#civil litigation attorney long island

[mariacallous]

NEW YORK — Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman announced Thursday that transgender athletes are no longer allowed to compete in sports aligned with their gender identity at county-run facilities.

Blakeman, a Republican, said the executive order prohibits organizations with trans athletes in their teams “from playing at any of our 100 county facilities.”

The order is the first of its kind enacted by a local government, according to Blakeman, who announced it Thursday morning at a ceremony in Mineola.

According to the order, which did not have to pass the legislature and took effect immediately, “any sports, leagues, organizations, teams, programs, or sports entities” must assign athletes to one of three categories based on their gender assigned at birth when applying for a permit to use Nassau County Parks property.

The categories are “males, men, or boys,” “females, women, or girls” or “coed or mixed, including both males and females,” which excludes transgender athletes.

The ban appears to be a blatant violation of New York State anti-bias laws, which bar discrimination from public accommodations on the basis of “gender identity or expression.”

Attorney General Letitia James said her office is “reviewing (its) legal options,” calling the order “transphobic and deeply dangerous.”

“My office is charged with enforcing and upholding (anti-discrimination) laws, and we stand up to those who violate them and trespass on the rights of marginalized communities,” she said.

Blakeman’s announcement was also slammed by LGBTQ and legal rights advocates who vowed to fight back against the county executive’s “illegal” and “cynical” executive order.

“We will consider all options to stop it,” Bobby Hodgson, director of LGBTQ rights litigation with the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), told The News in an email.

The order is just an “attempt to shut trans people out of public spaces,” Hodgson said. “Requiring girls who are trans to compete on boys’ teams effectively bars them from sports altogether,” he added.

Dr. David Kilmnick, president and founder of the New York LGBT Network, a family of nonprofits serving the LGBTQ community of Long Island and Queens, said the “discriminatory move not only undermines the principles of inclusivity and fairness but also perpetuates harmful stereotypes and exclusion.”

Additionally, the order is “fundamentally flawed,” he said, noting New York state law “explicitly protects the rights of transgender individuals, ensuring their equal participation in all aspects of life, including sports.”

On Thursday, when signing his fifth executive order since taking office in January 2022, Blakeman maintained the order was not discriminatory, but simply a matter of fairness.

“It is an unfair advantage for (a trans girl or woman) to compete against (a cisgender girl or woman), he said in a speech filled with terms widely considered offensive to trans people, while surrounded by elementary school students holding pink signs that read “Protect women’s sports.”

“I view it as a form of bullying and it will not be tolerated,” he added.

Assemblywoman Gina Sillitti, a Democrat who represents parts of Nassau County, said Blakeman was not issuing the order to protect anyone, but instead to “grab headlines” that could lead to a “culture of hate towards transgender children.”

“Directing vitriol toward children should not and can never be tolerated,” she said in a statement to The News.

Nassau County Legislature’s Democratic Minority Leader Delia DeRiggi-Whitton criticized the county executive for “legislating little leagues” with the order.

Instead of giving Nassau County residents “falsely promised tax cuts and a fairer property assessment system,” Blakeman has instead been more interested in “self-promotion by spending public money on private golf outings, swanky galas, and unrelated press conferences” — such as the one announcing today’s transgender sports ban, “which has nothing to do with his responsibilities.”

[airasilver]

MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — Olympic gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner on Monday said she supported a local New York official’s order banning female sports teams with transgender athletes from using county-owned facilities.

The ban applies to over 100 athletic facilities in New York City's Long Island suburbs. Speaking alongside Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman at his office in Mineola, Jenner said allowing transgender athletes like herself to compete against other women will “ruin women’s sports” for years to come.

“Let’s stop it now while we can,” said the reality television star, who came out as a transgender woman in 2015.

The LGBT Network, a Long Island-based advocacy group, called Jenner’s comments a “baffling contradiction” to her own identity as a transgender woman that is “not only hypocritical but also harmful" to the LGBTQ community.

“It is disheartening to witness someone who has experienced the challenges of being marginalized actively contribute to the oppression of others within the same community,” David Kilmnick, the group’s president, said in a statement. “Such actions only serve to amplify the voices of intolerance and detract from the collective efforts towards a more inclusive society."

Blakeman, a Republican elected in 2021, issued an executive order in February requiring any teams, leagues or organizations seeking a permit from the county’s parks and recreation department to “expressly designate” whether they are for male, female or coed athletes.

Any teams designated as “female” would be denied permits if they allow transgender athletes to participate.

The ban doesn’t apply to men’s teams with transgender athletes. It covers all Nassau County-owned facilities, including ballfields, basketball and tennis courts, swimming pools and ice rinks.

Jenner, 74, competed against men when she won the Olympic gold medal in the decathlon in 1976. She said she has “sympathy” for LGBTQ people and “understands their struggles” but argued that allowing transgender people to compete with women would undermine gains female athletes achieved under Title IX, a law banning sex discrimination in programs that receive federal funds.

“All I’m trying to do is protect women,” Jenner said Monday.

Jenner, a supporter of former President Donald Trump, has been a vocal opponent of transgender athletes competing in women’s sports. A New York native, she has long lived in the Los Angeles area and ran unsuccessfully for California governor as a Republican in 2021.

Blakeman has argued the ban is intended to both foster fair play and protect girls and women from getting injured if they play against transgender women. His executive order, however, also covers sports like swimming, gymnastics, figure skating and track, where there is no physical contact between competitors.

The executive order also takes decisions about who can play out of the hands of leagues and gives it to the government.

The Long Island Roller Rebels, a local women’s roller derby league, asked a New York court to invalidate the county order, saying it violates the state’s anti-discrimination laws.

The New York Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the league, called Jenner's appearance “another disgraceful attempt” to target and villainize transgender women and girls. Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, said Blakeman's order is “transphobic and discriminatory” and violates state law.

Blakeman has filed his own lawsuit asking a federal court in New York to affirm that the order was legal.

The order is part of a growing number of anti-transgender athletic restrictions imposed nationwide. Bills banning trans youth from participating in sports have passed in some 24 states, though some have been blocked by ongoing litigation.

___

This story has been corrected to show that Blakeman was elected in 2021, not 2022.

This is surprising. I also agree with her. Though I think the male transgenders should not be allowed either.

You want to compete? Make a team of players that are transgender and then do so. People do it all the time with sports, why can’t they do it with transgender players only? Make it nation wide?

[dnaamericaapp]

Hundreds Of Lawsuits Allege Decades Of Sexual Abuse At Rikers Island

Of the more than 2,500 lawsuits filed under a special New York law, nearly 20% allege sexual violence against current or former prisoners at the infamous Rikers Island facilities.

New York’s Adult Survivors Act allowed survivors of sexual assault one year to sue no matter how long ago the alleged abuse happened. This has led to 479 lawsuits against New York City over alleged abuse at Rikers, a surge of litigation that may finally give many victims a chance at justice, legal experts and advocates say.

“There have been high rates of staff-on-inmate sexual victimization in New York state prisons,” attorney Anna Kull said. Kull said she has filed hundreds of civil cases related to reports of assault behind bars under the Adult Survivors Act.

“How do I have over 200 women who were sexually abused at Rikers? This is a systemic failure,” she said. “It requires comprehensive reform and you’re never going to see comprehensive reform without accountability.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the act in May 2022, to amend state law and allow survivors of sexual violence who were over 18 at the time of the alleged abuse to sue the people they have accused regardless of the original statute of limitations. The act expired on Nov. 24, but not before a swath of lawsuits against celebrities such as Sean “Diddy” Combs and Jamie Foxx and politicians such as New York City Mayor Eric Adams and former President Donald Trump made headlines.

