Police in Santa Ana, California, issued a public advisory on Monday after receiving a report of a large snake in a tree in a residential neighborhood. The snake was believed to be a Gaboon viper, a highly venomous viper native to sub-Saharan Africa. According to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, Gaboon vipers are not generally aggressive and rarely bite humans. But police withdrew the warning on Tuesday after the person who reported the snake admitted the photo he provided was created with artificial intelligence and that the report was false, as reported by USA Today. Police would not say whether they planned to file charges based on the false report. Read on for more criminal law news.
Recurrence to Fundamental Principles. Voters in several states will consider proposed amendments to their state constitutions in November, as reported by Indiana Public Media. Voters in Tennessee will decide whether to deny the right to bail for people accused of certain crimes, such as terrorism, second-degree murder, and aggravated rape of a child. Tennessee voters will also consider whether to expand protections for crime victims by adopting a set of rights modeled after Marsy’s Law. (North Carolina adopted similar constitutional amendments in 2018, as reported by Ballotpedia.) A proposed amendment in Indiana would allow courts to deny a defendant bail when proof of guilt is evident or the presumption is strong and the defendant poses a substantial risk to another person or the community. And Idaho voters will consider a proposed amendment that would give the state legislature exclusive authority to legalize marijuana, narcotics, or other psychoactive substances. (North Carolina voters will also consider three proposed amendments, as reported by Ballotpedia.)
Bad Press. A criminal defense firm in the state of Washington is warning the public about a scam involving someone impersonating one of the firm’s trial attorneys, per this story from local media. A partner at Puget Law Group, Kyle Ehlers, worked for about four years as a public defender with King County before joining the firm’s Seattle office. Since August, according to accounts gathered by the firm, scammers have been calling the family members of people booked into Pierce County jail claiming to be a public defender, sometimes using Ehler’s name, and promising to secure the arrestee’s release for $500 to $1,500. “We do not solicit clients by calling families,” Ehlers insisted. Puget Law Group encourages anyone who believes they have been victimized by this scam and needs assistance with a criminal defense matter to contact the firm.
Necessity Defense? A 60-year-old man was arrested early Sunday morning in Texas after driving his car into a grocery store to use the bathroom, yahoo! news reports. The unidentified man crashed his SUV through the pharmacy entrance of a Kroger in Rosenburg, Texas, a suburb about 35 miles southwest of Houston, stopping just inside the store next to a Halloween candy display. According to police, the driver needed to use the restroom and was upset the doors were locked. They noted that the incident caused extensive damage to the pharmacy entrance, and photos show shattered glass inside and outside the building. The suspect was arrested on charges of criminal mischief.
Official Misconduct. A police officer in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced for assaulting a woman with a water gun in June 2025, as reported by a local Fox affiliate. According to police, Lee Brown, 40, pulled the victim off a couch, poured water on her, and repeatedly shot her with a water gun. Brown pleaded guilty to simple assault, and he will serve four months of house arrest with electronic monitoring. In addition, Brown was ordered to have no contact with the victim and pay restitution. Brown was placed on unpaid leave as of July 2025.
Not Exactly Chappaquiddick. Police in Falmouth, Massachusetts, a seaside community on Cape Cod, responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle last Sunday, according to local media and CBS. They found an unoccupied Mazda CX-5 with extensive front-end damage floating in the shallow water off the beach in front of Falmouth Yacht Club. The driver had apparently failed to stop at a stop sign, crashed through a guardrail, and landed in the water. A search of the surrounding area revealed evidence of an attempted breaking and entering at the Yacht Club and discarded property on the club’s grounds. Police located the suspected driver, a 23-year-old male from Florida, in a nearby hotel. The incident remains under investigation and criminal charges are expected.
