The Daily Blog

Supreme Court Violent Video Games Ruling: Ban On Sale, Rental To Children Unconstitutional.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday refused to let California regulate the sale or rental of violent video games to children, saying governments do not have the power to “restrict the ideas to which children may be exposed” despite complaints about graphic violence.

On a 7-2 vote, the high court upheld a federal appeals court decision to throw out the state’s ban on the sale or rental of violent video games to minors. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Sacramento had ruled that the law violated minors’ rights under the First Amendment, and the high court agreed.

“No doubt a state possesses legitimate power to protect children from harm,” said Justice Antonin Scalia, who wrote the majority opinion. “But that does not include a free-floating power to restrict the ideas to which children may be exposed.”

The California law would have prohibited the sale or rental of violent games to anyone under 18. Retailers who violated the act would have been fined up to $1,000 for each infraction.

More than 46 million American households have at least one video-game system, with the industry bringing in at least $18 billion in 2010.

Unlike depictions of “sexual conduct,” Scalia said there is no tradition in the United States of restricting children’s access to depictions of violence, pointing out the violence in the original depiction of many popular children’s fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella and Snow White.

Hansel and Gretel kill their captor by baking her in an oven, Cinderella’s evil stepsisters have their eyes pecked out by doves and the evil queen in Snow White is forced to wear red hot slippers and dance until she is dead, Scalia said.

“Certainly the books we give children to read - or read to them when they are younger - contain no shortage of gore,” Scalia added.

But Justice Clarence Thomas, who dissented from the decision along with Justice Stephen Breyer, said the majority read something into the First Amendment that isn’t there.

“The practices and beliefs of the founding generation establish that “the freedom of speech,” as originally understood, does not include a right to speak to minors (or a right of minors to access speech) without going through the minors’ parents or guardians,” Thomas wrote.

California Considers Expelling Kids for Sexting.

Good thing for Rep. Anthony Weiner he is only a member of Congress. If he was a middle school student in California, this sexting business could get him in real trouble.

He could get  sexting NBC News reports.

The California Assembly is considering a bill to enable schools to expel students who send naughty pictures on their cell phones. The bill passed the state Senate June 7.

The bill is sponsored by state Sen. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, and defines sexting as “sending or receiving sexually explicit pictures or videos electronically.”

That leaves some gray areas, NBC reports.

For example, could a student be expelled for sending photos of a Playboy centerfold or other body parts other than his or her own? What if the offense occurred off school grounds?

There could be a lot of empty seats in class if school officials nab everyone. Studies show as many as one in five California teenagers have sent or posted nude or semi-nude pictures and videos online, according to NBC.

Lieu tells the network that high school students have enough hormone-related problems without adding sexting to the mix.

Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union opposes the bill as an assault on teenagers’ freedom of expression and right to privacy.

Police Suspect Carmen Montenegro’s Trash Can May Have Been Stuffed With Missing Ex-Boyfriend’s Body Parts.

Authorities in California suspect  dismembered human remains found inside a trash can San Bernardino resident Carmen Montenegro allegedly pushed down a suburban street Sunday could belong to her missing ex.

“Detectives are … looking into the recent disappearance of Montenegro’s past boyfriend,” the City of Ontario Police Department said in a press release.

According to police, the unidentified ex-boyfriend was last seen by relatives on May 1. He was later reported as a missing person to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Montenegro, 51, was caught with the 30-gallon wheeled container full of human remains Sunday afternoon, after several concerned neighbors contacted police.

On Tuesday, detective Jeff Crittenden told The Huffington Post he could not comment on the condition of the body, but did say the victim was a male of unknown age or race. He also said the man “was dismembered [and] it appears to be a homicide.”

Crittenden said investigators suspect Montenegro disinterred the remains from a home she used to live at in the 700 block of North Holmes Avenue, which is located about 200 yards from where she was arrested.

Investigators conducted an extensive search of the property and excavated portions of the backyard. According to Sgt. David McBride, detectives have now finished processing the residence and have “recovered undisclosed items of evidentiary value.”

On Tuesday, the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office filed one count of murder against Montenegro. She is being held at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga.

“The investigation is on-going and updated information will be released when available,” McBride said.

Teacher’s Long Weekend Goes Bust in Drug Sting.

