Forensics Talk

Real Life Date Rape Case

Crime & Federalism

September 22, 2009

"The Hofstra Rape Hoax has people talking about date-rape all over again.  Emily Bazelon has some interesting commentary here.  Glenn Reynolds and Ann Althouse have some great comments here.  Let's not dwell on the abstract; let's look at the concrete.  Let's examine a real-life date-rape case.  (A defendant has consented to have his case details made available, though he does not want to be personally identified.)

In State v. Anonymous, the defendant went out drinking with the complaining witness (CW) and her best friend.  They drank most of the night.  Between the three of them, they drank less than 1/2 a bottle of Captain Morgan.  Around midnight, the defendant and CW had sex.

The defendant stayed overnight.  He left the next morning after the CW angrily told him to leave.  A review of police reports, private investigator reports, and medical reports revealed the following:

• The complaining witness' (CW's) best friend was in the room – and conscious – during the sexual intercourse. 
• The friend told police that she, "heard kissing noises"; did not hear any "screams"; or other "unusual sounds"; and said: "I would have done something if I had though there was anything wrong."
• The CW, depending upon whom she was talking to, testified: "I was passed out the entire time";  "I woke up but couldn’t move"; "I screamed"; "I tried fighting him off"; "I was in and out of consciousness"; '"I was kind of aware but not really."'  Read More

Domestic Violence Relationship Quiz

This self quiz is offered through the University of Ilinois Office of Women's Affairs:

   Relationship Quiz

• Do you feel nervous or fearful in your relationship?

•  Are you afraid of your partner's temper?

•  Do you have to be careful to control your behavior to avoid his/her anger? Do you feel like you are always “walking on eggshells”?

•  Are you afraid to say “No” to sex?

•  Do you feel powerless in your relationship?

•  Are you scared of disagreeing with him/her?

•  Are you afraid to break up with your partner?

•  Does s/he criticize you, or humiliate you in front of other people?

•  Does s/he check up on you or question you about what you do without him/her?

•  Does s/he act controlling?

•  Does s/he repeatedly and wrongly accuse you of seeing other guys/women?

•  Does s/he tell you that if you changed s/he wouldn't abuse you?

•  Does s/he act jealous of the time you spend with other people?

•  Does s/he make you feel like you are wrong, stupid, crazy, or inadequate?

•  Does s/he call you names?

•  Does s/he ignore your feelings?

•  Has s/he ridiculed your most valued beliefs, your religion, race, class or sexual preference?

•  Has s/he ever scared you with violence or threatening behavior?

•  Does s/he tell you what to wear, or how to do your hair?

•  Does s/he prevent you from going out or doing things you want to do?

•  Do you feel that, with him/her, nothing you do is ever good enough?

•  Does s/he say that s/he will kill or hurt themselves if you break up with him/her?

•  Does s/he make excuses for his/her abusive behavior by saying it's because of alcohol or drugs or because s/he can't control his/her temper, or that s/he was 'just joking'?

•  Does s/he hate spending time with your family and keep you from seeing your friends and family?

•  Does s/he withhold approval, appreciation or affection as punishment?

•  Has s/he manipulated you with lies?

•  Has s/he taken your car keys or money away?

•  Has s/he subjected you to reckless driving?

     If you answered yes to any of the questions above, you could be in an abusive relationship, or a relationship that could become abusive. Remember, we don't believe you deserve to be abused, no matter what. Together we CAN find a way...312.413.8206

Article

" Dr. George Hossfeld Comes After Medical Malpractice Lawyers... and My Family"

The Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog

by Roland V. Miller, Jr.

re-printed with permission of Roland V. Miller, Jr.

September 11, 2009

" I had a great morning this morning. I arrived excited and ready to attack the day. This was the email in my in-box:

name: George Hossfeld

email: EmrgncyMD@[withheld]

phone: ___________________

Interested In: You obviously do not have a clue re the mind of a doctor. We are ethical, moral and exist to help patients. You are immoral, unethical, and whores to the dollar. I hope your family needs a doctor and one is not there because vermin like you have driven them away

.

Let's start with the petty. We have a guy whose email address is his job as an emergency room doctor. Proves nothing. But it does make you wonder if Dr. Hossfeld is just a little too excited about being Mr. Doctor. People like that scare me. I'm not a fan of summarizing my life in an email address or a bumper sticker. If I did, it would have the names of my family and friends on it and that would be too long to type.

