Gunman kills 26, including Children in Connecticut

An early 20s gunman killed 26 people, including 20 children at a Connecticut Elementary School in Newton Connecticut, Friday morning. It was reported the gunman walked into a classroom at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where his mother taught, and opened fire. The shooting happened in a section of the school where the room spanned two classes. Separately, another adult was found dead at the shooter's home. Authorities identified that person as, Nancy Lanza, the shooter's mother.Weapons recovered at the scene were: a semi-automatic .223 Bushmaster rifle, a Glock and a Sig Saue pistols.

Several of the elementary school students reported hearing “popping noises,” and that “everybody was crying.” Aerial images report officers with rifles and dogs walking into the woods, near the scene of the crime. Gov. Dannel Malloy is "horrified" by what happened reports one of his representatives. The school's principal, who was frequently tweeting about the accomplishments of Sandy Hook students was reported dead, as well as the school's psychologist. All schools in the city remain on lock-down as police continue to assess the situation. Sandy Hook now sits at number two as the nation's second most deadliest school shooting, sitting only behind the 2007 Virginia Tech attack that left 32 people dead. President Barack Obama made an emotional statement Friday afternoon, saying, "Our hearts are broken today".

7th DUI for man who swerves to miss elephant

A man was arrested for Driving Under the Influence in Philadelphia, pulled over by the police for swerving off the road to avoid an elephant! Now, I don't know about you, but the only elephants I’ve seen in are the ones in the Santa Ana or Los Angeles zoos, definitely not on an east coast highway.

When further questioned by police he made it apparent that he had smoked marijuana earlier, but unfortunately for him, it was also laced with PCP. Regardless of the method of consumption, the effects it has on the mind, are apparently severe.

Most people realize drugs and alcohol (or drugs and more drugs in this case) are a bad combination, especially for a man with several DUI convictions already, and even more so when you throw a car, a high-way, and hallucinations of elephants in the mix.

The few good things we should take out of this arrest is; that for one, no one was hurt, and two, he successfully dodged hitting any living animals. 

Imaginary creatures set aside, Orange County DUIs are as serious as any DUI in the county. Anyone facing a DUI should seek the legal counsel of an expert DUI defense lawyer, licensed in their arresting state.

Read the original story here http://cbsloc.al/TnSqbW

Man dressed as big-foot meets his demise

A man from Montana decided it would be a good idea, as a hoax, to fake some 'big foot' sightings.

When was the sighting going to be witnessed? ................ at night!
Where was the sighting going to take place? ................... the freeway!
What was he going to us as 'big foot'? ............................ himself! (dressed in military camouflage)

What killed him? ........................................................... well, lets us ponder this question

What could've killed a camouflaged man running around the freeway at night time?

How about a car! How about two cars!


Yes, a man trying to trick people into thinking they saw 'big foot' on the freeway, at night, was struck by a car being driven by a 15 year old girl, followed closely by a car driven by a 17 year old male running him over.

A Montana state trooper was reported saying "He probably would not have been very easy to see". Without having been there myself... I would still have to agree.

Of course the teenagers aren't being held accountable in anyway, besides the inevitable spike in their likely already high insurance bill.       

The feds seize up to a billion dollars worth of agriculture this summer

Why do you ask...

Because it wasn't just any agriculture ......... it was marijuana!!!

It's not surprising that the United States, the biggest debtor nation in the the history of the entire world. Who's negative worth is astronomically high... is flushing a potential billion dollars down the drain.
All in the name of um... not wanting to admit the government's views on 'pot' was wrong in the mid 1900's?

The FBI has organized and executed a dozens of raids on 'pot' farms in these states: Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington. Seizing more the a half million plants, estimated at a billion dollars if cultivated and sold. They did all this in a two month time span, and only arrested 14 people in Californians (strange, must have been a busy group of people!).

The argument over the drug war, specifically the marijuana battle of the drug war, has been argued into the ground.
Hell any high school Sr can spout off how much money the government is:
     A) spending to fight the drug war, and
     B) how much money they are missing out on by not letting marijuana become a legitimized taxable industry
or how the health consequences have been
     A) grossly over exaggerated, or even better
     B) that marijuana actually has health benefits!!! haha

The fact that "legal medical marijuana dispensaries" have been spreading like wildfire in the states/cities that have allowed their presence, is only the writing on the wall that marijuana would make a sustainable and profitable industry for the government.

