Defense believes parading defendents in handcuffs "mindless, even medieval cruelty"

Okay, should those those accused of white collar crimes be treated different than those accused of other felonies?

The way defendants in a case of alleged corruption in the Pennsylvania Legislature has raised the ire of a defense attorney. Attorney Joshua Lock, of Harrisburg claims the defendants were subjected to “mindless, even medieval cruelty “ by the prosecution.

The offending action: Parading defendants in handcuffs past the media.

Senior Deputy Attorney General K. Kenneth Brown II defended the action saying: "A felony is a felony, and if it is a felony, you get cuffed. The law makes no distinction for white collar crimes, and neither do we."

| Bob Cronkleton

King of Pop...or funerals?

The L.A. Times is reporting that court documents indicate Michael Jackson's funeral cost more than $1 million.

Among the line-items: Crypt, $590,000. Outfit, $35,000. Security, $30,000.

Looks like the family is still haggling over his estate.

| Sara Shepherd

Man steals and sells mom's scooter

The sad part: It was a wheelchair scooter.

Sadder still: He only earned $50 for the $4,000 device.

|Meredith Rodriguez

RNC makes the Crime blog

...because of protestors.

St. Paul police had to use riot gear and tear gas to keep a group of anti-war protestors (many chanting "F*** the police! F*** 'em!") from crossing a bridge to the Republican National Convention site after being warned not to.

| Sara Shepherd

AP photo

Girls Gone Wild founder sued (again)

This time, it's not naked girls but a Vegas casino suing Joe Francis for $2 million in gambling debts from February of last year. I laughed at this AP story's super-businesslike explanation of Girls Gone Wild:

A spokesman said Tuesday that Francis, who built a soft porn empire by making and marketing videos of young women in sexually provocative situations and exposing their breasts, satisfied his debt to the Wynn Las Vegas casino through "prior agreements" and plans to fight the lawsuit.

The article includes links to more amusing related stories, including one in which Francis dramatically describes his recent jail time: "'...when I was locked in that cage, I was able to analyze everything and gather a great deal of new ideas,' he said, announcing plans to release a magazine with a bonus full-length DVD on April 15 and a tequila in June."

| Sara Shepherd

Near-rumble on Missouri House floor

This is from reporter Kit Wagar's play-by-play on our sister blog, prime buzz.

   Within moments, Tilley and Skaggs were toe-to-toe, jawing at one another like Lou Piniella and Mark Wegner.

| Sara Shepherd

File photo of Lou toe-to-toe with an ump.

Headline of the day: Seedy Gonzalez jailed in lesbo sperm swindle

This conman -- who called himself the "Stelios of sperm," whatever that means -- made millions selling sperm over the Internet to lesbians. He owed a lot of people a lot of money, but the story also mentions another problem: It's still unclear where Gonzalez obtained the sperm.

P.S. The Web site he used (which is no longer up) was called mannotincluded.com.

Hat tip: You're a Mean Drunk R2D2!

| Sara Shepherd

L.A. man indicted here in bankrupty fraud

This just in from reporter Brad Cooper:

A federal grand jury today indicted a Los Angeles man on charges that he filed fraudulent bankruptcy petitions to help homeowners who were behind on their mortgage payments.

The grand jury indicted Isacc Yass, 41, on six counts of mail fraud and six counts of aggravated identity theft. Yass is accused of telling homeowners who were delinquent on their mortgages that, for a fee, he could stop foreclosure, according to U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren.

Yass then filed fake bankruptcy petitions in federal courts in Topeka, Wichita and Kansas City, Kan. in the names of non-existent businesses claiming to be part owners of the properties facing foreclosure.

That led to an automatic stay in the foreclosures and stopped creditors from seeking further action against those properties.

Yass faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison and a fine up to $1 million on each count of mail fraud, and a mandatory two years and a fine up to $250,000 on each count of aggravated identity theft.

This is probably linked to the foreclosure scam Paul Wenske wrote about the other day, for those who are interested in a more in-depth look at it.

-- Sara Shepherd

Bush lifts Libby's prison stay

In a matter of weeks, I. Lewis Libby Jr. would have been leaving his wife and children and packing his bags for a 2-and-a-half-year prison stay.
But in a surprise move Monday, President Bush commuted that part of his sentence.
From The New York Times:
"The president portrayed his commutation of the sentence, which fell short of a pardon and still requires Mr. Libby to pay a $250,000 fine and be on probation for two years, as a carefully considered compromise.
'I respect the jury’s verdict,' Mr. Bush said in a statement. 'But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive.'"
Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, will keep his conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice in the C.I.A. leak case.

Debt collector goes too far

A Des Moines debt collector got fired for insulting and belittling people while demanding payments for their creditors.
After receiving complaints, his company's officials queued up tapes from 29-year-old Justin Saiz's calls. Here's one, as described in the Des Moines Register:
"At one point, Saiz began mocking the man, saying, 'You sound like Goofy: yucka, yucka, yucka.' Saiz then told the man to 'stop flapping your gums.'"
Saiz said his conduct was tolerated and even encouraged by managers who wanted him to "stir things up."