Total Criminal Defense Blog

Parents accused of praying instead of seeking medical care for their daughter who died of diabetes pleaded not guilty to second-degree reckless homicide. They further asked the judge to dismiss the charges as unconstitutional, reports the Associated Press.

11-year-old Madeline died on Easter at the family’s rural Wisconsin home. An autopsy, requested by her parents, found that she died from undiagnosed diabetes. Prosecutors say the parents failed in their legal duty to protect their child.

Dale and Leilani Neumann’s criminal defense attorneys filed a motion claiming the law is “unconstitutionally vague” and the charges infringe on the parents’ constitutional right to freely exercise their religion and their “liberty interest” to rear their children.

The mother said she believes in the Bible and that healing comes from God and prayer. She said she never thought her daughter would die. The father said he considered Madeline’s illness “a test of faith” that could be conquered by prayer. Both parents told investigators that Madeline hadn’t been to a doctor since she was 3 years old.

The maximum sentence for second-degree reckless homicide is 25 years. The Neumanns are currently free on bail, but must send their surviving three teenage children to biweekly checkups to ensure they receive any needed medical care.

A Wisconsin law states parents can’t be accused of abuse or neglect if they chose prayer in good faith as a treatment for a child’s disease. The District Attorney said her analysis of the law is that it doesn’t apply to homicide cases. Due to the nature of the case, the defense attorneys expect it may reach the state Supreme Court.

On Monday, the Dallas Morning News reported that college students are susceptible to identity theft because of the environment they experience when going off to school. Students are use to free flowing information where their busy schedules expose them to potential theft or fraud through online purchases or networking Web sites.

The article — “College students should take care to protect their information” — highlights tips both students and their parents should consider when heading off to school.

Another update is due concerning the consequences of the DC v. Heller Supreme Court decision that struck down the handgun ban in the U.S. capital city.

After we reported that the Chicago suburbs of Wilmette and Morton Grove had voted to repeal their own bans on handguns within city limits, word has come that Martinsburg, West Virginia has clarified its own laws regarding handguns, officially stating that it only bans guns in public buildings, but that carrying of handguns on the street is legal.  Previously, the legality of carrying guns anywhere downtown had been in dispute.

Furthermore, Evanston, Illinois, another suburb of Chicago, has just announced that it struck down a similar handgun ban.  Evanston was challenged by a lawsuit from the National Rifle Association, and wished to avoid an expensive legal battle.  The NRA has also targeted Oak Park, Illinois and the city of Chicago, though the latter city has vowed to battle the lawsuit in court.

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who has been in legal entanglements for months over an alleged affair with a city aide and a bevy of felony criminal charges including perjury, misconduct and obstruction of justice, has been locked away for violating the conditions of his bail while awaiting the outcome of his criminal trial.

Kilpatrick had been given permission to travel with notification, but forfeited that right when he was charged by a sheriff’s investigator with physical assault, resulting in a fractured hip. The county may still pursue criminal charges in this incident.

However, despite his status as mayor, the judge treated Kilpatrick as he would have any other charged individual out on bond: she jailed him when he violated the terms of his bail. As he memorably put it, “If it was not Kwame Kilpatrick sitting in that seat, if it was John Six-Pack sitting in the seat, what would I do? And that answer is simple.”

It’s a good lesson in understanding the severe consequences of deciding not to comply with court-ordered restrictions; and it’s also a good example that Wayne County has set by not showing favoritism to public officials who violate the law.

According to an AP story, a young man dressed as The Joker—complete with purple suit, green dyed hair and clown face paint—was apprehended by local police inside a Three Rivers, Michigan movie theater last Sunday. Like his cinematic counterpart, 20-year-old Spencer Taylor was making mischief: police caught him trying to take movie posters and other “The Dark Knight” paraphernalia in the theater lobby.

The story states that Taylor will be arraigned on August 5.  Just a thought: Mr. Taylor may want to call in legal defense from Georgia District Attorney Paul Howard, a.k.a. “Superlawyer.” Howard even has his own cape.