Regardless to which side of the drug war debate you sit on... thousands of pot users are wincing at the fact that half a million marijuana plants were set on fire, and no one was there to smoke them.

Read about the legal ramifications of driving after smoking marijuana.

Who is worthy of a $2.5 BILLION lawsuit from apple?

Samsung is the answer to this question.

But how much intellectual property theft must go one to rack up two and half billion bucks of damages?

Samsung is the largest manufacturer of smart phones on the planet... So I would imagine it wouldn't take long to rack up a pretty big law suit, pretty quick.

Apple claims that some of the technologies/features of the 'galaxy' series of phones and tablets are out right copies of the iPhone & iPad! Everything from the packaging, to the the rounded corners, to the 'black-space' between screen and edge of device, to the "small square app icons", even on down to the packaging itself.

Apple says that they have lost out on five hundred million dollars worth of sales. They also feel that they are owed twenty five million for royalty damages. Oh ya and let's not forget the "Samsung was unjustly 'enriched' a whopping two billion dollars..." cherry on top!

This is of course is only a drop in the bucket for Samsung, the Korean company that was started in the 30's, has it's hands in everything from electronics to engineering/construction, who in 2010 laid out a 10 year growth plan based around five businesses, one being a biopharmaceuticals company with which Samsung has set aside... 2.1 trillion bucks. Just that ".1"... is one hundred billion dollars.

2.5 billion may sound like a lot, but when you step back and look at how much money is in the world, and how much money these business wield... It's really nothing, almost inconsequential. Samsung as a company, is the 35th largest economy in the world? Samsung makes more money then entire countries gross in a year!

I wonder where apple and microsoft sit on that list?
I know California is the 8th largest economy in the world. Wow is right.


Read the original article here

Add "breathalyzers" to the list of driver requirements in France

If you're in France go ahead and add an 'alcohol breath test' machine to your driving check-list.

French politicians have passed a law that requires all drivers to carry breathalyzers in the vehicle at all times. The thinking behind this law is; that, those people who have been drinking will test their BAC once they get to their car and perhaps think twice before trying to drive home.

The number of vehicle deaths a year in France are around 4000, French law makers are hoping to save 500 lives per year once it is fully implemented.
While the law has already been passed in will not be enforced till November, as it isn't exactly easy to supply  tens of millions of drivers with breathalyzers.

On a side note... manufacturers of breathalyzers are fairly pleased by this turn of events. Some are even saying (not surprising of course), that the only reason this law was passed or even brought forth was because these manufacturers lobbied for it.

http://www.newser.com/story/149405/driving-in-france-gotta-carry-a-breathalyzer.html

AT&T to show a little bit of sympathy ($1,000,000 worth of sympathy)

The global communications titan AT&T has just said it will drop the lawsuit against a man and his business named Michael Smith from Ipswich... a lawsuit for more then a million dollar bill in outstanding phone bills...

How does one business rack up that much in overages? Well the claim of Michael Smith is that someone 'hacked' into his phone service and made $900,000 worth of calls to Somalia... How expensive is it to call someone in Africa? This of course sounds like someone (or really a team of someones) were calling a lot over a long period of time.
I see two problems with the possibilities here:
If they racked up 900k in phone calls to Somalia in less then a month, wouldn't AT&T notice something was... a miss?
OR
If they racked up that amount over the course of several months... wouldn't all parties notice the increase in the phone bill price?

So obviously it sounds like something else is going on here that we aren't seeing.

Regardless AT&T has given up trying to collect on it. Either because they realized it was there fault and they really did get hacked and lost 900 thou in "billable" minutes, or they decided to cut their losses and head aches by trying to wade through litigation to collect.

What ever the reason... there is one man from Ipswich that is probably literally jumping for joy.

2008 legislation made it possible for Vietnam soldier to receive Medal of Honor

Army Specialist Leslie Sabo died in Vietnam in 1970. 


