Moritz Legal Information Blog

Judge Beth Myers of Cincinnati has ruled that the video of a dying man, who was instructed to blink his eyes to identify the person who shot him, may be used in an upcoming murder trial. The victim, David Chandler, was shot in the neck and unable to communicate other than by blinking.  Police questioned him concerning the circumstances of the shooting, instructing him to blink a certain number of times to answer their questions.  Ricardo Woods' picture was shown to Chandler, and Woods is now on trial for the murder. The parties are due in court in two weeks for a pre-trial hearing. Columbus Dispatch ABC News

Middle school students in Dublin, Ohio, were profiled in The Columbus Dispatch because of their very cool invention---one that recently won them $250,000. The students entered the First Lego League contest designed to get kids excited about science and technology. The group designed a special bar code for grocery items that must be kept cold for food safety reasons; when the food's temperature becomes too warm, causing bacteria to grow, ink gradually spreads to cover the bar code and renders it inoperable. In other words, stores using the bar code won't be able to sell food which could cause food-borne illness. This may get you curious about food law generally , but I think the more interesting takeaway from the article relates to an example of legal inaccuracy in one of the paragraphs: For now, the idea exists as a provisional patent and a computer simulation; winning the national prize required only a concept. But as one of two winners, the group has a deal with a com

In more legal news of the Olympics , Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has introduced The Olympic Tax Elimination Act , which would eliminate the tax on medals won by American Olympic athletes ($25,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver, $10,000 for bronze). H.R. 6267 S. 3471 News and commentary: CNN Washington Post Forbes The Atlantic

Despite the title of nearly every piece about this incident (including mine above), Wallace Weatherholt of Florida was not charged with feeding alligators because the alligator ate his hand.  Rather, he was charged because just a moment before the alligator ate his hand, Weatherholt was allegedly dangling a fish over the side of his tour boat in order to entice the alligator to come closer, and such actions are illegal in Florida.  Weatherholt was charged with a misdemeanor and released on bond, and is due back in court in several weeks. The alligator was found and euthanized, and Weatherholt's hand was retrieved, though it could not be reattached. Lowering the Bar ABC News Los Angeles Times

Justice Scalia, while not an advocate for video cameras recording Supreme Court oral argument, has given several video recorded interviews recently to media outlets: C-SPAN  with Brian Lamb FOX  with Chris Wallace CNN with Piers Morgan: On Bush v. Gore On political fundraising On Roe v. Wade theory On hunting with Dick Cheney On judicial critics See also the transcript  of the full CNN interview. Scalia has been promoting his new book, Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts , with co-author Bryan Garner.

With the Olympics underway, the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) has instituted  strict rules for non-sponsor organizations using Olympic imagery, and even words such as "games," "London," and "Twenty Twelve" if they are in close proximity to each other. So, businesses and fans have found various ways of circumventing the rules.  CBC has posted numerous examples here . Hat Tip: Legal Blog Watch

Bar exams are next week, and we'd like to take this opportunity to wish the very best of luck to all of our marvelous and hard-working Moritz grads.