Rebuttal

(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE) Beef between rappers keeps music alive and well. But what happens when a video of you lip syncing to rap lyrics at a party helps put you away for murder? Hear all about it with Reb at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in Larry Jean Hart v. Texas (2024). Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and Twitter! Follow @Rebmasel on TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter! *** 0:00 - Intro 4:01 - Sneak peek of Hart v. Texas (2024) 4:37 - Background - Can lyrics be used as evidence? 12:45 - Hart v. Texas begins / What happened at trial? 24:02 - Hart's first appeal 27:38 - Hart's second appeal 28:31 - Probative value of the rap videos 33:49 - Prejudicial effect of the rap videos 47:57 - Prosecution's need for the evidence 54:05 - Harm analysis 1:01:06 - Holding 1:01:59 - Reb's rebuttal 1:02:42 - Tiny teaser for Episode 26! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE) Since Biblical times, self defense has been simple. Guard your castle. Retreat to the wall. Defend yourself. The U.S. stole its common law from the English, and the elements of self defense didn't change. Until.......Florida. Why did Florida change its slogan from the Sunshine State to the Kill At Will State? Aren't Stand Your Ground Laws a good thing? How old is the Castle Doctrine? Whose castle is it anyway? Reb lowers the drawbridge on the madness and teaches you all the wheres and whens and hows on who is really allowed to "defend" themselves. **CONTENT WARNING** Racial violence and violence against women and children. 0:00 - Content Warning 2:24 - Intro 8:08 - Trayvon Martin/Michael Brown/Tamir Rice 10:07 - Philando Castile 15:00 - People v. White (2010) 26:16 - Duty to Retreat 30:05 - The Castle Doctrine 30:45 - Beard v. United States (1895) 31:10 - People v. Tomlins (1914) 34:15 - Background on SYG Laws 36:00 - Self-defense elements/Duty to retreat 43:45 - SYG Laws and Imminence 46:27 - Removing Imminence > Race/Gender/DV 52:53 - Bernard Goetz (1986) 56:20 - Kathy & James Workman (Fla. 2004) 58:41 - The NRA & SYG 59:30 - Jimmy Morningstar (2003) 1:04:30 - Charles Harper (2009) 1:06:00 - Pedro Roteta (2011) 1:10:13 - Duty to retreat 1:11:10 - Domestic Violence & The Castle Doctrine 1:20:17 - Deven Grey (2017) / Brittany Joyce Smith (2018) 1:22:03 - Collected cases of men using SYG Laws successfully 1:23:41 - Peggy Stewart Case (1988) 1:31:18 - Kansas Supreme Court is on my sh*t list 1:32:00 - "Reasonableness" for a woman 1:33:50 - Collected cases on DV victims and Castle Doctrine/SYG 1:47:00 - Castle Doctrine clashes with Knock + Announce Rule 1:48:32 - Breonna Taylor *** DONATE https://www.trayvonmartinfoundation.org/ https://michaelodbrown.org/ https://www.tamirericefoundation.org/donate https://www.philandocastilefoundation.org/ https://www.gofundme.com/f/freedom-and-reentry-fund-for-deven-grey https://justiceforbreonna.org/ *** COMPLETE SOURCE LIST IN YOUTUBE EPISODE NOTES Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and Twitter! Follow @Rebmasel on TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE) Humans have been digging moats, slingshotting arrows, poisoning food, and laying spikes for thousands of years — and modern day booby traps are still alive and well. But what do an Indiana Jones-inspired hot tub contraption and a haunted house’s 20-gauge shotgun have in common? Vengeance. This episode starts the engine for Episode 24’s deep dive into self-defense, "Stand Your Ground" laws, defense of property, and the Castle Doctrine. But first, listen to Reb pick tibia bones and shotgun pellets off the floor in Katko v. Briney (1971). *** Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and Twitter! Follow @Rebmasel on TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE) There are 3 reasons one of the most important 4th Amendment rules in America exists as it does today: (1) Boxers in the criminal underworld, (2) A bomb in the house of famous boxing promoter Don King, and (3) Dollree "Dolly" Mapp - The young black woman who dated bad boys and stood up to an all-white police force in Baltimore...and won. What started as a mobster/boxer