Justice for All?

Two recent, widely-reported cases regarding child molestation have left legal observers scratching the heads and wondering whether some Judges have lost touch with reality.

Take the case of Mahamu Kanneh, an immigrant who received political asylum in the U.S. after fleeing Liberia. He was charged with repeatedly raping and molesting a 7 year-old girl. However, Judge Katherine Savage of Montgomery County, Maryland, dismissed the charges against the accused after granting the defense's "speedy trial" motion wherein they argued that the case had been inexcusably delayed as a result of the court system's failure to obtain an interpreter for the defendant, who purportedly is only fluent in his native West African language. Representatives of the Court system admitted that they could not find an interpreter after diligently searching for one.

Interestingly, however, the defendant attended an American high school and an American community college. And when contacted telephonically by a reporter at his home, the defendant denied the allegations against him and stated that the dismissal of the charges was "a good thing." When asked if the charges were true, he said, "I said what I had to say" before hanging up.

And a member of the media had no problem finding local interpreters fluent in Kannah's native language.

The next case is worse. Lincoln, Nebraska Judge Kristine Cecava sentenced convicted 50-year-old child molester Richard Thompson - who was accused of raping a 12-year-old girl - to no jail time because he was too short, and the judge felt that he would therefore be abused behind bars (He is 5'1" tall). So now, Thompson is walking the streets among us and serving probation, rather than doing hard time. Jim Hedley - the Editor of the Sidney Sun-Telegraph, a local newspaper - was in attendance in Court during the Judge's ruling, and thought the Judge was joking. "We just cannot believe that this has happened," he stated.

The Kannah case demonstrates that some cases do fall through the cracks. What I'm wondering is, why is it not Kanneh's responsibility to obtain his own interpreter? Is English not the language of this country? Why should the taxpayers be burdened with this responsibility?

Either way, I suppose the taxpayers pay - financially, by funding an interpreter, or socially, with Kannah walking the streets as a free man.

Just ask Richard Thompson.

Follow these Instructions

I've seen an increase in my law practice of divorce cases where a spouse is caught red-handed having an affair. Not in the usual come-home-from-work early and find your spouse with someone else way; instead it's those darn cell phones that blow the whistle on an unfaithful spouse. The most common occurence: a bar-room chat with a paramour, picked up on a cell phone that inadvertently dialed the cheater's home phone while it's innocently sitting in the cheater's pocket.

My advice to clients: Make your life simpler and happier, and don't cheat. My back-up advice: if you do cheat, then for God's sake, turn off your cell phone.

Now, however, I have an update on that advice: Turn off your cell phone AND remove the battery.

According to reports, the United States Government has a new eavesdropping tool that permits them to listen in to your private conversations through your cell phone - EVEN IF YOU AREN'T TALKING ON IT. The key to this technology is the phone's Global Positioning Sattellite Receiver, which evidently not only can annouce to the government where you are, but can also activate your cell phone's internal microphone - even if the phone is turned off. As long as the battery is in the cell phone, whether the phone is on or off, your private moments may in fact not be so private because your phone's microphone can send your conversation to whomever has the means to listen.

This new surveillance techique, referred to as a "roving bug", was exposed in a recent United States District Court decision authored by District Judge Lewis Kaplan.

If you live a clean life, don't break the law, and do nothing in private that you wouldn't mind seeing on the front page of the newspaper, then, by all means, feel free to disregard my advice.

If, however, you aren't one of the 1/2 of 1% who fall within that category: You have been warned.