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'Takings' Meant Something Different at First Wall Street Journal (subscription) Regulatory takings weren't part of the original meaning of the Fifth Amendment Takings Clause of the Constitution. Quoting a footnote from the Supreme Court's 1992 Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council opinion: early constitutional theorists did ... and more »

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'Takings' Meant Something Different at First - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

IS THIS CONSTITUTIONAL?

A man who pleaded guilty to state charges (and served his time) in connection with aSeptember 2011 robbery of a McDonalds fast food restaurant will likely be forced to plead guilty to the same crime in federal court this week.

Otherwise, he could wind up spending the rest of his life behind bars.

Wait isnt it unconstitutional to charge someone a second time for the same crime?

Yes, it is. In addition to its famous prohibition against compelling an individual to testify against themselves, the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution holds that no one shall for the same offence be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.

In other words once an individual has been either convicted or acquitted of a charge thats it. At least from a criminal standpoint.

In the case ofTimothy DaShaun Taylor, though, this protection apparently doesnt apply.

Why not? Because federal prosecutors believe the 26-year-old has not been forthcoming about his alleged knowledge of a famous 2009 kidnapping case one that remains at the heart of an ongoing unsolved mystery.

OnApril 25, 2009, 17-year-oldBrittanee Drexelof Rochester, New York vanished without a trace en route to meet friends at the Blue Water resort in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Drexel who was on spring break at the time she disappeared hasnt been seen nor heard from since.

(Click to view)

(Via: YouTube)

Last August,Taquan Brown an inmate currently serving a 25-year sentence in a state prison told federal authoritiesDrexel was dead. In fact, the former confidential informant claims to have witnessed her death (or at least heard the gunshots that allegedly killed her).

According to Brown, Drexel was forcibly abducted by a group of black men in Myrtle Beach, S.C. that fateful April night eight years ago. These men allegedly beat her up, sexually assaulted her and transportedher to a stash house (or trap house) near McClellanville a small fishing village located on Highway 17 roughly halfway betweenMyrtle Beach and Charleston, S.C.

There, the story goes, Drexel was allegedly chained to a wall while the men who abducted her took money from other black males eager to f*ck the white girl aprocess known asbunnying.

At some point, according to Brown, Drexel somehow managed to free herself from her chains but was pistol-whipped, shot and killed before she could escape fromthe house. Drexels body was then allegedly taken to an alligator pit in the Santee region of the state where it was said to have been disposed of on May 2, 2009.

Brown accused Taylor and his father Timothy S. Taylor of participating in the bunnying of Drexel and possibly being involved in her murder. However according to attorneys for the younger Taylor, no evidence has been offered to support Browns claims.

Furthermore, after conducting searches at nearly forty possible alligator pit locations in and around Santee nothing has been uncovered.

In order to squeeze information out of Mr. Taylor, the feds sought and received permission from Washington, D.C. to indict him in federal court for the same charges hed already pleaded guilty to and served his sentence on in state court, the younger Taylors attorney, Mark Peper, told us.

Over the last year, we have proved that Mr. Taylor was in his third period class at Lincoln High School at the time he was alleged to have been with Drexel, and the Feds have realized that the inmates story has little to no merit, Peper added.

Case closed, right?

No

Federal prosecutors are still threatening to take Taylor to trial on the armed robbery charge. If convicted of this crime (which, again, he already pleaded guilty to at the state level), he could face life in prison.

Apparently, double jeopardy means nothing in the federal system, Peper told us. That said, we have no choice but to accept a plea offer wherein Mr. Taylor will be pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit armed robbery for a negotiated sentence of between ten to twenty years in prison; for a crime that hes already done his time on.

(Click to view)

(Via: Charleston County)

Taylors hearing before U.S. district court judge David C. Norton is scheduled for this week. Assuming he enters a guilty plea on the robbery charge (again), sentencing will be scheduled for later this summer.

Is this fair? Obviously there are multiple sides to every story, but based on everything weve seen up to this point in the case the answer is no.

According to Taylors attorneys, hes being punished for what he doesnt know.

This website has previously addressed such jurisdictional nebulousness as it relates to the high-profile mass murder case of Dylann Roof, the white supremacist who gunned down seven black parishioners at the Mother Emanuel A.M.E. church two years ago in the Holy City Massacre.