Kull said she finds the number of lawsuits stemming from the jail to be staggering, but not surprising considering Rikers’ reputation as “one of the most dangerous prisons in the United States,” a sentiment shared by advocates supporting survivors of sexual violence. -(source: nbc news)

DNA America

“It’s what we know, not what you want us to believe.”

#dna #dnaamerica #news #politics

[nbmsports]

Virgin Islands says JPMorgan should pay damages in Epstein case

The government of the U.S. Virgin Islands in a court filing Friday estimated that it will seek damages of at least $190 million from JPMorgan Chase in a lawsuit accusing the big bank of facilitating sex trafficking by its former long-time customer Jeffrey Epstein.The Virgin Islands also said it wants an order requiring JPMorgan to take a series of steps to protect young women and girls from other predators in the future. "These sets of recommendations aim to address the same core problem: JPMorgan's knowledge of and failure to report Epstein's trafficking because it lacked the economic incentive and motivation to place compliance with the law and prevention of trafficking ahead of its own profits," the filing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan says.The American territory also said it will seek further compensatory damages specifically for victims of Epstein beyond the nearly $300 million JPMorgan agreed to pay victims last month to settle a lawsuit by one of his accusers. The filing did not give an amount for those additional damages from the bank, which has staunchly denied any wrongdoing.The new filing came in response to a request last week by Judge Jed Rakoff that the territory detail the damages it seeks in the case as it heads toward a scheduled Oct. 23 trial.The Virgin Islands' suit accuses JPMorgan of benefiting from Epstein's trafficking of young women to be abused by him and others during the 15 years he was a client of the bank, which is the largest in the United States.The complaint alleges JPMorgan allowed Epstein to keep many millions of dollars in accounts at the bank, which he used to fund his trafficking of women, despite multiple red flags about him raised by bank employees over the years. "We are pursuing this enforcement action because JPMorgan Chase's institutional failure enabled Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking, and JPMorgan Chase must make significant changes to detect, report and stop human trafficking," said U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General Ariel Smith in a statement Friday."Financial penalties, as well as conduct changes, are important to make sure that JPMorgan Chase knows the cost of putting its own profits ahead of public safety," said Smith.She said that if the Virgin Islands wins its suit, it will uses the monetary damages it receives "to support efforts to strengthen, inform, and expand local law enforcement and enhance the Virgin Islands' services for victims of human trafficking and other victims of crime."A JPMorgan spokeswoman, when asked for comment about the filing, indicated for what appears to be the first time that the bank's attorneys have discussed a possible settlement of the lawsuit with lawyers for the Virgin Islands, which would avoid a trial."This document does not reflect the nature of settlement conversations," said the spokeswoman, Patricia Wexler. " As for the USVI's misdirected damages theories, they are not well founded and are being challenged by JPM in court."It is common in civil litigation for cases to be settled without trial.The filing says the Virgin Islands wants at least $150 million in civil penalties alone. The filing also says that it wants JPMorgan to disgorge at least another $40 million in fees that Epstein generated for the bank, and that JPMorgan received from "many ultra-high net worth clients" he referred to the bank.Those clients, the filing said, included Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Lex Wexner, the founder of Limited Brands, and the billionaire Glenn Dubin.In addition to the monetary damages, the Virgin Islands also is asking JPMorgan be compelled "to implement new policies, including separating its business and compliance functions and designating an independent compliance consultant, to prevent human trafficking," according to a press release by Smit's office.JPMorgan in its own court filings has accused the Virgin Islands itself of being "complicit in the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein." The bank alleges Epstein gave high-ranking officials there money, advice and favors in exchange for looking the other way when he trafficked young women to be abused there.Epstein had a residence on a private island in the territory, where accusers say he and other people sexually abused them.Last month in the same court where the Virgin Islands is suing the bank JPMorgan agreed, without admitting wrongdoing, to pay $290 million to victims of Epstein to settle a suit by one of his accusers.In May, Deutsche Bank agreed to pay Epstein victims $75 million to settle a separate lawsuit by an accuser who accused that back of abetting his sex trafficking of her and others. Deutsche Bank took on Epstein as a customer after JPMorgan severed ties with him in 2013, years after bank employees first voiced concerns about him.Deutsche Bank previously agreed to pay New York state's Department of Financial Services a $150 million penalty for failure to detect or prevent millions of dollars of suspicious transactions related to Epstein, which included "payments to Russian models and to numerous women with Eastern European surnames," the filing Friday by the Virgin Islands noted.Epstein, who had been a friend to former Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, as well as Prince Andrew of Great Britain, pleaded guilty in 2008 to a Florida state charge of soliciting sex from an underage girl. He served 13 months in jail, but spent much of that time on work release each day.Epstein, then 66, killed himself in a federal jail in New York in August 2019, a month after he was arrested on federal child sex trafficking charges. Source link Read the full article

[polawyer]

Rafferty Lawyer: Everything You Need to Know About This Prominent Law Firm

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[longislanddivorce1]

Family Law Attorney In Long Island, Ny

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[jamesjcorbett]

James J. Corbett is a New York civil litigation attorney who has been serving clients throughout the region since 1997. Whether it’s a construction dispute or a real estate, contract, business, or trust and estate matter, our firm has the experience, knowledge, and ability to ensure that your interests are protected. For more information, visit us at https://jamesjcorbett.com/.

[m1ssc0mmun1cat10n]

Chevron sends an activist to jail in a terrifying overreach and I only heard about it because I'm in an environmental reddit sub.

This is straight from the reddit post verbatim. There is also a change petition here, since the one in this post is only signable by US folks.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chevron sent environmental attorney Steven Donziger to prison, in the what’s being called the first-ever case of corporate prosecution.

Steven Donziger sued Chevron for contaminating the Amazon and won. Chevron was found guilty and ordered to pay $18,000,000,000. Yesterday, Donziger went to prison, in the what’s being called the first-ever case of corporate prosecution.

Over three decades of drilling in the Amazon, Chevron deliberately dumped more than 16 billion gallons of toxic wastewater and 17 million gallons of crude oil into the rainforest. Chevron committed ecocide to save money—about $3 per barrel. Many experts consider it the biggest oil-related disaster in history, with the total area affected 30 times larger than the Exxon-Valdez spill. Chevron created a super-fund site in the Amazon rainforest that is estimated to be the size of Rhode Island.

Steven Donziger visited Ecuador in 1993, where he says he saw "what honestly looked like an apocalyptic disaster," including children walking barefoot down oil-covered roads and jungle lakes filled with oil. Industrial contamination caused local tribes to suffer from mouth, stomach, and uterine cancers, respiratory illnesses, along with birth defects and spontaneous miscarriages.

As an attorney, Donziger represented over 30,000 farmers and indigenous Ecuadorians in a case against Chevron and won. In 2011, Chevron was found guilty and ordered to pay $18 billion. Rather than accept this decision, the company vowed to fight the judgment "until Hell freezes over, and then fight it out on the ice." Chevron has been persecuting Steven Donziger for his involvement ever since. In an internal memo, Chevron wrote, “Our L-T [long-term] strategy is to demonize Donziger.”

Chevron sued Donziger for 60 billion dollars, which is the most any individual has ever been sued for in American legal history. Over the course of ten years, armed with a legal team numbering in the thousands, the company set out to destroy Donziger. Chevron had Donziger disbarred, froze his bank accounts, slapped him with millions in fines without allowing him a jury, forced him to wear a 24h ankle monitor, imposed a lien on his home where he lives with his family, and shut down his ability to earn a living. Donziger has been under house arrest since August 2019.

Chevron has used its clout and advertising dollars to keep the story from being reported. “I’ve experienced this multiple times with media,” Donziger said. “An entity will start writing the story, spend a lot of time on it, then the story doesn’t run.” This unprecedented legal situation is happening in New York City, the hometown of the New York Times—but the paper has yet to report on the full story.

