mjmooney Posted October 27, 2010 VT Supporter Share Posted October 27, 2010 Girl, 13, charged as sex offender and victim By Pamela Manson The Salt Lake Tribune Posted: 12/06/2006 01:12:33 AM MSTUpdated: 12/26/2006 12:13:03 PM MST Salt Lake City - Utah Supreme Court justices acknowledged Tuesday that they were struggling to wrap their minds around the concept that a 13-year-old girl could be both an offender and a victim for the same act - in this case, having consensual sex with her 12-year-old boyfriend. The Ogden, Utah, girl was put in this odd position because she was found guilty of violating a state law that prohibits sex with someone under age 14. She also was the victim in the case against her boyfriend, who was found guilty of the same violation by engaging in sexual activity with her. "The only thing that comes close to this is dueling," said Associate Chief Justice Michael Wilkins, noting that two people who take 20 paces and then shoot could each be considered both victim and offender. And Chief Justice Christine Durham wondered if the state Legislature had intended the "peculiar consequence" that a child would have the simultaneous status of a protected person and an alleged perpetrator under the law. The comments came in oral arguments on a motion asking the high court to overturn the finding of delinquency - the legal term in juvenile court for a conviction - against Z.C., who became pregnant after she and her boyfriend engaged in sex in October 2003. State authorities filed delinquency petitions in July 2004, alleging that each had committed sexual abuse of a child, a second-degree felony if committed by an adult. The girl appealed the petition, saying her constitutional right to be treated equally under the law had been violated. Her motion noted that for juveniles who are 16 and 17, having sex with others in their own age group does not qualify as a crime. Juveniles who are 14 or 15 and have sex with peers can be charged with unlawful conduct with a minor, but the law provides for mitigation when the age difference is less than four years, making the offense a misdemeanor. For adolescents under 14, though, there are no exceptions or mitigation and they are never considered capable of consenting to sex. A juvenile court judge denied the motion by Z.C., who then admitted to the offense while preserving her right to appeal to a higher court. The boy did not appeal. The Utah Court of Appeals last December upheld the judge's refusal to dismiss the allegation, saying the law's "rigorous protections" for younger minors include protecting them for each other. Z.C. then appealed to the state Supreme Court. At Tuesday's arguments, Matthew Bates, an assistant Utah attorney general, argued the prosecution of the girl was not unreasonable. He said the statute in question is designed to prevent sex with children who are 13 and younger, even if the other person is in the same age group. By passing that law, legislators were sending a message, Bates said: Sex with or among children is unacceptable. Randall Richards, the girl's attorney, argued that prosecuting children under a law meant to protect them is illogical. "A child (victim) cannot also be a perpetrator in the exact same act," Richards said. The Utah Supreme Court will issue a ruling later. Denver Post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qwpzxjor1 Posted October 27, 2010 Share Posted October 27, 2010 I don't think it's particularly unusual for 2 people under consent to have sex with each other. Only have to talk down any UK city or town's High Street and you'll see a couple of 14 year olds obviously together. I doubt they are waiting until they are both 16 to avoid being both a perpetrator and a victim. I question the intelligence of the court to think this is something out of the ordinary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted October 27, 2010 VT Supporter Share Posted October 27, 2010 Also if the issue is one of them being unable to consent, then does that not remove mens rea? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted October 29, 2010 VT Supporter Share Posted October 29, 2010 Florida woman kills baby over FarmVille interruption A Jacksonville mother charged with shaking her baby to death has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Alexandra V. Tobias, 22, was arrested after the January death of 3-month-old Dylan Lee Edmondson. She told investigators she became angry because the baby was crying while she was playing a computer game called FarmVille on the Facebook social-networking website. Tobias entered her plea Wednesday before Circuit Judge Adrian G. Soud. A second-degree murder charge is punishable by up to life in prison. Prosecutor Richard Mantei said Tobias' sentence could be less because of state guidelines that call for 25 to 50 years. Soud offered no promises on what he'll order during a sentencing hearing scheduled for December. Outside the courtroom, Mantei said Tobias' plea will help avoid the family reliving the tragedy during a jury trial. Tobias told investigators that she shook the baby, smoked a cigarette to compose herself and then shook him again. She said the baby may have hit his head during the shaking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaEire Posted October 29, 2010 Share Posted October 29, 2010 Tobias told investigators that she shook the baby, smoked a cigarette to compose herself and then shook him again. She said the baby may have hit his head during the shaking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted October 30, 2010 VT Supporter Share Posted October 30, 2010 FarmVille also leads to goat rape Folks can get pretty lonely up there in Ferndale. Besides repainting the logo on the town's famous "Metallica Bridge" each time it gets covered up, entertainment options are rather limited. So one can almost understand why 27-year-old Gary A. Veldhuizen might take a liking to one of the town's more attractive options in livestock--a goat. Veldhuizen pleaded guilty on Monday to one charge of first-degree animal cruelty for shacking up with the sheep. He was sentenced to one month in Whatcom County Jail. The billy buggering took place at a farm near Enterprise Road at Willeys Lake Road in May. Apparently a family member caught Veldhuizen in mid-shag and called sheriff's deputies who came and arrested him. Veldhuizen's Facebook page shows the pudgy Ferndalian's love of ranch life extends to the virtual world as well, as he is a big fan of the game FarmVille. One of the more recent posts says he wants to "share some grape bushels with you." We'll leave it up to you on whether to accept the gift. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted October 30, 2010 VT Supporter Share Posted October 30, 2010 I see the UK usage of "shag" is now in US use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted October 30, 2010 VT Supporter Share Posted October 30, 2010 Thanks to (though to be fair, that's from the Seattle Weekly, one of those free "alternative/arts" weeklies that are ubiquitous in the US) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted November 2, 2010 Share Posted November 2, 2010 Quality story on a number of levels! (excuse the pun) I like the shop owners reason for raising the awning too Baby survives fall from 7th-floor Paris flatParents absent as 15-month-old girl bounces off awning into a man's arms Tuesday 2 November 2010 13.25 GMT A 15-month-old girl survived a fall from a seventh-floor apartment in Paris almost unscathed after bouncing off a cafe awning and into the arms of a passerby, police said today. The baby had been playing unsupervised with her four-year-old sister yesterday when she fell out of the window, a police spokesman said. A young man saw the baby starting to fall and alerted his father, who raced into position, arms outstretched, to catch her after she hit the awning, the daily Le Parisien reported. "He must have played rugby for years to have developed reflexes like that," a bystander who saw the incident told the paper. Police said the girl appeared to have no serious injuries and was under observation in a nearby hospital. The owner of the cafe, located at the foot of the block of flats in north-east Paris, said it was a stroke of luck he had decided to leave the awning open that afternoon. "I usually close it to stop it catching fire as people tend to throw their cigarette butts on to it," he told the television station i>Télé. The police spokesman said the circumstances behind the accident were unclear. "The parents were absent, and it's a bit difficult questioning the two girls, given their age." here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted November 9, 2010 VT Supporter Share Posted November 9, 2010 Young Boozer has hard time The election is over and Young Boozer III, a retired Republican banker from Montgomery, has won, in the process gaining nationwide attention for his name. So when it came time to remove all those thousands of Young Boozer signs across the state to keep them from becoming roadside litter, you'd think his campaign workers would have a bit of an easy time of it, right? Glenda Allred, Boozer's campaign manager, said that's not necessarily the case. "There are lots of signs still out," Allred told the Press-Register. "That (people appropriating them from the roadside) seemed to be something that happened moreso leading up to the primary. As time went along, that stopped." Allred said the campaign also used a tactic that campaign officials hope would stop some of the sign-stealing: They tried to place many of them on the private property of supporters. That said, the signs still have had a commemorative and, for some, decorative value. "If you're talking about a certain demographic wanting the signs for themselves, yes, we've dealt with that," Allred said. That "certain demographic" tends to be college students who want the signs to display over their dormitory or frat house bars. Boozer perhaps got his most notoriety from a Wall Street Journal article that mentioned him among a host of other candidates with remarkable names. Among the others: Isaac Hayes, a Republican candidate from Illinois, and Krystal Ball, a 28-year old Democratic congressional candidate in Virginia. Krystal Ball wound up losing; Hayes was trounced by someone with even better name-recognition: Jesse Jackson Jr. Boozer's name did not become a liability, perhaps because he never shied away from its obviously humorous aspects, and because he stressed his issues. It also doesn't hurt that while it's a new name in Alabama political circles, it's not a new name in Alabama athletics. Boozer's father, Young Boozer Jr., was a star football player at the University of Alabama and Paul "Bear" Bryant's roommate. The Wall Street Journal pointed out that Boozer Jr. faced off in the Rose Bowl against a Stanford player named Tom Collins. Allred said the name, and the signs, have led to some odd requests, particularly people from out of state who requested signs even though they had no say in the election. One request came from a journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. "He came down to cover the BP oil spill and saw the sign as he was going down the interstate," Allred said. "He called saying how he read about the candidate, saw the website and was following the race." The CBC journalist got a sign. Given the candidate's notoriety, will the signs have any value as a collectible? That remains to be seen. Allred said the campaign auctioned off a sign on eBay for $100, with the money being donated to the oil spill cleanup effort. But a check of eBay today found only 1 Young Boozer sign listed on the auction site. There were no bidders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villadude Posted November 9, 2010 Share Posted November 9, 2010 FarmVille also leads to goat rape Folks can get pretty lonely up there in Ferndale. Besides repainting the logo on the town's famous "Metallica Bridge" each time it gets covered up, entertainment options are rather limited. So one can almost understand why 27-year-old Gary A. Veldhuizen might take a liking to one of the town's more attractive options in livestock--a goat. Veldhuizen pleaded guilty on Monday to one charge of first-degree animal cruelty for shacking up with the sheep. He was sentenced to one month in Whatcom County Jail. The billy buggering took place at a farm near Enterprise Road at Willeys Lake Road in May. Apparently a family member caught Veldhuizen in mid-shag and called sheriff's deputies who came and arrested him. Veldhuizen's Facebook page shows the pudgy Ferndalian's love of ranch life extends to the virtual world as well, as he is a big fan of the game FarmVille. One of the more recent posts says he wants to "share some grape bushels with you." We'll leave it up to you on whether to accept the gift. What a **** loser, despite raping goats, he's also created an imaginary girlfriend complete with a bogus facebook account. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted November 9, 2010 VT Supporter Share Posted November 9, 2010 Dublin, Ohio man could be punished under law he inspired A Dublin man with a history of collecting urine from public restrooms was taken into custody on Friday and charged with criminal mischief, and now he could be punished under a law he helped inspire. Alan Patton Jr. was taken into custody just after 3:30 p.m. at his Emberwood Road home, according to the Delaware County Sheriff's office. Patton was also charged with unlawful collection of a bodily substance, 10TV's Tanisha Mallett reported. According to the Delaware County Sheriff's office, on Oct. 29 at about 7 p.m., an off-duty deputy encountered a suspicious person in the men's restroom at Burger King, located at 8667 Columbus Pike, in Lewis Center. After several minutes of observing unusual behavior and attempting to speak to the man, the deputy determined that the man had inserted materials into the toilet for the purpose of collecting urine from the patrons at the Burger King. Deputies said that it was suspected that Patton targeted the restaurant because it has a play area where children are known to gather. "The deputy followed the subject to the parking lot and observed him getting into a tan 1993 Buick Park Avenue," said Sheriff Walter Davis in a news release. "The vehicle's registration came back to Alan Patton." Patton has had multiple incidents involving the collection of urine from central Ohio restrooms. In June 2008, Patton was arrested at Sports Ohio, where police said that he attempted to collect urine from a boy using the restroom. Patton pleaded no contest to criminal mischief charges and served 60 days in jail. After Patton was arrested in 2008, state Sen. Jim Hughes helped pass legislation that would make collecting urine or other bodily substances a crime unless the person had privilege to do so, such as a doctor. Patton became the face of the bill that Hughes sponsored. "The intent of this bill is to protect children and keep them safe and to give the prosecutor and police another tool to put these people away and keep them away from our children," Hughes said. Patton could face punishment under the same law he inspired. Under the law, a first offense is a misdemeanor and a second offense is a felony. Kim Hill was shopping on Saturday with her children just yards away from the restaurant where Patton was allegedly trying to collect urine, 10TV's Danielle Elias reported. "I think more complicated than when I was a kid and it was the old fashion stranger danger," Hill said. "It's just so off the wall, it's no longer somebody offering a kid candy on the corner and trying to get them to get into the car." 10TV News talked to Patton after his release from jail in 2009 and he said he was leaving that behavior in the past. In April 2009, a manager at the Whole Foods store on Sawmill Road told