Entries by Danny Cevallos

Robert Durst’s bathroom folly

The end of “Jinx,” the six-part HBO documentary about real estate heir Robert Durst, has launched a debate about whether some potentially incriminating statements Durst made while in the bathroom to a microphone may be used in his criminal prosecution.

Durst, as you probably heard, is charged with murder in a killing in California 15 years ago, and he has been suspected, but never charged, in the disappearance of his first wife in New York.

Should ski resorts pay for avalanche injuries?

The recent deaths of two U.S. Ski Team members in an avalanche at a resort in the Austrian Alps have raised questions about the risks of these sudden snow slides. Since then, North America has settled into the skiing high season, with scores of skiers and snowboarders every day willingly participating in a sport fraught with risks of all kinds.

Snakes and church vs. state

The recent death of the “snake-handling” pastor of a small Pentecostal church in Kentucky has raised an age-old conflict between church and state.

Jamie Coots, the pastor of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name in Middlesboro, Kentucky, died after being bitten on his right hand by a rattlesnake during a weekend church service where he was handling rattlesnakes willingly, it seems.

Should American Samoans be citizens?

American Samoans have every right to be frustrated.

The United States laid claim to these eastern islands of a South Pacific archipelago in 1900, and since that time, American Samoans have served in the U.S. military, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Yet, those born in American Samoa receive passports declaring the holder is only a U.S. national, not a U.S. citizen. Noncitizen residents complain they are unable to vote in national elections or to work in jobs that require citizenship status. They also claim their birth status renders them ineligible for federal work-study programs in college, firearm permits and travel/immigration visas.