On October 27, 2021, Donziger entered federal prison for a six-month sentence. He had already spent over 800 days in house arrest, which is four times longer than the maximum sentence allowed for this charge. Anyone who cares about the rule of law should be appalled. It is an absolute embarrassment, to our government and to our constitution, that Steven Donziger is imprisoned on US soil.

As the title states, Chevron is in the process of executing the first-ever corporate prosecution in American history. This case sets a terrible precedent for attorneys and activists seeking to hold oil companies liable for pollution. Chevron is pursuing this case—to the benefit of the entire fossil fuel industry—to dissuade future litigation that may call them to account for their role in climate change.

Lawyer Steven Donziger, Who Sued Chevron over “Amazon Chernobyl,” Ordered to Prison After House Arrest

This Lawyer Went After Chevron. Now He’s 600 Days Into House Arrest.

EDIT 1: Chevron went after him with a civil RICO lawsuit (accusing him of racketeering) because he’s trying to force Chevron to pay the $18B judgment and follow through with the clean-up. Their “argument” is that Donziger is a fraud who just wanted to extort them for big bucks. They’ve been working hard to paint him as such in the media. Chevron sued him for $60B but then dropped the damages just weeks before because they realized it would necessitate a jury. In the proceeding, Judge Kaplan (who had undisclosed investments in Chevron!) ordered Donziger to turn over his computer to Chevron (with decades of client communications!) effectively violating attorney-client privilege which is the backbone of our legal system. He refused to comply so the judge charged him with contempt of court. US attorneys declined to pursue the charge (because it was ridiculous!) so Judge Kaplan made the exceedingly rare move to get private law firm Seward Kissel to prosecute him “in the name of” the US govt. Except Seward Kissel has Chevron as a major client. So many conflicts of interest it’s insane.

EDIT 2: Chevron wants this to go away quietly. They have done their best to suffocate this story. Chevron does not want us to draw attention to the ecocide they deliberately committed (and were literally found guilty of!) in the Amazon. They do not want Donziger to become a household name. They don’t want to create a martyr for the cause against Big Oil. We can foil their plans by signing the MoveOn petition below and making sure this story gets shared widely.

EDIT 3: You can also follow him on Twitter. His handle is @SDonziger.

EDIT 4: I know we are all rightfully pissed off but please refrain from advocating violence in the comments. I’ve been unable to post this story on any other sub (many others have also tried and failed) so I’m really grateful to the mods for keeping it posted here. Let’s not make things difficult on them.

MoveOn Petition: Free Steven Donziger

(https://sign.moveon.org/petitions/free-steven-donziger?source=rawlink&utm_source=rawlink&share=6bf7358e-6264-4bc0-99c3-ef740e3fb6ce)

If you want to learn more about this incident check out Chevron Toxico and watch the documentary CRUDE.

[96thdayofrage]

Even among the hundreds of videos capturing the violent police response to Black Lives Matter protests last year, this one stood out.

A muscular male officer, in a navy blue shirt with “NYPD” across the back, lunged at a young demonstrator, shoving her several feet and sending her crashing to the ground on a street in Brooklyn.

In a video shot by a reporter and shared widely on social media, the woman, Dounya Zayer, can be seen clutching her head and writhing in pain after she tumbles to the asphalt.

The mayor called the officer’s actions “absolutely unacceptable,” the police commissioner said internal affairs was investigating and, 11 days after the incident, the district attorney announced criminal charges against the officer, Vincent D’Andraia.

Zayer, 21, went on to file a lawsuit alleging that D’Andraia had violated her right to free speech, and last month, the city’s Law Department, which almost always represents officers sued for on-the-job actions, told D’Andraia it wouldn’t defend him in court.

It looked like the city was cutting the cop loose, a step rarely taken in the hundreds of lawsuits filed every year against NYPD officers. But while a city lawyer won’t be representing D’Andraia in court, it turns out New Yorkers are still paying the law firm that is representing him in the case.

That’s because every year, the city treasury effectively bankrolls a union-controlled legal defense fund for officers. The little-known fund is financed in part by a direct city contribution of nearly $2 million a year that is expressly intended to pay for lawyers in civil cases like D’Andraia’s, where the Law Department has decided an officer’s conduct is essentially indefensible. Or, as the police union’s legal plan puts it, “when the City of New York fails or otherwise refuses to provide a legal defense.”

The money isn’t supposed to be used by the union, the Police Benevolent Association, “in any action directly or indirectly adverse to the interests of the City,” according to a 1985 letter memorializing the deal that established the annual taxpayer contribution. But the agreement doesn’t define those “interests,” and the city is typically a co-defendant in such cases, as it is in the lawsuit by Zayer. So even as the city might distance itself from an officer, it could still argue that the government’s legal interests are best served by its employee having robust legal representation.

“It’s not bad public policy to invest and make sure that all sides have adequate representation,” said Zachary Carter, who ran the Law Department from 2014 to 2019.

But critics say that subsidizing such defenses could undercut police accountability by sending a message to officers that the city will back them no matter what.

“The bottom line is this is scandalous,” said Joel Berger, a lawyer who specializes in police abuse cases and who, in the 1990s, served as a senior official in the Law Department who decided when the city should withdraw representation of officers. “It was a sweetheart deal with the union and it should never have been agreed to.”

Neither the mayor’s office nor the Law Department would address detailed questions from ProPublica about the fund, including how the city squares paying for the defense of officers it won’t represent with the provision stipulating that the money not be used for any purpose “adverse to the interests of the City.”

The Legal Services Fund of the Police Benevolent Association has in recent years paid for the representation of an NYPD officer accused in a lawsuit of slamming a 75-year-old man with Parkinson’s disease against the hood of a car after the man talked back to the cop, and has paid to defend another officer who court papers charge tackled an unarmed, chronically ill, 4-foot-8-inch, 85-pound man and shocked him with a stun gun.

The message to officers, said Zayer’s lawyer, Tahanie Aboushi, is that the city will help shield them from some of the consequences of even their most egregious conduct.

“Maybe you’re going to be disciplined,” said Aboushi, who is a candidate in the race to be the next Manhattan district attorney, “but getting a lawyer, paying for a lawyer, understanding the accountability that comes from a lawsuit — they’re completely insulated from that.”

It is the sort of protection that, in the last few decades, has proliferated in police labor agreements across the country, often negotiated behind closed doors, with little attention paid to the public policy implications.

But in the reckoning that has followed George Floyd’s killing, many Americans are rethinking how the country is policed and unions are facing particularly pointed questions, not just in Minnesota or in New York, but also in city halls, in state legislatures and at negotiating tables across the country.

“There is a whole set of what I’ve labeled ‘special privileges’ that employees in other contexts don’t enjoy,” said Samuel Walker, an emeritus professor of criminal justice at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and a national expert on police accountability. “It’s been a very secretive development, and the lack of any organized opposition until just recently has kept it secret.”

The violent police response to many Black Lives Matter demonstrations across the country in the weeks after Floyd’s death only intensified calls for sweeping changes in American policing.

In New York, the furor after Floyd’s death pushed through the long-sought repeal of a state law that made police disciplinary records secret. And last month, the city beat back a legal challenge by the PBA and other unions that had sought to block the release of those records.

But Mayor Bill de Blasio, who campaigned as a champion of police reform, has been criticized for his embrace of the NYPD, particularly during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations. As he prepares to leave office at the end of the year, many of the leading candidates to succeed him have promised a new approach to policing.

Still, it’s a long way from the campaign stump to the negotiating table, and even after the events of the last year, the police unions — and the power and protections entrenched in their contracts — will pose a formidable test for the next mayor. The PBA’s contract expired in 2017 and will remain in force until a new one is approved, so it will almost certainly fall to the new administration to negotiate the next labor deal and to decide whether to take on sacred cows like the legal defense fund.

