Detroit police involvement in accidental shooting death of 7-year-old girl must lead to changes
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on May 26th, 2010
Police departments across the nation can learn lessons from this tragedy There's no argument to the idea that police officers obviously have incredibly difficult, complex jobs. They have to deal in the pressure of the moment with unpredictable, dangerous and violent suspects who commit crimes. Sometimes, they can't instantly recognize who the bad guys are and who the good guys are. Every day, they also have to deal with people who have been victimized by...
Update: U.S. Supreme Court makes the right decision by banning teen life sentences without parole in non-murder cases
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on May 21st, 2010
Back in November, we wrote here that sentencing juvenile offenders to life in prison without any chance for parole is cruel and unusual punishment and should be outlawed when their crimes don't include murder. Across our nation in non-homicide cases, 129 teens are serving life sentences without parole, including 77 in Florida, according to a story in The Wall Street Journal. No teens in Pennsylvania are serving such sentences. In cases that do involve murder,...
Is cursing a crime, or is it free speech?
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on May 13th, 2010
Imagine you are driving in traffic on a public street and another driver cuts you off. Imagine going to a sporting event and watching a player on your favorite team doing something that really irks you, like dropping a ball. Or imagine walking down a street on the sidewalk and having an outrageously loud vehicle drive by, disturbing the peace. How would you react to any of these scenarios? You might angrily yell something out,...
Bad cops: When the police can’t be trusted, we are all endangered
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on May 12th, 2010
It is one of the nightmares of a free society when bad cops break their oaths and crush the very laws they are sworn to uphold. That's what happened recently in Camden, N.J., when one Camden police officer pleaded guilty in March to federal conspiracy charges. According to reports in The Philadelphia Inquirer, the officer and at least four of his fellow officers "planted evidence and threatened suspects with arrest if they did not provide...
Toxins in former N.J. child day care center are a reminder for parents to be vigilant
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on May 5th, 2010
It's a nightmare for any parent, but sadly it is all too real – a Gloucester County, N.J., children's day care center was closed in January 2006 after it was found to contain levels of potentially toxic mercury vapors that were 27 times acceptable levels inside the building. Somehow the building that housed the former Kiddie Kollege day care center was located on a site formerly used by a thermometer factory where there had been...
Drivers beware: What it means for you now that the Philadelphia police will no longer respond to minor traffic accidents
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on May 3rd, 2010
For years, if you were involved in a traffic accident in Philadelphia – even a minor fender-bender – you could call the police and they would respond with an officer who would produce an accident report. That was a good thing. It provided details of the accident, an officer's hand-drawn illustration of the accident scene, full names of the drivers involved and information about any witnesses and other relevant details. If you were injured, this...
How to stop the “flash mob” mentality
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on March 30th, 2010
Two weekends ago, Philadelphia's South Street residents, merchants and community suffered from yet another "flash mob" incident, where bands of teenagers summoned each other via cell phone text messages and social media Web sites including Twitter, Facebook and MySpace to hang out and get together. But as it's happened in the past, it was way more than just "hanging out." Many of the teens became agitated, some became violent and all became essentially out of...
Sexting update: Court rules teen girl can’t be charged with a felony
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on March 25th, 2010
A U.S. Court of Appeals got it right recently when it ruled that a teenaged girl whose semi-nude photo was transmitted via a cell phone text message cannot be charged with felony child abuse charges. That was the correct decision in this so-called "sexting" case that got big headlines and showed just how ridiculous the legal system can get when it is fueled by ideologies rather than by reality. We last wrote about this case...
Damage caps on injury cases harm accident and medical malpractice victims a second time
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on March 16th, 2010
Are you willing to give up your rights to be compensated fully for ALL of the damages caused by another? If you are injured in an accident, you can be sure that you want to recover every dollar you are entitled to for your treatment and for your pain and suffering. But insurance companies for years have been trying to fight you tooth and nail to minimize what they pay out to you for pain...