Josh Brent Indicted

via http://www.celeblegalissues.com/josh-brent-indicted-for-intoxicated-manslaughter/ 

Josh Brent, nose tackle for the Dallas Cowboys, faces up to 20 years in prison after police say he was intoxicated during a car accident that killed his teammate.

According to reports, Brent was driving under the influence on December 8th, the night he crashed and flipped his car containing himself and teammate Jerry Brown. He “failed to drive in a single lane” before hitting a curb, careening into a ditch and overturning his vehicle.

Brent’s blood alcohol level was 0.189 percent at the time, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08. He was also driving with a suspended license, the result of a DUI in Illinois in 2009. Neither man was wearing a seatbelt.

Brent and Brown were both taken to the hospital after the crash, but while Brent escaped with minor injuries, Brown was unresponsive and later pronounced dead. He was 25.

Brent declined to comment on the circumstances but expressed sorrow over the death of his “best friend.”

Manslaughter charges vary depending by state, but in Texas, Brent faces up to 20 in prison. This is less than Florida, where manslaughter charges carry a nine-year sentence, and slightly more than Utah, where incarceration is usually between one and 15 years. A Salt Lake City criminal defense lawyer can argue manslaughter down to a second degree felony; a Texas attorney faces more hurdles, including punishments that include license suspension, community service and interlock device installation.

Brent is currently free on $100,000 bond and must wear an ankle monitor. A grand jury handed down the indictment on December 26th, but trial dates have yet to be set. The Dallas Cowboys have put him on their reserve list.

MSNBC host suggests ditching Bible for inauguration oath

MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell suggested Thursday that the Bible is causing too much hassle at inauguration ceremonies -- and should no longer be used to take the oath of office. 

O'Donnell was reacting to the Atlanta pastor who pulled out of the Jan. 21 ceremony after a controversial sermon on homosexuality from the '90s was uncovered. The Rev. Louie Giglio, pastor of Passion City Church in Atlanta, had described homosexuality in a "sin" in that sermon. 

"It turns out there is no better way for a pastor to get kicked out of the inauguration ceremony -- no better way to do that -- than quoting the Bible," O'Donnell said. 

O'Donnell suggested presidents should simply stop placing their hand on the Bible when taking the oath, claiming "no one accepts all of the teachings of the Bible." 

"Still, the president, following one of our most absurdest traditions in the government that invented the separation of church and state, will put his hand on this book filled with things he does not believe -- filled with things that no one in the United States of America believes," O'Donnell said. 

Instead, he suggested President Obama place his hand on the shoulder of one of his daughters, "suggesting that he was honoring the oath of office as much as he honors Sasha and Malia." 

That's not likely to happen. Obama plans to use two Bibles during the Jan. 21 ceremony, including one owned by Martin Luther King Jr. and one owned by Abraham Lincoln. 

George Washington began the tradition of using a Bible during his 1789 swearing-in.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/01/11/msnbc-host-suggests-ditching-bible-for-inauguration-oath/#ixzz2Hkyhnhk4

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Trail of Cheetos Leads to Store Robber

via http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/trail-cheetos-leads-store-robber-190520613--abc-news-topstories.html

Police nabbed a South Carolina teenager when they followed a trail of Cheetos leading from a convenience store to a local residence where he was staying.

Austin Lee Westfall Presler, 19, was arrested on January 6 inKershaw County, S.C., after allegedly stealing beer, cigarettes, snacks and energy drinks from the local Cassatt Country Store,WLTX reported. Calls placed to Kershaw County sheriff's office by ABCNews.com were not immediately returned.

Store manager Howard "Buck" Buckholz told ABCNews.com that Presler only stole $160 worth of goods, but caused upwards of $2,500 worth of damage.

"The fella broke in our store 2:30 a.m. on Sunday morning," he said. "We were called at 3:15 a.m. The fuel truck fella said that the front door had been knocked in, so he called it in. He knocked out our front door, he knocked out the beer cooler, and stole beer, cigarettes, Slim Jims, and in his haste, he punctured two or three bags of Cheetos."

Those Cheetos were strewn all over the store's floor and in the doorway. Buckholz said that a neighbor across the street told him and police that the car Presler was driving was parked across the street at the Hard Times Café.

"Cheetos were all over the parking lot, at the place where he parked his car, and at the residence," Buckholz said.

Presler does not live in the area, but was staying with someone that lives less than 1/5 of a mile from his store, Buckholz said.

"He was very easy to catch," he said. "It was a very quick deal."

Texas school can force teenagers to wear locator chip: judge

via http://news.yahoo.com/texas-school-force-teenager-wear-locator-chip-judge-021126100.html

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - A public school district in Texas can require students to wear locator chips when they are on school property, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday in a case raising technology-driven privacy concerns among liberal and conservative groups alike.

U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia said the San Antonio Northside School District had the right to expel sophomore Andrea Hernandez, 15, from a magnet school at Jay High School, because she refused to wear the device, which is required of all students.

The judge refused the student's request to block the district from removing her from the school while the case works its way through the federal courts.

The American Civil Liberties Union is among the rights organizations to oppose the district's use of radio frequency identification, or RFID, technology.

"We don't want to see this kind of intrusive surveillance infrastructure gain inroads into our culture," ACLU senior policy analyst Jay Stanley said. "We should not be teaching our children to accept such an intrusive surveillance technology."

The district's RFID policy has also been criticized by conservatives, who call it an example of "big government" further monitoring individuals and eroding their liberties and privacy rights.

The Rutherford Institute, a conservative Virginia-based policy center that represented Hernandez in her federal court case, said the ruling violated the student's constitutional right to privacy, and vowed to appeal.

The school district - the fourth largest in Texas with about 100,000 students - is not attempting to track or regulate students' activities, or spy on them, district spokesman Pascual Gonzalez said. Northside is using the technology to locate students who are in the school building but not in the classroom when the morning bell rings, he said.

Texas law counts a student present for purposes of distributing state aid to education funds based on the number of pupils in the classroom at the start of the day. Northside said it was losing $1.7 million a year due to students loitering in the stairwells or chatting in the hallways.