In the news today – college kid in federal court on trial for hacking into Sarah Palin’s email account – facing 50 years in the federal penitentiary.  Meanwhile, in West Virginia….

(can you see where this is going?)

Police officer, while on duty and using official resources, hacks into his ex-wife’s personal email account in the same exact way, downloads the emails and attempts to use them as evidence in a child custody proceeding, and then admits to doing so.  Federal indictment? Facing 50 years in federal prison?  Fired?  Nope, none of the above.

Could a lawyer do that?  No, he would get in big trouble.  But it’s pretty darn hard to get in trouble if you are a county or city police officer in West Virginia, especially the Ohio County Sheriff’s Department (Wheeling, West Virginia).

Here myself and another lawyer, Thomas E. White, from Moundsville, West Virginia, have teamed up to help give justice to a former law enforcement spouse who alleges that she suffered, and continues to suffer, due to her ex-husband’s position as a police officer, and to attempt to do the county’s job (for them) of providing discipline and accountability to the Sheriff’s Department there.