Shwawna Ford, the National Executive Director of a local the Minuteman American Defense group (M.A.D.) has been arrested for a double killing, that of a 9 year old and her father, during a home invasion last month.

According to authorities, Bush, [MAD leader Shawna] Forde, and Gaxiola broke into the home of the Flores family just after midnight on May 30th. At the time, the mother, father and daughter were home. The invaders reportedly shot the three members of the Flores family, killing the father, Raul, and the daughter, Brisenia. The invaders then left the scene.[More...]

Kendall Craig Farris, author of Drugs, Kids and Crime: Surviving Our Drug Obsessed Culture and founder of the Over the Wall Foundation in Marina del Rey, a nonprofit organization that works with families and schools to prevent kids from abusing drugs, was arrested Thursday after an undercover cop purchased methamphetamine and ecstasy from him for $480. The drugs turned out to be fake. Whether Farris viewed the sale of bogus meth as another technique for preventing drug abuse is unclear, but since it is just as illegal to sell counterfeit controlled substances as it is to peddle the genuine merchandise, Farris will be explaining how to survive our drug obsessed culture to his fellow inmates until he's able to post bail.

Since stories about nudity engage the attention of our loyal readers more than (for instance) stories about DOJ misconduct or the FBI's recruitment of informants to spy on mosques (for shame, people!), let's wrap up the week with a "crimes in the news" story about a man who (according to the AP) "was arrested on suspicion of being naked." Upon further review, it turns out that the man was arrested for loitering on school grounds but is nonetheless suspected of being naked on school property.

According to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, three Whittell High School students reported coming across a naked man behind the school who appeared to be tied to a rock and was lying face down. A student said they asked the man if he was really tied up, which he confirmed. Then they asked if he needed to be untied and the man answered no.

[more ...]

Charles Lynch was sentenced today to a year and a day for possession of pot plants and distribution.

Lynch was convicted last summer of illegally possessing more than 100 marijuana plants and of distributing more than 100 kilograms of the drug from his Central Coast Compassionate Caregivers facility in downtown Morro Bay. He was prosecuted despite having the blessing of the city's mayor, city attorney and other civic leaders.

The Government had asked for five years. As Lynch says,

"The government tried to make me the Pablo Escobar of medical marijuana, and the judge saw past that."

Background here.

Update: Here's the complaint charging von Brunn with murder.

CBS Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen writes in Vanity Fair today on the Holocaust museum shooting and state of domestic hate crimes.

Hate—and hateful, violent action—is on the rise not in response to government’s gross negligence (Waco) or overzealousness (Ruby Ridge), but because of who our current leaders are, what they stand for, and the policy choices they are making. [More...]

One of the guards shot at the Holocaust museum has died.

Our prior thread is almost full, here's a new one to continue the discussion.

A gunman today entered the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. and shot two people. Developing...will update.

Our coverage of "crimes in the news" would not be complete without mentioning the man in Aberdeen, Washington who used pink paint to write "Liz, call home, I love you" on Boone Street. The man was arrested for "suspicion of malicious mischief" after police officers spied incriminating evidence: pink paint on his hands and shoes and a can of pink paint in his car.

If the note had been written on Valentine's Day, perhaps the police would have been more forgiving. Unless the guy is stalking Liz, his mischievous writing doesn't seem particularly malicious. A sensible prosecutor would probably agree to defer any charges if the note writer finds an environmentally friendly way to remove or mask the message.

The principal reason to favor due process and the presumption of innocence over "swift and certain" vigilante justice is illustrated by two ugly displays of street justice in Pennsylvania. After the police identified Jose Carrasquillo as a "person of interest" in the repeated rape of an 11 year old girl, "justice-seeking" residents of Kensington began looking for him. Law enforcement officials were surprised and apparently pleased "when numerous Kensington residents offered to catch Carrasquillo themselves."

"Law-abiding citizens were out there with police officers. We even had chronic drug dealers coming up to us, wanting to see his picture. That tells me there is some code, even among the criminal element," [Capt. Daniel Castro] said.

Community support of police efforts to locate a suspected child molester should be encouraged, but people who don't carry a badge cross the line when they decide to dispense street justice rather than calling the police. Members of an angry mob, mistakenly believing they had found Carrasquillo, beat Michael Zenquis with bats and kicked him while he was on the ground before they finally called 911. [more ...]

Reader Scribe writes in about a mob gone wild in Philly. From Scribe:

In connection with the alleged rape of an 11 year old girl, the police announced they were looking for a particular person of interest (not a suspect). Then the police union put out a reward of $10k for bringing him in by 5 PM.

Then, about an hour before the deadline, a mob grabbed the guy and beat him into critical condition (caught on surveillance video at a local bodega), such that a patrol unit had to rescue him from the mob. Then the head of the police union complimented the neighborhood for "really stepping up". And the mayor didn't even think to condemn this.

[More...]

Two years ago, TalkLeft called attention to Chicago Police Officer Anthony Abbate's videotaped beating of a female bartender, one of a series of violent incidents involving Chicago cops in bars that led to the resignation of the city's police superintendent. Abbate was charged with aggravated battery, a crime carrying a potential five year sentence. On Tuesday, Judge John Fleming rejected Abbate's claim of self defense and found him guilty. Judge Fleming acquitted Abbate of official misconduct because it was undisputed that Abbate never identified himself as a police officer.

Abbate is 6'1" and weighs in at 250. It's easy to understand the judge's reluctance to believe he appropriately defended himself by throwing the bartender, Karolina Obrycka, to the ground before repeatedly punching and kicking her. Obrycka is 5'3" and weighs 125 pounds.[more ...]

The Teddy Bears with Phil Spector (on right)

Update: The tweets are a fake, the author confesses and is going to stop.

CNET News issues a red-faced correction. [More....]