Cop Shoots Fellow BART Officer ~by Legal Pub

The job of a law enforcement officer is tough enough without worrying about friendly fire.  That applies to all law enforcement including Bay Area Rapid Transit police in California. Nevertheless, Tom Smith, a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer is accidentally shot and killed by a fellow officer Tuesday. Apparently, the officers were conducting a search at a home in the East Bay city of Dublin, CA when the accident occurred around 2 p.m. BART Police officers were following up on a crime that was committed at an apartment in Dublin which was BART property. 

While inside the apartment, an unnamed BART officer fired a shot which wounded fellow officer Sgt. Tom Smith who later died at a hospital.  Details of the shooting have been slow to emerge..

Sgt. Tom Smith, Jr., was a 42-year-old veteran with more than 20 years of experience in law enforcement. The officer who fired the shot had more than 10 years experience. Both officers were apparently wearing bulletproof vests.  The officers were apparently in the apartment to serve a warrant for a suspect who was wanted in connection with several robberies on BART property. Apparently, when the officers knocked on the apartment's door, no one answered.  The door was unlocked so the police entered with guns drawn per police protocol.  

Sgt. Smith's body was removed from the hospital late Tuesday in a casket draped in an American flag. Police saluted the casket as it was placed in the Coroner's van. This was the first death of an officer in the line of duty in the BART  history.  The Dublin Police Department is continuing to investigate the accidental shooting.

Anthony Bosch Portrait of A Mole? ~by Legal Pub

Major League Baseball continues its crusade to destroy its own reputation.  In the past we discussed Barry Bonds in depth.  LINK. We may have even been one of the first sources to take a critical look at steroids in baseball. Mitchell Report Link.  Yet we still recognize that steroids have been often a scapegoat. Benoit Link.  Unfortunately, baseball just doesn't know when to quit. But that will not stop 60 Minutes from piling on in an attempt to stimulate ratings by making star witness, Anthony Bosch a household name.  Bosch is the leagues weapon against Alex Rodriguez. Bosch claims that he designed and administered an elaborate performance enhancing program for Rodriquez beginning  in 2010.

Anthony Bosch was the founder of a Florida anti-aging clinic, Biogenesis.  He claims that Rodriguez paid him $12,000 per month to provide him with banned drugs (including testosterone and human growth hormone.) Bosch also claims that he cooperated with Major League Baseball in part because he feared for his life. Rodriguez's suspension of 211 games has been reduced by an arbitrator to 162 games plus all playoff games next season. Nevertheless, Rodriguez's lawyers plan to file a suit in federal court to overturn the arbitration ruling.

Commissioner Bud Selig said, "In my judgment his actions were beyond comprehension," Selig said on the show. "I think 211 games was a very fair penalty." Of the 14 players suspended as a result of the Biogenesis investigation, Rodriguez was the only one to appeal the ban. Credibility may be an issue. Bosch himself is no saint.  He was once fined $5,000 for practicing medicine without a license. Furthermore, Rodriguez never failed a drug test during the period in question. Bosch claims he personally injected Rodriguez  because he was afraid of needles. (If Rodriguez can shoot up in front of a federal judge, does that further destroy Bosch's credibility?)  Since the Joint Drug Agreement and Collective Bargaining Agreement requires confidentiality from both sides, why all the publicity now? Rodriguez's lawyer, Joseph Tacopina criticized Major League Baseball for participating in the 60 Minutes segment; however, it appears Tacopina also had his 15 minutes of fame in the same broadcast.

The players' association, initiated an appeal on behalf of Rodriguez.  The players association expressed its disappointment in the public airing of the issues.  "It is unfortunate that Major League Baseball apparently lacks faith in the integrity and finality of the arbitrator's decision and our Joint Drug Agreement, such that it could not resist the temptation to publicly pile-on against Alex Rodriguez..  MLB's post-decision rush to the media is inconsistent with our collectively-bargained arbitration process, in general, as well as the confidentiality and credibility of the Joint Drug Agreement, in particular... As a result, the Players Association is considering all legal options available to remedy any breaches committed by MLB."

The 38-year-old Rodriguez has denied he ever using banned substances after 2003.  (A-Rod's hypocracy can only go so far as he apparently admitted in 2009 that he took steroids from 2001-03.)  60 minutes purported to show a  redacted document consistent with a payment from "A-Rod Corporation" to Bosch's lawyer.  (The nearly $50,000 payment was apparently returned.  Why?  Did the league pay Bosch more to talk? Admittedly, MLB is paying Bosch's attorney fees and paying for personal body guard security.)  Bosch also claims that A-Rod's folks suggested that he "leave town" until the case was over. (Colombia was allegedly suggested as a nice destination or an extended vacation.) Bosch also claims that his ex-girlfriend received a text that said Bosch would not live until the end of the year.  (If Bosch is such a great guy, why did his girl friend leave him.)

A lawyer allegedly advised Bosch to "align" with MLB because he needed some one as "powerful as Alex."  (But if Bosch is so great at making up performance enhancing concoctions, why did he not take his own medicine and thus become a super hero of standing up to the slugger?)


Baseball and Bosch struck a deal in exchange for testimony. The deal was presumably better than anything offered by A-Rod.  Is Bosch a dealer who suddenly developed a conscious or is he just a willow bending in the direction of whatever side looks sunnier? Only time will tell what effect this will have on the so called integrity of the America's past time... performance enhancement!

Time To Leave Letourneau Alone?

Pink Floyd made the song, "All We Are Is Just Another Brick in the Wall" very popular. The song said, "teacher, leave those kids alone."  Made sense at the time.  But now maybe it's time to leave some of the teachers alone. After all, people get in trouble for suspended drivers licenses all the time without making headline news, even in Seattle.

To be fair, Legal Pub has taken its shot at a few educators. Bad Judgment.  Teacher Trouble. But maybe it is time to give some of the teacher's a break.  Unfortunately for former teacher Mary Kay Letourneau, every misstep she makes is potential headline material.   As you may recall, Letouneau was the former teacher who was arrested after she had sex with a 12-year-old student.  This Burien teacher's photo was plastered in the media back in the 1990s when she was convicted of raping a sixth-grade boy. Letouneau was 34 at the time. She served a prison sentence and then married her former student, Vili Fualaau in 2005 when he was 22.

Now the former teacher reportedly was booked into the King County Jail early Monday for failing to appear in court for a suspended driver's license.  Bail was reportedly set at $5,000.


Letourneau did her time.  She even married the "victim."  Isn't it time for the media to leave her alone?