His patrol was ambushed by the North Vietnamese in what would later become known as the "Mother's Day Ambush".


Being in a rear position when he patrol came under fire, instead of staying behind, he charged forward and took out several enemy combatants.


When a grenade fell next to a wounded American, Sabo threw the grenade away, and protected the soldier with his own body.

Even though Sabo had been already wounded by small arms fire, he then crawled straight towards the enemy bunker which was emitting a constant stream of heavy machine gun bullets.

He then held a grenade until it's fuse had all but run out, before pitching it at the bunker. The resulting blast took Sabo's life, but also allowed for his patrol to successfully repel the "Mother's Day Ambush". 

We will never know exactly how many of his comrades lives he saved that day, but it is clear that Leslie Sabo gave his life so that his brothers-in-arms might make it through the day.

For one reason or another, although his commander submitted Sabo for the Medal of Honor, his files were lost in the confusion of war and the incalculable amount of paper work that comes with it. 

Thanks to the help of an army researcher, his files were finally brought in sight. And thanks to several members of congress, the statute of limitations requiring Medal of Honor recommendations to be made within three years of the incident, was altered enough that Sabo's case could be reexamined. 

And of course this led to Sabo being posthumously presented with the highest award achievable in the United States military, the Medal of Honor.

Original article

Supreme Court strikes down 3/4 of AZ's controversial immigration laws.

While most people were hanging on the edge of their seat to hear the outcome of the 'affordable care act' the supreme court semi-surprised the people by instead by declaring three parts of the immigration laws unconstitutional:

1) Requiring all immigrants (14 yrs +)to obtain and carry immigration registration papers.
2) Making it a state criminal offense for an illegal immigrant to seek work or hold a job.
3) Allowing police to arrest suspected illegal immigrants without warrants.

These policies which had an eerily 'totalitarian'  ring to them, (which many people throughout the country, citizen or not, picked up on) severely threatened the rights of people with less then legitimate citizenship status/visas.

Arizona was thrust into the lime light, with some states following suit with similar immigration laws/provisions. It is reassuring to see the supreme court strike down laws that are infringing on human rights, even though the laws were targeted at "non-Americans".

The only law left in place was
4) Peace enforcement officers are required to check the immigration status of the participants of lawful stops,  arrests, or lawful contact.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_SB_1070

When a fatality is involved, the punishments have to be harsh.

A teenager hailing for Massachusetts is being ordered to spend a year in jail, because of 'texting while driving'! Seems a little overboard right? Well, it does until you find out the teen was 'texting while driving' and caused a car crash that ended up killing someone!

My father would always quote something he heard on a talk radio show "some one who is texting while driving only has 30% of their attention on the road." It wasn't long till my dad adopted a much more generic version of the proverb, "some one who is being distracted by something, only has 30% of their focus on what ever activity they say their doing(driving, working, even holding a conversation)".
Regardless even though the volume by which my dad says this is annoying, I just can't help by agree that it's true. And the courts in Mass. even went as far as to say that, as big as a responsibility driving is, only giving 30% of your attention towards it, is illegal.
This girl learned the same lesson in two hard ways...
A) Vehicular manslaughter. That can't be an easy pill to swallow.
B) How about 12 months of your life behind bars... rough.
and to boot this 18 year old was only texting two minutes before the crash... not enough to keep the law, making it illegal to injury someone while texting, from coming crashing down on him.

One shining glimmer of hope for this young gun, is he was only 17 at the time of the crash. So his prison sentence got reduced... a little.

Better luck next time


http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9227822/Mass._teen_gets_year_in_jail_for_fatal_texting_crash

Chad Maddox has proven his DUI expertise yet again. Successfully defending his clients DUI arrest, is second nature to this attorney.

Even very challenging cases don't phase Mr. Maddox. Read the following public record of his success.

05-29-2012 – People v. Villalobos (Long Beach)

Client’s BAC was .17%. He had a minor collision with a cop car. DUI charges DISMISSED. Client plead no contest to “wet” reckless. Client received no jail, reduced fines, no DUI suspension, and a short DUI class.

Visit our site to read the many more victories obtained by the DUI Law Offices of Chad Maddox 

Court cases that have changed our lives.