ProPublica pieced together the origins of the defense fund by reviewing tax records, studying labor agreements and examining other city documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Law.

Like anyone charged with a serious crime, an officer facing criminal prosecution has a right to a defense lawyer. But the deal establishing the city’s contribution to the fund was specifically designed to pay for defending officers in civil litigation, where an officer could face a substantial monetary judgment.

The deal, struck by the then-police union head and the city’s top labor negotiator, created what has become an annual taxpayer contribution that amounts to $75 per officer. The legal services fund takes in another $3.7 million every year from the union’s health and welfare fund, a city-funded entity that provides health insurance and other employee benefits. That portion of the defense fund can be used for legal representation, too, though not in those lawsuits where the city has said it will not represent the officers.

All told, the defense fund takes in about $5.5 million a year, which the PBA pays to the Manhattan law firm of Worth, Longworth & London to represent officers, tax filings show.

A spokesman for the PBA, which represents about 25,000 rank-and-file officers, didn’t respond to detailed questions about the fund.

While the PBA was the first to secure the city contribution, the annual $75-per-member taxpayer funding for civil defense has been replicated in the contracts that cover thousands of NYPD sergeants, lieutenants and captains.

The union representing the 9,000 jail guards who run the violence-plagued Rikers Island complex and other city jails secured a $75-per-member city contribution to their defense fund as well. Correction officers are frequently sued over allegations of prisoner abuse and neglect in New York City, suits that have led to multimillion-dollar settlements and, in recent years, a federal investigation and monitoring agreement. And the union representing jail wardens, deputy wardens and assistant deputy wardens gets a $189-per-member contribution for civil defense, according to their contract.

New York City’s mayoral primaries are on June 22, and de Blasio’s staunch support for the NYPD has made police accountability a key issue in the race to succeed him, especially among candidates with their own ties to oversight and reform of the department.

Candidate Maya Wiley, once a close adviser to de Blasio and later the chair of the city’s police oversight board, said she would renegotiate the police union contract to ensure better accountability. A Wiley spokesperson said the taxpayer money going to officers’ civil defense should go to gun violence prevention or “a dozen other, better ways to ensure public safety.”

Another mayoral candidate, Comptroller Scott Stringer, plays a key role in police accountability, reviewing and approving every settlement reached in civil cases brought against police officers. But a campaign spokesman said Stringer wasn’t familiar with the defense fund provision of the PBA’s contract and that his policy staff was now looking into it. Mayoral hopeful Eric Adams was for many years a prominent reform voice within the NYPD, rising to the rank of captain and co-founding the group 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care. But Adams, now the Brooklyn borough president, didn’t respond to questions.

In New York, the rare rollback of police union protections has typically come only when a case of police brutality seized the public conscience and compelled political leaders to act. Even then it can take years.

For decades, NYPD officers involved in shootings or other incidents of potential wrongdoing had two full days to consult with lawyers before being questioned by internal affairs investigators. But after officers sodomized a Haitain immigrant with a stick in the bathroom of a Brooklyn police station in 1997, the so-called 48-hour rule emerged as a key obstacle in the investigation.

In negotiations to settle his lawsuit against the city and the police union, the man, Abner Louima, and his lawyers called for the rule to be scrapped. It wasn’t until 2002, during labor negotiations with the police union, that city officials moved to extract the provision from the agreement, asserting that the police commissioner had broad authority to oversee disciplinary matters. That prompted a yearslong legal battle, which the union ultimately lost in 2006.

Removing a union benefit that has been renewed for decades is possible, but it’s hard to do, said Victor Kovner, who served as the city’s chief lawyer under Mayor David Dinkins in the early 1990s. “And hard doesn’t begin to suggest how challenging it would be,” he said.

[moonlightmurder]

Favorite True Crime Books – part 2

John Wayne Gacy: Defending a Monster by Sam L. Amirante : “Sam, could you do me a favor?” Thus begins a story that has now become part of America’s true crime hall of fame. It is a gory, grotesque tale befitting a Stephen King novel. It is also a David and Goliath saga—the story of a young lawyer fresh from the Public Defender’s Office whose first client in private practice turns out to be the worst serial killer in our nation’s history.

Sam Amirante had just opened his first law practice when he got a phone call from his friend John Wayne Gacy, a well-known and well-liked community figure. Gacy was upset about what he called “police harassment” and asked Amirante for help. With the police following his every move in connection with the disappearance of a local teenager, Gacy eventually gives a drunken, dramatic, early morning confession—to his new lawyer. Gacy is eventually charged with murder and Amirante suddenly becomes the defense attorney for one of American’s most disturbing serial killers. It is his first case. This is a gripping narrative that reenacts the gruesome killings and the famous trial that shocked a nation.

American Legal Injustice: Behind the Scenes with an Expert Witness by Emanuel Tanay : Forensic psychiatrist Emanuel Tanay has testified in thousands of court cases as an expert witness, including such notorious cases as those of Jack Ruby, Sam Sheppard, and Theodore ‘Ted’ Bundy. Tanay walks the reader through his experiences in the courtroom, explaining the role of the forensic psychiatrist in the litigation process and providing a ‘behind-the-scenes’ view of our criminal justice system, including individual chapters on some of his most interesting and infamous cases. Tanay also provides clear examples of the rampant injustice that he has witnessed and argues that the potential for injustice is built into our legal system in the form of incompetent lawyers, the imbalance of resources between the pricey defense lawyers hired by large corporations in civil trials and the inexperienced lawyers often hired by plaintiffs, and the political concerns of elected judges and prosecutors. American Legal Injustice: Behind the Scenes with an Expert Witness is a must-read for Law & Order, Court TV, and true crime enthusiasts.

The Last Victim: A True-Life Journey into the Mind of the Serial Killer by Jason Moss : It started with a college course assignment, then escalated into a dangerous obsession. Eighteen-year-old honor student Jason Moss wrote to men whose body counts had made criminal history: men named Dahmer, Manson, Ramirez, and Gacy.

Posing as their ideal victim, Jason seduced them with his words. One by one they wrote him back, showering him with their madness and violent fantasies. Then the game spun out of control. John Wayne Gacy revealed all to Jason — and invited his pen pal to visit him in prison…

It was an offer Jason couldn’t turn down. Even if it made him…

The book that has riveted the attention of the national media, this may be the most revealing look at serial killers ever recorded and the most illuminating study of the dark places of the human mind ever attempted.

The Phantom Killer: Unlocking the Mystery of the Texarkana Serial Murders: The Story of a Town in Terror by James Presley : Set in the rowdy, often lawless town of Texarkana shortly after WWII, The Phantom Killer is the history of the most puzzling unsolved cases in the United States.

The salacious and scandalous murders of a series of couples on Texarkana’s “lovers lanes” in seemingly idyllic post-WWII America created a media maelstrom and cast a pall of fear over an entire region. What is even more surprising is that the case has remained cold for decades. Combining archival research and investigative journalism, Pulitzer Prize nominated historian James Presley reveals evidence that provides crucial keys to unlocking this decades-old puzzle.

Dubbed “the Phantom murders” by the press, these grisly crimes took place in an America before dial telephones, DNA science, and criminal profiling. Even pre-television, print and radio media stirred emotions to a fever pitch. The Phantom Killer, exhaustively researched, is the only definitive nonfiction book on the case, and includes details from an unpublished account by a survivor, and rare, never-before-published photographs.

Although the case lives on today on television, the Internet, a revived fictional movie and even an off-Broadway play, with so much of the investigation shrouded in mystery since 1946, rumors and fractured facts have distorted the reality. Now, for the first time, a careful examination of the archival record, personal interviews, and stubborn fact checking come together to produce new insights and revelations on the old slayings.

