Nan Aron


Image by Center for American Progress
Tortured Law: The Role of the Office of Legal Counsel and the Use of Torture

March 10, 2010, 6:30pm – 8:00pm

To watch the video, click here: www.americanprogress.org/events/2010/03/torturedlaw.html

After a five-year investigation, the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility finally concluded in a report released on February 19, 2010 that Bush administration Office of Legal Counsel officials John Yoo and Jay Bybee "exercised poor judgment" for their role in drafting the 2002 memos that authorized the use of techniques otherwise understood to constitute torture in detainee interrogations. However, a Department of Justice official overruled OPR’s recommendation and determined that the officials should not be referred to their respective bar associations for investigation of professional misconduct.

The release of the report has spurred criticism, particularly because OPR staff could not interview key witnesses or review hundreds of emails written by the lawyers. Why were critical records destroyed? Why were witnesses and materials kept from investigators? Broader questions also remain: Were these lawyers simply giving the president their best legal advice? Or was their work part of a larger conspiracy to distort the law and assisted their client in criminal or fraudulent conduct?

Please join the Center for American Progress and the Alliance for Justice for a discussion about the OPR report and next steps toward torture accountability. A screening of Alliance for Justice’s short documentary film, "Tortured Law" will proceed a panel discussion moderated by Ken Gude, Associate Director of the Center for American Progress International Rights and Responsibilities program.

Featured Speaker:

Congressman Jerrold Nadler

Panelists:

Nan Aron, President, Alliance for Justice

David Cole, Professor of Law, Georgetown University

Bruce Fein, Chairman of the American Freedom Agenda

Moderator:

Ken Gude, Associate Director, International Rights and Responsibilities, Center for American Progress

PHOTO CREDIT:
Ralph Alswang
Photographer
202-487-5025
ralph@ralphphoto.com
www.ralphphoto.com

Bruce Fein


Image by Center for American Progress
Tortured Law: The Role of the Office of Legal Counsel and the Use of Torture

March 10, 2010, 6:30pm – 8:00pm

To watch the video, click here: www.americanprogress.org/events/2010/03/torturedlaw.html

After a five-year investigation, the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility finally concluded in a report released on February 19, 2010 that Bush administration Office of Legal Counsel officials John Yoo and Jay Bybee "exercised poor judgment" for their role in drafting the 2002 memos that authorized the use of techniques otherwise understood to constitute torture in detainee interrogations. However, a Department of Justice official overruled OPR’s recommendation and determined that the officials should not be referred to their respective bar associations for investigation of professional misconduct.

The release of the report has spurred criticism, particularly because OPR staff could not interview key witnesses or review hundreds of emails written by the lawyers. Why were critical records destroyed? Why were witnesses and materials kept from investigators? Broader questions also remain: Were these lawyers simply giving the president their best legal advice? Or was their work part of a larger conspiracy to distort the law and assisted their client in criminal or fraudulent conduct?

Please join the Center for American Progress and the Alliance for Justice for a discussion about the OPR report and next steps toward torture accountability. A screening of Alliance for Justice’s short documentary film, "Tortured Law" will proceed a panel discussion moderated by Ken Gude, Associate Director of the Center for American Progress International Rights and Responsibilities program.

Featured Speaker:

Congressman Jerrold Nadler

Panelists:

Nan Aron, President, Alliance for Justice

David Cole, Professor of Law, Georgetown University

Bruce Fein, Chairman of the American Freedom Agenda

Moderator:

Ken Gude, Associate Director, International Rights and Responsibilities, Center for American Progress

PHOTO CREDIT:
Ralph Alswang
Photographer
202-487-5025
ralph@ralphphoto.com
www.ralphphoto.com

Nan Aron, David Cole, Bruce Fein and Ken Gude


Image by Center for American Progress
Tortured Law: The Role of the Office of Legal Counsel and the Use of Torture

March 10, 2010, 6:30pm – 8:00pm

To watch the video, click here: www.americanprogress.org/events/2010/03/torturedlaw.html

After a five-year investigation, the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility finally concluded in a report released on February 19, 2010 that Bush administration Office of Legal Counsel officials John Yoo and Jay Bybee "exercised poor judgment" for their role in drafting the 2002 memos that authorized the use of techniques otherwise understood to constitute torture in detainee interrogations. However, a Department of Justice official overruled OPR’s recommendation and determined that the officials should not be referred to their respective bar associations for investigation of professional misconduct.

