CRIMES COMMITTED ABOARD AIRCRAFT

A person is guilty of a federal offense if he or she commits certain crimes aboard an aircraft. Such crimes include murder, attempted murder, manslaughter, attempted manslaughter, maiming, sexual abuse, assault, embezzlement, theft, receiving stolen property, and robbery. These offenses are punishable as federal offenses, even if they are not connected with aircraft piracy or attempted aircraft piracy.

BILLS OF EXCEPTION

A defendant is entitled to waive his or her right to appeal his or her conviction by a trial court. However, the waiver must be knowingly and intelligently made by the defendant. The waiver may only be made after the defendant's right to appeal has accrued.

Criminal Liability Associated with Violating the Clean Water Act

The Clean Water Act governs the discharge of pollutants into navigable waters. Navigable waters have been defined as any waters in which one is able to navigate through, including streams or creeks that in turn feed navigable bodies of water. The Act requires any individual or corporation seeking to discharge pollutants to obtain a permit from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The permit establishes the maximum amount of particular pollutants that may be discharged from facilities such as industrial and sewage treatment plants over a set period of time. The place or facility where the pollutants are discharged from is known as the point source.

MARITIME JURISDICTION OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

In accordance with Article III of the United States Constitution, the federal government has jurisdiction over all admiralty and maritime cases. This means that the federal government has jurisdiction over all criminal offenses that are committed on the high seas, on any other waters within the jurisdiction of the United States, or on any vessel that belongs to the United States, to a United States citizen, or to a corporation, which vessel is located within the admiralty or maritime jurisdiction of the United States and not within the jurisdiction of a state.

CRUELTY TO ANIMALS

A person commits the offense of cruelty to animals if he or she intentionally or knowing tortures an animal, fails to provide food, care, or shelter for an animal, abandons an animal, transports or confines an animal in a cruel manner, kills or seriously injures an animal that belongs to another person, or causes an animal to fight with another animal.