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1998 Alma Rampage
The 1998 Alma rampage was a murder and vehicle-ramming attack in the small Colorado town on February 26 and 27. Background Alma, Colorado is a town, southwest of Denver, at an altitude of . In 1995, the Federal Bureau of Investigation designated Alma the safest town in the United States, with a crime rate of zero percent. Willie Morrison (born ) was the mayor from April 1994March 1995, and still worked for the town until the third week of February 1998, when he and several town council members resigned in protest of a newly hired marshal#State and local marshals, marshal. The contemporary population of Alma was 150 people. Thomas Leask (born ) drove a snowplow part-time and was a native of Alma. By early 1998, he had begun living in a backyard shack and stockpiling wood in his house. He had reportedly been fighting with municipal authorities since being forced onto the town's water supply network during Morrison's tenure as mayor. Attack At around 5:30p.m. on February 26 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mountain Time Zone
The Mountain Time Zone of North America keeps time by subtracting seven hours from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) when standard time ( UTC−07:00) is in effect, and by subtracting six hours during daylight saving time ( UTC−06:00). The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time at the 105th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. In the United States, the exact specification for the location of time zones and the dividing lines between zones is set forth in the Code of Federal Regulations at 49 CFR 71. In the United States, Canada, and Mexico, this time zone is generically called Mountain Time (MT). Specifically, it is Mountain Standard Time (MST) when observing standard time, and Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) when observing daylight saving time. The term refers to the Rocky Mountains, which range from British Columbia to New Mexico. In Mexico, this time zone is known as the or ('Pacific Zone'). In the United States and Canada, the Mountain Time Z ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a global, peer-led Mutual aid, mutual-aid fellowship focused on an abstinence-based recovery model from alcoholism through its spiritually inclined twelve-step program. AA's Twelve Traditions, besides emphasizing anonymity, stress lack of hierarchy, staying non-promotional, and non-professional, while also unaffiliated, non-denominational, apolitical and free to all. , AA estimated it is active in 180 countries with an estimated membership of nearly two million—73% in the United States and Canada. AA traces its origins to a 1935 meeting between Bill W., Bill Wilson (commonly referred to as Bill W.) and Dr. Bob Smith (doctor), Bob Smith (Dr. Bob), two individuals seeking to address their shared struggles with alcoholism. Their collaboration, influenced by the Christian Revivalism, Christian revivalist Oxford Group, evolved into a mutual support group that eventually became AA. In 1939, the fellowship published The Big Book (Alcoholics Anonymous), ''Al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Obstructing Justice
In United States jurisdictions, obstruction of justice refers to a number of offenses that involve unduly influencing, impeding, or otherwise interfering with the justice system, especially the legal and procedural tasks of prosecutors, investigators, or other government officials. Common law jurisdictions other than the United States tend to use the wider offense of perverting the course of justice. Obstruction is a broad crime that may include acts such as perjury, making false statements to officials, witness tampering, jury tampering, destruction of evidence, and many others. Obstruction also applies to overt coercion of court or government officials via the means of threats or actual physical harm, and to deliberate sedition against a court official to undermine the appearance of legitimate authority. Legal overview Obstruction of justice is an umbrella term covering a variety of specific crimes. ''Black's Law Dictionary'' defines it as any "interference with the orderly a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Misdemeanor
A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than administrative infractions (also known as minor, petty, or summary offences) and regulatory offences. Typically, misdemeanors are punished with prison time of no longer than one year, monetary fines, or community service. Distinction between felonies and misdemeanors A misdemeanor is considered a crime of lesser seriousness, and a felony one of greater seriousness. The maximum punishment for a misdemeanor is less than that for a felony under the principle that the punishment should fit the crime. One standard for measurement is the degree to which a crime affects others or society. Measurements of the degree of seriousness of a crime have been developed. In the United States, the federal government generally considers a crime punishable ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Life Imprisonment In The United States
In the United States, life imprisonment is the most severe punishment provided by law in states with no valid capital punishment statute, and second-most in those with a valid statute. According to a 2013 study, one of every nine prison inhabitants of the U.S. were imprisoned for life . American case law and penology literature divides life sentences into "determinate life sentences" or "indeterminate life sentences". The latter indicates the possibility of an abridged sentence, usually through the process of parole. For example, a sentence of "15 years to life" or "25 years to life" is called an "indeterminate life sentence", while a sentence of "life without the possibility of parole" or "life without parole" (LWOP) is called a "determinate life sentence". West Virginia uses the unique terms "life with mercy" and "life without mercy", respectively, for these two categories. The first category are "indeterminate" in that the true length of each prisoner's sentence is not determi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Felony
