Tag Archives: lawsuits

Imponderable #19: Denver Colorado

30 Sep

September 30, 2011

In a nutshell, a convict serving a life sentence is suing the prison for saving his life.

I have some thoughts.

Daniel Self has made his thoughts about DNR clear to the prison. They are under not to resuscitate him. Self suffers from sleep apnea, a condition that causes him to stop breathing during his sleep and in this case led to his near-death.

He is in jail for murder and is serving a life sentence. A life sentence has no set ending but ends, obviously, when the inmate dies. The length of the sentence is not set. It can be years or days depending on the lifespan, so if the inmate dies the day after the sentence he has served the full term of the sentence. Self did not try to commit suicide, which some could argue is a way to circumvent life in prison. (I’m not sure I’d make that argument, but it could be made.) This was a case of someone dying (almost) of natural causes so take out any intent of avoiding his sentence. Like millions of others, the inmate made a perfectly legal DNR request, meaning no methods like CPR be used to revive him.

I doubt DNRs are posted on cell doors and I doubt the guards knew he had one. And remember- this was not in a hospital environment. I assume the guards acted fast and properly saving his life. No way would they be expected to wait around while someone checked to see if there was a DNR. If an error has to be made, I’d prefer it to be made on the side of saving someone’s life, not ending it.

Self is now suing the state. I am not sure what he is suing for. Money? I don’t know what his damages are. His release? That is interesting. It could be argued that when his heart stopped his life ended and he has therefore served his life sentence and he should be let out. Is it fair to save someone’s life and force him to serve possible decades more in jail?

This is almost the opposite of a death penalty argument.

Is it cruel and unusual punishment to save a man’s life only to force him to serve a life sentence in jail?

The question in Imponderable.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Cops and Strippers.

8 Aug

August 8, 2011

I originally slated this for a slot with The Imponderables but read the article and I think you’ll see why I changed my mind.

Before we go any further, I need to get something out of the way. “Biggins Gentleman’s Club.” BWAH HA HA! Lovin’ it! (And props if you remember that Biggin’s was Al Bundy’s favorite magazine.)

But I digress. (And props if you remember that “but I digresss” was my favorite expression in this blog for years.)

It sounds pretty funny on the face of it. A group of strippers sued and won a settlement in a case where the strippers were strip-searched by the police.

Part of the reason they won was the law that said, as a protective measure,  “strip-searches must be conducted by a person of the same sex and that any observer shall be of the same gender as the arrested person.” This despite the fact that women strip almost exclusively for men. (There is also a possibility of a homosexuality bias. What if the strippers worked in a gay bar? Or the observer is gay? Having observers of the same sex seems to go against the purpose of the law in those cases.)

I did a bit of research and the particulars of the case don’t come into play here, only the circumstances of the strip searches. It was a mostly clear-cut case of civil rights. Strange as it may seem simply on the face of it, they were wronged by being forced to submit to a strip search. There is a joke somewhere in here about strippers not giving it away for me but I won’t make it. (Though you can feel free to leave it in the comment section. You may want to base the joke on the cops not giving the strippers any singles first.) It is actually straight-forward once you stop giggling.

The takeaways of this case?
One, that not every Imponderable is as Imponderable as it may seem.
And two, “Biggin’s Gentlemen’s Club.”

BWA-HA-HA!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →