Felony petty theft is the colloquial term for a statute in the California Penal Code that makes it possible for a person who commits the crime of petty theft to be charged with a felony rather than a misdemeanor if the accused had previously been convicted of a theft-related crime at any time in the past. The technical name for the charge is petty theft with a prior.
On May 22,1995,16-year-old Jimmy Farris,the son of a Los Angeles Police Department officer,was stabbed to death. Farris and his friend,Michael McLoren,were next to a clubhouse-type fort in McLoren's backyard. Four acquaintances of Farris and McLoren jumped the chainlink fence and approached the fort. There was a fight inside the fort. Farris and McLoren went into the house,bleeding from stab wounds,while the other four climbed back over the fence and left. Farris died before paramedics arrived. McLoren was airlifted to UCLA Medical Center.
Rodney Glenn Ellis is an American politician who has served on the Harris County Commissioners Court Precinct 1 since 2017. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
Matt's Law is a California law that allows for felony prosecutions when serious injuries or deaths result from hazing rituals. The bill amended the California Education Code and California Penal Code to change charges for some hazing rituals from misdemeanors to felonies,and for the first time gave prosecutors the ability to seek hazing charges against nonstudents.
The Alaska political corruption probe refers to a 2003 to 2010 widespread investigation by the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice,the Federal Bureau of Investigation,and the Internal Revenue Service into political corruption of nine then-current or former Alaskan state lawmakers,as well as Republican US Representative Don Young and then-US Senator,Republican Ted Stevens. Sometimes referred to as "The Corrupt Bastards Club" or the "Operation Polar Pen",the investigation focused on the oil industry,fisheries and for-profit prison industries.
Ewing v. California,538 U.S. 11 (2003),is one of two cases upholding a sentence imposed under California's three strikes law against a challenge that it constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. As in its prior decision in Harmelin v. Michigan,the United States Supreme Court could not agree on the precise reasoning to uphold the sentence. But,with the decision in Ewing and the companion case Lockyer v. Andrade, the Court effectively foreclosed criminal defendants from arguing that their non-capital sentences were disproportional to the crime they had committed.
Stephen Harold Urquhart is an American politician and religious leader from Utah. A Republican,he was a member of the Utah State Senate,representing the State's 29th Senate district in Washington County from 2009 to 2016,and he served in the Utah House of Representatives from 2001 to 2009.
Dave Aronberg is the State Attorney for Palm Beach County,Florida and a former member of the Florida Senate. He was elected to the Senate in 2002 as its youngest member and served for eight years. He is a Democrat.
Ken Pruitt is an American politician who served as a member of the Florida Senate. A Republican,he represented the 28th District from 2000 to 2009,which included portions of Indian River,Martin,Okeechobee,Palm Beach and St. Lucie Counties. He was previously a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 1990 through 2000.
Clayton R. Luckie II was a Democratic member of the Ohio House of Representatives,representing the 39th District since his appointment in 2006 until his decision to withdraw from the race for re-election in 2012,culminating with his replacement in January 2013.
Nancy Skinner is an American politician who served as a member of the California State Senate from 2016 to 2024. A Democrat,she represented California's 9th State Senatorial district,encompassing parts of the East Bay.
Thomas Kent Norment Jr. is an American politician who served as the Minority Leader and Majority Leader of the Senate of Virginia. He was elected to the James City County Board of Supervisors where he served as chairman before being elected to the Virginia Senate in 1991. According to the Clerk of the Virginia Senate,Norment was first elected as Minority Leader in 2007 and is tied with Senator Richard "Dick" Saslaw for having switched between Minority and Majority leader more than any other two senators in Virginia's history. Similarly,Senator Norment holds the records for the longest serving Republican senator as well as the longest serving Senate Republican Leader in the history of the Commonwealth.
Angela Corey is a former Florida State's Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit Court,which includes Duval,Nassau and Clay counties—including Jacksonville and the core of its metropolitan area. She was elected in 2008 as the first woman to hold the position,and was defeated on August 30,2016,by Melissa Nelson,the second woman to hold the position. Corey was catapulted into the national spotlight on March 22,2012,when Florida Governor Rick Scott announced that she would be the newly assigned State Attorney investigating the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.
Scott Anthony Surovell is an American lawyer and politician serving as a member of the Virginia Senate,representing the 34th district,which encompasses portions of Fairfax roughly following U.S. Route 1,Kingstowne and Lorton. He previously represented the 36th district which also included portions of Prince William and Stafford counties until the 2023 redistricting and the 44th district in the Virginia House of Delegates. He is a Democrat.
Tiffany T. Alston(born April 22,1977) is an American politician who represented Prince George's County District 24 in the Maryland House of Delegates since January 2023,and from January 2011 to January 2013. She was suspended from office in 2012 after being found guilty of stealing General Assembly funds to pay an employee at her law firm.
On the evening of February 26,2012,in Sanford,Florida,United States,George Zimmerman fatally shot Trayvon Martin,a 17-year-old African-American,who was visiting his father.
Randolph Bracy III is an American politician who was a member of the Florida Senate from the 11th district. Bracy's district included parts of central and northwest Orange County. Bracy was the first African American to serve as Chair of the Criminal Justice Committee. As a member of the State Senate,Bracy pushed for the establishment of Juneteenth as a state holiday.
Proposition 47,also known by its ballot title Criminal Sentences. Misdemeanor Penalties. Initiative Statute,was a referendum passed by voters in the state of California on November 4,2014. The measure was also referred to by its supporters as the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act. It recategorized some nonviolent offenses as misdemeanors,rather than felonies,as they had previously been categorized.
Tina Scott Polsky is an American politician serving as a Democratic member of the Florida Senate,representing the 29th district since 2020. Her Senate district includes parts of southern Palm Beach and northern Broward counties. Polsky also served one term in the Florida House of Representatives,representing parts of western and southern Palm Beach County from 2018 to 2020.
Tony Luetkemeyer is an attorney and the state senator for the 34th Senatorial District of the Missouri Senate,representing Buchanan and Platte Counties in Northwest Missouri. He is a member of the Republican Party.
