Octopus Overlords

The seven charges listed in the Complaint and Information provide very little information. Seven separate charges are listed because, according to my telephone conversation with Lynn Kimbrough from the Denver DA’s office, jury nullification materials were found in the possession of seven different jurors (or possibly potential jurors- now that I’m writing this up I don’t think I asked that). I did ask if the seven individuals were all sitting on the same case. Ms. Kimbrough did not know the answer to that. The charges don’t discuss specifically what Mr. Iannicelli is accused of doing, but rather seem to regurgitate the language of the statute which he is accused of violating (C.R.S. 18-8-609 for all counts) and then claim that he violated it. Even the names of the people who had the jury nullification information in their possession are redacted.
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What is interesting about this description is that:

1. it does not accuse Mr. Iannicelli of advocating for or against any case in progress,
2. it does not accuse Mr. Iannicelli even of targeting individuals for sharing information with them based on whether or not they were a juror or were there for jury duty, and
3. a death penalty case happened to be going on in the courthouse at the time of the jury rights educational outreach.
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I see nothing in the Statement of Probable Cause substantiating these accusations. The charges allege that Mr. Iannicelli acted “with intent to influence a juror’s vote, opinion, decision, and action in a case”, but nowhere in the Statement of Probable Cause do I see anything that indicates such.

District Court Judge Kenneth Plotz dismissed all charges on Wednesday against jury nullification activists Eric Brandt and Mark Iannicelli, who had been charged in July with seven felony counts of jury tampering while handing out Fully Informed Jury Association flyers with general information about jury nullification outside of the Lindsey-Flanigan Courthouse in Denver.
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“In dismissing the charges, [Judge Plotz] noted that such charges for handing out FIJA brochures amounted to an unconstitutional application of the jury tampering law and swept in speech that is protected under the First Amendment,” wrote Fully Informed Jury Association executive director Kirsten Tynan. FIJA is an activist group that educates the public about jury nullification.

She added, “Earlier this year, a federal court judge granted an injunction sought by attorney David Lane on behalf of the Fully Informed Jury Association and co-plaintiffs Eric Verlo and Janet Matzen to prevent any further such unconstitutional arrests. The court made clear at that time that such activity is protected under the First Amendment. Nonetheless, Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey chose to continue his vendetta, wasting even more taxpayer dollars and harassing harmless Colorado residents, as he refused to drop the charges against Iannicelli and Brandt.”

Attorney David Lane, who represented Iannicelli and Brandt, said that District Attorney Morrissey abused his power in bringing the charges against his clients. “[Morrissey’s charges] would be perceived as a losing battle for a first-year law student,” he added. Lane is weighing a federal lawsuit against Morrissey for charging his clients with felonies for exercising their First Amendment rights.

YellowKing wrote:There again a perfect example where state Republicans are so outrageous in this state that I can no longer associate myself with that party. And again they express shock and outrage and blame it on the left.

There's one thing in life that I despise more than almost anything, and that's playing the victim card. A large part of me being a conservative came from a belief in individual responsibility. That you are responsible for your own life, whether that be your successes or your failures. I believe most (not all), but most people's problems are ultimately self-inflicted.

So it drives me up the wall when I see these state Republicans doing stuff that is clearly discriminatory, then expressing outrage and denying responsibility when they're called out on it. It goes against everything I thought the Republican party stood for, and made me realize what a crooked sham outfit these state Republicans are.

I am super close to voting a straight D ticket just to give a big fuck you middle finger to the state.

The entire Nevada Supreme Court recused itself from hearing an appeal between a lender and a developer because of ties the developer has to another company building a new courthouse in Las Vegas.
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A three-judge panel instead was appointed to consider a petition filed by RA Southeast Land LLC, which sought to compel a jury trial to hear some of its claims in a complex dispute with City National Bank over the sale of 23 acres in the Summerlin area in 2010.

In a June order, Chief Justice Ron Parraguirre and Justices James Hardesty, Michael Douglas, Michael Cherry, Nancy Saitta and Mark Gibbons all stepped away from the case after disclosures revealed EHB Companies, the Y.M. Lowie Family Trust and Yohan Lowie were all affiliated with RA Southeast.

EHB and Yohan Lowie are building a courthouse in Las Vegas, which will be leased by the Supreme Court when completed.

Rodrigo Duterte took office as president of the Philippines one month ago on Friday, promising death to drug dealers and a nationwide expansion of the brutal, death-squad approach to crime that made him famous as mayor of

"If I become president, there would be no such thing as bloodless cleansing," he promised during the campaign.