The Only Living Witness: The true story of serial sex killer Ted Bundy by Stephen Michaud and Hugh Aynesworth : Michaud and Aynesworth are a reporter and an investigator team who interviewed serial killer Ted Bundy while he was on death row in Florida. This volume chronicles his activities throughout several states but is at its best in a long section of transcripts from the interview in which, while he never admits his quilt, Bundy offers vivid details of the crimes and commentary on the mindset of a serial killer. This revised edition includes some additional information.

Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters by Peter Vronsky : In this unique book, Peter Vronsky documents the psychological, investigative, and cultural aspects of serial murder, beginning with its first recorded instance in Ancient Rome through fifteenth-century France on to such notorious contemporary cases as cannibal/necrophile Ed Kemper, the BTK killer, Henry Lee Lucas, Monte Ralph Rissell, Jerry Brudos, Richard Ramirez, “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski, Ed Gein, John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, and the emergence of what he classifies as the “serial rampage killer” such as Andrew Cunanan, who murdered fashion designer Gianni Versace.

Vronsky not only offers sound theories on what makes a serial killer but also makes concrete suggestions on how to survive an encounter with one—from recognizing verbal warning signs to physical confrontational resistance. Exhaustively researched with transcripts of interviews with killers, and featuring up-to-date information on the apprehension and conviction of the Green River killer and the Beltway Snipers, Vronsky’s one-of-a-kind book covers every conceivable aspect of an endlessly riveting true crime phenomenon.

Escape from Alcatraz: The True Crime Classic by J. Campbell Bruce : In 1963, just weeks before the original publication of this book, the last prisoner was escorted off Devil’s Island and Alcatraz ceased to be a prison. Author J. Campbell Bruce chronicles in spellbinding detail the Rock’s transition from a Spanish fort to the maximum-security penitentiary that housed such infamous inmates as Robert Stroud, aka the Birdman of Alcatraz, and mobster Al “Scarface” Capone. The chapters describing the daring escape attempts by Frank Morris and two accomplices from this “inescapable” prison became the basis for the 1979 Clint Eastwood movie. Discover the intriguing and absorbing saga of Alcatraz, whose name is still synonymous with punitive isolation and deprivation, where America’s most violent and notorious prisoners resided in tortuous proximity to one of the world’s favorite cities.

Sins of the brother: The definitive story of Ivan Milat and the backpacker murders by Mark Whitaker and Les Kennedy : Seven young backpackers brutally murdered. A nationwide police hunt spanning three years and thousands of hours of forensic investigation. And finally, the capture and conviction of one man.Sins of the Brother tells the gripping story of road-worker Ivan Milat and the horrific Belanglo Forest murders that shocked the world and forever etched themselves into Australian criminal folklore. It explores a family culture so twisted and bizarre it would lead inexorably to a serial killing spree, scrutinises the police case – its successes and failures – and reveals the chilling mystery left behind.Told in novelistic style from interviews with the Milat family, key police investigators, Crown lawyers and the lucky souls who escaped with their lives, Sins of the Brother is a classic of crime literature – a psychological thriller come to life and a disturbing portrait of a man whose delusions became reality.’More than just the suspenseful story of some notoriously evil murders, this shocking and strangely seductive book is a painstaking examination of today’s society. This is Australia on the slab.’

[Part 1]

[omg-siddhartha-jain]

Best Legal Services in USA

As a native Long Islander, Mr. Hoffman was born and raised on the South Shore of Long Island.  He is a graduate of the University of the Pacific with Honors with a Bachelor of Arts in 1978, and Brooklyn Law School, Juris Doctorate in 1984. Mr. Hoffman attended evening classes, giving him the opportunity to work full time in a number of prestigious Wall Street law firms.

Upon admission to the New York State Court Administration in 1985 and the Southern and Eastern Districts, he started in a law firm located in Suffolk County, concentrating on criminal, matrimonial, family, personal injury, real estate, collections, commercial and civil litigation. He has been in private practice with an office in the Village of Babylon since 1989.

In the course of his career, Mr. Hoffman actively participated in continuing education that has included his position as an officer of the Suffolk County Academy of Law (Suffolk County Bar Association) organizing and lecturing at legal seminars. He had the privilege of being awarded special recognition for his efforts to the Continuing Legal Education series. Mr. Hoffman also has an AVÒ Preeminent rating by Martindale Hubbell (R), the highest possible rating in both legal ability and ethical standards reflecting the confidential opinions of members of the Bar and Judiciary. His legal services have extended to his serving the community as a Trustee at his local church and as a member of the Babylon Rotary.

On a personal basis, Mr. Hoffman represents clients throughout Long Island in a variety of matters, including personal injury, estate planning, elder law, estate administration, and probate proceeding, and real property transactions.  On a commercial basis, Mr. Hoffman has provided legal services to businesses, partnerships, LLC’s and corporations regarding their formation, partnership agreements, shareholders agreements, buy-sell agreements, contracts, and other business transactions to name only a few.  Mr. Hoffman has also represented contractors and subcontractors engaged in commercial building construction projects throughout the New York City Metro area protecting contractors’ rights and interests through carefully drafted contracts, litigation, arbitration, mediation, mechanic’s liens, and foreclosure proceedings. Mikel J. Hoffman Attorney at Law193 E Main St, Babylon, NY 11702, United States+1 631-661-2121https://www.nyslaw.com/

[phroyd]

Members of the multibillionaire philanthropic Sackler family that owns the maker of prescription painkiller OxyContin are facing mass litigation and likely criminal investigation over the opioids crisis still ravaging America.

Some of the Sacklers wholly own Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma, the company that created and sells the legal narcotic OxyContin, a drug at the center of the opioid epidemic that now kills almost 200 people a day across the US.

Suffolk county in Long Island, New York, recently sued several family members personally over the overdose deaths and painkiller addiction blighting local communities. Now lawyers warn that action will be a catalyst for hundreds of other US cities, counties and states to follow suit.

At the same time, prosecutors in Connecticut and New York are understood to be considering criminal fraud and racketeering charges against leading family members over the way OxyContin has allegedly been dangerouslyoverprescribed and deceptively marketed to doctors and the public over the years, legal sources told the Guardian last week.

“This is essentially a crime family … drug dealers in nice suits and dresses,” said Paul Hanly, a New York city lawyer who represents Suffolk county and is also a lead attorney in a huge civil action playing out in federal court in Cleveland, Ohio, involving opioid manufacturers and distributors.

The Sackler name is prominently attached to prestigious cultural and academic institutions that have accepted millions donated by the family in the US and the UK. It is now inscribed on a lawsuit alleging members of the family “actively participated in conspiracy and fraud to portray the prescription painkiller as non-addictive, even though they knew it was dangerously addictive”.

Named in the Suffolk county complaint filed in New York state court are Richard, Jonathan, Kathe and Mortimer David Alfons Sackler, and Ilene Sackler Lefcourt – adult children of deceased brothers Mortimer and Raymond Sackler who developed Purdue Pharma and launched OxyContin in the mid-1990s.

Also named are Theresa and Beverly Sackler, the widows of those two brothers, and David Sackler, son of Richard. Theresa Sackler lives in Londonand the others named lived in the US, mainly in New York and Connecticut.

These eight family members serve or have served on the board of Purdue. Forbes magazine estimates that a core group of 20 Sacklers in the Mortimer and Raymond branches of the secretive family, including the eight named above, are collectively worth $13bn.

Hanly said: “What Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family have done to society through their aggressive peddling of opioids is unconscionable.”

OxyContin was originally widely marketed as a safe wonder drug because of the unique slow-release mechanism of its active ingredient, the narcotic oxycodone. But it turned out to be highly addictive and easily abused.

Suffolk county has already sued Purdue and then filed against the Sacklers in an amended complaint last month.