Roof confessed to his crime and confessed to his motive in committing it. And the evidence against him was incontrovertible. Accordingly, we believethe death sentence handed down in his case was entirely appropriate. Still, we believe the federal government usurped the states authority in his case filing a host of charges against Roof that needlessly duplicated the state charges previously filed against him (which, incidentally, moved forward despite the conclusion of the federal case against him).

This strikes us as wrong to say nothing of wasteful.

Unlike the open and shut Roof case, we have no idea what really happened to Brittanee Drexel. It could be her demise transpired precisely as the governments confidential informant has claimed. Or perhaps it happened in some other way. Or perhaps Drexel is still alive.

Again we dont know.

What we do know is that Taylors case appears to be yet another example of duplicative charges compromising the constitutional rights of an American citizen something we thought was addressed by the Fifth Amendment.

If the federal government has evidence to support the allegations made against Taylor by its confidential informant, then it should charge him in connection with Drexels 2009 kidnapping and murder. Absent that, we believe the federal government should drop its robbery charge against him seeing as he has already pleaded guilty and served his punishment at the state level.

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Double Jeopardy Case: Plea Likely | FITSNews - FITSNews

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday upheld Wisconsin's so-called right-to-work law, which bars mandatory union membership and prohibits unions and employers from requiring non-members to pay dues.

The plaintiffs did not provide "any compelling reason" for the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago to revisit an earlier ruling upholding a right-to-work law in a similar case in Indiana, Judge Joel Flaum wrote.

Flaum was joined by Judge Michael Kanne and Judge Frank Easterbrook in the unanimous decision.

Two local affiliates of the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) had argued that Wisconsin's law violates U.S. labor laws and a portion of the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by preventing unions from collecting payment for services they are legally required to provide to non-members.

In September, U.S. District Judge J.P. Stadtmueller, citing a 2014 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that upheld Indiana's similar right-to-work law, dismissed the lawsuit. The plaintiffs appealed to the 7th Circuit Court.

Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel welcomed Wednesday's ruling, saying in a statement, "The decision from the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirms what we have argued since this law was enacted in 2015, that right-to-work is constitutional.

"The Constitution does not protect a union's right to take money from non-union members and I'm proud to have defended the rule of law in Wisconsin."

The IUOE expected the ruling, said union attorney Scott Kronland, but maintains the decision was incorrect.

"It is fundamentally unfair for the unions to be required to provide services for free and the unions expect that their position will eventually be vindicated," he said in a statement.

The union is still considering its next step, Kronland said.

Wednesday's decision comes as an increasing number of U.S. states, particularly those with Republican-controlled legislatures, are enacting right-to-work laws.

In February, Missouri became the 28th state to pass right-to-work legislation, according to the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.

Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker, who emerged as a leading union antagonist during a 2011 fight over legislation to roll back public employee collective bargaining rights, had championed the state's right-to-work law.

When it was enacted in 2015 it drew thousands of protesters to Madison, the state capitol.

Editing by Patrick Enright and Bill Trott

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US appeals court upholds Wisconsin 'right-to-work' law - Reuters

A former Emmaus High School teacher pleaded guilty Tuesday to unlawful contact with a minor for sending sexually explicit love letters and text messages to a 17-year-old female student.

Heather Montero, 36, of the 4200 block of South Drive in Lower Macungie Township faces one to two years in Lehigh County Jail when she is sentenced Oct. 30.

She was fired in February soon after a county grand jury recommended charges of unlawful contact with a minor and corruption of minors.

During Tuesdays court hearing, Chief Deputy District Attorney Matthew Falk told Judge James T. Anthony that the victim said the love letters and messages between herself and Montero were fantasy talk.

The victim has maintained, very adamantly, that sexual contact never occurred, Falk said.

Anthony ordered Montero to undergo a sex offenders evaluation before sentencing. Falk told the judge he would not be surprised if the victim testified on Monteros behalf during sentencing.

According to court records:

A state trooper began investigating in November 2015 after a tip that Montero was having a sexual relationship with a student. The trooper first reviewed Montero's Twitter profile and found postings and photos involving Montero and the girl.