My favorite land mark court case of all time is of course, The Scopes Monkey Trial.

The trial in which a high school football coach and substitute teacher, names John Scopes, was convicted of teaching evolution in a state funded public school. Which at the time was of course illegal, hence why he was arrested, tried, and found guilty.

His defense attorney appealed the ruling on several grounds, but the historical importance was that the court case had gained national attention.  The Butler laws (the law stating creationism must be taught) stayed in effect for decades after. It wasn't till similar court cases started popping up in the 60's that Tennessee pulled the Butler laws. And it wasn't till Epperson vs. Arkansas, 1967, that teaching any religious based theories in public schools become unconstitutional.

It is a slightly different world now, isn't it? The thought of my biology teacher telling me about the bible is a strange one indeed.

What's your favorite court case?

A response to a question on a legal advice website by Scott in Oregon.

Scott mentioned trying to fight a DUI based on the fact that his blood sugar was at a level that indicated Ketones in his blood stream. He also mentioned a class-action lawsuit against the breathalyzer used in his arrest.

Yes Scott, alcohol breath tests have some margin of error. The level of accuracy can be affected by many medical and environmental factors, of which ketosis is one. Any legal advice would require a consultation with a complete list of all facts involved. Of the recommendation that I could give you, at the top of the list is, talk to a lawyer in your area. An experienced attorney would be able to tell you whether or not ketosis or the class-action law suit would be arguable factors in your DUI case, for example; if your breath test reading was .2+ then even with a large margin of error you would most likely still be over the legal limit, but if you blew a .1 or .09 then there is the possibility of favorable outcome.

Good Luck Scott

Read some court case victories by Chad Maddox involving DUI and the DMV.

How do tongue rings/stud impact Breathalyzers?

An Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled that the results of an alcohol breath test given to a woman wearing a stainless steel stud in her pierced tongue is inadmissible in court. That’s because the stud is a foreign object in her mouth. State law specifically prohibits anyone from having any foreign object in the mouth within twenty minutes before the time a breath sample is taken.

Spokespersons for the Indiana State Police and the Indianapolis Police Department refuse to reveal how their officers handle breath tests involving people with tongue studs. It would appear that law enforcement officers throughout the state have routinely been conducting breath tests in violation of the law and using the invalid results to obtain convictions.

It‘s very important to reduce drunk driving, but not at the expensive of violating the law to do so.

http://gototrial.com/alcohol-breath-machines/ 

Laws which set a specific blood alcohol concentration level that is above the legal limit are called “per se” laws and were first implemented in Norway in 1936. Per se is a Latin phrase that means “by itself,” and per se laws state that a BAC level of .08 g/dL or above is the only evidence needed of impairment. www.gototrial.com

Reasons Standard Field Sobriety Tests are unreliable

While standardized field sobriety tests (SFSTs) are commonly used to determine possible DUI, scientists who study the issue have claimed that “not a single study” links SFSTs to driving impairment. Despite this fact, such tests are often used at roadside and play a role in many DUI citations. If you have failed an SFST, an Orange County DUI lawyer may be able to help you defend your case.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the United States Department of Transportation, and the NHTSA-commissioned researchers do not claim that standardized tests are indicators of driving impairment. These organizations specifically point out the limitations SFSTs. They note that driving a motor vehicle is a complex activity and that tests measuring one’s ability to operate a motor vehicle are unlikely to be accurately measured at roadside. In fact, according to one study, “even valid, behavioral tests are likely to be poor predictors . . . of actual behind-the-wheel driving.” An experienced DUI defense lawyer can help you cast doubt on the efficacy of the roadside test administered to you.

Moreover, some police agencies do not believe that all SFSTs are accurate. For example, the California Highway Patrol Manual states that the horizontal gaze nystagmus test (HGN) is not meant to be a psychosocial test and the associated clues are not designed to discover signs of impairment. Yet, your DUI citation may very well have been based, at least in part, on your “failure” of an HGN test.


If you are not currently represented by a lawyer, please contact the law office of Chad Maddox at (714) 547-4500, for a free consultation with an experienced Orange County DUI attorney. A list of 'recent victories' achieved by his office can be found at www.gototrial.com/recent-victories.

