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US lawyer secretly films colleagues undressing

US lawyer secretly films colleagues undressingA creepy legal aid lawyer from Queens, New York, has been charged for secretly videotaping female colleagues in various states of undress.Peter…

user iconLawyers Weekly 27 July 2007 SME Law
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US lawyer secretly films colleagues undressing

A creepy legal aid lawyer from Queens, New York, has been charged for secretly videotaping female colleagues in various states of undress.

Peter Barta, 32, had allegedly hidden a video camera inside a clock positioned in the public defence agency’s Manhattan offices in order to film the women changing as they arrived to, and departed from work, Newsday.com reported.

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Five women were caught by the secret surveillance, one apparently almost entirely naked. It is alleged that Barta filmed the women at various stages over a two-year period.

It wasn’t until one of the women noticed something unusual about the clock, and found a motion-activated digital video camera with a memory card inside, that Barta’s scheme was exposed, the website said. When he was confronted, Barta immediately resigned.

The attorney has entered a not guilty plea to unlawful surveillance and attempted unlawful surveillance, and may be convicted for up to four years.

Snaps for Folklaw

Any mutual appreciation society makes everyone happy. And it made Folklaw happy this week when we noticed blogger Lawyertrix’s “snaps to Folklaw at Lawyers Weekly” for its recognition of her poetic style and grace, in republishing a poem she had written. See her blog at lawyertrix.blogspot.com. A big kiss right back to Lawyertrix for the cute dedicated Haiku:

“every Friday

with baited breath I await

lawyers weekly kiss”

Man struggles to sue God

A Romanian prisoner has hit a snag in his efforts to sue God for breach of contract.

As WorldNetDaily.com reported, Pavel Mircea, 40, sued God over what he said was a failure to honour an agreement the two allegedly formed upon his baptism.

Mircea claims that God was bound to protect him from evil, which included preventing him from falling in league with Satan, who prompted him to commit murder.

“He was supposed to protect me from all evils and instead he gave me to Satan who encouraged me to kill,” Mircea said, according to the website.

Mircea has accused the Almighty of breach of trust, abuse of a position of authority, fraud, and misappropriation of goods. If God was not prepared to honour their agreement, then he should not have accepted his prayers and sacrificial offerings, Mircea claimed.

According to the website, the Timisoara public prosecutor in Romania has thus far rejected Mircea’s lawsuit, as God has no fixed address to which papers can be served.

Iran cracks down on spy squirrels

Iran’s police officers have pulled off a major international sting by detecting and arresting 14 squirrels they say were acting as foreign spies.

According to Sky News, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) has reported that the animals were nabbed near the Iranian border, apparently covered in electronic equipment used for eavesdropping.

When questioned, the national police chief said: “I have heard about it, but I do not have precise information”, the news website said.

Although it certainly sounds unlikely, Sky News did point out that animals have been enlisted by nations in the past. The Allies used pigeons to send information out of France during the Second World War, and the US marines have employed chickens to help in chemical detection. Folklaw has also heard of aardvarks being used to spread propaganda through outer, outer, Bolivia.

Lawyer help line, online

Assuming that not everyone can afford to hire an employment lawyer over every little work-related query and issue, a “community affiliate” of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations has launched a website that offers free legal services to any workers who have legal questions.

Can employers make you let them know when you date a co-worker? Can you post funny stories from work on your personal blog? Can you hit your boss?

The answers can now be posted on the new Ask a Lawyer site. Generally pretty conservative, the lawyers’ responses tend to advise workers to be careful, and notifies them that it does depend where they live in the US. The site has been up for only a month and has already received more than 4,000 inquiries from workers. Check it out at: www.workingamerica.org/askalawyer.

Robber forgets loot, asks for hugs

A family in Washington DC were left puzzled by an armed robber who attacked their dinner party only to walk off after a bit of a cuddle.

As News24.com reported, the man snuck onto the family’s property, put a gun to a 14-year-old guests head, and said: “Give me your money, or I’ll start shooting.”

After the initial shock wore off, one of the guests said: “We were just finishing dinner. Why don’t you have a glass of wine with us?”

The man sampled some of their Château Malescot St Exupéry, and apparently exclaimed: “damn — that’s good wine.” The guests encouraged the robber to have more, along with some camembert cheese.

Now satisfied, the man aged in his late 20s put his gun away and confessed: “I think I may have come to the wrong house,” he said. “I’m sorry. Can I get a hug?”

As the website reported, every one of the guests hugged him, whereupon he asked for a group hug, which was also given, before leaving.

“We believe it is a true robbery,” said Commander Diane Groomes of the Washington DC police department. “I’ve never heard of a robber joining a party and then walking out to the sunset.”

Judges unite! Throw off your wigs!

They’ve finally done it. What society may have deemed the most conservative of all groups has declared that in fact it will shun tradition and overhaul working dress for judges in England and Wales.

The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, announced last week that judges in civil and family jurisdictions will no longer wear wigs, wing collars and bands when sitting in open court. All types of judges, in fact, were allowed to reconsider what they wanted to wear, and throw away the wig, if they so chose.

But the Circuit Bench, in the civil and family jurisdictions, would have none of it. “In accordance with their current wish,” while all other judges will wear a simple gown that is now being designed, they will continue to wear what tradition allows them.

High Court judges, it was announced, will have a single set of robes for criminal proceedings throughout the year. Obviously having little hope that their cold lands will heat up (or perhaps that the windy halls in which they work will be insulated), they will now wear their winter woollies all year long.

Advocates in criminal proceedings can wear what judges wear, as long as that doesn’t include wigs, wing collars and bands. But when they are worn by the Bar, advocates, they are told, may as well pop them on too.

And a stop will be put to that hefty allowance judges currently receive for their garb. Newly appointed circuit judges will no longer receive an allowance to buy full-bottomed wigs. Substantial savings will result, according to Lord Phillips. While the one-off cost of supplying the new civil gown is estimated at about £200,000 ($470,000), annual savings in the region of £300,000 ($698,000) will thereafter be made, he said.

“At present High Court judges have no less than five different sets of working dress, depending on the jurisdiction in which they are sitting and the season of the year. After widespread consultation it has been decided to simplify this and to cease wearing wigs, wing collars and bands in the civil and family jurisdictions. While there will never be unanimity of view about court dress, the desirability of these changes has a broad measure of agreement,” Lord Phillips said last week.

War on error leaves AFP red faced

Folklaw does not consider terrorism or the detention of Mohamed Haneef to be a laughing matter. The conduct of the Australian Federal Police, however, is another story. As yet another blunder in the case against Haneef came to light this week, we cannot help but wonder whether Maxwell Smart might have done a better job.

The Australian reported that officers investigating the case wrote the names of overseas terrorism suspects in Haneef’s personal diary, then seemingly forgot about it and grilled him over whether it was his handwriting.

In the record of the interview, the newspaper said AFP detective sergeant Adam Simms had asked Haneef:

“In your diary you had handwritten notes. Is this your writing?”

Haneef responded with “No. This is definitely not my writing. Definitely not.”

The interview record shows Haneef continued to deny it was his writing in subsequent questions before Simms left the room and then returned with an explanation.

“Thought that might have been the case,” Simms told Haneef.

“In fact it’s not (Haneef’s handwriting). This is what’s been written by police. So it’s not your handwriting at all.”

The question remains — what were police doing writing the names of terrorism suspects in Haneef’s diary in the first place?

Few people would be sleeping more soundly knowing these guys are safeguarding our national security.

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