The Maneki Neko - Watching this video will bring you good fortune

In August 2011 I visited the Kanchanaburi Province of Thailand.  At the night market I filmed a street vendor selling Thai snacks.  He offered grasshopper, baby duck, worms and beetles.  I didn't try anything, but I should have.
Check out the video.

Project Develop Closing Submissions-Hells Angels

From November 2010 to May 2011 I was involved in the trial of my client "Juicy" Bahman. He was charged as part of  Project Develop.  It was a prosecution based on the Ontario Biker Enforcement Unit investigation that spanned 18 months. The evidence was gathered by a paid police agent who was also a full patch member of the Toronto Downtown Hells Angels. The jury did not find any of the accused guilty of criminal organization charges.

My closing submissions took about 2-3 hours.  Below is an exerpt of me speaking to the jury about my analysis of the amount of time the club members spent discussing unlawful activity. 

...the prosecutor

has suggested that the club spends an inordinate amount of

time discussing criminal activities. We have evidence

that the club met on a weekly basis. That would be what

they call church meetings. So if you were to extrapolate

and say they met once a week for one year, that's 52

meetings. This investigation was 18 months, so let's

look at another 6 months. In total, over 18 months,

there would be about 72 meetings. To be fair, we subtract a few meetings if they didn't meet over

Christmas and New Years. Take away six

meetings, so four in year one and two in year two.  I

have written this out for you. You will see 66 meetings.

If you look at the transcripts that you have, the

intercepts, the church meetings, they were approximately

two or more hours.

So if you look at 66 meetings, times two

hours, that's 132 hours. A hundred and thirty-two hours

at 60 minutes is 7,920 minutes. You heard that there was

11 minutes wherein this GHB issue was discussed. Eleven

minutes of 7,920 minutes is 0.13 percent. So 0.1 percent

point, 0.1 percent of the time during all that year and a

half was spent at church meetings discussing something

that was possibly unlawful or inappropriate.

Last week during Mr. Irving's address, he aptly referred you to the section of the

Criminal Code relating to criminal organizations and you

you will recall,  that it

refers to the phrase "main activity". I submit to you

that it's preposterous to suggest that 0.1 percent of the

time spent could be considered a main activity. And

don't you think, don't you think, ladies and gentlemen,

that the Crown would have played to you the hours of

church meetings where criminal activity was discussed,

whether it took hours or weeks or months, whatever they

would have had, the Crown would not have hesitated for

one single solitary second to play you anything that

would show there was criminal activity being discussed at

those meetings. But all you have is that. The reality

is is that no such discussions exist.

If you find this interesting or you want me to post more of my closing leave a comment.

Linda S. Stein - former manager of the Ramones

Linda Stein was the manager for the Ramones.  She went on to become a Manhattan real estate agent who dealt in very high end properties.  In the movie Wall Street Linda Stein was was the inspiration for the real estate agent that sold the condo to Charlie Sheen's character.  On October 30, 2007, Linda Stein (age 62) was found dead in her apartment in New York City.  Her death was determined to be a homicide caused by blunt force trauma.   Eventually, Ms. Stein's assistant, Natavia Lowrey was charged.  The jury took under a day to find Lowrey guilty of second degree murder. She was sentenced to 25 years to life in the penitentiary.

The estate of Ms. Stein launched a civil lawsuit against the 3 parties who were allegedly involved in  hiring Natavia Lowrey and assigning her to Ms. Stein as an assistant. The statement of claim purports that the defendants are liable for "negligent hiring" as they placed Lowrey with Stein despite the employees history of theft, fraud, tax evasion and criminal behavior.  This case in New York State, but, the findings in this case may cause both recruiters and employers to have increased liability regarding employees.  

It is common now for employers to request that  job applicants furnish a criminal record print out from the local police station.  If, for example, the criminal record shows a propensity towards violence, and in spite of that the person is hired, any violent conduct and personal injury within the workplace may be cause for a lawsuit against the employer.  

TTC Subway Series

In 1987 I worked for Murray Davis aka "Big Mur." He was a home contents liquidator. If someone had sold their home  home he would arrange a public sale of their items such as furniture, art and antiques.  The homes were high end and the sales attracted a lot of people, including thieves.  On one occasion Big Mur lined up a major sale and he had to bring on additional staff. I recommended my brother for the job of undercover security officer. The boss gave him the job.

On the day of the sale my brother was given explicit instructions by Big Mur "...stand in the dining room and watch the one of a kind figurine.  Make sure it doesn't get stolen."

My brother stood guard over the priceless piece for a while. Then his eyelids became heavy. Minutes passed and  he fell asleep standing up. Big Mur came to check in on my brother and the priceless item. He was leaning against a wall snoring and the figurine had been ripped off. Needless to say I got fired, because I was the one who told Mur about his mad undercover skills.   The lesson is...be careful who you recommend for a job, especially if its a relative.