A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "''félonie''") to describe an offense that resulted in the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods, to which additional punishments, including capital punishment, could be added; other crimes were called misdemeanors. Following conviction of a felony in a court of law, a person may be described as a felon or a convicted felon. In many common law jurisdictions, such as England and Wales, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, crimes are no longer classified as felonies or misdemeanors. Instead, crimes are classified by mode of trial as indictable offences, triable by jury, which are usually more serious, and summary offences, triable by summary procedure without a jury, which are usually less serious. In some civil law (legal system), civil law jurisdictions, such ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Accessory To Murder
Accessory may refer to: * Accessory (legal term), a person who assists a criminal In anatomy * Accessory bone * Accessory breast * Accessory kidney * Accessory muscle * Accessory nucleus, in anatomy, a cranial nerve nucleus * Accessory nerve * Accessory spleen In arts and entertainment * Accessory (band), with members Dirk Steyer and Ivo Lottig * Video game accessory, a piece of hardware used in conjunction with a video game console for playing video games * Accessories (album), ''Accessories'' (album), a compilation album from Dutch alternative rock band The Gathering * Accessory, a type of List of Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks, rulebook in ''Dungeons & Dragons'' and other role-playing games Other uses * Fashion accessory, an item used to complement a fashion or style * Accessory suite, a secondary dwelling on a parcel of land * Rental accessories and attachments, accessories used in the rental industry * Cable accessories for connecting and terminating cables * Accessory fruit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burglary
Burglary, also called breaking and entering (B&E) or housebreaking, is a property crime involving the illegal entry into a building or other area without permission, typically with the intention of committing a further criminal offence. Usually that offence is theft, larceny, robbery, or murder, but most jurisdictions include others within the ambit of burglary. To commit burglary is to ''burgle'', a term back-formed from the word ''burglar'', or to ''burglarize''. Etymology Sir Edward Coke (1552–1634) explains at the start of Chapter 14 in the third part of '' Institutes of the Lawes of England'' (pub. 1644), that the word ''Burglar'' ("or the person that committeth burglary"), is derived from the words ''burgh'' and ''laron'', meaning ''house-thieves''. A note indicates he relies on the ''Brooke's case'' for this definition. According to one textbook, the etymology originates from Anglo-Saxon or Old English, one of the Germanic languages. (Perhaps paraphrasing Sir Edward ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bail In The United States
Bail is the practice of releasing suspects from custody before their hearing, on payment of bail, which is money or pledge of property to the court which may be refunded if suspects return to court for their trial. In the United States the practices vary between states. General procedure To protect a criminal suspect's interest in pretrial liberty, a bail hearing is required to be held within a strict time limit after arrest (which, again, varies depending upon the jurisdiction). The regular rules of evidence do not apply at a bail hearing. The prosecution typically proceeds by "proffer" alone. Instead of presenting witness testimony and documents that would be admissible at trial, the prosecutor merely makes an unsworn oral promise to the judge as to what the evidence will show as to the suspect's dangerousness, likelihood of guilt, and propensity to flee the jurisdiction. This procedure has been "uniformly" approved of by all federal courts of appeals and numerous state ap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Public Defender
A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Belgium, Hungary and Singapore, and some states of Australia. Brazil is the only country in which an office of government-paid lawyers with the specific purpose of providing full legal assistance and representation to the needy free of charge is established in the constitution. The Sixth Amendment to the US Constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, requires the US government to provide legal counsel to indigent defendants in criminal cases. Public defenders in the United States are lawyers employed by or under contract with county, state or federal governments. By country In civil law countries, following the model from the French Napoleonic Code of criminal procedure, the courts typically appoint private attorneys at the expense of the state. A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Murder In United States Law
In the United States, the law for murder varies by jurisdiction. In many US jurisdictions there is a hierarchy of acts, known collectively as homicide, of which first-degree murder and felony murder are the most serious, followed by second-degree murder and, in a few states, third-degree murder, which in other states is divided into voluntary manslaughter, and involuntary manslaughter such as reckless homicide and negligent homicide, which are the least serious, and ending finally in justifiable homicide, which is not a crime. However, because there are at least 52 relevant jurisdictions, each with its own criminal code, this is a considerable simplification. Sentencing also varies widely depending upon the specific murder charge. "Life imprisonment" is a common penalty for first-degree murder, but its meaning varies widely. Capital punishment is a legal sentence in 27 states, and in the federal civilian and military legal systems, though 8 of these states and the federal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mischief
Mischief (or malicious mischief) is the name for a class of criminal offenses that are defined differently in different legal jurisdictions. While the wrongful acts will often involve what is popularly described as vandalism, there can be a legal differentiation between vandalism and mischief. The etymology of the word comes from Old French ''meschief'', which means "misfortune", from ''meschever'', "to end badly". Canada The country's Criminal Code makes :wikibooks:Canadian Criminal Law/Offences/Mischief">mischief a hybrid offence, punishable by up to and including life imprisonment if the mischief causes actual danger to human life. Public mischief is the term for the crime of wasting police time. Scotland Malicious mischief is an offence against the common law of Scotland. It does not require actual damage to property for the offence to be committed; financial damage consequential to the act is sufficient. It has now largely been replaced by vandalism, a statutory offense ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