That promise wasn't campaign rhetoric. It turned out to be literal.

In the 30 days since he took office, 35 suspected criminals have been killed every day on average on the streets of Filipino cities, either by police or by self-appointed vigilantes. That's as many dead each day as in the entire first five months of the year.

The Iowa Supreme Court has affirmed the right to be drunk on your front porch.

The court ruled Friday in the case of Patience Paye, who appealed her 2013 conviction of public intoxication.

Paye called police after fighting with her boyfriend and met officers on her front porch of her home in Waterloo.

While investigating the domestic assault complaint an officer questioned Paye about whether she'd been drinking.

A test revealed her blood alcohol concentration at 0.267 percent, more than three times the amount considered drunk if she were driving.

She was charged and convicted but appealed, saying her front porch isn't a public place.

The Supreme Court agreed, declaring the front steps of a private residence not a public place if the homeowner hasn't invited the general public to be there.

The public defenders office in Missouri says it's been overloaded for years: too many cases, too few attorneys, too little funding.

But Gov. Jay Nixon, who was previously the state's attorney general, has vetoed potential caseload caps and repeatedly blocked funding.

The director of the public defender system is frustrated — so frustrated he's implementing a state provision allowing him to draft any lawyer in Missouri to take over a case.
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"I can only hire attorneys when I have the funding to do so," Barrett wrote in his letter to the governor. But he does have another option — the ability to delegate duties to "any member of the state bar of Missouri."

Barrett says he hasn't used that power because "it is my sincere belief that it is wrong" to force private lawyers, who aren't responsible for his budget crisis, to pick up the obligation of the state.

"However, given the extraordinary circumstances that compel me to entertain any and all avenues for relief, it strikes me that I should begin with the one attorney in the state who not only created this problem, but is in a unique position to address it," he writes.

And with that, he appointed Nixon to a case.

Isgrimnur wrote:Let's hear it for Iowa!

South Africa's governing African National Congress (ANC) has suffered its worst electoral setback since apartheid ended in 1994.

With 94% of the votes counted after Wednesday's municipal elections, the party has lost the key battleground of Nelson Mandela Bay to the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA).

The two parties are in a close fight for Johannesburg and Pretoria.

But the ANC is still in the lead nationally, with 54% of the vote.

The mayor of Fairfax, Va., a wealthy Washington suburb, was arrested on charges of distributing methamphetamines as part of an alleged "meth-for-sex" scheme, Fairfax County Police said Friday.

Mayor Richard "Scott" Silverthorne, 50, who is also a substitute teacher for Fairfax County public schools, was arrested Thursday after he allegedly provided meth to undercover officers who met him at a local hotel, police said.
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Silverthorne, who is serving his third term as mayor, was charged with felony distribution of meth and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. Silverthorne's bio on the official Fairfax city website states he is "a champion for quality of life issues."
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Capt. Jack Hardin, commander of the organized crime and narcotics division, told reporters that the investigation into the case began three weeks ago after a citizen tipped police that the mayor was allegedly distributing meth through a website used to arrange for casual sex between men.

LordMortis wrote:In this charged environment no (R) or (D) next to his name? That would never sit around here. Everyone is always a problem because of their affiliation. Godless democrat or treacherous republican.

Rip wrote:

LordMortis wrote:In this charged environment no (R) or (D) next to his name? That would never sit around here. Everyone is always a problem because of their affiliation. Godless democrat or treacherous republican.

Just the fact that nearly none of the news articles mention his political affiliations should tell you he is a godless Hillary loving Democrat.

Enough wrote:

Rip wrote:

LordMortis wrote:In this charged environment no (R) or (D) next to his name? That would never sit around here. Everyone is always a problem because of their affiliation. Godless democrat or treacherous republican.

Just the fact that nearly none of the news articles mention his political affiliations should tell you he is a godless Hillary loving Democrat.

Or... if you pay attention to the article you would note that it's a city election. And as any regular follower of politics knows, nonpartison elections are the tradition in most American cities including Fairfax. Personally, I am sad to see more cities recently shifting from the nonpartison model.

Prior to serving as mayor, Silverthorne, a Democrat, also served nine terms on the Fairfax City Council from 1990 through 2008.

His father, the late Frederick Silverthorne, was mayor of Fairfax in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Despite Silverthorne's long years of service, he was not an especially prominent public figure in the greater D.C. region, where local politics often take a backseat to federal politics.