Let's move on from the petty to the substantive because I certainly could be reading too much into an email address. We have four sentences, so let's break them down and overanalyze them to get ready for the NFL pre-game shows on Sunday. We will leave out the "hysterical laughter at every attempt at a joke from everyone in the studio" part:

"You obviously do not have a clue re the mind of a doctor. . . "

 

I think I have a pretty good feel for the mind of a doctor. This might be outlandish and heresy to you, Dr. Hossfeld, but I'm assuming it is similar to the mind of lawyers, plumbers, farmers, and Indian chiefs. You have some that are really good, decent people whose primary focus is their patients, their clients, the people who are eating their food, and the well being of the tribe. And you have some folks that are pretty self absorbed and focus only on themselves. I don't think any one profession has better people than any other profession. I've got three kids and I'd like them all to be doctors. But if they become plumbers, I won't think they are any more or less righteous or decent.

"We are ethical, moral and exist to help patients"

All of you? Really? Funny, I was looking at the highest paid professions in the United States and the highest salaries all go to doctors. Dr. Andrew Weil said last night on Larry King that the problem in health care is doctors going around chasing money and running medical practices like a business. You know what? I think Dr. Weil is wrong about this. I think most doctors put their patients first but also want to earn a handsome salary in the process. My opinion is that most doctors have earned exactly that. But what is your salary, Dr. Hossfeld? If I had the energy, I would get on-line and find out what you paid for your house. But let me guess: it is nice. Why not sell the McMansion and give it to the neediest patients for whom you "exist?"

"You are immoral, unethical, and whores to the dollar."

Is it the ecumenical "you" or do you mean me personally? I hate to drag anyone else into this, but I hope you mean medical malpractice lawyers or personal injury lawyers and not just me. Wait, I just noticed you say "whores" as opposed to "whore." You must mean all medical malpractice lawyers. Inexplicably, this realization brightens up my day a bit. I'm easy.

"I hope your family needs a doctor and one is not there because vermin like you have driven them away."

Is Dr. George Hossfeld Joe Wilson's smarter and more mature cousin? I've got a sweet wife and three wonderful kids under four years-old who have nothing to do with medical malpractice law or anything else. You wish ill on them because of my political views on medical malpractice lawsuits? Are you kidding me? I would not wish that on my worst enemy (my high school baseball coach gets that nod, but that is a subject for a different day). But the disconnect between a doctor who exists for his patients and someone who would wish ill on a person's children... let's just move on and pretend that you really don't mean it.

I thought I would take a crazy shot in the dark and Google "George Hossfeld" and "medical malpractice." Turns out, Dr. Hossfeld has been the subject of a medical malpractice lawsuit that caused him "six days of humiliation and accusations." What were the chances?

Dr. Hossfeld wrote about this experience, calling it "criminal" to be made the subject of a malpractice trial with everyday people - like you and me - on the jury as opposed to fellow doctors. How dare non-doctors attempt to weigh the evidence - which certainly included the testimony of a fellow doctor who said he committed malpractice - and think they could render an opinion on Dr. Hossfeld? "No one should have the right to judge our performance except ourselves," he writes.

I wonder if Dr. Hossfeld applies this "only we judge us" rule to lawyers, plumbers, farmers and Indian chiefs. I'm guessing only doctors have earned this special privilege, this end run around the law the rest of us have been following for the last 400 years.

I've written before about the arrogance in which most of us hold our opinions on the issues of our day. On medical malpractice, I feel very strongly in the right to bring a medical malpractice lawsuit before a jury when someone believes - supported by another medical doctor - that a serious injury or death has resulted from negligent medical care. But I also know that there are people smarter than I am who disagree with me. So if I'm blessed to go to Heaven one day and God tells me that medical malpractice lawsuits in fact were not efficacious to overall patient health and justice (note: this probably won't be my first question), I'll be surprised but not shocked. But I would be shocked if God told me that this email from George Hossfeld was anything other than mean spirited and just plain wrong. 

 by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

name: George Hossfeld

email: EmrgncyMD@[withheld]

phone: ___________________

Interested In: You obviously do not have a clue re the mind of a doctor. We are ethical, moral and exist to help patients. You are immoral, unethical, and whores to the dollar. I hope your family needs a doctor and one is not there because vermin like you have driven them away

.

Let's start with the petty. We have a guy whose email address is his job as an emergency room doctor. Proves nothing. But it does make you wonder if Dr. Hossfeld is just a little too excited about being Mr. Doctor. People like that scare me. I'm not a fan of summarizing my life in an email address or a bumper sticker. If I did, it would have the names of my family and friends on it and that would be too long to type.

