On May 31, a passerby shot some footage of a fight at Portland State University between a musician selling CDs and another man who apparently didn’t care for the music the first man was selling. Eventually, after filming stops, the cops got involved, reports were taken, and charges were filed. Your mission! In the comments […]
Courts
Posted inGossip
Best Celeb Tweets about the Casey Anthony Verdict
[Author’s note: Lo Bosworth is one of my favorite characters from The Hills, who I once compared to “a rabbit receiving a surprise prostate exam.”] More fun/sad/dumb celeb tweets here.
Posted inHomo
New Derogatory Term for Gay People: Sweet Smellin’ Jockstraps!
This news story depicts Judge Phillip Kirk of Waupaca, Wisconsin giving a school bus driver the verbal smackdown for sexually abusing some kids—WHILE trying out his his new comedy act! Apparently he’s one of those people who think that child molesters are also automatically homosexual… or as he puts it, “Gayer than a sweet smellin’ […]
Posted inCrime
You’re Better Off Bringing Your Teeth to a Knife Fight
The state appellate court published an interesting ruling today, clearing up a question I’m not sure I’d ever thought about: Should your teeth—if you use them to, say, gnaw on someone’s ear—be considered a “dangerous weapon” under Oregon law? Saying yes would open chewers and biters to first-degree assault charges—with a mandatory minimum sentence (thanks, […]
Posted inCourts
Yes, Even the Mayor Has to Sit Through Jury Duty
On a break from jury duty. Anyone poking their heads into courtrooms around the fifth floor of the Multnomah County courthouse this morning would’ve seen an all-too-democratic sight: Mayor Sam Adams, sitting in his windbreaker and slacks, answering attorneys’ questions with a bunch of other prospective jurors. When I found him, he was in Courtroom […]
Posted inCourts
No Case Yet, but Fraud Complaint by PGE Park Gadfly Under Review
ILLUSTRATION BY DAVE NEESON Peter Apanel has been louder than most in Portland when it comes to questioning whether the renovations of PGE Park for the Portland Timbers will actually make the place comfortable enough for the kinds of sellout crowds that city officials are hoping to attract. In airing his claims, we haven’t always […]
Posted inCourts
Mixed Verdict in Alleged Blow Pony Gay Bashing
The verdict is in on the long-awaited trial of an alleged gay bashing that occurred outside Blow Pony back in April 2009. I detailed the whole story in court yesterday. Local DJ and queer activist Airick Heater pressed charges against alleged basher Blake McCune, who was on trial for two crimes: intimidating someone because of […]
Posted inHomo
Gay Bashing on Trial: Court Finally Hears Both Sides of 2009 Blow Pony Scuffle
An alleged gay bashing at a popular Portland gay dance night in April 2009 finally got its day in court today.Update 1/19: The jury found Blake McCune not guilty of intimidation, but guilty of interfering with a police report. /end update The case became a major discussion point last spring, when it was brought up […]
Posted inCops
Know Your Rights: What the ACLU Taught Me About Police Rights
Tuesday night the Center for Intercultural Organizing hosted an event called Know Your Rights, which was billed as a workshop about what to do if contacted by police while in my car, on the street or at my home. I knew that Legal Director Kevin Díaz of the ACLU would be there, and that there […]
Posted inCops
Transgender Driver Accuses Portland Cop of Groping
This just in from the Oregonian: A transgender woman is suing the city for more than $200,000, claiming a Portland police officer roughly grabbed her breasts and genitalia during a search after a traffic stop two years ago. According to the O’s story, Chloe Lucero, 27, was pulled over by officer Kevin Macho after a […]
Posted inCourts
Judge Stalls Release of Boy Scout Perversion Files
sparrow v. swallow Reporters from the Oregonian, AP, New York Times and lil old Mercury issued a collective groan this week when Judge John Wittmayer handed down his decision about whether the Boy Scout of America’s 20,000 page “Perversion Files” used in a recent landmark sex abuse case should be made public. Judge Wittmayer ruled […]
Posted inCourts
Boy Scouts Argue to Stop Release of “Perversion Files”
Portland lawyer Kelly Clark won a landmark sex abuse case against the Boy Scouts of America last month, when a Multnomah County jury awarded his client $20 million in damages for abuse he endured as a young scout decades ago. But that’s only half the battle. Clark was back in court today arguing to Judge […]