Now Hanly and other high-profile lawyers working on opioid litigation expect the family members to be sued by name as part of the multi-district litigation in Ohio. In federal court, lawsuits filed by more than 1,200 cities, counties and municipalities across the US, against Purdue and other corporate defendants, have been brought together in the hands of federal judge Dan Polster.

The first trials are due next year in three bellwether cases from two Ohio counties and the city of Cleveland.

Purdue is also being sued by at least 30 states in state court. The first trial in that sequence is expected next spring in Louisiana.

But it is more widely expected that all parties will negotiate a huge global settlement like the approximate $250bn deal agreed in a landmark Big Tobacco case in 1997.

“I’m assuming every single plaintiff’s attorney in the country will copy our complaint naming the Sacklers in the coming weeks,” said attorney Jayne Conroy of Simmons Hanly Conroy, who also represents Suffolk county and is involved in the litigation in Ohio, alongside colleague Paul Hanly.

Hanly said that the economic cost of the opioids crisis in the US, from healthcare to lost productivity, have been put at $1tn between 2002 and 2018, by some leading studies. “Other estimates put the current cost at up to $500bn a year,” he said.

According to a source familiar with the litigation, who cannot be named because they are disclosing confidential information, Purdue Pharma has been arguing behind closed doors to Polster that it can’t afford large-scale damages.

“Of course the company doesn’t have much money left in it because the Sacklers have taken it, they own it, they’ve siphoned it off over the years,” the source said.

Plaintiffs are now determined to make the Sacklers pay, even though their money is scattered in property, charitable foundations, trusts, a multitude of companies and overseas bank accounts.

“I don’t know where it all is yet, but I’ll find it,” Conroy said.

Beyond any civil penalties, some family members could face criminal charges in future.

“I know there are a couple of criminal investigations going on at the federal level, against Purdue, the Sacklers, other defendants, all of them. People are digging, US attorney’s offices are conducting criminal investigations,” said one source.

Purdue and senior executives, but not the Sacklers, was prosecuted and pleaded guilty in federal criminal court in 2007 to misleading regulators, doctors and patients.

A spokesman for John Durham, the US attorney for Connecticut, declined to comment. Prosecutors for the southern and eastern federal districts of New York state did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for the northern district of New York said the Department of Justice does not confirm, deny or comment on the existence of any investigation. A spokeswoman for the western district of New York declined to confirm or deny whether the US attorney is conducting a criminal investigation into the Sacklers. A spokesman for Purdue Pharma declined to comment on behalf of the company and the relevant members of the Sackler family.

Those same Sacklers were also sued by name in a lawsuit filed by Massachusetts in June. This alleges that Purdue, its directors and owners “deceived prescribers and patients to get more people to use Purdue’s opioid products, at higher doses, for longer periods” by misrepresenting and downplaying the addictive and deadly risks of the drug. And even claiming that OxyContin, which is derived from opium, was safer than paracetamol or ibuprofen, the common painkillers sold over the counter, the state alleges.

The Massachusetts attorney general, Maura Healey, told the Guardian that experts estimate that the epidemic cost the state almost $15bn in 2017 alone in lost productivity, public safety and healthcare, to say nothing of the human tragedy that has cost thousands of lives in that state alone.

She said she thought the Sacklers were “well aware” of the damage their drug was doing. “But for them it’s greed, it was all about profits over people … I feel very confident naming the family members,” she said.

Asked if Massachusetts was considering a criminal investigation of the company, its executives or owners, Healey said: “I’m focused on using my legal authority to make sure we get restitution for families … damages and penalties for illegal conduct and we are going to continue to pursue this in court.”

She added: To the extent they [the Sacklers] made their fortune on the backs of sick and vulnerable people, then they should turn it over. I have no sympathies for them.”

'I don’t know how they live with themselves' – artist Nan Goldin​ takes on the billionaire family behind OxyContin

Relatives of Arthur Sackler, the older brother of Raymond and Mortimer, who died before OxyContin came to market, are not suspected of any wrongdoing in relation to the drug.

The American art photographer Nan Goldin almost died from an addiction to OxyContin and is now in recovery. She leads a campaign to persuade cultural institutions to reject Sackler donations, and to shame the Sacklers into paying for treatment facilities for opioid dependency instead, not “reputation laundering” as she and other critics dub their philanthropy.

She said the prospect of any criminal charges against family members was “great” and called the family “complicit” in the opioids crisis.

“I’m sick of these people behind the scenes, controlling companies and getting away with murder while their faces are never shown,” she told the Guardian.

The Mississippi lawyer Mike Moore, who helped secure the Big Tobacco settlement and the $20bn settlement against BP for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, is involved in the federal case in Ohio and state cases. He said it was right the Sacklers should be targeted.

“They’ve been hiding behind a corporate structure and it’s high time they paid a price,” he said.

Phroyd

[n0thingiscool]

May 4th - When Nationalists Killed Students in Ohio...

Today was the day four people were shot to death by a fascist gang in Ohio some 40 years ago.

The [White] National[ist] Guard of Ohio killed four young kids/students for having the audacity to exercise their First Amendment in protest of the Cambodian war.

In a nightmarish constantly repeating history the fucking eight fascists who shot and killed the unarmed students were acquitted by 25 spineless jurors, a team of defense lawyers, some bitch ass judges, and what is most likely a total cover up.

To add insult to injury the garbage cans in the jury indicted the students who didn’t die.

Some of these fascist assholes are still alive. Some have unfortunately even had children.  

1. Judges from both a civil and state trial - a. Frank J. Battisti - luckily died with no children b. Don John Young - unfortunately had four kids… odds are that at least one of them are a bootlicker like their dad.

“To Mr. and Mrs. Young were born four children: 1. Celestina, a graduate of Norwalk High School and WardBelmont College, Nashville, Tenn., now a student at the Cleveland School of Art. 2. Don John, Jr., a graduate of Norwalk High School, attends Western Reserve University. 3. Britton D., a graduate of Norwalk High School, attends Western Reserve University. 4. Margaret, attends Norwalk High School.”

http://www.onlinebiographies.info/oh/nco/young-dj.htm

“Judge Don J. Young, who presided over the civil damage suit in United States District Court, praised the jury for its work.

“Never has a jury been given a task so hard as the task given to you,” he said.

“You have done the task no other body in government could. You have been asked to plumb the depths of our civil government, and by your verdicts you have plumbed those depths.

“You are owed the gratitude of everyone in the courtroom, as well as all the people of this free land.”

Judge Young's comments brought another outburst from Mr. Grace. who yelled, “What freedom? This trial has been a sham in every way.””

https://www.nytimes.com/1975/08/28/archives/kent-state-jury-acquits-all-102-panel-in-46million-action-holds-29.html

2. Defense Attorneys

a. Ohio Attorney General William J. Brown

Ohio Attorney General William J. Brown, whose office served as counsel for the National Guard, said the monetary settlement and statement were the moslt practical way to end the litigation and to put the university back on a positive course.

"We've spent thousands of dollars on this litigation over the past 8 1/2 years, and I'm glad it's over," Brown said. "It would have gone on for the next generation, and the damage to Kent State University can now be reversed."

He added: "From a monetary point of view, the state of Ohio did the right thing." https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/01/05/ohio-agrees-to-pay-750000-to-settle-with-victims-and-parents-of-dead-in-kent-state-shootings/14483367-3c73-4ce3-96c5-acded36b609c/?utm_term=.8a3b2833ad6d

b. Burt Fulton - this scar on humanity served a life that was way to long and luxurious for a person like him. And he had kids… which really sucks.

