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MS Supreme Court Sides With Death Row Inmate Over Worries About “Fruit Of The Poisonous Tree”

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The Mississippi Supreme Court recently issued an opinion saying it wants to know why a lower court judge permitted one incriminating statement to be entered into evidence after tossing out two other statements given by the same sedated suspect.

The case, involving a statement by Jason Lee Keller, was sent back to Harrison County Circuit Court for a rehearing on the issue of admitting the third statement into the record. The Mississippi Supreme Court ordered that the lower court judge determine whether the third statement was coerced by authorities, given that the same judge determined the first two statements were. [Read more…]

Department of Transportation Demands DUI Money Back From Mississippi After State Misspends Millions

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In a shocking report released by the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Transportation, Mississippi police departments were faulted for diverting federal money that was meant to help fight drunk driving into helping set up speed traps. Though Mississippi authorities were blamed for their bad decisions, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was similarly faulted for failing to prevent the misuse of money by not implementing strict enough guidelines for how the money was to be used.

The report revealed that over three years, between 2007 and 2010, the Mississippi Office of Highway Safety received nearly $21 million in federal taxpayer money meant to create and run programs to combat drunk driving. [Read more…]

State Transportation Officials Worried About Increase In Mississippi Train Crashes

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Law enforcement officials in northern Mississippi have announced that they are still investigating a recent accident that happened a few weeks back and involved a train and a parked semi-truck. The train crash was the second collision in Union County, Mississippi, that week and the fourth such accident in the region in less than four weeks.

This “out of the blue” increase in train accidents has officials worried across Mississippi about what needs to be done to stop the rise. National statistics reveal how dangerous trains can be: every 115 minutes a person or a vehicle is hit by a train. The Department of Transportation says that some 5,800 train/vehicle accidents happen every day in the United States and that these crashes result in 600 deaths and injuries to 2,300 people. [Read more…]

Mississippi Child Restraint Law Under Scrutiny After Accident Leaves Toddler Dead

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A terrible tragedy took place on one Mississippi roadway earlier this week when a toddler was killed after being thrown from a vehicle that had just been in an accident. What made the incident even more tragic was that the 21-month-old girl had never been restrained in a car seat, thus leading to the tragic result in this terrible car accident.

Due to an odd twist of Mississippi law, regulations state that failure to have a child properly restrained shall not be viewed as contributory or comparative negligence. Even more surprising, the fine for such an offense cannot exceed $25.

The specific law at issue is Mississippi Code Section 63-7-301. The law says, on the one hand, that every driver on Mississippi roadways that is carrying a child under four is required to provide for the protection of the child by using a child restraint device that meets federal safety standards. On the other hand, the law goes on to say that a failure to provide such a device cannot be considered comparative negligence. [Read more…]

Infrared Light Aims To Put An End to Drunk Driving

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Law enforcement agencies across the State of Mississippi and nationally have placed a lot of emphasis in recent years on cracking down on suspected drunk drivers. Despite the fact that alcohol-related traffic fatalities are at an all-time low, elected officials continue to press police departments to lower the numbers even further.

Last year alone the number of alcohol traffic fatalities dropped by 2.5 percent, now less than 10,000 each year. Despite this historic low, authorities say that they can do more. One of the ways that some departments might just do this is through a new device that is currently being developed by a researcher named Bud Zaouk in Boston.

The idea behind the project is to prevent intoxicated drivers from getting behind the wheel of a car in the first place. [Read more…]

Report Reveals ER Visits Related to Energy Drink Consumption Double Over Four-Year Period

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A recent report by the federal government contained startling information regarding injuries related to the consumption of energy drinks. The report revealed that the number of people seeking emergency room treatment after consuming such energy drinks had doubled over the past four years. The surge in ER visits is likely tied to a corresponding increase in popularity for the drinks, especially among young people.

Between 2007 and 2011, the government estimates that the number of ER visits related to the energy drinks increased from 10,000 to more than 20,000. The vast majority of these cases involved teens and young adults. The report does not clarify exactly what symptoms prompted the people to seek treatment, but it does label energy drinks a “rising public health problem.” The report says that consumption of such beverages can lead to insomnia, nervousness, headaches, fast heartbeats and even seizures in some rare instances. [Read more…]

Report Reveals ER Visits Related to Energy Drink Consumption Double Over Four-Year Period

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A recent report by the federal government contained startling information regarding injuries related to the consumption of energy drinks. The report revealed that the number of people seeking emergency room treatment after consuming such energy drinks had doubled over the past four years. The surge in ER visits is likely tied to a corresponding increase in popularity for the drinks, especially among young people.

Between 2007 and 2011, the government estimates that the number of ER visits related to the energy drinks increased from 10,000 to more than 20,000. The vast majority of these cases involved teens and young adults. The report does not clarify exactly what symptoms prompted the people to seek treatment, but it does label energy drinks a “rising public health problem.” The report says that consumption of such beverages can lead to insomnia, nervousness, headaches, fast heartbeats and even seizures in some rare instances. [Read more…]

Drunk Driving Enforcement Continues in Northeast Mississippi

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As almost all drivers in northeast Mississippi know, DUI checkpoints are a common sight when out for a ride, especially late at night. Drive on the road long enough and you’re bound to run into one.

In an attempt to keep the state’s roadways safe, officers in northeast Mississippi have been on a strict patrol ever since the end of December. Rather than let up now that the holidays are over, police departments in the region say they will continue with active enforcement to try and catch drunk drivers.

One Mississippi Trooper said that the law enforcement agency would keep troopers working high-traffic areas as well as conduct safety checkpoints and saturation patrols to ensure the safety of Mississippi motorists. Police will especially be relying on checkpoints which officers see as their most effective deterrent. [Read more…]

Bizarre Drunk Driving Case in Memphis, Tennessee, Has Some Scratching Their Heads

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In a very odd story out of Memphis, Tennessee, a woman has been arrested and charged with two crimes: driving under the influence and child endangerment. While that by itself isn’t surprising, the fact that woman did not have a child in the vehicle with her and that her blood alcohol content was not above the legal limit should raise some eyebrows.

The woman at the center of the bizarre case, Maria Guerra, was driving her vehicle alone when she crashed into the median on I-240 in Memphis over the weekend. The accident happened early Sunday morning, just south of Walnut Grove. When police arrived they tested her blood alcohol level and found it was half the legal limit. Despite this, she was charged with DUI-child endangerment because she revealed to an officer that she was four months pregnant at the time. [Read more…]

Predictive Crime Prevention Not A Hollywood Creation

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Though the numbers clearly prove that crime has been falling across large cities in the U.S., including Memphis, for years now, that hasn’t stopped law enforcement officials from pushing further to ensure even larger drops. To continue realizing such improvements, some police departments are turning to a new tool, known as predictive software.

Two major users of the software are the police departments in Baltimore and Philadelphia. They use the programs to help reduce the murder rate by predicting which prison parolees are the most likely to commit murder. According to sources familiar with the program, the people identified by the software are then given the strictest supervision once they are released. The point of the program is to rely on the software, rather than a parole officer’s instincts. [Read more…]