The release of the report has spurred criticism, particularly because OPR staff could not interview key witnesses or review hundreds of emails written by the lawyers. Why were critical records destroyed? Why were witnesses and materials kept from investigators? Broader questions also remain: Were these lawyers simply giving the president their best legal advice? Or was their work part of a larger conspiracy to distort the law and assisted their client in criminal or fraudulent conduct?

Please join the Center for American Progress and the Alliance for Justice for a discussion about the OPR report and next steps toward torture accountability. A screening of Alliance for Justice’s short documentary film, "Tortured Law" will proceed a panel discussion moderated by Ken Gude, Associate Director of the Center for American Progress International Rights and Responsibilities program.

Featured Speaker:

Congressman Jerrold Nadler

Panelists:

Nan Aron, President, Alliance for Justice

David Cole, Professor of Law, Georgetown University

Bruce Fein, Chairman of the American Freedom Agenda

Moderator:

Ken Gude, Associate Director, International Rights and Responsibilities, Center for American Progress

PHOTO CREDIT:
Ralph Alswang
Photographer
202-487-5025
ralph@ralphphoto.com
www.ralphphoto.com

Harvester – infernal machine


Image by Daniel Beilinson
Attention! Our activists were attacked on this night. Few of activists were severely beaten by unknown men.
The police didn’t caught the criminals, but suspended deforestation work.
–
Today we came to the Khimki forest.

At 11:30 we came to the forest near the Klyzma river near SNT Druzhba, close to the camp of ecologists of June 23rd of 2010 (the place is on ecmo.ru).

The deputy Gudkov of the State Duma came with us.

We observed freshly cut down trees – birches with leaves and a huge harvester (a machine to cut down the trees or even to pick them out of the land) nearby.

We wanted to come closer, securities rushed and pushed Yaroslav Nikitenko. Everyone was oppressed, the deputy became furious and started to demand documents from the guards, and called the police. I was not made harm, but it was unpleasant and unlawful to touch me.

We demanded the documents. They said "none".

They said "the documents are in the office".

We called the police.

The director of the company clearing called Evgenia Chirikova.

He said "they have all the documents".

Later he said they don’t have a permission for clearing and the permission for the construction.

Greenpeace lawyer Blatova, Save Khimki Forest movement lawyer Kozlov both agreed that the required by law documents are absent.

We called the Khimki police.

Sheruimov said the following: "we called for the documents, they are on way, before they come we can’t say the works are illegal".

That is absolutely weird and it’s ununderstandable how the trees are being cut down and the police "believes" the documents exist and does nothing to stop illegal works.

N.B. In Russia the law demands the documents to be on the place of works and not "in the office".

The activists called the investigating department and started to wait.

They did’t come. Then they called the higher departments, said about the criminal undoing of the police officers. This is still happening till the late evening in Russia. We’re calling higher and higher, complaining on the officers, but no one comes to the forest.

That’s why we decided to make a camp in the forest and to stand to protect ourselves the trees.

During the presence on the first clearing, a call from the witness came that near Starbeevo, near the old pioneer camp, workers with chain-saws cut down trees.

Part of the activists and lawyers rest on the first place, and the major part led by Yaroslav Nikitenko came to investigate the second illegal felling.

When came to the spot, activists saw many trees fallen.

Big birches with the new fresh green leaves. Especially sad looked the oaks very wide, of a few hundred years old which lay down on earth split into a few chunks.

Near the fallen oak we found two bottles of dark yellow liquid, probably oil and the ribbons for the chain-saws.

We called the police and started to write the act.

Suddenly an activist Beilinson cried out: "Look! He hit him!"

We rushed to him.

A volunteer of Greenpeace Joseph Kogutko stepped a bit aside and wanted to look at the surroundings.

A guard came to him, hit his mobile out of his hands and wanted to make him more harm.

We ran closer. The guy went on me, I managed to make a photo of him from a close distance, he could’t touch me though. Instead he severely hit Alesha Belikh in face. Immediately blood flew out of his nose, that was broken.

The photos from the action, the photos of Alesha and the gangster are now in my twitter @ynikitenko.

The guy ran away into the forest. The securities just laughed at us, and the FSB which constantly spies at us just stood with the securities.

The police came soon, surprisingly. We said about the beating. The officer looked round the clearing, looked at the bottles and came back to his car. He said the operative group will come.

We stayed there to wait for the arrival of the operative group to check so that the police does it work.

Most part of people left.

Then the officer departed after some time.

We left too. It was dangerous to stay there in a small group with the gangsters.

Alesha refused to go to hospital to fix traumas, he refused to write to the police saying that is vain.

The police didn’t come anywhere, did not fix the traces of crime, did not prevent the works.

That’s why we with the remaining activists came to the first place, where they already arranged the camp, to protect the trees ourselves.

We hope more activists will come and it will be more secure, though it’s already dark.

In case something happens to us we’ll try to write to you.
Please follow us in our twitters and ecmo.ru

P.S. During writing this letter we observed a beaver swimming on the river Klyazma, one of the three planned specially protected natural areas in the Khimki forest – planned before the construction of the road Moscow to St. Petersburg through the Khimki forest was decided.

P.P.S. The securities here behave very strange. Something may happen at night. In case they start to destroy the trees, we will stop them.
–
Yaroslav Nikitenko

Attention! The activists were attacked on the night. Few of activists were severely beaten by unknown men.
The police didn’t caught the criminals, but suspended deforestation work.

See also www.change.org/petitions/save-khimki-forest-stand-with-ru… – the collection of signatures against Vinci’s participation in the project. More than 20,000 already collected!

Coalition for the forests of Moscow region!
Greenpeace Russia
WWF Russia
Social-Ecological Union
Biodiversity conservation center
Russian birds conservation union
Movement for Khimki forest protection

Follow us!
Latest news about Khimki Forest from leading media VIA ecoradar
Yevgenia Chirikova, Leader of the Khimki Forest Defenders
Yaroslav Nikitenko

We will open an international site soon: www.khimkiforest.org

Besieged Harvester


Image by Daniel Beilinson
Attention! Our activists were attacked on this night. Few of activists were severely beaten by unknown men.
The police didn’t caught the criminals, but suspended deforestation work.
–
Today we came to the Khimki forest.

At 11:30 we came to the forest near the Klyzma river near SNT Druzhba, close to the camp of ecologists of June 23rd of 2010 (the place is on ecmo.ru).

The deputy Gudkov of the State Duma came with us.

We observed freshly cut down trees – birches with leaves and a huge harvester (a machine to cut down the trees or even to pick them out of the land) nearby.

We wanted to come closer, securities rushed and pushed Yaroslav Nikitenko. Everyone was oppressed, the deputy became furious and started to demand documents from the guards, and called the police. I was not made harm, but it was unpleasant and unlawful to touch me.

We demanded the documents. They said "none".

They said "the documents are in the office".

We called the police.

The director of the company clearing called Evgenia Chirikova.

He said "they have all the documents".

Later he said they don’t have a permission for clearing and the permission for the construction.

Greenpeace lawyer Blatova, Save Khimki Forest movement lawyer Kozlov both agreed that the required by law documents are absent.

We called the Khimki police.

Sheruimov said the following: "we called for the documents, they are on way, before they come we can’t say the works are illegal".

That is absolutely weird and it’s ununderstandable how the trees are being cut down and the police "believes" the documents exist and does nothing to stop illegal works.

N.B. In Russia the law demands the documents to be on the place of works and not "in the office".

The activists called the investigating department and started to wait.

They did’t come. Then they called the higher departments, said about the criminal undoing of the police officers. This is still happening till the late evening in Russia. We’re calling higher and higher, complaining on the officers, but no one comes to the forest.

That’s why we decided to make a camp in the forest and to stand to protect ourselves the trees.

During the presence on the first clearing, a call from the witness came that near Starbeevo, near the old pioneer camp, workers with chain-saws cut down trees.

Part of the activists and lawyers rest on the first place, and the major part led by Yaroslav Nikitenko came to investigate the second illegal felling.

When came to the spot, activists saw many trees fallen.

Big birches with the new fresh green leaves. Especially sad looked the oaks very wide, of a few hundred years old which lay down on earth split into a few chunks.

Near the fallen oak we found two bottles of dark yellow liquid, probably oil and the ribbons for the chain-saws.

We called the police and started to write the act.

Suddenly an activist Beilinson cried out: "Look! He hit him!"

We rushed to him.

A volunteer of Greenpeace Joseph Kogutko stepped a bit aside and wanted to look at the surroundings.

A guard came to him, hit his mobile out of his hands and wanted to make him more harm.

We ran closer. The guy went on me, I managed to make a photo of him from a close distance, he could’t touch me though. Instead he severely hit Alesha Belikh in face. Immediately blood flew out of his nose, that was broken.

The photos from the action, the photos of Alesha and the gangster are now in my twitter @ynikitenko.

The guy ran away into the forest. The securities just laughed at us, and the FSB which constantly spies at us just stood with the securities.

The police came soon, surprisingly. We said about the beating. The officer looked round the clearing, looked at the bottles and came back to his car. He said the operative group will come.

We stayed there to wait for the arrival of the operative group to check so that the police does it work.

Most part of people left.

Then the officer departed after some time.

We left too. It was dangerous to stay there in a small group with the gangsters.

Alesha refused to go to hospital to fix traumas, he refused to write to the police saying that is vain.

The police didn’t come anywhere, did not fix the traces of crime, did not prevent the works.

That’s why we with the remaining activists came to the first place, where they already arranged the camp, to protect the trees ourselves.

We hope more activists will come and it will be more secure, though it’s already dark.

In case something happens to us we’ll try to write to you.
Please follow us in our twitters and ecmo.ru

P.S. During writing this letter we observed a beaver swimming on the river Klyazma, one of the three planned specially protected natural areas in the Khimki forest – planned before the construction of the road Moscow to St. Petersburg through the Khimki forest was decided.

P.P.S. The securities here behave very strange. Something may happen at night. In case they start to destroy the trees, we will stop them.
–
Yaroslav Nikitenko

Attention! The activists were attacked on the night. Few of activists were severely beaten by unknown men.
The police didn’t caught the criminals, but suspended deforestation work.

See also www.change.org/petitions/save-khimki-forest-stand-with-ru… – the collection of signatures against Vinci’s participation in the project. More than 20,000 already collected!

Coalition for the forests of Moscow region!
Greenpeace Russia
WWF Russia
Social-Ecological Union
Biodiversity conservation center
Russian birds conservation union
Movement for Khimki forest protection

Follow us!
Latest news about Khimki Forest from leading media VIA ecoradar
Yevgenia Chirikova, Leader of the Khimki Forest Defenders
Yaroslav Nikitenko

We will open an international site soon: www.khimkiforest.org

Law Enforcement Vehicle Show Diecast Diorama


Image by PMC 1stPix
2009 Spring Spectacular Auto Show – Law Enforcement Vehicles

Law School Sundial


Image by William & Mary Law Library
Replica of a 17th or 18th century College sundial, placed at the Law School in 1998.

More information about the William & Mary sundial on the W&M libraries’ Special Collections Research Center Wiki.

Stunt Driving Law


Image by MSVG
Stunt Driving On the 1st of October 2007 the Ontario Government enacted speeding laws for Stunt Driving, Racing and Speeding more than 50km/h. This law under Bill 203, the Safer Roads for a Safer Ontario Act has the following penalties;

Immediate seven (7) day driver’s licence suspension
Immediate seven (7) day vehicle impoundment
Minimum fine of two thousand (00.00) dollars
Maximum fine of ten thousand (,000.00) dollars
Drivers licence suspension of up to two years
Six (6) demerit points
Second conviction drivers licence suspension of up to ten (10) years
Imprisonment for a term of not more that six (6) months
100% Insurance Increase

Racing Stunt Driving

The definition of Stunt Driving and Racing includes;

Speeding more than 50km/h
Driving at a marked departure indicating a competition
Chasing another motor vehicle
Driving a motor vehicle without due care and attention, without reasonable consideration for other persons using the highway (Careless Driving)
Driving in a manner that may endanger any person
Repeatedly changing lanes in close proximity to other vehicles so as to advance through the ordinary flow of traffic while driving at a rate of speed that is a marked departure from the lawful rate of speed.
Having been stopped and charged by the police for Stunt Driving / Racing the police officer will immediately suspend the drivers licence of the driver for seven (7) days. The driver cannot operate motor vehicle anywhere in the Province of Ontario. If the driver is caught by the police operating a motor vehicle they maybe arrested and charged with the offence of Drive While Suspended Highway Traffic Act of Ontario Section 53,1. The penalty for driving while under suspension is a one thousand dollar (00) fine, and six (6) months further licence suspension.

The motor vehicle used in the offence will be impounded by the police officer for seven (7) days. The vehicle will not be released to any person until the seven days have been completed, and includes even if the driver was not the owner of the vehicle.

The costs of the impoundment for Stunt Driving and Racing are the responsibility of the driver/owner which will be from five hundred to over one thousand dollars.

Having successfully fought hundreds of Stunt Driving Ticket OTT Legal knows how to help you, call 1-888-668-8946 or visit the OTT Legal office closest to you.
The police officer will issue to the driver a Part Three Provincial offences notice with a court date on it commanding the defendant to appear in traffic court before a Justice of the Peace.

The driver/defendant may hire an agent such as OTT Legal who will appear on the behalf of the driver. If the defendant fails to appear before the court the Justice of the Peace may issue a warrant for the driver to appear in court.

At traffic court the police officer will have a prosecutor hired by the municipality to assist the officer in prosecution the case. As many prosecutors are lawyers, drivers are wise to seek legal advise prior to appearing in court from OTT Legal.

Stunt Driving, Speeding, and Racing trials are won on legal technicalities properly presented by a person with experience and training in traffic court. Just going to court and explaining why you may have commented the offence will not get the charge dismissed.

OTT Legal offers a free consultation to discuss your Stunt Driving ticket with one of our licenced representatives. Many of our licenced agents are former Ontario Provincial Police and the Toronto Police Service Police Officers who have not only the court experience but the actually experience in radar, laser and speed enforcement in Ontario.

The Law for Stunt Driving and Racing in Ontario

Bill 203 falls under section 172 of the Ontario Highway Traffic Act;

172. (1) Racing, stunts, etc., prohibited No person shall drive a motor vehicle on a highway in a race or contest, while performing a stunt on on a bet or wager.

(2) Offence – Every person who contravenes subsection (1) is guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable to a fine of not less that ,000 and not more that ,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more that six months, or to both, and in addition his or her driver’s licence may be suspended,

(a) on a first conviction under this section, for not more that two years; or
(b) on a subsequent conviction under this section, for not more than 10 years.

(5) Police officer to require surrender of driver’s licence, detention of motor vehicle – Where a police officer believes on reasonable and probable grounds that a person is stunt driving, or has driven, a motor vehicle on a highway in contravention of subsection (1) the officer shall,

a) request that the person surrender his or her driver’s licence; and

b) detain the motor vehicle that was being driven by the person until it is impounded under clause (7)(b).

(6) Administrative seven-day licence suspension – Upon a request being made under clause (5)(a), for stunt driving the person to whom the request is made shall forthwith surrender his or her driver’s licence to the police officer and,whether or not the person is unable or fails to surrender the licence to the police officer, his or her driver’s licence is suspended for a period of seven days from the time the request is made

(7) Administrative seven-day vehicle impoundment – Upon a motor vehicle vehicle being detained under clause (5)(a), the motor vehicle shall, at the cost of and risk to its owner,

(a) be removed to an impound facility as directed by a police officer; and

(b) be impounded for seven days from the time it was detained under clause (5)(b)

(8) Release of vehicle – Subject to subsection (15) the motor vehicle shall be release to its owner from the impound facility upon the expiry of the period of impoundment.

ONTARIO REGULATION 455/07 – Contests, Stunts, Racing

Report to Registrar

1.(1) A police officer who requests, under clause 172 (5) (a) of the Act, that a person surrender his or her driver’s licence for stunt driving or racing shall, before providing the person with the notice of suspension required by subsection 172 (10) of the Act, report the request and the following information to the Registrar:

The driver’s name
If known, the driver’s address, date of birth and driver’s licence number
The date and time of the request
The location at which the alleged offence under subsection 172 (1) of the Act took place

(2) The report under subsection (1) shall be made by any form of telecommunication.

(3) A police officer who has made a report under subsection for Stunt Driving (1) shall, as soon as practical after making the report, complete a form provided by the Registrar for that purpose and forward the completed form to the Registrar.

Definition, "Stunt Driving", "Race" and "Contest"

2.(1)For the purposes of section 172 of the Act, "stunt driving" "race" and "contest" include any activity where one or more persons engage in any of the following driving behaviors:

1. Driving two or more motor vehicles at a rate of speed that is a marked departure from the lawful rate of speed and in a manner that indicates the drivers of the motor vehicles are engaged in a competition.

2. Driving a motor vehicle in a manner that indicates an intention to chase another motor vehicle.

3. Driving a motor vehicle without due care and attention, without reasonable consideration for other persons using the highway or in a manner that may endanger any person by,

4. Driving a motor vehicle at a rate of speed that is a marked departure from the lawful rate of speed,

5. Outdistancing or attempting to outdistance one or more other motor vehicles while driving at a rate of speed that is a marked departure from the lawful rate of speed, or

6. Repeatedly changing lanes in close proximity to other vehicles so as to advance through the ordinary flow of traffic while driving at a rate of speed that is a marked departure from the lawful rate of speed.

(2)In this section,

"marked departure from the lawful rate of speed" means a rate of speed that may limit the ability of a driver of a motor vehicle to prudently adjust to changing circumstances on the highway.

Definition, "Stunt Driving "

3.For the purposes of section 172 of the Act, "stunt driving" includes any activity where one or more persons engage in any of the following driving behaviors:

1. Driving a motor vehicle in a manner that indicates an intention to lift some or all of its tires from the surface of the highway, including driving a motorcycle with only one wheel in contact with the ground, but not including the use of lift axles on commercial motor vehicles.

2. Driving a motor vehicle in a manner that indicates an intention to cause some or all of its tires to lose traction with the surface of the highway while turning.

3. Driving a motor vehicle in a manner that indicates an intention to spin it or cause it to circle, without maintaining control over it.

4. Driving two or more motor vehicles side by side or in proximity to each other, where one of the motor vehicles occupies a lane of traffic or other portion of the highway intended for use by oncoming traffic for a period of time that is longer than is reasonably required to pass another motor vehicle.

5. Driving a motor vehicle with a person in the trunk of the motor vehicle.

6. Driving a motor vehicle while the driver is not sitting in the driver’s seat.

7. Driving a motor vehicle at a rate of speed that is 50 kilometres per hour or more over the speed limit.

8. Driving a motor vehicle without due care and attention, without reasonable consideration for other persons using the highway or in a manner that may endanger any person by,

9. Driving a motor vehicle in a manner that indicates an intention to prevent another vehicle from passing,

10. Stopping or slowing down a motor vehicle in a manner that indicates the driver’s sole intention in stopping or slowing down is to interfere with the movement of another vehicle by cutting off its passage on the highway or to cause another vehicle to stop or slow down in circumstances where the other vehicle would not ordinarily do so,

11. Driving a motor vehicle in a manner that indicates an intention to drive, without justification, as close as possible to another vehicle, pedestrian or fixed object on or near the highway, or

iv. making a left turn where,

(A) the driver is stopped at an intersection controlled by a traffic control signal system in response to a circular red indication;

(B) at least one vehicle facing the opposite direction is similarly stopped in response to a circular red indication; and

(C) the driver executes the left turn immediately before or after the system shows only a circular green indication in both directions and in a manner that indicates an intention to complete or attempt to complete the left turn before the vehicle facing the opposite direction is able to proceed straight through the intersection in response to the circular green indication facing that vehicle.

Exceptions to Stunt Driving

4.(1)Despite section 2, "race" and "contest" do not include,

(a) a rally, navigational rally or similar event that is conducted,

(i) under the supervision of the Canadian Association of Rally Sport,

(ii) under the supervision of a club or association approved in writing by the Ministry, or

(iii) with the written approval of the road authority or road authorities having jurisdiction over the highway or highways used;

(b) motor vehicle owners engaged in a tour, scenic drive, treasure hunt or other similar motoring event in which the participants drive responsibly and in a manner that indicates an overall intention to comply with the provisions of the Act; or

(c) an event held on a closed course with the written approval of the road authority having jurisdiction over the highway, including any event lawfully using any of the trademarks "CART", "Formula One", "Indy", "IndyCar", "IRL" or "NASCAR".

(2)Despite sections 2 and 3, "race", "contest" and "stunt" do not include any activity required for the lawful operation of motor vehicles described in subsections 62 (15.1) or 128 (13) of the Act, or the lawful operation of an emergency vehicle as defined in subsection 144 (1) of the Act.

www.ontariospeeding.com/Stunt-Driving.html

Death of Bessie Cross 1917 – Temple Meads Bristol


Image by brizzle born and bred
Private Albert Cross of the ‘Glosters’ Regiment, appeared in court, charged with her murder.

This case involves a soldier returning to the front, who shot his wife at the station on October 15, 1917, as the early morning train to London was due in at Temple Meads’ busy platform five, waiting passengers and their friends were startled by the loud crack of a rifle. Then, with horror, they saw the body of a young woman lying slumped at the foot of a soldier.

The infantryman was immediately apprehended by the Military Police and blurted out: ‘I have shot my wife – she is in a certain condition by another man.’

The 27-year-old pregnant woman, Bessie Cross, died of abdominal injuries and shock within minutes of being admitted to the General Hospital. A few hours later her 32-year-old husband, Private Albert Cross of the ‘Glosters’ Regiment, appeared in court, charged with her murder. He pleaded not guilty. It’s hard for us, nearly 100 years on, to imagine what life was like in those far-off Edwardian days.

One year into the Great War, casualty lists were appearing daily in the local press, peppered with smiling studio portraits of the latest dead or wounded soldiers. But the public image of their menfolk’s noble sacrifice disguised a grim reality. Thanks to conscription, the enormous loss of young men’s lives and women’s war work, normal family life, for many people, lay in shreds.

There was a new type of woman, liberated from moral constraints by the war’s unexpected bonus of well-paid jobs, which has formerly been done by men.

The men in the trenches resented the way that women had taken their jobs, while the older generation, brought up under strict Victorian morality, were shocked by their ‘free and easy’ behaviour. Albert Cross, the one-time painter from Baptist Mills, became a symbol for the suffering of our brave lads facing the horrors of war.

Poor old Bessie was cast in many eyes as a loose, promiscuous, ‘new woman’.

The courtroom drama was acted out while the horrors of Passchendaele were unfolding, but the public were far too deeply involved with the morality of the ‘Albert and Bessie’ case to be overly concerned about the death and suffering of the ‘brave lads’ just 250 miles away.

Albert denied the charges and by the time he reappeared in court to be committed to Bristol Assizes a week later, the case had attracted so much attention that crowds of disappointed spectactors had to be turned away.

The prosecution outlined their case against him. After 10 days’ leave Albert had been about to catch the London train en route to France. Bessie – just like other service wives and sweethearts on the platform that morning – had gone to say farewell.

The couple had been through a great deal.

Two months previously, as Albert set off to the front yet again, he had received a venomous letter from a married man called James King, boasting of an affair with Bessie who, he said, was now carrying his child. Albert and Bessie had then exchanged piteous letters.

She begged his forgiveness and he finally accepted her pleas. Friends agreed that, during his leave, the couple seemed reconciled. Illegitimacy rates had soared during this period but the marriage looked set to survive a not unusual war-time lapse.

But there was no denying the witnesses who had seen Albert finger the trigger of his rifle before pointing it at Bessie. The private stayed silent throughout the committal proceedings. His defending solicitor, Mr Watson, told the court he would not put his client in the witness box.

He went on to say that it was up to the prosecution to make their case against the soldier, not for Albert to defend himself. He also signalled that the trial would be based on a tidal wave of sympathy for a ‘war hero cheated by his cheating wife’. As Mr Watson continued with his defence he seemed near to tears.

He said that in all his years as a criminal lawyer, he had never been so touched by a case.

One of the soldier’s letters to Bessie, he said, ‘deserves to be preserved in gold. I have never in my life heard such a noble act of forgiveness as Albert Cross displayed.’ Albert might have showed no emotion as he was committed to Bristol Assizes but he was one of the few people in the city to remain unmoved.

The evidence against him was damning – but the emotional tidal wave in his favour was overwhelming.

The jury found him not guilty of murder.

Why? Purely because Bessie had been pregnant with another man’s child. While Albert was bravely fighting for his country, said the moralists, his wife had been living as someone else’s mistress. The war had turned the old, established Victorian values upside down and, in uncertain and changing times, the citizens of Bristol were touchier about morality than they had ever been before. The city’s young women, with husbands and boyfriends boyfriends away at the Front and newly-liberated by well-paid war work, were relishing their new found freedom – both financial and sexual.

The three court cases which preceded Albert Cross’s offer us snapshots of this moral turmoil – two cases of bigamy and one of a maid who had concealed her baby’s birth and then hidden its dead body in an outhouse.

the accidental missionary


Image by greg westfall.
The Unlikely Missionary

By: Greg Westfall (text and photo copyright 2009, Voice for the Defense/Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association)

I went on a ten-day mission trip a month ago. To Africa.

It all started one Sunday when the priest of the African orphanage that our Episcopal church supports came here to make a presentation about progress at the orphanage. The orphanage is called "Amazing Grace" and it houses 72 girls whose parents have died of AIDS. I saw some pictures and it looked cool. So I asked Mollee and then volunteered us to go on the next trip.

I hear that people are "called" to go on overseas mission trips. To me, it felt like another in a long series of whims I have entertained throughout my life. Joining the army was another whim. I joined the US Army after about a second of thought when I was 20. Took me three years to recover from that one.

Mollee and I agreed in May to do the trip the last week of July. My job would be to teach the girls music and to take pictures. The kids didn’t go.

Once we hit crunch time I got on iTunes and started ordering "praise and worship" standards. I ended up learning and charting 16 praise songs which brought my entire praise and worship repertoire to … 16. Go Tell it on the Mountain. This is the Day (That the Lord Hath Made). Seek Ye First. Etc., etc.

We were laboring the entire time under some misconceptions. Mollee had heard that they don’t use toilet paper in Africa. So we stocked up on baby wipes (turned out to be wrong – they have lots of toilet paper – probably even had it before all the cell phones that everyone carries). We were also told to kiss anything we don’t actually carry on the plane (basically all our checked luggage) goodbye as soon as it hits Nairobi. It was for this latter reason that I decided there was no way in hell I was going to take one of my guitars to Africa. Through an African who was also on the mission I managed to source out an acoustic guitar. Of course, all the luggage made it fine.

For those thinking of going, be aware that it takes 20 hours to fly to Nairobi. Flying back took 24. Nairobi is 8 hours ahead of us time-wise. I got to see the sun set twice from a plane window on the way there.

Now, jet lag and me have a special relationship. It is a long-term relationship and we do so hate to say goodbye to each other. When Mollee and I honeymooned in London, I spent my days waking up around 4 and turning into a pumpkin at sunset. But I thought I had the solution this time – Ambien. The first night I got there I fell into an Ambien-induced stupor at midnight, only to bolt upright at 3:00am. And so it was the entire trip.

We worked 16 hours a day. I hear tell there are fancy animals in Africa, particularly in Kenya where we were. Lions, zebras, wildebeest, cape buffalo – the whole Wild Kingdom/Lion King thing. But while we were in Africa all we saw were chickens, roosters, domesticated turkeys, a handful of cats and dogs and many, many skinny cows. Everyone it seems, in addition to a cell phone, has a little herd of cattle that they drive on foot by the side of the road. The first three nights we were there, a litter of feral kittens screamed continuously through the night below our room, their mother apparently working the evening shift. About an hour before sunrise the roosters would take over screaming duty. I just laughed under my mosquito net and popped another Ambien.

Then there were the girls.

This orphanage has been around 5 years and houses 72 girls. In that time, there has been a turnover of exactly three. We took them to a cultural museum and got them shoes and in the afternoon we would go to the orphanage.

I handled the music in shifts – about 10 girls at a time. I taught them the American songs and they did their best. They were entertained. But at the end of the day, African music is different than western music and these girls were in no way used to instrumental accompaniment. I knew they sang, though. So on about the third group I set it down and asked them to sing me one of their songs. I was not really prepared for what I was about to hear..

These girls sing traditional African a cappella songs in four-part harmony. Imagine Ladysmith Black Mambazo (who did the traditional African vocalizations on Paul Simon’s "Graceland") done by girls from 8 to about 14 years-old. It really was amazing. These girls had no parents. They lived in an orphanage – an orphanage with Turkish toilets and, until recently, no running water. And they sang like angels. During the entire time I was with them, not once did I ever feel tired.

Magic can truly happen anywhere. In this case I found magic on a three acre patch of land at the bottom of the Rift Valley in one of the poorest nations on the planet. And it was worth everything we went through. Even the screaming kittens.