Since May, Los Angeles high schooler Jeremy Marks has been in jail—essentially for filming a school police officer hit a 15-year-old. He'll be home for Christmas, though, thanks to a Google engineer who heard about Marks on Reddit.

How "jailhouse lawyer" Jabbar Collins secured his own release after 15 years in prison for a wrongful conviction. [via]

The Supreme Court will decide the largest employment class action suit in U.S. history: women vs. Wal-Mart.

Sentences for misdemeanors like smoking weed or sneaking onto the subway usually don't come with any jail time. They don't have to. In NYC, a huge number of misdemeanor arrestees languish in jail for weeks, unable to afford bail.

James Fowler, a 77 year-old white former state trooper in Alabama, has pleaded guilty and received six months in prison for the 1965 killing of Jimmie Lee Jackson—whose shooting death inspired the Selma-to-Montgomery civil rights marches. [Montgomery Advertiser]

The tab for BP's oil spill is expected to reach nearly $40 billion, the company said as it announced its third quarter financial results today. That's $7 billion more than expected, thanks to pesky legal fees and cleanup operations. [Bloomberg]

An Australian named Thomas John Collins spent a "stint in the cells" last week after calling his judge "mate." Twice. And then, when the judge demanded Collins call him "sir or your honour," Collins replied, "okay mate." Bad idea. [via]

A judge in Brazil has ruled that McDonald's must pay a man $17,500 because the man gained 65 pounds in a dozen years of employment at McDonald's. He felt "forced to sample the food each day," for quality. [AP]

Many of you have probably had the colorful urban experience of vomiting in a cab, due to drunkenness, intoxication, or just plain alcohol-induced motion sickness. You disgusting lush. How much should a cab driver be compensated for your mess?

Alan Newton (pictured) was convicted of rape and jailed 22 years before being cleared by DNA evidence in 2006. Yesterday, a jury awarded him $18.5 million in compensation. Is that enough?

Joseph Jacobi, who owns a pizzeria in Buffalo, pleaded guilty in August to withholding more than $104,000 in state taxes. His sentence: Deliver 12 pizzas every week to the Buffalo City Mission for a year.

Hungarian authorities arrested the director of the industrial plant where toxic red mud spilled, killing at least eight.

Jersey Shore's Snooki pled guilty to disturbing the public enjoyment of the beach and will do two days of community service and pay $533. The judge concluded by calling her "rude," "self-indulgent" and a "Lindsay Lohan wannabe." No respect!

Irish fans were so irate that Guns N' Roses (or Axl Rose and his current back up band) were late to a gig, they booed and thew bottles until the band left. Finally, the appropriate response to Guns N' Roses!

Manhattan criminal judge James Gibbons resigned on Thursday after officials found porn on his work computer. But wait! What kind of porn?

The war on smoking is without end: they've already come for your clove cigarettes, and your flavored cigarettes, and your light cigarettes. Now, they're coming for your "e-cigarettes." Jesus, pretty soon we'll all be forced to smoke...cigarettes. [WSJ]

This week we showed you the video of the 2009 beating of Michael DeHerrera by Denver police—who were upset he was making a phone call while they beat his friend. Guess who he was calling? His dad, a cop.

Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, the guy on Jersey Shore who isn't the Situation or Paulie D or the other guy, was arrested on Sunday over unpaid parking tickets. He was released while I was in the middle of writing a protest ballad.

Elena Kagan today was sworn in as the 112th Supreme Court justice. She is the fourth woman to serve.

Gawker once called the novelist Tao Lin "maybe perhaps the single most irritating person we've ever had to deal with." Times change. Here is Tao Lin's account of being arrested for trespassing at the NYU bookstore last week.