Free Republic

When I was 17, I became a feminist campaigner because I wanted to fight for a future where women feeling safe and being heard were considered everyday norms. I’m 61 now and still fighting as hard as ever for those basic rights, which remain infuriatingly beyond our reach. The fact that, even today — especially today — I would find it incredibly difficult to advise a woman who has been raped to go and report it to the police breaks my heart. My younger self would, rightly, be appalled. But I know that unless a woman fits the profile of...

The parents charged in connection with this week's deadly shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan did not turn themselves in for their scheduled arraignment Friday afternoon and continue to be at large, according to law enforcement officials.The Marshals Service announced a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to their arrests.

I love just about all Clint Eastwood movies, but Richard Jewell is in a class by itself. This one was personal. This one Clint Eastwood made for me. Only a handful of people in America know what it’s like to be Richard Jewell and unfortunately, I’m one of them. Mr. Eastwood got it right. Two thumbs up! I rarely ever go to the movies. Nearly seven years after my acquittal in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, I still have to be very cautious about where I go. A few years ago, a man took a shot at me and...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Prosecutors cannot use secretly recorded video allegedly showing New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft engaging in massage parlor sex, a judge ruled Monday, striking a serious blow to their case against him and others charged with soliciting prostitutes at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa. In his 10-page ruling, Judge Leonard Hanser wrote that Jupiter police detectives and the judge who issued the search warrant allowing the secret installation of cameras at the spa did not do enough to minimize the invasion of privacy of customers who only received legal massages. Hanser also ruled...

In an absurdly hostile interview with Fox News’s trending-left host Chris Wallace on Sunday morning, Trump Attorney Jay Sekulow emphatically stated that the President is “not under investigation” by special counsel Bob Mueller. This runs contrary, of course, to the fake Washington Post report from last Wednesday, which cited five anonymous “sources” who assured the Post’s fake reporters that President Trump is indeed the subject of the investigation. Wallace was incredulous, since he apparently still believes the Post is a real news source, and others in the fake news media spent much of the day tut-tutting about Mr. Sekulow’s contention....

The NAACP’s legal group has sent a letter to a Missouri judge asking that a new grand jury convene to consider indicting former Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson for the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown back in August. On November 24, a grand jury decided not to indict Wilson for killing Brown, and as a result, already riled protesters and activists took to the streets seeking justice. Now, in the almost two months since the decision was reached, the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Educational Fund has penned an open letter to Missouri Judge Maura McShane asking that a...

A member of the grand jury that declined to indict the Ferguson police officer who fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown asked a federal court Monday to remove a lifetime gag order preventing jurors from discussing the case. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of an unnamed juror who wants to speak about the investigation but would be in violation of Missouri law by doing so. The lawsuit also questions St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch’s characterization that “all grand jurors believed that there was no support for any charges.” The suit was filed against McCulloch, who...

Tuesday night the Houston Chronicle published a story about the grand jury that indicted Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Those grand jurors who spoke with the Chronicle broke the law to do so, and they knew that they were breaking the law. They claimed that they were speaking to the newspaper to counter Gov. Perry’s “spin” on the case. That’s not the job of a grand jury, by the way. One of them is a woman named Rho Chalmers. Chalmers tried to get around her lawbreaking by attempting to build this wall of implausible deniability. Rho Chalmers, who name matches that...

I remember growing up and always hearing my parents and their friends talk about one pivotal moment in their lives. They remembered exactly where they were at that point. Exactly who told them the news. Exactly how they felt once it all sunk in. When President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, everyone who was alive during that time remembers. One year ago, today, was our generation’s moment. It was late on a Saturday night. Some of us were out to dinner. Some of us were home with our families. Some of us were still shopping. Some of us...

The Duke lacrosse case was a spectacular scandal – a cause célèbre that had the country abuzz about race, class and gender. Three wealthy Duke students, all of them white, were charged with raping a poor black woman during a spring break party at a scruffy rental house in Durham. Then the whole mess imploded in real time, in the national media, due to prosecutorial misconduct. North Carolina, of all places in America, was perhaps the most fertile soil for a case that ended with the state attorney general declaring the three players innocent and state regulators disbarring the prosecutor,...

In March 2006, Crystal Gail Mangum, a student at North Carolina Central University, who worked as a stripper and an escort, accused three members of the Duke lacrosse team — Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, and David Evans — of raping her at an off-campus party. The case captivated the country, with the media breathlessly reporting the statements of prosecutor Mike Nifong, who was later fired, disbarred and imprisoned for 24 hours, and then those of the players' defense attorneys in a seemingly endless loop of contradictions. In April 2007, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said there was "no credible...

[Live Bond Hearing -- continuation from Wednesday]

Judicial Watch announced today that it has obtained documents proving that the Department of Justice played a major behind-the-scenes role in organizing protests against George Zimmerman. Zimmerman is on trial for second-degree murder in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in February 2012. Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the DOJ on April 24, 2012. According to the documents JW received, a little-known DOJ unit called the Community Relations Service deployed to Sanford, FL to organize and manage rallies against Zimmerman. Among JW’s findings: •March 25 – 27, 2012, CRS spent $674.14 upon being “deployed to...

http://twitchy.com/2013/07/01/future-lawsuit-cnn-broadcasts-george-zimmermans-social-security-number/?utm_source=autotweet&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=twitter

The prosecution in the George Zimmerman murder case has asked a judge to prohibit testimony about shooting victim Trayvon Martin's personal life, including whether he had been suspended from school, used marijuana or been in a fight. The information is irrelevant and would prejudice a jury, the state contends in the motion, filed late Friday. The motion also asks the judge to disallow: •Screen names used by Trayvon on social media. •The fact that he wore or owned a set of gold teeth. •The contents of text messages received or sent by Trayvon before Feb. 26, the day he died....

MIAMI — George Zimmerman, who is charged with second-degree murder in the killing of Trayvon Martin, is all but certain to take his case directly to a jury on June 10 and skip a highly anticipated pretrial self-defense hearing, his lawyer said Tuesday. At a “Stand Your Ground” hearing, the judge is tasked with weighing whether to grant immunity from prosecution under a Florida law that gives people who believe they are in imminent danger of being killed or seriously hurt the benefit of the doubt to protect themselves. A defendant who claims self-defense in Florida has a right to...

Despite all the investigation, public outrage and scrutiny over the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, at least one major piece of evidence has not yet been thoroughly analyzed: his cellphone. Police found it at the scene the night Trayvon was shot, its battery dead. Authorities tried but failed to download data from the phone, then asked his father, Tracy Martin, for the security code so they could unlock it. They didn't get the code and turned the phone over to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. A crime-lab specialist there had only limited success accessing the messages, photos and other...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- It's the case that captured national attention: the neighborhood watchman vs. the unarmed teenager. Was it self-defense or second-degree murder? Now, just days before a big pre-trial hearing in the case against George Zimmerman, his defense team has dropped a bombshell, blasting State Attorney Angela Corey and her office. The defense says the state isn't releasing all its evidence, using words like "haphazard and cavalier" when describing the state's handling of the case. To get a little perspective on these allegations, we went to local defense attorney, Randy Reep. He said, "That allegation is concerning because you...

The lawyer for Trayvon Martin’s parents harshly criticized efforts by George Zimmerman’s attorneys to obtain the school records and Facebook information for the deceased 17-year-old high school student, saying they were irrelevant to the case. “Zimmerman’s lawyers are attempting to assassinate Trayvon Martin’s character,” said Benjamin Crump, in an interview with BET.com. “Whatever Trayvon had on his Facebook page or whatever was in his school records have nothing to do with why Zimmerman shot him.” Crump said he is seeking to obtain Zimmerman’s medical records. “The medical condition and medical history of George Zimmerman is far more relevant to the...

DEBATE MODERATORS ANNOUNCED: PBS Jim Lehrer, first Pres debate, Oct 3 Denver... CNN Candy Crowley, town hall, Oct 16, Hempsted LI... CBS Bob Schieffer, third Pres debate, Oct. 22, Boca Raton... ABC Martha Radditz, VP debate, Oct 11, Danville VA... FLASHBACK: CROWLEY: Some Think Ryan Pick 'Some Sort of Ticket Death Wish'..