Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar appeals Maine Supreme Court decision

Monday, June 13, in Penobscot Judicial Center, the Maine Supreme Court - well, minus three of the justices - heard a case on appeal by the Board of Overseers of the Maine Bar Association, which thinks that attorneys at the law firm Verrill Dana violated the Code of Professional Responsibility. The six attorneys let Attorney John Duncan continue practicing for months after being tipped (by a secretary at the firm) about the theft of client funds by Duncan.



Here are further details, from 2008 news stories.
And here's one from the Lewiston Sun Journal on December 18, 2010.

On December 29, 2010, Justice Don Alexander found that the Bar's allegations of violations of the Code by the attorneys at the law firm had not been proven. Alexander was apparently the sole justice who participated in the 2010 decision, which Scott Davis, the Board's attorney, has now asked the Maine Supreme Court to overturn. Click here or on the headline to read the story.

Maine Supreme Court hears 4th Amendment "traffic stop" case

The case was argued yesterday, June 15, 2011. It appears a Maine State Trooper, apparently investigating a noncriminal activity (speeding), stopped a motorcyclist to ask if he "had seen which way a driver in a red Pontiac the trooper suspected of speeding had gone." The man was evidently intoxicated, and was charged accordingly.

The incident took place three and a half years ago! The reason it took so long to get to this point is that the officer involved was soon after deployed to Iraq.  

I commented under the story.  

Custody battle apparently an issue in shooting which ends in four dead in Maine

Apparently the man who shot his wife and children was out on bail after holding his family hostage last June. Where's the speedy trial?

Steven Lake and his wife, Amy, a schoolteacher, had been sharing custody of their two children... until recently. Amy had a restraining order on her husband; police had been checking on her daily. Quoting from the story:

Investigators can't say for sure what pushed Steven Lake over the edge, Wright said, but a relative told The Associated Press that Lake was frustrated by an ongoing custody dispute and particularly upset at having to miss his son's eighth-grade graduation.

Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men and Women

Jan Brown sent me a link to her article; Jan was present in Penobscot Superior Court for the retrial of Vladek Filler, and wrote about the experience.  

Man shot by police - autopsy inconclusive on reason for death?

I heard that Maine's U.S. Senator Collins was supposed to be in Van Buren (about 12 miles from where I live) today for some event involving Border Patrol. I wanted to speak with her about their budget... cutting it, or maybe even eliminating it altogether would be best. So I was looking for information on that event when I came upon a story about a man who was shot one year ago by Maine State Trooper Robert Flynn. The border patrol agent who accompanied Flynn was not identified in that story; here it is. 

Fight Childhood Hunger

When school ends, many families struggle to feed children who had free or reduced breakfast and/or lunch at school. Click on the headline to sign a petition to help keep kids fed over the summer... I did! I'm placing the link in my "Petitions to sign" tab as well.

Constitution Lobby - state coordinators needed

I opened an email from We the People today. The group is working on getting a Constitution Lobby in each state. Click here to read about it, and here to find the contact people in your state.

County Grand Juries - members needed in all states!

From the County Grand Jury website, which you can get to by clicking on the headline above... 

While correcting the national wrongs is important, they are not the solution we are all looking for. Our focus must be applied at the local level where we can defeat the tyranny where it trickles down to us. 

http://www.countygrandjury.org/press%20release%2001.pdf

If you agree, join! In the right hand column, there's a link to a 1-page flyer, which you can print and share with others. Find a place to meet up if there is no group started in your county; place the date, time and location on the flyer and distribute it!

Update on Vladek Filler case

Filler was retried a few weeks ago, by a Hancock County jury and was found "not guilty" on two of the three charges which a jury in Hancock County in 2009 found him guilty of. Here are the latest news reports:

At Fathers and Families

At the Bangor Daily News

Caregiver harrassed by law enforcement

I recently spoke with Cynthia Joy Rosen, who was instrumental in the campaign to elect Paul LePage as governor. Last fall, after several months of surveillance, Cynthia's husband, Jon Steward, was the target of a search. He had begun growing medical marijuana after it became legal to do so in Maine. Here's the May 13, 2011 story, in which Cynthia describes how officers set up a potentially dangerous situation which could have ended much like the deadly shooting of a marine in Arizona a few weeks ago:  

"He could have grabbed a gun and gone out back to see why someone is on our property what's our dog barking at. So they set up a potentially lethal situation based on what? An alleged anonymous letter."

Click here to send a message to your legislators, to support bills that protect medical marijuana patients and growers.

U.S. Supreme Court orders prisoners released - California

The reason for the release is overcrowding. Chances are some will come to Maine, where a gun can be purchased privately without a hitch.

Marine returns home, and is killed by SWAT team!

In Tucson Arizona, a SWAT team shot a man while on a search for drugs in several homes in the neighborhood the man lived in. Jose Guerena was a former marine who had just returned home. Apparently unaware who was at his door, he grabbed his gun to protect his family, but never used it. 

Here's a petition to end the war on drugs. It ends soon; people from around the world have signed it. I'll post it to Facebook and try to get a few more.