“ Burt is survived by his loving and devoted wife of 67 years, Barbara Joy (Anderson); loving children, Robin (Allen) Schmidt of Westerville, Bradley (Eileen) Fulton of Westerville, and Joseph (Lisa) Fulton of Findlay, Ohio; adoring grandchildren, Erik, Matthew, Sarah, Brooke, Erin, Abby, Hannah, and Parker; 19 great grandchild” https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dispatch/obituary.aspx?n=burt-james-fulton&pid=180671007&fhid=5981

One defense lawyer, Burt Fulton, praised the guardsmen as “very fine American young men.” https://www.nytimes.com/1975/08/28/archives/kent-state-jury-acquits-all-102-panel-in-46million-action-holds-29.html

“Fulton (Colonel) Burt James Fulton, adored husband and father, went to be with his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ July 13, 2016 in Delaware, Ohio. “

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dispatch/obituary.aspx?n=burt-james-fulton&pid=180671007&fhid=5981

He didn’t go to heaven you dipshits. He’s rotting in hell where he belongs and where whoever wrote that trash obit will also meet him.

3. The [white] Ohio National[ist] Guards Murderers

Lawrence A. Shafer,. 28, of Ravenna, Ohio, a former member of G Troop, 107th Cavalry.

James D. McGee, 27, of Ravenna, Ohio, a former member of G Troop, 107th Cavalry.

William E. Perkins, 28, of Canton, Ohio, a former member of G Troop, 107th Cavalry.

James E. Pierce, 29, of Amelia Island, Fla., a former member

James D. McGee  27. of Ra

Ralph W. Zoller, 27, of Mantua, Ohio, a former member of A Company, 145th Infantry.

Barry W. Norris, 29, of Kent, Ohio, former member of G Troop, 107th Cavalry.

Mathew J. McManus, 28, of West Salem, Ohio, a present member of A Company, 145th Infantry.

Leon H. Smith, 27, of Bay City, Ohio, a former member of A Company, 145th Infantry. https://www.nytimes.com/1974/03/30/archives/us-jury-indicts-8-in-campus-deaths-at-kent-state-u-one-present-and.html

ALSO - “Sanford Rosen, the plaintiffs' chief lawyer, said he considered the statement an apology.

But Sylvester DelCorso, who was Ohio's adjutant general and head of the National Guard in 1970, reacted otherwise.

"No, there was no apology," he said. "We expressed sorrow and regret, the same way you express condolences to a friend.”” https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/01/05/ohio-agrees-to-pay-750000-to-settle-with-victims-and-parents-of-dead-in-kent-state-shootings/14483367-3c73-4ce3-96c5-acded36b609c/?utm_term=.8a3b2833ad6d

Nothing ever changes ----

“But some officers, other witnesses and photographs contradicted these assertions. A Federal Bureau of Investigation report of 8,000 pages that was used extensively by the present grand jury said that the assertion by the National Guard “that their lives were endangered by the students was fabricated subsequent to the event.”” https://www.nytimes.com/1974/03/30/archives/us-jury-indicts-8-in-campus-deaths-at-kent-state-u-one-present-and.html

“Since the deaths at Kent State there have been at various times, conflicting statements about what actually took place there. It has been reported that the guardsmen began firing without any orders and it has also been reported that orders were issued for them to begin firing. Today's grand jury report did not address itself to this questions.” https://www.nytimes.com/1974/03/30/archives/us-jury-indicts-8-in-campus-deaths-at-kent-state-u-one-present-and.html

“Exactly why the guardsmen fired on the students remains a mystery, but based on a recording of the shootings that Canfora unearthed recently from a Yale University archive, he is now convinced the guardsmen were given an order to fire.

"Right before the gunfire, I was shocked, I was absolutely stunned, to hear what sounded like a militaristic verbal command: "Right here, get set, point, fire,"he said, about hearing the recording.

Although he has called for the investigation to be reopened, he rejects the notion that any guardsmen should be prosecuted at this late date, saying he's only seeking healing and the truth.” https://www.aarp.org/politics-society/history/info-05-2010/where_are_they_now_kent_state_shootings.html

“James Rhodes--Ohio governor in 1970, he sent the guardsmen to restore order on the campus. He died in 2001 at the age of 91. "It was a terrible thing," he said on the 30th anniversary of the shootings. "But no one plans a train wreck, either. It just happened. And life goes on.”” https://www.aarp.org/politics-society/history/info-05-2010/where_are_they_now_kent_state_shootings.html

“The final part reveals the verdict of the jury which acquitted Governor Rhodes, the Ohio National Guard, and the former President of Kent State University of charges brought against them. It is suggested that there was a payoff and cover-up to prevent the truth from surfacing about the killings. Provided are a chronology of the events and a list of all characters involved in the incident. “ https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED187214

[near-manhattan-beach-ca-blog]

Near Manhattan Beach CA

Manhattan Beach

California is home to several art galleries that showcase the vibrant culture and history of the city including Bro Bridges Gallery, Cambria Gallery and John Post Gallery. The city is situated near popular cultural and art facilities such as Torrance Cultural Arts Center, Norris Center for the Performing Arts, Dorothy Chandler Center and the Museum of Contemporary Art. Manhattan Beach is known to be one of the safest communities in the state of California. It is family friendly, clean and not too crowded which makes it popular to those who are looking for a serene place to stay.

Dinsmore & Sandelmann, LLP

Business partners Scott Dinsmore and Frank Sandelmann founded the law firm Dinsmore & Sandelmann LLP to serve individuals who need legal services throughout the U.S. State of California. Scott Dinsmore is a civil trial lawyer who is experienced in representing injured clients in tough court cases while Frank Sandelmann is a business litigation attorney who is an expert in representing clients in the Federal courts in terms of business matters. Together, they are managing the law firm which employs several attorneys and lawyers who are skilled and experts in their respective fields. They have been serving the state for 25 years.

Holiday Event Guide: Manhattan Beach & Nearby 2018

LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CA – Ho-ho-ho! Holiday time is here! Make the most of it, and enjoy community events that abound throughout your town, the South Bay and the Los Angeles region. Peruse our annual event guide -- a round-up of the region's top festivities. And Happy Holidays, from Patch! Read more here

A series of Christmas holiday events for Manhattan Beach, South Bay and the Los Angeles region will start from December 2 to December 31, 2018. Artesia will be having their "Snow Day, Hot Cocoa and Santa" event on December 15 while Belmont Shore-Naples will be celebrating their Star-Spangled Christmas-themed "Annual Holiday Boat Parade 2018: Naples Island" on December 8. Music lovers and LeAnn Rimes fans may enjoy the "LeAnn Rimes: You & Me & Christmas Tour" in Cerritos on December 7 or learn to create ornaments at the "Macrame Feather and Tree Workshop" in El Segundo on December 8.

Hermosa Beach Pier in Manhattan Beach, CA

Historically, Hermosa Beach Pier is originally built in 1904 using wood as its material. However, it was rebuilt in 1913 when the woods were washed away and torn down. At present, the pier is made of concrete and asphalt and reaches up to 1,000 feet long. It features tiled pavilions that provide shades for picnic and fishing activities. An auditorium building was also constructed in the pier which houses the public restrooms, a branch of the Los Angeles County Public Library and the Los Angeles Life Guard service. Hermosa Beach Pier is currently run and managed by the city's municipality.

Link to map

Driving Direction

3 min (0.2 mile)

via Manhattan Beach Blvd

Fastest route

Roundhouse Aquarium

Manhattan Beach Pier, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266, USA

Head southeast toward Manhattan Beach Blvd

49 ft

Turn left onto Manhattan Beach Blvd

Destination will be on the right

0.2 mi

Dinsmore & Sandelmann, LLP

"324 Manhattan Beach Blvd # 201;

Manhattan Beach, CA 90266"

[alrowaadlaw01]

Know The Basics Of The Real Estate Laws Of The UAE

In UAE, only UAE nationals, GCC nationals or companies/ entries owned by such nationals can acquire real estate property. When it comes to ex-pats, the property can be acquired only in designated areas in a given emirate. For instance, in Dubai, the designated areas include, amongst others, Business Bay, Burj Khalifa, Palm Jumeirah, Emirates Hill, Jumeriah Islands, Dubai Marina etc. Despite these limitations, the UAE real estate market is one of the most coveted markets in the world, especially that of the emirate of Dubai. Recent years have seen the UAE government opening up the real estate market for ex-pats to a larger extend allowing for more investments. As part of the new initiatives, the government has introduced the concept of both a five-year and a ten-year residency visa that can be acquired through real estate investments. 

