As an example, if you ignore a bunch of parking tickets, then your car may be towed, impounded, and auctioned. No trial required.

What happens if I get arrested for violating a City ordinance?

A police, animal control or fire department officer will issue you a Notice to Appear. This notice will inform you of the charge against you, the amount of the fine, the pay-by-mail date (if allowed) and the court date if you choose not to pay the fine prior to the pay-by-mail date. If the officer marks the Notice to Appear as a must-appear, you do not have the option of paying the minimum fine and you must appear in Court on the date listed on the Notice to Appear.

nor shall any state deprive any person of...property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

The Fifth Circuit US Court of Appeals on Tuesday heard a Justice Department official argue that agents have the right to indefinitely detain "uncooperative" motorists at border roadblocks far from the actual border. US Air Force Major Richard Rynearson was stopped on March 18, 2010 when he came to an immigration checkpoint on Highway 90 in Uvalde, Texas, 67 miles from the border with Mexico. The Justice Department attorney got off to a bad start with the three-judge panel.

"To take the position of plaintiff in this case, this court would have to hold that, as plaintiffs and amicus insist, that they have a right to say nothing," Justice Department attorney Steve Frank said. "To just pull up at a checkpoint stop..."

At this point, Judge Jennifer Elrod interrupted.

"That's not true," Judge Elrod said. "That's just absolutely not true. We would not have to hold anything so broad. We would have to hold if you cooperate you can't be held for thirty minutes in what's supposed to be a quick stop and that everybody should know that if you don't have probable cause you, can't keep holding someone there for lengthy periods of time after you produce your identification."

Immigration roadblocks are supposed to be for the sole purpose of establishing US citizenship at the border, but the courts have expanded the definition of "border" to include anything within 100 miles of the border. Although Rynearson offered a military ID, passport and driver's license, Border Patrol agents were peeved that Rynearson did not fully roll down his window and asked if he was being detained.

"Basically, for a large part of the time the gentleman was not answering questions," the government lawyer said.

Judge Elrod interjected a second time. She had seen exactly what happened during the stop on a video that Rynearson recorded and uploaded to YouTube (view video).

"That's not true, counsel," Judge Elrod said. "He never once did not answer a question posed to him, did he counsel? There is not a single incident where he was asked a question and did not respond, is there, sir? ...I don't understand what he did that contributed to the lengthy time that they just sat there."

A large part of the delay came while Border Patrol agents called to complain to the decorated combat veteran's commanding officer.

"What is the purpose of going to call the commanding officer at the military base?" Judge Elrod asked. "What does that have to do at all with citizenship?"

The district court threw out the case, denying a discovery request that would have taken depositions to find out what was said on the phone calls. Rynearson is asking the three-judge panel to send the case back to the district court so a jury can decide whether the Border Patrol agents should pay for violating Rynearson's Fourth Amendment rights.

"At one point the officer tells Mr. Rynearson that they don't need probable cause to hold him," Judge Elrod said. "Is that legally correct? ...Could you hold someone overnight at the border stop?"

The Justice lawyer argued that because there was no "clearly established precedent" saying a stop longer than five minutes was unconstitutional that the officers could not be held personally liable for their conduct.

"There's no law here," Frank said. "There's no law that says how long you can detain someone, what kind of questions you can ask."

n the small town of Muhlenberg, PA, a call to the local police about a man threatening suicide with a kitchen knife was met with by a highly militarized police response.

...

Residents of the home had already vacated the property when police arrived. According to police, the suicidal man was a frequent houseguest of the homeowners.

The police entered and cornered the man into a bedroom. The man then barricaded himself in the room. It was at this point that the Berks County Emergency Response Team was called in to take over.

Rather than de-escalate the situation using mental health professionals, the police doubled down on their high-pressure tactics and militarized response.

A man threatening to take his own life with a knife was reason enough to put into action a SWAT response, a sniper in a ghillie suit and an MRAP armored personnel carrier.

The response was more akin to that of a battlefield in Afghanistan then a mental health crisis in small town America. Sadly, this type of police response is becoming more and more frequent as the police state grows.

Later the police confirmed that the man had a history of mental illness.

Luckily, the man agreed to come out of the house prior to being killed by officers, such as what happened to Michael Blair in a very similar incident in Fort Bend, Texas earlier this year.

Blair was not so fortunate, as he was shot and killed by the officers responding to the call of him threatening suicide with a knife.

For instance, if you steal my car, and the police discover this, you have no right to contest the police taking it from you and giving it back to me. You could context the question of fact and claim that the car wasn't stolen in the first place, but having admitted that the car is stolen, you have no right to contest the question of law that the police may legally take it from you.

A Pennsylvania teenager is facing criminal charges after posting pictures to Facebook of him simulating a sex act with a statue of Jesus.

The young man posted that he took the pictures in late July at the statue of a kneeling Jesus in front of the “Love in the Name of Christ” Christian organization in his hometown of Everett.

The criminal charge, which will be heard in family court, consists of “Desecration of a Venerated Object.”

Pennsylvania law defines desecration as “Defacing, damaging, polluting or otherwise, physically mistreating in a way that the actor knows will outrage the sensibilities of persons likely to observe or discover the action.”

The teen, whose name has not been released, could face up to two years in a juvenile jail if convicted.