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Tag: felony

  • Vegas Bird Death May Bar Young Man From Practicing Law

    A bird death in Las Vegas back in 2012 had a lot of people up in arms over animal cruelty. Now the main individual responsible has finally been sentenced.

    Justin Alexander Teixeira, a 25-year-old Berkeley law student, was sentenced to up to four years of probation and community service at an animal shelter for killing an exotic helmeted guineafowl in 2012. According to the report, Teixeira and two others were chasing the guineafowl in a wildlife area of Las Vegas when he grabbed the bird and tore its head off. It was said that he intoxicated at the time.

    At his sentencing, Teixeira was reportedly sorry for what he had done. He referred to the incident as the “worst moment of [his] life” and that “if there was anything [he] could do to undo it, [he] would.” Despite his remorse, the judge wasn’t going to let him reduce his sentence even further that it already had been. He pleaded guilty to one felony charge of killing another person’s animal in May 2013 to avoid jail time. He also completed a 190-day prison boot camp sentence. While he has avoided the jail time, the judge said that he will have to do community service at an animal shelter for the duration of his probation.

    While Teixeira got off relatively easy, his future may still be in jeopardy. While he was at the prison boot camp, he had also passed the California bar exam. To be a lawyer in the state, one must only have a misdemeanor on their record. With a felony, it would be impossible to practice law. If he complete his probation without any problems, he could ask for his felony to be reduced to a misdemeanor. Doing so would allow him to practice law, but it remains to be seen if the judge will be so lenient.

    As for the other two men who were with Teixeira on the night of the bird’s death, they both pleaded guilty last year to misdemeanor charges. They were fined and had to complete some community service.

    [h/t: Reuters]
    Image via Fox 5 KVVU-TV

  • Lil’ Za (Justin Bieber’s Pal) Gets Charged With Drug Possession

    Justin Bieber’s pal Lil’ Za was charged on Friday with three felony crimes, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office. The charges come two weeks after Beiber’s Calabasas mansion was raided by police. Police claim they raided the house after receiving a call that Bieber and his friends pelted his neighbor’s home with eggs.

    The 20-year-old Lil’ Za, whose real name is Xavier Smith, was charged with two counts of felony possession of a controlled substance, and vandalism for allegedly breaking a phone at the Sheriff’s jail. Za spent less than a day at the Sheriff’s Station and was released on bail.

    While doing a search at Bieber’s home, police found MDMA, the drug commonly known as Ecstasy. They also found Oxycodone, a prescription painkiller also known as OxyContin. Both drugs were said to belong to Lil Za. According to TMZ, Za could face a maximum jail sentence of nine years in prison if convicted. A court hearing has been scheduled for Feb. 4 in Van Nuys, California.

    Shortly after being released from police custody Lil’ Za took to Twitter to vent his frustration.

    “Honestly, the media is making me someone I’m not,” he wrote. “But only those in my shoes can relate. … These ppl get paid to make you look bad. Some stuff I’ve done has been wrong yes, but look at the position I’m in and the color of my skin. Cocaine? Really? All this time I was home in tx nobody gave a f–k about what Za was doing…soon as he gets to La he’s all over the news.”

    Za’s Twitter account has since been deleted.

    Bieber, however,  was “not connected” to the substance found in his home according to police statements.  His egg throwing incident did cause more than $20,000 worth of damages, which is considered a felony.

    Besides the “egging” incident and his friend’s felony charges, Bieber managed to find himself in more hot water. Just last week he was arrested for a DUI in Miami Beach. Bieber was also charged with resisting arrest and driving with an expired license. Then on Wednesday, the Canadian singer was also charged with assaulting a limousine driver in Toronto.

    http://youtu.be/KGdSRbqIsLA

    Image via YouTube

  • Cops Find Disgusting Cat Torture Dungeon In Texas

    Cops Find Disgusting Cat Torture Dungeon In Texas

    (Warning: This article contains descriptions of animal cruelty)

    In Santa Fe, Texas, a narcotics investigation that ended Friday had police finding more than what they were looking for; sub-human treatment by “humans” to animals.

    On Friday afternoon in the 4000 block of Avenue N1/2 in Santa Fe, police executed a warrant and raided the house of 39-year old Brian Anthony Cheek, and his wife, 38-year-old Veronica Lynn Springer with the intention of finding drugs, according to Galveston Daily News. During the search, detectives found roughly nine grams of crystal methamphetamine, a scale of which to measure the drugs, packaging materials for sales, and a stolen all-terrain vehicle (ATV) valued at $14,000.

    Unfortunately, as the search went on, investigators later found a grueling and morbid discovery: 20 dead cats, ranging from kittens to fully grown mature cats. Police stated that the dead cats had all appeared to undergo various forms of torture before their demise.

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    Investigators stated that there was evidence of blunt force trauma, disemboweling, strangulation, and burning as well as evidence of cats being burned. One of the murdered felines was found in a box in the bed of Cheek’s truck.

    Galveston County Sheriff’s Office Animal Cruelty investigators picked up the remains of many of the cats which will be later examined by necropsy, thus finding out the actual causes of the cats’ death.

    Cheek already had a history of felony charges for violating parole, but he is now charged with the first-degree felony of manufacturing and delivering controlled substances. Yesterday, Cheek was held on a $300,000 bond. As the investigation continues, felony charges related to animal cruelty and theft are expected to be imposed on Cheek, as well as his wife Springer.

    Springer was charged with possession of controlled substances; her bond was set at $20,000. ‘

    Sgt. Eric Bruss of the Santa Fe police declined to provide any additional information surround the animals, including whether or not any of them had tags or signs of ownership.

    Santa Fe police were assisted by the GCSO Special Crimes Unit, GCSO Auto Crimes Task Force, Galveston County I.D. and the Galveston County District Attorney’s Office.

    Here’s to more laws and penalties imposed on those who torture helpless beings, no?

    (Images via Santa Fe Police, Wikicommons)

  • Gucci Mane Indicted: Rapper Could Get 20 Years For Gun Possession

    Rapper Gucci Mane has been indicted by a federal court on charges of possessing a firearm. ABC reports that the rapper possessed guns on two different occasions in September and threatened a police officer according to U.S. attorney’s office in Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta. The rapper whose real name is Radric Davis, was indicted on November 19 by a federal grand jury.

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    Prosecutors said that Davis was found with a gun on September 12 and another gun on September 14. The prosecutors further said that the 33-year-old rapper acted erratically on both occasions and threatened people with the guns.

    “On September 12 this year, Davis, who was a felon at the time, was found in possession of a firearm,” the prosecutor said. “Then, just two days later, on September 14th, he again possessed a firearm different from the earlier gun. On both occasions, Davis displayed the loaded firearm, acted erratically, and made threats to individuals, including police and his attorney.”

    Davis was taken into police custody after he became agitated and threatened people. “This is how people get hurt, and we are committed to ensuring that convicted felons not have guns,” U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said.

    Drew Findling, the rapper’s lawyer, said that he will decide on what action to take after reviewing information in the case.

    According to the indictment, Davis pleaded no contest to two felony charges of assault with a deadly weapon in October. Davis was also convicted in 2005 for being in possession of marijuana.

    In the same year, Davis was charged with murder but the charges were dropped because of insufficient evidence. In 2010 he was again arrested for violating traffic laws but the charges were dropped as well. Earlier this year, he was arrested after he hit a man over the head with a bottle.

    Each charge of  possession of a firearm as a convicted felon comes with up to 10 years of prison time  and up to $250,000 in fines. Gucci allegedly possessed two firearms. If convicted of gun possession the ‘Servin‘ rapper could be serving a maximum of 20 years behind bars.


    (mugshot via Pinterest, main image via YouTube)

  • Commerce Department Recommends Congress Bring Back A Part Of SOPA

    Commerce Department Recommends Congress Bring Back A Part Of SOPA

    I think we can all agree that SOPA was no good. The legislation would have done extensive damage to the Internet and free speech all in the name of stopping piracy. One of the more troubling parts of the legislation would have criminalized “unauthorized streaming.” It’s a good thing SOPA was killed off, right?

    SOPA may be dead, but the Department of Commerce’s Internet Policy Task Force recently released a report that recommends Congress bring back the part of SOPA that would have made “unauthorized streaming” a felony. Their reasoning is that streaming is just as important as physical media is to content creators so the unauthorized reproduction of the former should be met with the same punishments as the latter. In short, the Commerce Department is saying that streaming an episode of Game of Thrones outside of HBO Go is the same thing as selling a bootleg DVD of Game of Thrones.

    You can probably already see why this is a bad idea. Previous bills and provisions that concern online streaming have been so ambiguously worded that they could conceivably be used to punish people who upload YouTube videos of themselves singing over their favorite songs. In fact, one bill – the Commercial Felony Streaming Act – from Sen. Amy Klobuchar met with stiff resistance from none other than Justin Bieber. He famously said that Klobuchar “needs to be locked up” after being told about the bill.

    Now, it should be said that it’s hard to imagine any piece of legislation being used to go after regular people uploading videos of themselves jamming out to their favorite songs on YouTube. What does raise concern are the people who upload clips from movies and television shows. YouTube already has a competent ContentID matching program in place to remove these unauthorized streams from the service. It’s ridiculous to think that some people in Washingon and Hollywood think this isn’t enough, and are demanding that these people be thrown behind bars.

    What makes this all especially troubling is that the Obama administration, of which the Commerce department is a part of, has effectively flip-flopped on its stance regarding SOPA. In last year’s Annual Report on Intellectual Property Enforcement, the administration said that it stood against any legislation that “reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk (including authority to tamper with the DNS system), or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.” I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but cracking down on streaming, even if it’s unauthorized, would undermine the “dynamic, innovative global Internet” by making people scared to invest in or use streaming services for fear of being locked up.

    Maybe Congress and Hollywood should start seeing the real reason behind unauthorized streaming – a lack of official monetized services. Sure, we have Hulu, Netflix, HBO Go and others, but some of them (i.e. HBO Go) make it incredibly hard to appreciate their efforts since it requires a cable subscription. Consumers need a simple, catch-all service that delivers everything they want. It’s worked wonders for the music industry, and now Hollywood has to follow suit.

    Besides, how else is Bieber going to watch his favorite UFC fights?

    [h/t: Washington Post]

  • Russell Brand to Fight Felony Charges

    We first reported that Russell Brand was taken in on two misdemeanor charges in connection with an incident in which Brand threw a paparazzo’s iPhone through a window.

    TMZ is now reporting Brand has been charged with a felony. In Louisiana, damage to property in excess of $500 dollars is considered a felony. Police are saying the damage caused by Brand totalled $700.

    Prosecutors must decide to go forward with felony charges or bump them down to a misdemeanor. In the meantime, Brand has hired high profile New Orleans lawyer Robert Glass in defense.

    According to sources at TMZ, Brand will claim he was provoked by the paparazzi. He will also claim that the damages were not $700, since he paid $240 to fix the window, and damage to the iPhone was minor.

    If guilty, the felony charge carries a penalty of a maximum of 2 years in prison. Brand was released last Thursday on $5,000 bond.

    Brand, famously, had this to say about the incident:

    (image)@rustyrockets
    Russell Brand    Since Steve Jobs died I cannot bear to see anyone use an iphone irreverently, what I did was a tribute to his memory.(image) 1 hour ago via Twitter for iPhone ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto