that Roopram Bacchus during the night had made a purchase at a shop close by, citizens effected an arrest and delivered the man to the police station. However, that was not before he was beaten badly by the dead woman's relatives. A bartender from the nearby shop told them that Bacchus showed up at his shop that same night covered with cement debris and ordered a beer with two single U. S. dollar notes. Eyewitnesses also report that they had seen the man in the vicinity Friday evening.

Police said they saw evidence of the partly burnt US dollar at the burial site but the badly beaten man claimed that he got the money from his mother who is overseas. After his initial denial of involvement  Roopram Bacchus later confessed to the crime. The dead woman was reburied in another casket and placed in the same tomb, which was later repaired.

Relatives, some of whom had travelled from overseas, said that Roopram Bacchus was at the funeral of 75-year-old Sumintra Narayan and had even helped with the final rites. They were grateful to the residents who helped to capture the perpetrator.

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Christopher Dudus Coke: Arrives in US

Christopher Dudus Coke the "Don" of Tivoli Gardens, Jamaica went before a Manhattan, NY court to plead not guilty to various drugs and illegal gun trafficking charges that could see him spending the rest of his life in prison. 

It was almost a year ago, on August 28,2009 that an extradition request was issued and presented to the Jamaican authorities. See the details here. 

The government of Jamaica and in particular the Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, delayed granting the request, resulting in strained relations between the U.S. and Jamaica.

In the end, bowing to political pressure, the Prime Minister signed the warrant for the arrest of Christopher Dudus Coke. When the police moved to execute the warrant they met stiff resistance from the Tivoli Gardens community where Dudus was believed to be staying, resulting in the government declaring a State of Emergency. 73 civilian died during this operation. Christopher Dudus Coke went into hiding.

Finally, after a month-long manhunt, Dudus decided to give himself up. He solicited the help of a well-known pastor and while en route to the U.S. embassy was captured in a roadblock on June 22,2010.

Christopher Dudus Coke was remanded in custody by U.S. District Judge Robert Patterson after his not guilty plea in the Manhattan courtroom. He is being represented by a team of lawyers, including Frank Doddato and Russel Newfeld, who plans to seek bail even though prosecutors want to keep him in jail.

Judge Robert Patterson set a new hearing for June 28,2010 at which time a decision will be made on whether to grant bail or not. 

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