by Ed Lyon
Steven O’Leary was a preacher before switching his career to law enforcement. The career-changing, job-hopping cop held jobs at two different departments before being hired as a deputy with Florida’s Martin County Sheriff Department (“MCSD”) in February 2018. O’Leary’s record with his prior departments was ...
by Ed Lyon
Most Americans are familiar with the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees them security in their persons and homes from unreasonable searches and seizures.
Perhaps this is where the axiom that a man’s home is his castle originated, or maybe it was the other ...
by Ed Lyon
Statistics show that the United States of America incarcerates more of its citizens per capita than any other legal jurisdiction in the world. The entry into the incarceration nation begins with the simple arrest by a member of one of the 18,000 law enforcement agencies throughout ...
by Ed Lyon
Chapter 552, § 108(a)(2) of the Texas Government Code (“TGC”) was passed by the state legislature in 1979. The law’s intended purpose was to protect the privacy rights of innocent and wrongfully convicted defendants who were accused of committing a crime but were either never formally ...
by Ed Lyon
In November 2013, Hickory, North Carolina, police Sergeant Robert George allegedly removed a woman driver from her auto and slammed her face-first onto the ground. She required corrective surgery.
Charged by local prosecutors in 2014, the case then languished in an unadjudicated limbo. Four years ...
by Ed Lyon
For scores of years, excessive bail amounts for fiscally impoverished individuals accused of crimes have been a major factor in jail overcrowding. This, in turn, leads to violence and excessive additional costs to cities, counties, and parishes across the United States.
Far exceeding its intended ...
by Ed Lyon
For many decades, prosecutors have been the true kings of U.S. courtrooms. Longtime Dallas, Texas, prosecutor Henry Wade attained infamy for stating, “Guilty ones are easy to convict. It takes real effort to convict the innocent.”
His Houston, Texas, counterpart John Holmes gained a like measure ...
by Ed Lyon
For many people, the negative effects of being in jail or prison follow them throughout their lives after they re-enter society. Probably one of the most pervasive of these effects is obtaining employment they are qualified for in all aspects, save for their carceral ...
by Ed Lyon
In June 2001, 18-year-old Kirstin Blaise Lobato narrowly escaped being raped in Las Vegas, Nevada. With her small pocket knife, she wounded her attacker’s genitals. He was left intact but did sustain enough of an injury to make him cry.
On July 8, 2001, ...
by Ed Lyon
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (“LASD”) is the largest of its kind in the U.S. According to recent figures, it tops another list—it’s apparently the most feloniously libidinous as well.
Considering the cost of the resulting lawsuits and the price tag to defend against them, ...
