Rebuttal

(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE) A paid informant who should've been fired, a police officer who LOVES a good eraser, and a dad who can't stop bragging about his poor sons. Grab a bag of baking soda and a large Coke and hear Reb snitch on Albright v. Oliver (1994). Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and Twitter! Follow @Rebmasel on TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter! *** 0:00 - Intro 2:26 - Legal mumbo j...

(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE) What do you call a 6-week period in which you and a handful of very recent acquaintances get drunk every day at lunch, sleep through the afternoons, sell weed to each other, smoke weed with each other, and whip out a few bags of cocaine to snort when the time feels right? For a group of twelve people in Florida in 1987, they would call it jury duty. That’s right. Si...

(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE) In the early hours of Saturday, May 15, 2010, Kalief Browder and a friend were returning home from a party in the Belmont section of the Bronx. He was 16 years old. Browder saw a police car driving toward them. More squad cars arrived, and soon Browder and his friend were squinting in the glare of a police spotlight. An officer said they had robbed a man. “I didn’t...

(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE) Do political assassinations even happen in the U.S. anymore? Apparently yes. Yes, they do. Get ready to change your middle name, sue Puerto Rico for speaking Spanish, move to a hog farm in Tennessee, and learn that write-in ballots never win (except for the rare, *bloody* exception). Reb brings a murder weapon to the voting booth in Tennessee v. Byron (Low Tax) Loop...

(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE) Beef between rappers keeps music alive and well. But what happens when a video of you lip syncing to rap lyrics at a party helps put you away for murder? Hear all about it with Reb at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in Larry Jean Hart v. Texas (2024). Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and Twitter! Follow @Rebmasel on TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter! *** 0:00 - Int...

(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE) Since Biblical times, self defense has been simple. Guard your castle. Retreat to the wall. Defend yourself. The U.S. stole its common law from the English, and the elements of self defense didn't change. Until.......Florida. Why did Florida change its slogan from the Sunshine State to the Kill At Will State? Aren't Stand Your Ground Laws a good thing? How old is th...

(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE) Humans have been digging moats, slingshotting arrows, poisoning food, and laying spikes for thousands of years — and modern day booby traps are still alive and well. But what do an Indiana Jones-inspired hot tub contraption and a haunted house’s 20-gauge shotgun have in common? Vengeance. This episode starts the engine for Episode 24’s deep dive into self-defense, "...

(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE) There are 3 reasons one of the most important 4th Amendment rules in America exists as it does today: (1) Boxers in the criminal underworld, (2) A bomb in the house of famous boxing promoter Don King, and (3) Dollree "Dolly" Mapp - The young black woman who dated bad boys and stood up to an all-white police force in Baltimore...and won. What started as a mobster/box...

(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE) We protect the witnesses from the public, but who protects the public from the witnesses? Peek behind the curtain of the Witness Protection Program and prepare to be shocked, afraid, and bamboozled. Take cover with Reb and start questioning everything and everyone in United States v. Wilson (1981). **CONTENT WARNING at 58:52 for violence against children** *** SOURC...

(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE) Most people would like to keep their heads. Thomas Donaldson isn't one of them. This mathematician and computer scientist wanted his cut off, and he wanted it to be done while he was still alive. Bring a warm jacket and follow Reb into the frozen head refrigerator for Donaldson v. Lungren (1992). INTRO/REB CHAT: 0:00-19:32 CASE STARTS: 19:32 *** Learn more about you...

(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE) Breathing through chemical smoke has been described as “drowning on dry land.” When one imagines chemical warfare, they often imagine a striking image of filthy soldiers choking in trenches on the frontlines through thick fogs of yellow-green gas.  In 1993, the Convention on Chemical Weapons sought to end chemical warfare as we know it. 20 years later, the internati...

Plug your nose and cross your heart - a rotting corpse is on the stand. 1,126 years ago, Rome was going through Popes like napkins at a BBQ cook-off. Most of them were killed, tortured, maimed, spit on...by each other. Eventually, Desperate Housewives and the Catholic Church collided to exhume a body and strap him to a chair. Why did we put a dead body on trial in 897 AD...and again in 2013? Oh, a...

Pararescue is the most highly decorated Air Force-enlisted force, executing the most perilous, demanding, and extreme rescue missions at anytime, anywhere around the globe. Their motto is: "These Things We Do, That Others May Live." Pararescue Staff Sergeant James D. Pou was so legendary, he became the "gold standard" for how the Air Force drills its trainees. He died a hero. So why did the June 2...

Illinois attorneys John Steele and Paul Hansmeier had an X-rated dream: to represent the “little guys”. The wrongfully accused? The juvenile delinquents? The small businesses? Porn production companies, of course. What started out as a seemingly legitimate copyright business model snowballed into what Federal Judge Otis D. Wright II called “a porno trolling collective”. Yes, there are court transc...

Pro Tip: When you become a billionaire overnight, use protection (or get coup insurance). The true story of the U-Haul family feud that lasted 40 years (and counting). Listen to Reb dodge brotherly punches in Shoen v. Shoen (1993). *** WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/D7-z6CcKwnI Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and @Rebmasel on TikTok :) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit mega...

A prison break, the oldest biker gang in the world, 558 death sentences, a body in a river, and the man who tried to dodge death just to run straight into it. Twice. The Supreme Court in 1976 had no idea it would set off a chain of events worthy of a biopic and a newfound appreciation for Harley Davidsons, bro code, and a really catchy crime syndicate slogan. Rev (Reb?) your engines. It's about to...

Since 1969, the police have been legally allowed to lie to you. Yes, you. About anything. Anywhere and everywhere. And they do. All the time. One of their favorite tricks is to use the “false evidence ploy” to convince you to take a lesser guilty plea instead of risking a trial. Despite millions of guilty pleas entered in this country based on deception and misinformation, the Supreme Court has re...

Never underestimate the power of a smile and a slow walk during a good old-fashioned B&E. Learn your way around the thin, thin lines between burglary, larceny, robbery, and Goldie Locks catching a felony charge. Reb unpacks why a burglary defendant with yard work to do got his conviction overturned in State v. Bertram (2023). WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@RebuttalPod Follow @RebuttalP...

A fugitive wanted for murder stares at two newlyweds through a window on their back porch in Dover, Kansas on a Saturday morning in 2009. He makes them an offer: $10,000 to hide him, please. Cheetos, Dr. Pepper, and a Robin Williams movie seal the deal. Or did it? In State v. Dimmick, Reb begs you to either get it in writing or lock your door. CASE STARTS: 4:50 WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE: https...

Today, there are over five million Native Americans in the United States, 22% of whom live on reservations. Native American women are murdered at a rate 10x the national average, and are 2.5x more likely to be victims of sexual assault. A majority of these violent crimes are perpetrated by non-tribal members on Tribal Lands, and over half of them are never investigated or prosecuted. Why? Reb has...

The 1980s were a lawless time for the funeral home community. This is the insane true story of David Sconce, the mortician who would stop at nothing to corner the market on death in the City of Angels. Listen to Reb dodge burning feet and murder conspiracies in People v. Sconce. CASE BEGINS: 10:20 *** WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/neF3ie5dtbA Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and...

The Guantánamo Bay detention center is a 45-mile stretch of land the U.S. has leased from Cuba since the Spanish-American War. After 9/11, President Bush needed a place where Due Process, the courts, and lawyers couldn't reach 780 men and boys, many of whom were sold to the U.S. military for a $5,000 bounty. Who and what have we kept at Guantánamo Bay for the last 22 years? Terrorists? No. A legal...

Trigger Warnings: Graphic descriptions of execution by lethal injection and men who whine on the record. In that order. *** U.S. District Judge Deborah A. Batts, the *first* openly gay federal judge in the U.S. (!!!): https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/educational-resources/annual-observances/pride-month Support the Human Rights Defense Center: https://www.humanrightsdefensecenter.org/d...

Our powers in the sky (the NTSB and the FAA) apparently think liars are more dangerous than absolutely terrible pilots. Crack open a bottle of wine and listen to a pilot horror story. Fly at your own risk. Hopefully the moose waves back at us before we hit a mountain. Reb flies you through clear, Alaskan, pathological skies in U.S. v. Kirst (2022). WATCH ON YOUTUBE: ⁠https://youtu.be/6c4HX85g1wk F...

Deadly weapons are between our legs, trains, and automobiles. Yep, you read that right. Reb gives us a front row seat to three freak "accidents" that will convince you the universe hates some people a little more than most. Buckle up. Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and @Rebmasel on TikTok :) *** WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/pqNYYww8nQw *** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone....