Blog posts and comments from August 28th – 31st have been lost due a hardware failure and recovery from backup.

Surry.

“Chrysler Group LLC said Thursday it will accept product liability claims in a broader number of cases than originally planned in its reorganization under bankruptcy protection. The automaker said it will now consider product-related lawsuits from consumers involved in accidents that occurred after Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy protection in June that involve vehicles manufactured by the old company.” Joanne Doroshow, executive director of the Center for Justice and Democracy, said Chrysler had “responded to pressure from injured victims and consumer groups and we commend them for taking this important step to protect public safety.”  The Associated Press.

Chrysler senior vice president for external affairs and public policy John Bozzella said, “While Chrysler Group still faces challenges, we are confident today that the future viability of the company will not be threatened if we assume these obligations. [Our] approach is now consistent with that taken by General Motors Co. as part of its bankruptcy process. But Chrysler will not accept liability for lawsuits filed for incidents filed before June 10.” The Detroit News.

Bloomberg reported that as part of the original bankruptcy agreement, Chrysler had “agreed to assume liability only for cars sold by the newly formed company.”

Additional articles on this topic are carried by The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

According to the Detroit News, the Council on American-Islamic Relations “says it will file a federal lawsuit Wednesday against  [Wayne County, MI Judge J. William Callahan] who ordered a Muslim woman to remove her head scarf as shown in this video posted by the plaintiff organization.

An assistant to the judge has responded that the woman never indicated the headwrap was worn as a religious practice. The judge has stated that had she so indicated he could not have ordered her to remove it. In the video, a man–apparently in court with the woman–does start to defend the scarf. He is cut off by the judge. What he had intended to say remains unclear. Michigan Supreme Court precedent has so far upheld judges’ lattitude to dictate attire in the court room.

Luzerne County, PA, judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan, who had plead guilty in connection with a scheme to sell juveniles into private prison, have withdrawn those pleas. This came in response to a federal judge’s finding that the accused had not held up their end of plea agreements.

So, the case of the two judges accused of corruption will now go to trial. At least a trial will afford a fuller public window on the extent and consequences of any scheme.  The two will likely face much harsher sentences than the 87 months they had bargained for when pleading guilty.

From DNA Evidence Can Be Fabricated, Scientists Show reported in The New York Times:

Scientists in Israel have demonstrated that it is possible to fabricate DNA evidence, undermining the credibility of what has been considered the gold standard of proof in criminal cases.

The scientists fabricated blood and saliva samples containing DNA from a person other than the donor of the blood and saliva. They also showed that if they had access to a DNA profile in a database, they could construct a sample of DNA to match that profile without obtaining any tissue from that person.

“You can just engineer a crime scene,” said Dan Frumkin, lead author of the paper, which has been published online by the journal Forensic Science International: Genetics. “Any biology undergraduate could perform this.”

Fingerprint matches, tool marks, bite marks  and other forensic disciplines are likewise more suspect and before. Some are bunk while others are less scientifically rigorous than juries are lead to believe.