 The UAE being a federation of seven emirates, with each emirate governed by its own ruler and local government brings in the application of the local laws along with federal laws. This is especially true when concerning property laws.

  The UAE federal laws especially the civil transactions law of the UAE constitutes the primary source of law governing real estate transactions. Part four of the civil transaction law exclusively deals with property rights as well as the rights of ownership, while part five includes the principles governing real property as well as its derivative rights and framework. In addition to these, there exists local legalization in force specific to each emirate. Due to this distinctive and special characteristic of the UAE laws, it is crucial that property laws and procedures be rightfully understood in depth by approaching a commercial real estate attorney. only such specialized lawyers can advise you on the local rules and practices of each emirate and guide you on real-estate transactions.

 Property Types:

The UAE provides the following property rights to its citizens as well as ex-pats:

Freehold: This type of property right provides the most complete form of ownership as the owner is vested with complete rights to a given property unlimited in time. For this reason, freehold property is the most sought-after property rights and investment option for ex-pats in the UAE.

Usufruct: This type of property right allows for the right to use a given property only for a limited time period. A usufruct right, however, imposes certain restrictions such as the use and advantages of the usufruct property is allowed short of the destruction or waste of its substance. It is essentially hence not a complete right.

Lease: This constitutes a common property right that allows for the right to a property for a limited time period and depending on the same is often referred to as a ‘short term lease’ or a ‘long term lease’.

Musataha: This type of property right, allows the owner of the Musataha right to be able to both use the property for a limited time period as well as to have construction rights on the given property or land. Unlike freehold property, Musataha does not confer complete property rights and imposes limitations in the form of time as well as usage.

In a property market, people often enter into deals based on a subjective vision, which can often lead to legal issues in the long run. Ensure that you are taking bankable legal advice before entering into any property deals. Property deals are often high-value transactions therefore you need to ensure that you are approaching a law firm that can have credible expertise in handling high-value transactions. If you are looking for a property lawyer with long standing experience in advising real estate transactions as well as in real estate litigation and arbitration matters, then you may choose one of the top International Law Firms & Lawyers In Dubai & Abu Dhabi, UAE.

[jerseydeanne]

WEST PALM BEACH —

Ten years after convicted Palm Beach sex offender Jeffrey Epstein escaped federal charges in connection with allegations that he paid dozens of teenage girls for sex, the FBI last week released what appears to be an explosive explanation for what many have long described as a sweetheart deal.

“Epstein has also provided information to the FBI as agreed upon,” agents wrote in one of dozens of heavily redacted, decade-old memos that were unexpectedly and inexplicably posted on an FBI website known as “The Vault.”

The simple declaration stunned those who have been following the tortuous and celebrity-studded case for years. It rekindled talk that the billionaire’s 2008 decision to plead guilty to state charges to make the federal investigation disappear was part of a cover up to protect Epstein’s high-powered friends, including President Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton and Britain’s Prince Andrew.

“That sentence obviously means something but I, too, am at a loss as to what it really means,” said attorney Brad Edwards, who for a decade has been trying to unravel the mystery of Epstein’s plea deal. “If there was some cooperation I would have expected that we would have been told. However, nothing surprises me at this point.”

>>JUST IN: Former Palm Beach detective who led Epstein investigation dies at 50

In recent years, federal prosecutors have offered various explanations for why they agreed to drop the case they were building against the 65-year-old enigmatic money manager if he pleaded guilty to state prostitution charges. In court papers, they have said they wanted to get justice for Epstein’s young victims but worried a jury wouldn’t believe them.

So, they have said, they negotiated a deal, allowing Epstein to plead guilty in Palm Beach County Circuit Court to one count of soliciting a minor for prostitution and another charge of soliciting prostitution. In exchange, federal prosecutors agreed to close their investigation. They have said they had no idea Epstein would only serve 13 months of an 18-month sentence in a vacant wing of the county stockade — a cell he was allowed to leave 16 hours a day, six days a week.

While voicing dismay at his lax punishment, prosecutors have pointed out that the plea deal required Epstein to pay the roughly 30 young women who filed civil lawsuits against him. Further, they said his guilty pleas force him to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, potentially protecting other girls from abuse in the future.

However, over the years, they have never suggested that Epstein provided them any information in return.

Like Edwards, two people close to the long-closed federal investigation said they were flummoxed by the sentence in the FBI’s memo that was written in September 2008, roughly two months after Epstein pleaded guilty in state court.

“I have never, ever heard of Jeffrey Epstein cooperating in any sense of the word,” said one official, who requested anonymity because of the top role the person played in the investigation. “I am stumped. It’s totally out of left field.”

Another individual with ties to the case voiced similar views. Epstein may have been required to talk to FBI agents but it’s unlikely he offered anything that would incriminate others, said the person, who declined to be identified because of ongoing efforts to help Epstein’s victims challenge the plea deal. “I don’t think he ever told the truth,” the person said.

A lawsuit Edwards filed against the federal government, claiming prosecutors violated the Victims Rights Act by not notifying Epstein’s victims of the pending plea deal, is still pending in U.S. District Court. Also, awaiting trial in Palm Beach County Circuit Court is a malicious prosecution lawsuit Edwards filed against Epstein. Edwards claims the billionaire filed a frivolous lawsuit to punish Edwards for representing a handful of Epstein’s young victims.

West Palm Beach attorney Jack Goldberger, who was on Epstein’s potent defense team, said he was “unable to respond” to questions about the FBI’s memo. Other prominent lawyers who represented Epstein, including New York lawyer Jay Lefkowitz and retired Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The one line was part of a brief missive dated Sept. 18, 2008, closing the case: “On 9/11/08, case agent advised writer that Epstein is currently being prosecuted by the State of Florida and is complying with all conditions of his plea with the State of Florida. Epstein has also provided information to the FBI as agreed upon. Case agent advised that no federal prosecution will occur in this matter as long as Epstein continues to uphold his agreement with the State of Florida. … Case agent is requested to contact writer in the event this matter moves forward on a federal level.”

The memo was one of hundreds of documents, including dozens of copies of newspaper articles about Epstein, that were posted on the FBI’s website. The website, www.vault.fbi.gov, serves as the FBI’s electronic FOIA library. The heavily redacted documents showed agents traveled to New York City, Sante Fe, N.M., and St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein has homes. But there is little information about who they interviewed or what they learned.

The only witness named in the documents is Alfredo Rodriguez, who was a houseman at Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion in 2004. That’s when Epstein regularly paid young women to give him sexually-charged massages, police said.

Rodriguez was convicted of obstruction of justice in 2010 and sentenced to 18 months in jail for trying to sell a journal he purloined from Epstein. Prosecutors said the journal detailed Epstein’s sexual dalliances. Rodriguez, who lived in Kendall, died in 2014.

Those familiar with FBI procedures said the records are administrative files, not investigative ones. Some questioned why the files were posted on the FBI’s web site. The FBI didn’t return a phone call for comment. According to the web site, the records were released “in compliance with the National Archives and Records Administration requirements.”

And while it’s been 10 years since Epstein pleaded guilty to prostitution charges and settled dozens of lawsuits with young women, litigation continues.

Money can buy anything, this is not going anywhere, the poor houseman had to go to jail for 18 months on a lesser charge, same as Epstein a slap on the wrist.