While many high school teachers use Memorial Day Weekend to grade those final papers and tests to close out the school year, one teacher from Santa Clarita County in California used the long weekend to possibly close out his career. He was busted for allegedly providing drugs to an undercover deputy in a Ventura motel room.Ashraf Boulos Hindi, a 29-year-old math teacher in the William S. Hart School District in Santa Clarita, had been corresponding with a female who was supposedly seeking companionship via a Craigslist ad, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Granted, she presented herself as being an adult, but what got Hindi in trouble was the fact that, to further entice her to meet him, he offered to bring cocaine, marijuana and alcohol to the motel, said Ventura County Sgt. John J. Gleason.All Hindi really brought with him to the motel room was a small amount of pot, police said, but that was enough to get him arrested on suspicion of possession of narcotics and transporting drugs by the deputies who met him at the motel. That also was enough to warrant a search of his house, where deputies later found cocaine

Although it has been confirmed that Hindi was an employee of a high school in the district, there is no word yet on what sort of disciplinary actions will be taken. It’s a pretty good bet, however, that he will not be teaching math, or anything else there, come fall.

Maria Shriver: ‘This Is a Painful and Heartbreaking Time’.

Maria Shriver has asked for compassion and privacy just hours after it was revealed that her husband of 25 years, former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, had fathered a child with a member of their household staff.

“This is a painful and heartbreaking time,” Shriver said in a statement to the media. “As a mother, my concern is for the children. I ask for compassion, respect and privacy as my children and I try to rebuild our lives and heal. I will have no further comment.”
They have four children, ranging in age from 13 to 21.

The former California governor had similar sentiment in comments to the Los Angeles Times earlier Tuesday. “I ask that the media respect my wife and children through this extremely difficult time. While I deserve your attention and criticism, my family does not.”

Shriver reportedly moved out of the couple’s house earlier this year after Schwarzenegger revealed to her that he was the father of a staff member’s child.

“After leaving the governor’s office I told my wife about this event, which occurred over a decade ago,” Schwarzenegger said Monday in a statement. “I understand and deserve the feelings of anger and disappointment among my friends and family. There are no excuses and I take full responsibility for the hurt I have caused. I have apologized to Maria, my children and my family. I am truly sorry.”

The woman with whom Schwarzenegger had the affair reportedly worked in the family’s home for the past 20 years, and retired this past January. Though her name has not been released, she told the Times that she left voluntarily and received severance pay.

“I wanted to achieve my 20 years, then I asked to retire,” she said, adding that she “left on good terms with them.”

Schwarzenegger and Shriver announced their seemingly shocking separation just last week.

Rageh Almurisi, Unruly American Airlines Passenger, Also Had California ID.

SAN FRANCISCO — Federal agents are investigating the background of a California man with a Yemeni passport who pounded on the cockpit door of an American Airlines flight as it approached San Francisco before a flight attendant tackled him, police said Monday.

Rageh Almurisi, 28, does not have any clear or known ties to terrorism, and investigators have not established a possible motive, San Francisco police Sgt. Michael Rodriguez said.

Almurisi, of Vallejo, Calif., got up from his seat and went toward the cockpit door 10 minutes before the flight from Chicago was supposed to land on Sunday night, authorities said.

Almurisi was yelling unintelligibly as he brushed past a flight attendant on his way toward the cockpit, Rodriguez said.

A male flight attendant tackled him, and other crew members and passengers, including a retired Secret Service agent and a retired San Mateo police officer, helped subdue him as he banged on the door, police said.

“They were able to get him to the ground and a flight attendant put him in plastic handcuffs,” Rodriguez said.

Andrew Wai, a passenger aboard the flight, described a chaotic scene, telling KGO-TV that passengers were screaming and crying. “Flight attendants were trying to soothe different passengers,” he said. “We were all looking at our lives flash before our eyes.”

Wai said Almurisi appeared “fidgety” when he saw him on the way to the bathroom earlier in the flight.

The Boeing 737 carrying 162 people landed safely at 9:10 p.m. and the man was taken into police custody. The flight came from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, authorities said.

Almurisi carried a Yemeni passport, Rodriguez said.

The incident comes amid concerns that extremists will try to mount attacks in retaliation for American commandos killing al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan last week.

