Only in Texas? Or just more proof probation is no walk in the park? Daniel Mirales and his wife Eloise stole from a crime victims fund. She was a 16 year employee of the District Attorney's office. Is this shaming punishment really going to make a difference? And to whom besides the Mireles?

Daniel Mireles walked back and forth on Westheimer in front of the Galleria holding a sign. It read, "I am a thief. I stole $250,000 from the Harris County crime victim's fund. Daniel Mireles."

Mirales will have to do this for five hours every weekend for the next six years. (The spot is outside the Galleria mall in Houston.) This was his first weekend.[More...]

You don't see this too often: A senior federal judge in the Northern District of Georgia (formerly the Chief Judge until taking senior status) has been arrested and charged with illegal drug and gun crimes:

Senior U.S. District Judge Jack T. Camp Jr. was arrested late Friday night near Sandy Springs. Camp, 67, is accused of purchasing cocaine and marijuana, along with prescription painkillers that which he shared with an exotic dancer he met last spring at the Goldrush Showbar in Atlanta, according to an FBI agent’s affidavit for his arrest.

In some cases he bought drugs from the dancer, while in others the pair purchased them from other parties, according to the affidavit. Camp sometimes took loaded guns to the deals. Camp’s arrest came after a buy from an undercover agent, authorities said.

The dancer was cooperating with the feds and they wired her up to record his conversations without knowing. The Affidavit supporting the complaint is here. [More..]

Last year, Georgia criminal defense attorney Mark Shelnutt was acquitted on charges of conspiring to launder money, 31 counts of money laundering, aiding and abetting a drug conspiracy, lying to federal agents, intimidating a grand jury witness, failing to report cash transactions over $10,000 and the attempted bribery of a federal prosecutor. He then sued the Government under the Hyde Act to recover his attorneys' fees.

Law enforcement didn't give up. Now, Georgia authorities have arrested him. The charges: eight felony counts of drug distribution. What did he do? Over a two month period, he gave 11 prescription pills to a long time friend, who happened to be working as a government informant. One percocet, 8 zanax and 2 hydrocodone pills, on 7 separate occasions.

Lindsay Lohan returned to jail today after a judge ordered her held pending an October 22 probation violation hearing for failing two drug tests since her release in June.

Lindsay's attorney, Shawn Chapman Holley, filed an appeal asserting the Judge exceeded his authority.

The reviewing judge has reversed no bail order. Lindsay will be released within hours.

Judge Patricia Schnegg, Assistant Supervising Judge for the L.A. County Criminal Courts, just threw Judge Fox's bail decision out the window. Judge Schnegg has set bail at $300,000. Lindsay, who is in Lynwood Jail right now, should get out soon ... probably in a few hours.

Update: Paris has left Japan.

*****

Do celebrities get harsher treatment than others? With respect to Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, it seems that way to me.

The ink wasn't even dry on Paris Hilton's plea and sentencing documents when she flew from Las Vegas to Tokyo for legitimate and lucrative business reasons. Yet she was denied entry into Japan and told to wait at an airport hotel. She's now been asked to wait another day, while Japanese officials make up their mind whether to allow her entry. The two reasons I've seen given: They don't allow people on probation or people with drug offenses to visit Japan.

On Monday, Paris Hilton will plead guilty to two misdemeanors to settle her Las Vegas felony cocaine possession charge.

It's a very harsh deal. She's agreeing to two suspended six month jail sentences, a year of unsupervised probation, and if she merely gets arrested (no conviction required) for anything other than a minor traffic offense, she agrees to immediately go in and serve the year.

The complaint against her will be amended to add a charge of obstruction of a police officer. The factual basis? She lied when she told the arresting officer that the Chanel purse she was carrying (that had less than a gram of cocaine inside it) did not belong to her. How do police know that was a lie? Because she posted a Twitpic of the purse on her Twitter feed a few weeks before the arrest with the caption, "Love My New Chanel Purse I Got Today." [More...]

In the U.S. it would be a crime to enter a prison to visit an inmate under a false name. Apparently, it's not in Peru.

That's what Beth Holloway did , pretending to be a journalist, not using her real name, hoping to sneak in a camera to tape Joran Van der Sloot for yet another hyped TV movie by Dutch tabloid journalist Peter de Vries. The visitor's log does not contain her name. But even her lawyer confirms she entered Castro Castro prison in Peru and got into his cell -- for five minutes.

Good for Joran that he refused to discuss anything with her and handed her his attorney's card. Holloway and De Vries were thrown out when the camera was discovered. The Dutch media initially reported she was detained, but her lawyer says she wasn't and that she broke no laws.

Holloway's attorney says she didn't tell him she was going and is being "guarded" about the meeting. Sounds like she just wanted to threaten him:

"I think it was more to deliver the message that he might be in Peru but she hasn't gone away.

[More...]

John Bunz, age 90, battered his wife to death with a hammer after an argument about health care. They had been married 68 years. He then tried to kill himself, but failed. (Photo by AP shows his self-inflicted wounds.) A neighbor discovered both bodies.

Bunz, a retired chemist, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter was sentenced today to 17.5 years in prison followed by 5 years supervised release (similar to parole).

He was originally charged with second degree murder. Why plead to the lesser crime? He gets an effective life sentence either way.

De Telegraaf reporter John van den Heuvel interviewed Joran Van der Sloot at Miguel Castro Castro prison last week. The interview is airing on the program "RTL Extra: Joran Speaks" in the Netherlands this evening. This promo for it is pretty funny, you don't even have to understand Dutch to get the point -- or the hype.

Aside from Joran saying he accepted Natalie Holloway's mother's offer of money because she had made his life miserable for five years, there's not much new.

Joran is locked down 23 hours a day. He teaches English to the prison guards in his cell. He's looking forward to moving to the "foreigner's wing" of the prison soon because he won't be so isolated. He's not fearful of the move. [More...]

Caroline Giuliani, Harvard student and daughter of Rudy Giuliani, will be sentenced to one day of community service for stealing $100 of makeup from Sephora. If she stays out of trouble for six months, the charge will be dismissed and she won't have a permanent record. New York prosecutors say she is not receiving special treatment, that's the standard punishment for such offenses.

It's interesting that a gram of cocaine, which also costs about $100, is a felony in many states and may result a prison sentence. Even federally, while a misdemeanor, it carries a penalty of up to a year in prison. Stealing involves a third party victim. Why should a gram of cocaine carry a greater penalty than stealing? This is just another example of our misguided drug policy.

Baseball giant Roger Clemens appeared in court in D.C. today and pleaded not guilty to perjury, false statement and obstruction charges. The case boils down to:

Clemens flatly denied [to Congress]ever knowingly using banned substances, despite testimony to the contrary from former teammate Andy Pettitte and former assistant strength coach Brian McNamee.

As I've said before, this is a "he said/he said" case, proving he lied when he denied "knowingly" using steroids will be a problem, and the even bigger problem will be Congress' authority to have called him as a witness in the first place.

Paris Hilton has been charged with possession of cocaine. The complaint and police report are here. The Las Vegas Review Journal recounts events.

The prior statements of police to the media are detailed here. The official report contains yet another version of how the police found cocaine inside her purse. [More...]