The trooper interviewed the victim, who is now 19, and reviewed her Twitter account and cellphone. The girl said she began baby-sitting for the Montero family in January 2015 and had a close relationship with Montero.

At some point, the two began talking by text and Twitter direct messages about their attraction for each other, the girl told the trooper. The girl said the attraction never became physical, but they discussed having a relationship only after she turned 18 and graduated from high school.

Montero never testified before the grand jury, asserting her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Falk said the victim did not want police to pursue charges against Montero, but police and prosecutors filed charges because it was the right thing to do.

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Former Emmaus teacher pleads guilty in love letters case - Allentown Morning Call

BELLEFONTE Jim and Evelyn Piazza looked disgusted and disappointed as they sat front row for Tuesdays portion of the preliminary hearings into the death of their son,Timothy.

And defense attorney Andrew Shubin, representing former Beta Theta Pi member Nicholas Kubera, posed a question to Detective David Scicchitano that later made Jim Piazza's jaw drop.

Hes also a victim, right? Shubin asked referencing the hazing his client underwent for pledging in 2016.

Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller called it a disregard for the Piazza's.

His son has been killed, his son is dead, Miller said in a public address referring to Jims emotions in the courtroom.

Defense lawyer argues Piazza wasn't forced to drink

Tuesdays preliminary hearing came to a close in the Centre County Courthouse with at least two days of cross examinations left for the defense.

The date has not been officially decided, but Judge Allen Sinclair alluded to the proceedings continuing into next month.

A recurring theme in the hearings was for the defense to address those former Beta Theta Pi members not charged in the case.

When prompted by Rocco Cipparone, attorney for Michael Bonatucci, Scicchitano read a text message that was sent to Piazza before the rush event.

The text message sent by Kordel Davis read: Get ready to get f***** up, stipulating that Davis expected Piazza to consume extreme amounts of alcohol that night.

MORE: List of all charges the 18 former BTP brothers face

Cipparone rhetorically asked Scicchitano to point Davis out in the courtroom Davis is not facing any charges for his involvement in the case.

According to video surveillance, Davis was forcefully dismissed by his fraternity brothers when he told them to call 911 for Piazza as seen in the video footage.

During cross examination, Scicchitano agreed with Cipparone that there was no evidence Bonatucci was in the house at the time of Piazzas fall and that he exercised his fifth amendment right to forgo speaking with police.

Michael Leahey, attorney for the Alpha Upsilon chapter of the fraternity, received portions of the surveillance video not shown in court through another lawsuit.

It was Leaheys notes on the video that gave Cipparone a good faith basis that his client left the Beta house around 11:10 p.m., noting that Bonatucci is not seen in any part of the video after that time.

The video footage showed during the first day of preliminary hearings confirmed Davis presence in the fraternity and that he had seen Piazza unconscious after his first fall down a flight of stairs.

Davis joinsPenn State Football Head Athletic Trainer Tim Bream as others the defense believes should be facing charges.

Davis testimony with Scicchitano was again referenced when Michael Engle began his cross examination.

Engle is representing former Beta Theta Pi member Gary DiBileo, who he argued during his cross examination wanted to call 911 after Piazzas first fall.

Scacchiano agreed in questioning that DiBileo did not witness Piazzas fall and is never actually seen on the video footage until after Piazza was brought upstairs.

DiBileo reportedly told police that when his roommate Greg Rizzo informed him of Piazzas fall, they advocated for medical attention to be sought for Piazza.

No such call was made though, as DiBileo said they deferred the task to the executive board of the fraternity.

Engle pointed out that much like Davis, Rizzo also left the decision to call for medial assistance up to the higher ups in the fraternity and was not charged.

Listening to discussion as to why the former fraternity members waited so long to call for help leaves Jim almost shaking in his seat.

"Tim Piazza's father Jim Piazza told me yesterday walking out of the courthouse there isn't a moment during these hearings that he doesn't think about Tim and think about how much he and his wife miss him," said Tom Kline, attorney for the Piazzas.

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Defense attorney of former BTP member says client also a 'victim' during Timothy Piazza preliminary hearing - The Daily Collegian Online