Yemen, a nation at the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula, has been a focus of U.S. officials because one of the most active branches of al-Qaeda operates in the remote part of the country.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Monday that Almurisi was carrying California identification and was from Vallejo, Calif., a city about 30 miles northeast of San Francisco.

During the scuffle, Almurisi got some bruises and was checked at a hospital before being taken to San Mateo County Jail, where he was being held on Monday on suspicion of interfering with a flight crew, a federal offense, according to authorities.

No one else was hurt and the airport continued operating normally with security levels unchanged, the officer said.

There were two other mid-air disturbances.

A 34-year-old man from Illinois tried to open a plane door on a Continental Airlines flight from Houston to Chicago. Investigators questioned him, but did not file charges.

There was a security scare about a Delta Air Lines flight from Detroit to San Diego, prompting it to land in Albuquerque, N.M., but authorities found “no suspicious devices,” authorities said. No one was arrested.

Mistaken Identity May Have Led to California Ax Slaying.

A California man who was mistaken for a burglar lost his life last weekend when a victimized homeowner chased him down and hacked him to death with an ax, according to police reports.

The homeowner, 29-year-old Steven Zinda, has been booked into the Sacramento County Jail on a single count of murder. He is being held without bail, and his arraignment is scheduled to take place later today.

According to police documents and interviews, this is how the story unfolded:Early Sunday morning, Zinda returned home and discovered someone trying to rob his home in Rio Linda, a small community in the Sacramento metropolitan area.The burglary suspect fled the house, Zinda said, according to Deputy Jason Ramos.

At the same time that the man was running away on foot, 20-year-old David Valdez, a resident of Elverta, was driving his SUV and got stuck in a ditch down the street from Zinda’s home. When Zinda saw Elverta, he assumed he was the same person who had just attempted to break into his home, police said.

“Zinda confronted him with a weapon, and the man fled on foot,” Ramos told AOL News.

Zinda chased Valdez, eventually catching him about a mile away. In the ensuing confrontation, Zinda attacked Valdez with a “sharp-edged object,” reportedly an ax. He then returned to his home and made a 911 call around 4:30 a.m., police said.

Paramedics found Valdez dead at the scene. According to Ramos, the victim “suffered trauma to his head and upper body.”Authorities confirmed that there was a break-in at Zinda’s residence, but they were unable to establish a connection between Valdez and the attempted robbery.

“Detectives believe there is a likelihood that the victim was killed under Zinda’s mistaken assumption that he was involved somehow in the burglary,” Ramos said.

Valdez’s mother, Maria Nunez, told Sacramento’s KXTV her son had attended a party Saturday night and had called a family member early Sunday to report he was stuck on the side of the road.

“My son was looking for help. He was not trying to do anything bad,” Nunez said.

Sirhan Sirhan Denied Parole in 1968 RFK Killing.

COALINGA, Calif. — A California board denied parole Wednesday for Robert F. Kennedy’s convicted assassin, Sirhan Sirhan.

A panel of two California parole board commissioners concluded after a four hour hearing that Sirhan hadn’t shown adequate remorse or understanding of the crime that was mourned by a nation.

Sirhan, now 66, spoke at length and expressed sorrow, but said he doesn’t remember shooting Kennedy or five other victims on June 4, 1968, in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel, where Kennedy stood moments after claiming victory in the California presidential primary.

“Every day of my life, I have great remorse and deep regret,” he said at the hearing at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga.

He pleaded with the panel to give him a date for release, saying he wants to “get lost in the woodwork” and live out his life.

Sirhan said he understood that he might be deported to his native Jordan if released and was willing to accept that. He said no one in his family is involved in politics and suggested he wouldn’t be either if he was released.The panel chairman, Mike Prizmich, and the deputy commissioner, Randy Kevorkian, told Sirhan he must seek further self-help courses, come to terms with the crime and show evidence of his improvement when he gets his next parole hearing, which will be in five years.

Sirhan, his hair graying and missing one tooth in the front of his mouth, appeared cheerful as he entered the hearing room. He bid the commissioners “good afternoon” and was talkative during the hearing, telling commissioners he is a practicing Christian who attends services every Sunday.

Sirhan said he was put in solitary confinement after he became a target of hatred in the prison following the Sept. 11 attacks. Fellow inmates thought he was a Muslim, he said.

Sirhan was originally sentenced to death over objections by Kennedy family members who said they wanted no more killing. The sentence was commuted to life in prison when the U.S. Supreme Court briefly outlawed the death penalty in 1972.

Man Arrested in USVI for Dealing Drugs on Cruise.

A California man was arrested in the U.S. Virgin Islands after federal agents searched his cabin onboard what was billed as the “world’s largest gay cruise” and found a plethora of party drugs that he was allegedly selling to fellow passengers.

Steven Barry Krumholtz, 51, of West Hollywood was busted aboard Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas as the cruise ship was docked in St. Thomas, a Customs and Border Protection spokesperson says in a statement to AOL Travel News.

Krumholtz was allegedly taking orders for ecstasy, ketamine, or Special K, and methamphetamine from passengers before the cruise set sail from Florida on Feb. 6, federal officials say.

His cabin on the ship was raided after a passenger was found with drugs and told investigators that he had purchased them from Krumholz, according to a search warrant affidavit.

As federal agents searched Krumholz’s cabin, they heard a knock on the door and found two men who wanted to buy drugs, Customs and Border Protection officials say.

Along with the drug stash, agents recovered $51,000 in cash.

Krumholz was detained in St. Thomas on charges of possession with intent to sell.

Defense attorney Gabriel Villegas declined to speak with reporters Friday, telling the Associated Press he had not yet reviewed all the case files.

Royal Caribbean says it has a zero-tolerance policy for drugs at sea.

“We take various steps to prevent the transport of illegal narcotics,” says Royal Caribbean spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez. “Royal Caribbean cooperated fully with authorities during this investigation and will continue to provide law enforcement with any assistance they may need.”

There were 5,4000 passengers aboard the cruise ship, which had been chartered by Atlantis Events, which specializes in organizing events for the gay and lesbian community. The itinerary included stops in Nassau, Bahamas, St. Maarten and St. Thomas.

The Allure of the Seas is the largest cruise ship in the world. Atlantis has also chartered the ship for another cruise in 2012.

Teen Accused of Using Scissors to Murder Her Newborn.

A 17-year-old girl has been arrested and charged with murdering her newborn baby girl and burying her in a shallow grave near her parents’ home.

Patricia Lopez, of Holt, an unincorporated community seven miles west of Stockton, is being charged as an adult with first-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death after allegedly using a pair of scissors to kill the newborn, state media outlets reported.

The West High School student spent about five or six months concealing her pregnancy. Then, after giving birth prematurely in the bathroom of her family’s home Monday, police say she killed the newborn girl.

According to the complaint, Lopez used scissors as a weapon, but it is unclear how the scissors were used.

Lopez did not tell her parents that she had given birth and buried the baby in a shallow grave near the family’s single-wide trailer.

On Tuesday, Lopez showed up at a local hospital. Doctors examined her and determined she had recently given birth. This apparently led to questions about the newborn’s whereabouts and condition. The hospital called the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Department at about 5 p.m.

Police questioned Lopez, then went to her home and found the infant’s body buried in a nearby shallow grave. The baby is believed to be between 22 and 26 weeks of gestation, police said.

“The 17-year-old allegedly killed the baby inside the bathroom, put it in a plastic bag and buried it … in a hole,” sheriff’s Deputy Les Garcia told ABC News 10 Sacramento.

Lopez was arrested early Wednesday and booked into juvenile hall.

Garcia told the newspaper that the baby’s father, whom they are not identifying, has been contacted by investigators.

On Thursday, Lopez appeared in court before Judge Richard Giuliani. The charges were read against her, and the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office announced it was charging her as an adult. A conviction could result in a sentence of 26 years to life.San Joaquin County Deputy Public Defender Georgia McElroy was appointed to represent Lopez during her court appearance. The defendant did not enter a plea and is scheduled to appear in court again Tuesday. Guiliani denied a request by McElroy to set bail in the case.

The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Department referred inquiries about the case to the district attorney’s office. Calls to the DA were not immediately returned today.

Deputy District Attorney Claire Van Vuren told reporters she is still waiting on the autopsy report. She declined to elaborate.

“We can’t really speculate at this time what her motive was,” Van Vuren said, according to The Stockton Record. “With the little information we have, we felt she should be tried as an adult.”