gambling ring turned into a 4-year battle over...you guessed it...nude magazines. Come with Reb to throw some punches and start a Dolly fan club in Mapp v. Ohio (1961). INTRO/CONTEXT: 0:00-7:29 CASE BEGINS: 7:30 *** Sources Cited: Ken Armstrong, “Dollree Mapp, 1923-2014: “The Rosa Parks of the Fourth Amendment,” The Marshall Project (Dec. 8, 2014) https://www.themarshallproject.org/2014/12/08/dollree-mapp-1923-2014-the-rosa-parks-of-the-fourth-amendment Carolyn N. Long, “Mapp v. Ohio: Guarding Against Unreasonable Searches and Seizures” (2006) ClevelandMemory.Org, “Mapp v. Ohio - 367 U.S. 643 (1961), https://www.clevelandmemory.org/legallandmarks/mapp/decision.html Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and Twitter! Follow @Rebmasel on TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE) We protect the witnesses from the public, but who protects the public from the witnesses? Peek behind the curtain of the Witness Protection Program and prepare to be shocked, afraid, and bamboozled. Take cover with Reb and start questioning everything and everyone in United States v. Wilson (1981). **CONTENT WARNING at 58:52 for violence against children** *** SOURCES [chronological order by reference or cite]: United States v. Wilson (1981) Secord v. Schlachter (1983) https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP09S00048R000100020104-6.pdf https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59212-2004Jun21_4.html https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP90-00552R000605840009-1.pdf https://www.copvcia.com/free/ciadrugs/Ed_Wilson_1.html Karen S. Cooperstein, Enforcing Judgments Against Participants in the Witness Protection Program, 36 Stan. L. Rev. 1017 (1984) Michal Gilad, Who Will Protect The Children?: The Untold Story of Unaccompanied Minors In Witness Protection Programs, 12 Whittier J. Child & Fam. Advoc. 43 (2012) Raneta Lawson Mack, The Federal Witness Protection Program Revisited and Compared: Reshaping An Old Weapon To Meet New Challenges in the Global Crime Fighting Effort, U. Miami Int'l & Comp. L. Rev. 191 (2014). Tanya Asim Cooper, Sacrificing the Child To Convict The Defendant: The Secondary Traumatization of Child Witnesses By Prosecutors, Their Inherent Conflict of Interest, and the Need For Child Witness Counsel, 9 Cardozo Pub. L. Pol'y & Ethics J. 239 (2011) Laura Perry, What's In A Name?, 46 Am. Crim. L. Rev. 1563 (2009) https://www.baltimoresun.com/2003/04/26/youth-is-found-fatally-shot-after-being-called-as-witness/ https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-investigations/2017/10/31/witness-protection-program-who-protects-public/748986001/ Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and Twitter! Follow @Rebmasel on TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE) Most people would like to keep their heads. Thomas Donaldson isn't one of them. This mathematician and computer scientist wanted his cut off, and he wanted it to be done while he was still alive. Bring a warm jacket and follow Reb into the frozen head refrigerator for Donaldson v. Lungren (1992). INTRO/REB CHAT: 0:00-19:32 CASE STARTS: 19:32 *** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE) Breathing through chemical smoke has been described as “drowning on dry land.” When one imagines chemical warfare, they often imagine a striking image of filthy soldiers choking in trenches on the frontlines through thick fogs of yellow-green gas.  In 1993, the Convention on Chemical Weapons sought to end chemical warfare as we know it. 20 years later, the international treaty the U.S. signed in 1997 to ban and stop the creation, sale, and export of chemical weapons for warfare around the globe led us to an unusual suspect in an unusual place—Carol Anne Bond, a 34-year old microbiologist living with her husband in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Carol Anne Bond was not a soldier.  She was not welding steel cylinders of chlorine gas to be released over trenches in Belgium. She was not spraying 19.3 million gallons of chemical herbicides over Vietnam. She was not using white phosphorus against civilians in Fallujah or Syria. She was not a guerrilla fighter on the front lines, a terrorist, or a military contractor.  