Why your DUI attorney would put you on the stand!

While most lawyers refrain from putting a DUI client on the stand since they cannot control a prosecutor’s cross-examination, exceptions are sometimes made. For example, it may be worth having the accused testify that this was his first arrest or that he had just taken the proper dose of some special medication shortly before performing poorly on field sobriety tests, just before the arrest.

Whatever the reason your Orange County DUI attorney may have for placing you on the stand, keep in mind that it’s actually up to you to make the final decision as to whether or not you believe you should testify. Once you and your lawyer are convinced that you can do a good job, be sure to listen to all of your attorney’s instructions.  If you’ll just stay calm and review some sample questions with your attorney, like those set forth below, you’ll probably do fine.

How a defense lawyer might question his or her own client on the stand

Q: John, have you ever testified in court before?

Q: Since this is your first time, let me first ask you to simply relax and tell the truth. Please state your full legal name and address for the court.

Q: Were you in the habit of often driving in the part of town where you were stopped by the officer on the Saturday night in question?

Q: What caused you to drive into that area that night?

Q: After the concert, did you take any prescribed drug before leaving the coliseum?

Q: How long have you been on that drug?

Q: Has it always tended to make you a bit unstable on your feet? Please tell us what side effects, if any, you have dealt with since you began taking that drug.

Q: Do you remember when I asked the schoolteacher who witnessed your arrest if she was feeling a bit nervous when she took the stand?

Q: Are you feeling a bit nervous now?

Q: Now that you’ve had that drink of water, are you ready to answer a few more questions before the prosecutor begins speaking with you?

Q: Did you tell the officer who stopped you that you had just taken that drug prior to walking the straight line?

Q: What response, if any, did he make to your comment?

Q. Please let me know if any of my questions sound confusing. You can do the same thing once the prosecutor starts questioning you. Just tell me what isn’t clear so I can rephrase my question. You may always take a few moments to think about each question before trying to answer it.

If you are not currently represented by a lawyer, please contact the law office of Chad Maddox at (714) 547-4500, for a free consultation with an experienced Orange County DUI attorney. A list of 'recent victories' achieved by his office can be found at www.gototrial.com/recent-victories.

Alcohol Breath Machines

Alcohol breathalyzers don’t actually measure Blood Alcohol Content, which can only be done by analyzing a sample of blood. They attempt to measure alcohol in the breath in order to estimate the concentration of alcohol in the blood. That’s why not all states permit their use, for DUIs & DWIs.

In reality, alcohol breath testers detect any chemical compounds that contain the methyl group in its molecular structure. Unfortunately, there are thousands of such compounds. Many occur naturally in the human breath or are picked up from disease; inhaling fumes from gasoline, glue, paint, paint remover, “new car smell,” celluloid, cleaning fluids, etc.

Breath testers also assume as constants certain ratios within the human body that actually vary widely from person to person and within the same person over time. For example, many breath-testing machines assume a 2,100-to-1 ratio in converting alcohol in the breath to estimates of alcohol in the blood. However, this ratio varies from 1,900 to 2,400 among people and also within a person over time. This variation will lead to false BAC readings. Some breath analysis machines assume a hematocrit (cell volume of blood) of 47%. However, hematocrit values range from 42 to 52% in men and from 37 to 47% in women. A person with a lower hematocrit will have a falsely high BAC reading. These machines appear to discriminate against female suspects.

Alcohol breath machines are really BAC estimators, but they will still be used as evidence, by your Orange County prosecutor, to convict you of a DUI. It is up to your attorney to combat the validity on your alcohol breath test while in court. Read this article for the many ways that Chad will use to cast doubt on a drunk driving case. gogotrial.com/breathalizers-in-orange-county/

DUI victory by Chad Maddox

People v. Jason (2010-12-27) (Whittier)

Client found NOT GUILTY by Court.

After beginning a jury trial, and winning an important motion limiting the admissibility of breath evidence, the prosecution dropped one charge, and the judge found the driver Not Guilty of the other charge. This outcome avoided a conviction for DUI, and resulted in an immediate reinstatement of the driver license.