The following Virginia mayors have announced their support of Hillary Clinton;

Alexandria Mayor Allison Silberberg
Charlottesville Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy
Fairfax Mayor R. Scott Silverthorne
Hampton Mayor George Wallace
Herndon Mayor Lisa Merkel
Hopewell Mayor Brenda Pelham
Leesburg Supervisor and former Mayor Kristen Umstattd
Lexington Mayor Mimi Elrod
Martinsville Vice-Mayor Jennifer Bowles
Newport News Mayor McKinley Price
Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim
Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones

Enough wrote:Um, Rip, we all knew he was a Democrat who endorsed Clinton LOL. You asked why isn't party affiliation shown. I showed you why. I've seen plenty of articles of Republican city officials in nonpartison seats that also never revealed their party ID.

And you just linked the MSM CBS evil lair news article that actually proves your original point wrong by revealing his affiliation ROLF.

Rip wrote:

Enough wrote:Um, Rip, we all knew he was a Democrat who endorsed Clinton LOL. You asked why isn't party affiliation shown. I showed you why. I've seen plenty of articles of Republican city officials in nonpartison seats that also never revealed their party ID.

And you just linked the MSM CBS evil lair news article that actually proves your original point wrong by revealing his affiliation ROLF.

I said nearly none. I didn't prove anything wrong. If you look for the stories on his arrest and then search them for Democrat or Hillary you will see that only a tiny fraction did.

Non-partisan elections are just snow jobs so a bunch of Democrats running against each other isn't such an obvious masturbatory farce.

GreenGoo wrote:Why in the holy hell would you expect an article about a (D) city mayor exchanging meth for sex with men to mention Hilary, Rip?

What possible connection, even in a fever soaked frothy mind would there be?

Rip wrote:

GreenGoo wrote:Why in the holy hell would you expect an article about a (D) city mayor exchanging meth for sex with men to mention Hilary, Rip?

What possible connection, even in a fever soaked frothy mind would there be?

I guess for the same reason I see stories about David Duke endorsing Trump, because when people who are/do/say repulsive things AND endorse POTUS candidates it is destined to become political campaign fodder.

Myself I don't care who he endorsed nor who Duke endorsed, but if I am to be subjected to one I would be remiss to not point out the other.

GreenGoo wrote:How long are you going to keep this up, Rip?

Until everyone simply stops engaging you completely?

GreenGoo wrote:Sorry if I wasn't clear, but I was talking to Rip.

GreenGoo wrote:Sorry if I wasn't clear, but I was talking to Rip.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has accused dozens of current or former politicians, officials and judges of links with illegal drugs and told them to surrender to be investigated. In a nationally televised address, Mr Duterte named those he was accusing and ordered their security to be withdrawn. "If you show the slightest violence in the resistance, I will tell the police, 'Shoot them'," he said. Local media reports say some of those named have been misidentified. The Inquirer newspaper said one judge named by Mr Duterte as an alleged protector of the illegal drugs trade had been dead for eight years. Its attempt to verify those on the president's list also revealed that some no longer or had never held power and others were identified with the wrong municipality or province. The full list included seven judges, as well as current or former mayors and congressmen and a large number of serving or retired law enforcement officers.

Referring to the mayors he had named, Mr Duterte said: "I am removing their operational authority over them [police]. Twenty-four hours, everybody, military police, attached to them, report to your mother unit. I give you 24 hours or I will whack you and dismiss you from the service." Mr Duterte said he would take full responsibility for any who turned out to be innocent. The president said he had been forced to announce the move because of the scale of his country's illegal drug problem. Hundreds of thousands of Filipinos were addicted, he said. Mr Duterte was sworn in as president in June, after winning a landslide election victory a month earlier. He had previously been mayor of the country's third biggest city, Davao, for 22 years where his tough approach and controversial comments earned him the nickname "The Punisher".

With one week until school begins, Boston school officials expect about 125 Boston Public Schools (BPS) teachers to have no classroom assignment this fall, at an estimated cost of over $10.5 million in salary and benefits.

Although lacking classes to teach, the 125 teachers will remain on the BPS payroll because they have earned “permanent” status. Teachers will work alternative assignments over the course of the year until vacancies in the district occur.

“As classrooms open up either due to enrollment changes, retirement or teachers going out on leave, we’re lucky,” said Emily Kalejs Qazilbash, BPS assistant superintendent for human capital. “We have this pool of strong teachers who we can then match to positions.”

Until classrooms open up, school officials say teachers will be assigned among 28 district schools where they may serve as substitutes, assist in academic interventions or help in other teachers’ classrooms.
The 2014-2015 school year began with 110 unassigned teachers, about two-thirds of whom remained without a classroom all year.