Security mogul John McAfee was officially taken into custody in Guatemala this week for suspected illegal entry into the country.  In case you have been living under a rock, McAfee is wanted for questioning in relation to the apparent homicide of his neighbor.  Now, lawyers for McAfee are trying relentlessly to keep him from getting shipped back to Belize to face the music.  They are arguing for asylum, but Guatemala’s Supreme Court found there was no basis to the claim. 

Then yesterday, in a big dramatic flurry, McAfee was rushed to the hospital, surrounded by paparazzi, with “cardio vascular problems.”  In a later interview, McAfee’s attorneys told the press he had “suffered from a nervous breakdown, but tests showed he did not have heart problems,” according to CNN. 

In video footage of McAfee being wheeled into the hospital on a gurney, he appears passed out or unconscious until the nurses start to take his clothes off, when he magically regains his strength enough to say “please, not in front of the press, please.”  Funny how he conveniently came back to life to keep reporters from getting a look at his stuff, eh?  This guy is a walking three-ring circus!

With respect to his legal problems, McAfee claims that he is being persecuted by authorities in Belize, and was previously saying he would remain in hiding until they found and prosecuted the real killer.  McAfee’s neighbor was found dead just two days after McAfee had reported the neighbor for having allegedly poisoned and killed McAfee’s four dogs.  

On January 1, 2013, a member of the paparazzi was struck and killed by an SUV on Sepulveda Blvd., in Los Angeles. He had been trying to photograph Justin Bieber’s white Ferrari, which had been pulled over by California Highway Patrol on the 405. CHP officers ordered the paparazzo back to his car; his compliance with the order led directly to his death. The driver of the SUV was interviewed, but no charges have been filed thus far.

Bieber Shmieber

Meanwhile, bee-bop pop star Justin Bieber has made a big fuss about changing the laws surrounding the actions of paparazzi. In a statement to the press, the Biebs (who was neither driver nor passenger at the time of the incident) had this to say:

Hopefully this tragedy will finally inspire meaningful legislation and whatever other necessary steps to protect the lives and safety of celebrities, police officers, innocent public bystanders and the photographers themselves.

To which, I respond as follows:

Really Justin Bieber? What action would you prevent with new “legislation and whatever” in order to prevent tragedies such as this from happening? The ‘no-walking-across- streets-while-taking-pictures’ law? Because that is how this tragedy occurred. It had nothing to do with reckless driving or stalking or taking pictures. This is not the time to carve out new criminal charges they could have filed against the guy in his capacity as a photographer, this is the time to mourn his passing. How about you keep to pippity pop starring – and let the grown folks do the law making.

Stepping down from soap box now…

The Law on Paparazzi

Last year, California’s “Anti-Paparazzi Law” was struck down by a trial court judge in another Bieber-related matter, as being violative of the First Amendment. (Amen!) The 2010 law created harsh punishments for paparazzi who drove dangerously in order to snap pics. The accused in that case, Paul Raef, was represented by the power-lawyers at Kestenbaum, Eisner and Gorin, whose office was directly below my old digs in Van Nuys! Lead attorney Dimitry Gorin successfully argued that the law infringed upon our First Amendment right to free speech.

Gorin also pointed out that existing laws pretty much have this covered, such as laws against reckless driving, speed laws, etc… Someone’s motive for violating these laws may be one thing or another, that is not for the law to say. Is it a consideration? Sure, if you get the right lawyer to argue it for you! Got a story behind your traffic citation or criminal charges? Call me. Let’s talk.