Patton to leave and never come back. Patton claimed the store was making a mistake. "If I'm not doing anything wrong they have not to worry. I know the past is a concern," Patton said. "Now I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm merely shopping, going about my day in a lawful manner." Patton's history of sex offenses date back 14 years. He is required to register as a sexual predator after a 1994 conviction in Franklin County for gross sexual imposition. Patton spent four years in prison for fondling two boys in a Magic Mountain restroom in 1993. Patton was being held at the Delaware County Jail. Stay with 10TV News HD and refresh 10TV.com for additional information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjw63 Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 That's just taking the piss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted November 10, 2010 VT Supporter Share Posted November 10, 2010 Beat me to it Rob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted November 11, 2010 VT Supporter Share Posted November 11, 2010 Drive through sex toy shop to open in... Alabama? Pleasures, a "one-stop romance shop" that challenged Alabama's ban on sex toys, has a new, unique claim to fame: It will feature three sex toy drive-thru lanes at its new University Drive location. Pleasures owner Sherri Williams said the store will be the first such store in the country to sell adult toys through a drive-thru window. Items such as toys, lubes and stimulants will be delivered through the drive-thru drawer in a brown paper bag, according to the store's news release. Williams and her store drew national attention during a long legal fight that sought to overturn Alabama's ban on sex toys on the grounds of a constitutional right to privacy. The case file went to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2007, but the court chose not to hear it, effectively leaving the ban intact. The Alabama Supreme Court last year upheld the ban - part of an anti-obscenity law passed in 1998 - after hearing a case brought by an adult store in Hoover. Williams said Alabama is the last state in the U.S. to have a sex toy ban. The anti-obscenity law had been sponsored by state Sen. Tom Butler in 1998, but Alabama officials said the sex toy ban was not intentional but the result of borrowing language from other states with similar laws. But Alabama law also makes an exception to the ban on the sale of items designed for the "stimulation of human genital organs" if the sale was for "a bona fide medical, scientific, educational, legislative, judicial or law enforcement purpose." Williams said customers cannot purchase a sex toy unless they fill out a medical questionnaire describing the health-related reasons for their purchase. The new store, located at 4008 University Drive, was a former bank and most recently a jewelry store and will offer a number of new features, Williams said. The store plans to give away condoms as a public service and will feature an "intimacy clinic" offering weekly seminars and workshops, marriage counseling and a sexual health library, which will feature well-known authors in the field, and an upscale clothing boutique. Williams said the store will not sell adult videos. "The real essence of what I'm trying to get across is adult stores don't have to be hidden in back alleys," she said. "Obviously we wouldn't be doing as well as we are if no one enjoyed shopping here." Williams said neither her previous Huntsville location nor the Decatur store have ever been shut down on issues related to the state law. She said she follows the law, which bans the sale for "immoral purposes." Pleasures, she said, sells the products strictly for medical reasons. Madison County District Attorney Rob Broussard said if a case is investigated by a law enforcement agency and brought to his office showing something against the law, they'd act on it, but he said they already have plenty to keep them busy. "Priority-wise, for the safety of the citizens of Madison County, with violent crime and drugs on our streets, we've got our hands full on a lot more pressing issues," Broussard said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YLN Posted November 11, 2010 Share Posted November 11, 2010 Beat me to it Rob. And me. My time will come Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterms Posted November 11, 2010 Share Posted November 11, 2010 Porpoises rescue Dick Van Dyke Mary Poppins star feared death after apparently falling asleep on his surfboard but friendly sea creatures pushed him to shore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted November 11, 2010 VT Supporter Share Posted November 11, 2010 Bastard porpoises. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qwpzxjor1 Posted November 11, 2010 Share Posted November 11, 2010 "The porpoises were unavailable to comment." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarethRDR Posted November 11, 2010 Share Posted November 11, 2010 Porpoises rescue Dick Van Dyke Mary Poppins star feared death after apparently falling asleep on his surfboard but friendly sea creatures pushed him to shore That is the greatest thing I have ever read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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