First, though not really related to criminal law, the Idaho version of the "it's ok to hate for religion" bill that is doing well in Arizona died recently. So that's heartwarming.
Next, the bill that would allow concealed carry on college campuses is surviving. I realize you may think guns are bad, but well, I don't agree with you. And in any case, there's nothing more annoying that a person charged with possession of a gun who was honestly carrying it for self defense. The criminal law is for immoral acts. Not to scare the populous into disarming itself. Gah. We'll never agree on this. Moving on.
Last, and my personal favorite, a law that would have made it illegal to get into an accident because of your medical condition died. Words cannot express how insane that law was. But I can tell you that the current laws we have are often used to attack people who get into accidents due to things like diabetic shock. I hope the attorneys out there that actually plead their clients to this madness are paying attention.
Now the bad news.
Ag gag bills are pretty common. What makes anyone think you can pass these laws in view of the First Amendment, I don't know. But we have a new one coming. The most excruciating thing about it is that it is being passed because activists caught a place abusing cows in every way (I'm saying some sex went on). And the reason for this being the response? "Well, they're just taking things out of context and twisting it." Uh. How do you take sexy times with a cow out of context? How do you twist it? How are these people getting elected?
In any case, this story has gone viral. Since I can't seem to find an Idaho news source giving the full story, here's the LA Times, though you can also find it on Reason blog, CNN, CBS, etc.
Rep. Malek of hotbed of crazy Kootenai County is apparently the lackey of the prosecutor club and is proposing what has to be the worst, stupidest law I've seen in a while:
Idaho’s 2004 law says a person is guilty of video voyeurism when images are broadcast “with the intent of arousing, appealing to or gratifying the lust or passions or sexual desires of such person or another person, or for his own or another person’s lascivious entertainment or satisfaction of prurient interest, or for the purpose of sexually degrading or abusing any other person.” Malek’s bill takes that out, and defines the crime as broadcasting intimate images of another person, without his or her consent, when “the parties agreed or understood that the images should remain private.”
In other words, Malek has zero understanding of the First Amendment. But why would he? He worked for the Kootenai County Prosecutor's office, which has the worst record of prosecutorial misconduct in the state.
And he's at it again! Actually, this is an older Malek bill that makes zero sense other than, as he says, his dad is a doctor and he's a fucking idiot. The bill essentially just adds healthcare workers to the list of people who if you hit them you will be found guilty of a felony and face five years in prison. This article is about how some clueless jackass helped him rewrite it (it died last time when everyone recognized that they were going to be filling prisons with insane people), but never mentions his name. But I remember. Because it was so painfully stupid when it died last time. The new law fixes everything because.. it's only three years. Let us pray it simply dies again. Because, as Sen. Nuxoll said:
“I just can’t imagine those patients who are under the duress, they are really going to be thinking about whether this is a felony or not.”
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