For more unusual criminal defense cases, visit the Total Criminal Defense articles page.

At Total Criminal Defense, we recently profiled the tragic story of the Curtis brothers, who saved their home and an entire town from a California wildfire by setting backfires near their property, only to find themselves arrested because they were not professional firefighters.

So where were the professional firefighters while the Curtis family risked their lives and risked being charged with crimes in order to save their home?  According to a recent LA Times article, they may have been flying around looking pretty for the tv cameras.

The article interviews fire chiefs and other professionals disgusted with political pressure to make impressive-looking drops of water and fire retardant from helicopters and planes even when it does no actual good, because it looks good for television.  By giving the visual impression of doing something helpful to stop the fires, authorities look better in the face of wildfires that can sometimes be virtually impossible to stop.

Makes their arrest of the Curtis brothers all the more absurd, doesn’t it?

Per a Law.com item, the state of Louisiana has called for the US Supreme Court to reopen the case Kennedy v. Louisiana, which the court ruled on one month ago. The court had ruled that the death penalty was inappropriate for a child rape, despite the horrific nature of the crime.

The state’s request is unusual, but is based on its failure to consider a national law that was implemented in 2006 that authorizes the death penalty for members of the military who are convicted of child rape. This would undermine the court’s statement in its official opinion, written by Justice Kennedy, that there is a “national consensus” against execution for rape.

The state’s lawyers, who were not aware of the law to include it in the legal defense, are hoping that the court’s failure to consider the military law will cause it to reopen the case.

In a busy week for the court after an equally busy spring, the Supreme Court has made two rulings in the last couple of days that address issues that lie at the very heart of U.S. law and its constitutional foundations.

The most recent verdict, issued this morning, D.C. v. Heller, strikes down a 32-year-old ban on handguns in Washington, D.C., ruling that the ban is unconstitutional according to the Second Amendment.  The 5-4 ruling was the first broad interpretation of the Second Amendment’s provision that citizens have “the right to bear arms” since its ratification in 1791.  The majority opinion written by Justice Antonin Scalia stated that the Constitution does not provide for “the absolute prohibition of handguns held and used for self-defense in the home.”

A verdict yesterday touches on a still-more controversial issue, that of child rape.  In another 5-4 decision, the court overturned a death penalty in Louisiana given to a man who was convicted of raping his 12-year-old stepdaughter.  The majority of justices ruled that the despite the awfulness of the crime, it does not warrant capital punishment.  The court interpreted the Eighth Amendment’s ban on “cruel and unusual punishment” to include death penalty in the case of rape in a ruling in 1977, and the recent decision clarifies this precedent in the case of children.

For more analysis of Supreme Court decisions past and present, visit the Total Criminal Defense article section.

Though not exactly hardened criminals, several attendees of graduation at Fort Mill High School in Rock Hill, South Carolina, were marched away in shackles, as local police began cracking down on disruptive celebrations during the event.  That’s right, they were arrested for cheering when the names of the family members they came to support were announced.   A warning was given before the ceremony, though no intimation that those who violated the rule could be arrested.

The school requested that the police force be brought in to deal with what it deemed was excessive disruption in previous graduation ceremonies.  However, it seems that instead of hewing to their role as intimidating discouragers, the officers chose instead to arrest the offending parties.  Those arrested face up to 30 days in prison and a $1,000 fine on charges of disorderly conduct.

One of those arrested wanted to cheer because, according to him, “it was like a funeral in there.”

Facing 15 years in prison in conjunction with charges stemming from a video that allegedly showed him engaging in sexual acts with a 13-year-old girl, R & B singer R. Kelly escaped penalty as the jury acquitted him of all child pornography charges after deliberating less than one day.

Defense attorney for Kelly were apparently able to successfully convince the jury of Kelly’s claims that he was not the man who appears in the video—questions were also raised about the identity and age of the female, since the alleged victim denies that the girl in the tape is her.

Neither Kelly nor the victim testified in the trial.