Lawyers Blog

Broken bottles could be clues in Brooklyn hate crime

NYPD patrolling the area where several cars were set on fire in an apparent hate crime.

Joe Marino for New York Daily News

Reward posters urge residents with tips to come forward.

Investigators on the hunt for the bigots who terrorized a heavily Jewish Brooklyn enclave are lifting fingerprints from empty beer bottles found near the scene.

“We’ve recovered from the scene 27 empty Corona b*ottles, so those will be tested for fingerprints as well as DNA,” Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said Saturday.

The anti-Semitic attack in Midwood was carried out Friday — a day after the anniversary of Kristallnacht, a violent prelude to the Holocaust when Nazis attacked synagogues and other Jewish establishments in Germany in 1938.

Authorities believe the boozed-up bigots chose to strike close to one of history’s darkest days.

“Whoever it is is reasonably intelligent because I don’t think it’s a coincidence at all that they chose to do this horrific thing that near the anniversary of Kristallnacht,” Hynes said.

The vandals torched three parked cars along an Ocean Parkway block, spray-painted Nazi swastikas on nearby benches and scrawled “f–k the Jews” on a sidewalk. On the side of a

Read all post…

When Lori Hawkins’ disabled neighbor moved to an assisted-living facility, Hawkins was the one who set up the payments to the center.

But Hawkins also arranged to take money for herself, stealing nearly $270,000 and eventually stopped making the payments for her neighbor’s care because there were no funds left.

Hawkins, 38, of the District, has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for the thefts.

The case was “egregious,” prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum, “not only based on the amount of money the defendant stole but also based on the nature of the victim — a close family friend with diminished mental capacity.”

Hawkins grew up next door to the woman, who is now 62 and suffered brain tumors when she was in her 20s that left her mentally disabled and unable to care for herself.

When the woman’s brother died in March 2007 and left a $400,000 inheritance, Hawkins created a document that purported to give her power of attorney over her neighbor, according to Hawkins’ plea agreement.

Between July 2007 and November 2009, Hawkins stole a total of $269,630, according to court records.

Read all post…

PHOENIX – Three customers and two employees were held at gunpoint as a group of masked men robbed a store and now Silent Witness is hoping the surveillance video can lead them to the suspects.

The cameras captured the suspects as they walked into the Secrets Adults Only store near 51st Avenue and Indian School Road in October.

One suspect paced back and forth along the counter while employees gathered cash from the register.

Once the money was taken, the suspects fled the scene. No property or money was taken from the customers.

The suspects are described as a white and Hispanic male, 5′ 10″ tall.

Read all post…

There had been several cases since the 2008 financial crisis where individuals were obese or fat and fired for it. Typical responses to these events and that employers are discriminating base on weight. The good thing is that the debate on the legality of firing people because they are overweight or obese is somehow settled: it is illegal. And yet the cases regarding this type of discrimination ends up dismissed. Here are the reasons why.

Overweight is not always morbid obesity
Being fat or overweight does not mean you are morbidly obese, a condition considered to be a disability by the Americans with Disabilities Act or ADA. Read all post…

Howlett Hill, NY — Firefighters from several fire departments are still on the scene of a barn fire tonight on Corporal Welch Road in the Howlett Hill Fire District more than an hour after it was reported, according to the Onondaga County 911 Center broadcasts.

The fire was called in about 5:55 p.m. for the barn at 5137 Corporal Welch Road. The first fire units responding said there was heavy fire in the barn.

Smoke from the burning barn could be seen for miles. Early reports state that there was no one inside the barn. Requests for more firefighters were made through the evening to the scene are being made.

This story will be updated as more details become known.