She was an angry wife. Hold your breath and wash your hands. This is Bond v. United States (2014). *** Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and @Rebmasel on TikTok :) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pararescue is the most highly decorated Air Force-enlisted force, executing the most perilous, demanding, and extreme rescue missions at anytime, anywhere around the globe. Their motto is: "These Things We Do, That Others May Live." Pararescue Staff Sergeant James D. Pou was so legendary, he became the "gold standard" for how the Air Force drills its trainees. He died a hero. So why did the June 2, 1993 L.A. Times headline read: "Bigamist, Deserter Escapes From Air Force Brig"....? Grab a parachute and jump into the interstate scandal of one legendary Airman/escape artist, two wives, two affairs, five kids, one bank robbery, and a military prison break. Reb debriefs the military's very own "justice" system and why you can't lead a triple life if you can't keep your gun dry in U.S. v. Pou (1995). *** CLICK HERE TO WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE INTRO: 00:00 to 8:09 CASE BEGINS: 8:10 Alternate Title: These Things We Do, That Douglas May Live. *** Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and @Rebmasel on TikTok :) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Plug your nose and cross your heart - a rotting corpse is on the stand. 1,126 years ago, Rome was going through Popes like napkins at a BBQ cook-off. Most of them were killed, tortured, maimed, spit on...by each other. Eventually, Desperate Housewives and the Catholic Church collided to exhume a body and strap him to a chair. Why did we put a dead body on trial in 897 AD...and again in 2013? Oh, and can you marry someone after you die? As always, Reb gives you the answers, blessings, and vengeance in Cadaver Synod. WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/i1jsE4PcBRk?si=ErAF4rYdDk6e9d5n *** Special, special thank you to @tanicaesar at Unhinged History for having me on her pod in September 2023 to ramble about this case with vodka and laughter. Listen to Unhinged History on Spotify, Apple, YouTube. Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and @Rebmasel on TikTok :) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Illinois attorneys John Steele and Paul Hansmeier had an X-rated dream: to represent the “little guys”. The wrongfully accused? The juvenile delinquents? The small businesses? Porn production companies, of course. What started out as a seemingly legitimate copyright business model snowballed into what Federal Judge Otis D. Wright II called “a porno trolling collective”. Yes, there are court transcripts.   Wolf of Wall Street meets Suits meets adult film stars meets iconic court transcripts. Hear Reb unzip the epic saga of Prenda Law and Ingenuity 13 LLC v. John Doe (2012).  INTRO: 00:00 CASE STARTS: 11:10 *** WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/k4WWI3XE99U Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and @Rebmasel on TikTok :) Sources/Articles/Transcripts/Court Orders Defense attorneys: Prenda litigation is 'unbelievable', 'just epic' - Washington Examiner (Dec. 23, 2012) (https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/defense-attorneys-prenda-litigation-is-unbelievable-just-epic) What Prenda Law is facing in Los Angeles - Ken White, Pope Hat (Mar. 6, 2013) (https://www.popehat.com/2013/03/06/what-prenda-law-is-facing-in-los-angeles/) Copyright Troll Case Tossed For 'Fraud On The Court' After Abbott & Costello-Worthy Hearing - Mike Masnick, TechDirt (Dec. 3, 2012) (https://www.techdirt.com/2012/12/03/copyright-troll-case-tossed-fraud-court-after-abbott-costello-worthy-hearing/) John Steele's Property Caretaker Intervenes in Copyright Trolling Case, Alleging Identity Theft - Mike Masnick, TechDirt (Dec. 7, 2012) (https://www.techdirt.com/2012/12/07/john-steeles-property-caretaker-intervenes-copyright-trolling-case-alleging-identity-theft/) Prenda Law's Attorneys Take The Fifth Rather Than Answer Judge Wright's Questions - Ken White, Pope Hat (April 2, 2013) (https://www.popehat.com/2013/04/02/prenda-laws-attorneys-take-the-fifth-rather-than-answer-judge-wrights-questions/) Deep Dive: Prenda Law Is Dead - Ken White, Pope Hat (April 2, 2013) (https://www.techdirt.com/2013/04/02/deep-dive-prenda-law-is-dead/) Judge Orders Prenda Law Group Beamed Out Into Space - Lowering The Bar (May 7, 2013) (https://www.loweringthebar.net/2013/05/judge-orders-prenda-law-group-beamed-out-into-space.html) Judge Wright's Sanctions Order (May 6, 2013), https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.popehat.