Let's move on from the petty to the substantive because I certainly could be reading too much into an email address. We have four sentences, so let's break them down and overanalyze them to get ready for the NFL pre-game shows on Sunday. We will leave out the "hysterical laughter at every attempt at a joke from everyone in the studio" part:

"You obviously do not have a clue re the mind of a doctor. . . "

 

I think I have a pretty good feel for the mind of a doctor. This might be outlandish and heresy to you, Dr. Hossfeld, but I'm assuming it is similar to the mind of lawyers, plumbers, farmers, and Indian chiefs. You have some that are really good, decent people whose primary focus is their patients, their clients, the people who are eating their food, and the well being of the tribe. And you have some folks that are pretty self absorbed and focus only on themselves. I don't think any one profession has better people than any other profession. I've got three kids and I'd like them all to be doctors. But if they become plumbers, I won't think they are any more or less righteous or decent.

"We are ethical, moral and exist to help patients"

All of you? Really? Funny, I was looking at the highest paid professions in the United States and the highest salaries all go to doctors. Dr. Andrew Weil said last night on Larry King that the problem in health care is doctors going around chasing money and running medical practices like a business. You know what? I think Dr. Weil is wrong about this. I think most doctors put their patients first but also want to earn a handsome salary in the process. My opinion is that most doctors have earned exactly that. But what is your salary, Dr. Hossfeld? If I had the energy, I would get on-line and find out what you paid for your house. But let me guess: it is nice. Why not sell the McMansion and give it to the neediest patients for whom you "exist?"

"You are immoral, unethical, and whores to the dollar."

Is it the ecumenical "you" or do you mean me personally? I hate to drag anyone else into this, but I hope you mean medical malpractice lawyers or personal injury lawyers and not just me. Wait, I just noticed you say "whores" as opposed to "whore." You must mean all medical malpractice lawyers. Inexplicably, this realization brightens up my day a bit. I'm easy.

"I hope your family needs a doctor and one is not there because vermin like you have driven them away."

Is Dr. George Hossfeld Joe Wilson's smarter and more mature cousin? I've got a sweet wife and three wonderful kids under four years-old who have nothing to do with medical malpractice law or anything else. You wish ill on them because of my political views on medical malpractice lawsuits? Are you kidding me? I would not wish that on my worst enemy (my high school baseball coach gets that nod, but that is a subject for a different day). But the disconnect between a doctor who exists for his patients and someone who would wish ill on a person's children... let's just move on and pretend that you really don't mean it.

I thought I would take a crazy shot in the dark and Google "George Hossfeld" and "medical malpractice." Turns out, Dr. Hossfeld has been the subject of a medical malpractice lawsuit that caused him "six days of humiliation and accusations." What were the chances?

Dr. Hossfeld wrote about this experience, calling it "criminal" to be made the subject of a malpractice trial with everyday people - like you and me - on the jury as opposed to fellow doctors. How dare non-doctors attempt to weigh the evidence - which certainly included the testimony of a fellow doctor who said he committed malpractice - and think they could render an opinion on Dr. Hossfeld? "No one should have the right to judge our performance except ourselves," he writes.

I wonder if Dr. Hossfeld applies this "only we judge us" rule to lawyers, plumbers, farmers and Indian chiefs. I'm guessing only doctors have earned this special privilege, this end run around the law the rest of us have been following for the last 400 years.

I've written before about the arrogance in which most of us hold our opinions on the issues of our day. On medical malpractice, I feel very strongly in the right to bring a medical malpractice lawsuit before a jury when someone believes - supported by another medical doctor - that a serious injury or death has resulted from negligent medical care. But I also know that there are people smarter than I am who disagree with me. So if I'm blessed to go to Heaven one day and God tells me that medical malpractice lawsuits in fact were not efficacious to overall patient health and justice (note: this probably won't be my first question), I'll be surprised but not shocked. But I would be shocked if God told me that this email from George Hossfeld was anything other than mean spirited and just plain wrong. 

 by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Sacred Hope Manager Admits $6.5M Medicare Fraud Conspiracy

FraudBlawg  

September 7, 2009

" Last week, DoJ announced the guilty plea of Lil Vargas-Arias, a Detroit-area healthcare professional, to conspiracy to falsify medical records, pay kickbacks to patients not referred by their primary physician, and fraudulently bill Medicare approximately $6,577,899 for unnecessary treatments and treatments that were never performed. Vargas-Arias was one of more than fifty individuals indicted in June in a Medicare Fraud roundup reported by FraudBlawg. She will be sentenced on Feb 11, 2010, and faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. "

Alabama Woman Pleads Guilty to Health Care Fraud

September 15, 2009

" Further demonstrating her commitment to fighting healthcare fraud, U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance announced today the guilty plea of Kimberly Perrin to healthcare fraud, wire fraud, and tax fraud involving nearly $1.2 million embezzled from the Simon-Williamson Clinic in Birmingham, Alabama. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lloyd Peeples — who has been responsible for the office’s most high-profile healthcare convictions and settlements in recent years — prosecuted the case. This is the third healthcare fraud victory since Vance was confirmed by the Senate as United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama and the fourth in an investigation led by Peeples this year alone, following the record civil settlement with SouthernCare Hospice in January. In cooperation with Frohsin & Barger through a qui tam whistleblower lawsuit filed by the firm, Peeples uncovered the largest hospice fraud in U.S. history and secured the largest qui tam settlement ever in Alabama, recovering nearly $25 million in taxpayer funds."

 

Two Plead Guilty to Health Care Fraud Conspiracy, Identity Theft

August 30, 2009

" Issac Earl Smith and Annetra Poole-Moore have agreed to plead guilty to aggravated identity theft, HIPAA violations, and conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama Joyce Vance announced Friday. The two used Moore’s position as a UnitedHealthcare, Inc. claims representative to obtain names and personal information of individuals eligible for the prescription drug benefit offered by the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan (FEHBP) administered through UnitedHealthcare. Smith, Moore, and others forged prescriptions using the stolen information and presented them at pharmacies to obtain controlled substances, which were then billed to FEHBP. Assistant United States Attorney Lloyd Peeples is prosecuting the case."

 

Lawyers and the First Amendment

Crime & Federalism

September 13, 2009

" Two Pennsylvania judges sold children into slavery in the infamous Cash-4-Kids scam.  By law, lawyers who appeared before those corrupt judges were not allowed to stop the human trafficking. Why do judges put self-interest above the public interest?

Suspicious things happen in courtrooms across the country. In one Pennsylvania juvenile court, two judges would send children to juvenile prisons when 99% of other judges would have issued probation as the strongest sanction. There wasn’t a lawyer who appeared before these judges who did not realize that the only explanation was corruption. Had any of these lawyers spoken out, they would have lost their ability to earn a living.

Unlike the rest of the public, lawyers have limited First Amendment rights. A lawyer may not demean judges, or lessen the public’s trust in the judiciary. The New York Times and Gasmo: For the Defense have excellent anecdotes.  Thus, even true statements are sancionable.

In once case, a lawyer called a judge a “evil witch.” The lawyer was reprimanded. Later, that same judge was suspended from the bench for being – you guessed it – an evil with. The lawyer spoke truth to power. That earned him a six-month break from the law. . . " Read More

Pottawattamie County v. McGhee: Fabricating Evidence is All in a Day's Work

Crime & Federalism   

September 14, 2009

" In Pottawattamie County v. McGhee, the Supreme Court will decide whether a prosecutor should be entitled to absolute immunity from suit for "obtaining, manufacturing, coercing and fabricating evidence before filing formal charges."  Absolute immunity from suit, in the context of civil rights cases means this: Even if the prosecutor fabricated evidence, he may not be sued.  

Pottawattamie County has not received the attention is deserves, primarily because it involves intricate questions of Section 1983 law.  In one Law.com article, however, we get to hear a prosecutor's take on Pottawattamie County.

One of the people who joined a slippery and dishonest amicus brief (which we discussed here), said:

"Every prosecutor makes decisions every day that somebody could just go ahead and file a lawsuit over. If there is no immunity…anyone with a filing fee can sue, whether their case is meritorious or not," said James Fox, chairman of the National District Attorneys Association.

This is one of those things we call lawyer's lies.  Fox's words are literally true; but in context, they are false. . . "  Read More

Eyewitness Identification Remains Unreliable

Crime & Federalism

September 16, 2009

" What is the leading cause of wrongful convictions?  It's an easy answer: Unreliable eyewitness identification.  Most of us think that most eyewitness testimony is reliable.  Wanna bet your life on it?

Associate Professor Dr Kimberley Wade from the Department of Psychology led an experiment to see whether exposure to fabricated footage of an event could induce individuals to accuse another person of doing something they never did.

In the study, published in Applied Cognitive Psychology, Dr Wade found that almost 50% of people shown fake footage of an event they witnessed first hand were prepared to believe the video version rather than what they actually saw. . . "

Not surprising but still demoralizing.  Details here.

Associate Professor Dr Kimberley Wade from the Department of Psychology led an experiment to see whether exposure to fabricated footage of an event could induce individuals to accuse another person of doing something they never did.

In the study, published in Applied Cognitive Psychology, Dr Wade found that almost 50% of people shown fake footage of an event they witnessed first hand were prepared to believe the video version rather than what they actually saw. . . "

Not surprising but still demoralizing.  Details here.

Hofstra Gang Rape Hoax, and Feminism's War Against Men

Crime & Federalism

Hofstra had its own Duke Lacrosse Case:

"The student who alleged she was gang raped by five men inside a Hofstra University dormitory bathroom on Sunday has admitted to making the entire story, the Nassau County District Attorney's office confirmed on Wednesday night.

Who is this woman who falsely accused four men of rape? They story doesn't say! The false rape complainant who had four innocent men jailed, must have her privacy protected. She is thus identified as "the student," "the accuser," or "the woman." How about giving us her name?

The story does, however, name the wrongly accused:

 The four men, Hofstra student [redacted by Mike] had been charged with five counts of first-degree rape.

Wonderful! How awesome it must be for those four men, for the rest of their lives, to have to explain to people who Google their names, that they really didn't gang rape someone. Awesome first-date and job-interview topics. Meanwhile, the woman who had the men imprisoned for three days while the D.A. investigated the case, remains anonymous.

The story gets better: 

As of late Wednesday night, the district attorney had not decided whether to press charges against the woman. A press conference will be held Thursday morning.

What is there to decide?  If I kept a woman in a dungeon for three days, I'd face serious felonies.  The false accuser had four men kept in jail for three days.  What is the difference?  It's false imprisonment.

Stories like this remind me why I'm no longer a feminist. Feminists do not want equality: They want to oppress. . . " Read More

PI Community Observes National Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Criminal Justice Online  

September 18, 2009  

  Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster, LAPD (ret.) at 9:52 AM

" API Community Leaders and Organizations Join Campaign & Call Attention to the Effects of Domestic Violence on Youth

   San Gabriel, CA – To mark National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the Asian and Pacific Islander (API) Domestic Violence Task Force announces its fifth annual training event to call attention to the issues of domestic violence in the API community with special emphasis on the effects of domestic violence on youth. The training will be held on October 1st, at the Asian Youth Center, 100 W. Clary Avenue, San Gabriel, CA, beginning with a Press Conference at 9:30 am.

“There is no other crime that impacts society on so large a scale and so thoroughly devastates families as does domestic violence in all its forms. People hear ‘domestic violence’ and they think, ‘it’s between two adults,’ but it is not,” said Maria Foster, Chair of the API DV Task Force. “The courts are heavily burdened with aggressors who inflict pain and injury on their intimate partners. . . " Read More

Town Seethes After Cops Shock Man in Parade

MSNBC

Associated Press

  Police use Taser on 76-year-old in a dispute about where to end procession

GLENROCK, Wyo. - " Grose seemed like the last person who should attract the attention of police when the 76-year-old retiree hopped on his antique tractor and rumbled through the annual parade in this small Wyoming town.

But what was supposed to be a day of fun at an end-of-summer festival ended abruptly when police shot Grose with a Taser in a dispute about where to end the parade route.

The incident nearly incited a riot as outraged neighbors rushed to his defense. Now residents of this tight-knit town of 2,400 are seething over what they see as police brutality, and town officials are scrambling to ease the tension. . . " Read More

Excavation Produces Ties between Egypt’s First Dynasty and Ancient Israeli Site

Biblical Archaeology Review

   "The second season of excavations at Tel Bet Yerah (Khirbet el-Kerak), on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, yielded a very impressive find: A four centimetre-long portion of a stone plaque engraved with archaic Egyptian symbols, possibly dating to 3,000 B.C.E. The image on the plaque, which depicts a hand holding onto a sceptre decorated with an early form of the ankh symbol—an Egyptian hieroglyph for ‘eternal life’—has intrigued the collaborating team of University College London and Tel Aviv University archaeologists.

The discovery is the first of its kind to be uncovered outside of Egypt. It is believed to date to the period when the earliest kings began their rule over ancient Egypt. Other finds from the site, including structures and ceramics, have led archaeologists to conclude that there was an influence between Egyptian culture and the region of Israel so long ago."

Tel Aviv University reports on the new evidence for relations with Egypt’s First Dynasty at Tel Bet Yerah.

Criminal Justice Online

 Thursday, August 27, 2009

     "The third annual National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims will be observed on Friday, September 25, 2009. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), and hosted by the National Organization of Parents Of Murdered Children, Inc. (POMC), in partnership with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and the Maryland Crime Victims’ Resource Center (MCVRC), this special observance honors the memory of homicide victims and acknowledges the resulting long-term trauma for families, communities, and the Nation. . . " Read More