Lead Story
Government in Action
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A California appeals court ruled in December that a lawyer had been denied a fair opportunity to argue his case at a zoning hearing before the Los Angeles city council. A videotape of the hearing showed that while the lawyer and other parties addressed the council, most members were on the phone, talking among themselves, or wandering around the room. In ordering a second hearing the court concluded that due process required the council members to pay attention.
In December in Durham, North Carolina, Robert D. Johnson was sentenced to 15 years in prison for shooting off the penis of a man who, according to prosecutors, was trying to quit the gang he and Johnson belonged to. After hearing that the bullet passed through the victim’s leg before hitting his penis, the jury rejected a charge of malicious castration and instead found Johnson guilty of nonmalicious castration.
Least Competent Criminals
In December a wheel, glowing hot from an overheated bearing, came off a semi traveling on Interstate 84 near Hazelton, Idaho, rolled across a frontage road, and burst into the home of Charisse Stevenson, setting it ablaze. According to a report in the Twin Falls Times-News, Stevenson moved the burning wheel out of her way, scooped up her son (who weighs nearly as much as she does), and carried him to safety. Afterward Stevenson was found to be unable to lift either the wheel or her son.