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/PendaSanctionsOrder.pdf 'Look, you may hate me': 90 minutes with John Steele, porn troll - Joe Mullin, ArsTechnica (May 10, 2013) (https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/05/look-you-may-hate-me-90-minutes-with-john-steele-prenda-porn-troll/) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pro Tip: When you become a billionaire overnight, use protection (or get coup insurance). The true story of the U-Haul family feud that lasted 40 years (and counting). Listen to Reb dodge brotherly punches in Shoen v. Shoen (1993). *** WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/D7-z6CcKwnI Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and @Rebmasel on TikTok :) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A prison break, the oldest biker gang in the world, 558 death sentences, a body in a river, and the man who tried to dodge death just to run straight into it. Twice. The Supreme Court in 1976 had no idea it would set off a chain of events worthy of a biopic and a newfound appreciation for Harley Davidsons, bro code, and a really catchy crime syndicate slogan. Rev (Reb?) your engines. It's about to get bloody. The penalty is death in Gregg v. Georgia (1976). WATCH THIS EPISODE YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/IWohmpaeS7c?si=Ephgw-G9rmO66Bg_ Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and @Rebmasel on TikTok :) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since 1969, the police have been legally allowed to lie to you. Yes, you. About anything. Anywhere and everywhere. And they do. All the time. One of their favorite tricks is to use the “false evidence ploy” to convince you to take a lesser guilty plea instead of risking a trial. Despite millions of guilty pleas entered in this country based on deception and misinformation, the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that it is okay for cops to be dirty liars. Reb teaches you when and how to shut your mouth as she runs through Frazier v. Cupp, Miranda v. Arizona, the "Interrogation Bible" used to train cops in the US, and the rights everyone should know how to exercise. WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/0g20SUTnSRQ Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and @Rebmasel on TikTok :) *** SOURCES CITED: "FROM FALSE EVIDENCE PLOY TO FALSE GUILTY PLEA: AN UNJUSTIFIED PATH TO SECURING CONVICTIONS" by Katie Wynbrandt, Yale Law Journal (2016) "PUBLIC TRUST AND POLICE DECEPTION" by Julia Simon-Kerr, Northeastern University Law Review (2019) Time Magazine Article: "Law Enforcement Experts on Why Police Shouldn't be Allowed to Lie to Suspects," by Saul Kassin (Dec. 16, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Never underestimate the power of a smile and a slow walk during a good old-fashioned B&E. Learn your way around the thin, thin lines between burglary, larceny, robbery, and Goldie Locks catching a felony charge. Reb unpacks why a burglary defendant with yard work to do got his conviction overturned in State v. Bertram (2023). WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@RebuttalPod Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and @Rebmasel on TikTok :) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A fugitive wanted for murder stares at two newlyweds through a window on their back porch in Dover, Kansas on a Saturday morning in 2009. He makes them an offer: $10,000 to hide him, please. Cheetos, Dr. Pepper, and a Robin Williams movie seal the deal. Or did it? In State v. Dimmick, Reb begs you to either get it in writing or lock your door. CASE STARTS: 4:50 WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/NcziP4Q0Prk Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and @Rebmasel on TikTok :) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, there are over five million Native Americans in the United States, 22% of whom live on reservations. Native American women are murdered at a rate 10x the national average, and are 2.5x more likely to be victims of sexual assault. A majority of these violent crimes are perpetrated by non-tribal members on Tribal Lands, and over half of them are never investigated or prosecuted. Why? Reb has a few ideas. Listen to her untangle every "what the f*#k?!" in United States v. Cooley (2021). WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/e4vYfHznAwM Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and @Rebmasel on TikTok :) *** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 1980s were a lawless time for the funeral home community. This is the insane true story of David Sconce, the mortician who would stop at nothing to corner the market on death in the City of Angels. Listen to Reb dodge burning feet and murder conspiracies in People v. Sconce. CASE BEGINS: 10:20 *** WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/neF3ie5dtbA Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and @Rebmasel on TikTok :) *** Sources: Article: "The Mortician and The Murderer," by Angella d'Avignon for Topic.com (2019) Book: "A Family Business," by Ken Englade (1992) *** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Guantánamo Bay detention center is a 45-mile stretch of land the U.S. has leased from Cuba since the Spanish-American War. After 9/11, President Bush needed a place where Due Process, the courts, and lawyers couldn't reach 780 men and boys, many of whom were sold to the U.S. military for a $5,000 bounty. Who and what have we kept at Guantánamo Bay for the last 22 years? Terrorists? No. A legal blackhole? Yes. *** WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@RebuttalPod Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and @Rebmasel on TikTok :) SOURCE CITED: The Guantánamo Lawyers: Inside a Prison Outside the Law. Explore the complete archive of narratives at http://dlib.nyu.edu/guantanamo "The Guantánamo Docket": https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/guantanamo-bay-detainees.html *** SUPPORT PUBLIC DEFENSE HERE: ⁠https://www.gideonspromise.org/⁠ AND HERE: ⁠www.innocenceproject.org⁠ AND HERE: ⁠https://www.aclu.org/⁠ AND HERE: ⁠https://www.lastprisonerproject.org/⁠ SUPPORT KIDS IN NEED OF DEFENSE: ⁠https://supportkind.org/⁠ *** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trigger Warnings: Graphic descriptions of execution by lethal injection and men who whine on the record. In that order. *** U.S. District Judge Deborah A. Batts, the *first* openly gay federal judge in the U.S. (!!!): https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/educational-resources/annual-observances/pride-month Support the Human Rights Defense Center: https://www.humanrightsdefensecenter.org/donate/ *** FOLLOW US: https://www.instagram.com/rebuttalpod/ WATCH US: https://www.youtube.com/@RebuttalPod **Select BONUS EPISODES will be available in video format to future Patreon subscribers at a later date** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our powers in the sky (the NTSB and the FAA) apparently think liars are more dangerous than absolutely terrible pilots. Crack open a bottle of wine and listen to a pilot horror story. Fly at your own risk. Hopefully the moose waves back at us before we hit a mountain. Reb flies you through clear, Alaskan, pathological skies in U.S. v. Kirst (2022). WATCH ON YOUTUBE: ⁠https://youtu.be/6c4HX85g1wk Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and @Rebmasel on TikTok :) *** Alaska Pilot Sentenced in Connection with August 2014 Atigun Pass Crash: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ak/pr/alaska-pilot-sentenced-connection-august-2014-atigun-pass-crash *** FOLLOW REB ON: TikTok: @rebmasel Instagram: @rebmasel Twitter: @rebmasel FOLLOW REBUTTAL POD ON: Instagram: @rebuttalpod Twitter: @rebuttalpod YouTube: Rebuttal Podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices