A military panel of six officers shocked the Administration by giving Osama bin Laden’s ex-driver, Salim Hamdan, only five and a half years. In a demonstration of the Administration’s contempt for even judicial rulings from its own tribunals, the Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman stated that, after serving his time, Hamdan would revert back to being an “enemy combatant” and could be held indefinitely. So, after proclaiming to the world that he received a “fair trial,” here,the Administration is now saying that the trial and sentence are meaningless.
The co-sponsor of laws increasing penalties for sexual offenders may be one of the first to receive the enhanced sentences in Missouri. State Rep. Scott Muschany, R-Frontenac, has been indicted in the alleged sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl, the daughter of a state employee who was reportedly romantically involved with Muschany (who is married with two children).
Continue reading “Missouri Legislator Arrested for Sexually Assaulting Minor”
As President George Bush is in China lecturing his counterparts on human rights and detainee rights, pictures have emerged of the U.S. military’s use of small crates to hold detainees in Iraq. The wooden boxes are only 3 feet by 3 feet by 6 feet tall, but the Bush Administration insists that it is a perfectly humane way to hold detainees. That is no doubt something that Chinese will find instructive.
Continue reading “Shocking Pictures: U.S. Military Holding Detainees in Small Crates”
Judge Ronald Giles has had enough with Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and sent him to Wayne County Jail for failing to notify the court of his trip to Canada and violating the terms of his bond. It is only the latest spin in the race to the bottom for Detroit’s government.
The head of Pakistan’s ruling coalition has announced a move to impeach President Pervez Musharraf, who took power in a coup in 1999. Given Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s continued refusal to allow an impeachment investigation into President Bush on ever-changing rationales, it is not clear what her position might be in other nation’s impeaching leaders accused of crimes in office.
Continue reading “Pakistani Legislators Move to Impeach Musharraf — No Word Yet From Speaker Pelosi”
It appears pleas in Portland, Oregon are a real deal. Tremane Durham agreed to plead guilty to murder in exchange for buckets of fried chicken will get calzones and pizza as free sides to go with a life sentence delivered by Multnomah County Judge Eric Bergstrom.
Continue reading “Summer Special: Plea Now and Receive a Free Bucket of Fried Chicken!”
It appears that Andre Thomas was right. The Swissvale, Pennsylvania man knocked on doors of an apartment complex yelling that someone was trying to shoot him. The police arrived and, when he allegedly failed to comply with their orders, shot the unarmed man with a taser and then, according to witnesses, beat him. He died at a hospital later and an autopsy is planned.
A seemingly garden-variety contract case is yielding some interesting discovery. May Lou McFate is a gun-control activist who has been a major figure on various gun-control organizations and boards. She is now accused being a paid spy for the National Rifle Association after an investigation by Mother Jones magazine.
Continue reading “Tempting McFate: NRA Accused of Planting Paid Mole in Gun Control Organizations”
Greyhound has decided that its ad campaign will have to be pulled after the recent decapitation and cannibalism of one of its passengers by another passenger. Greyhound campaign proclaimed: “There’s a reason you’ve never heard of ‘bus rage.'” Well, we’ve heard a bit about it now.
Rev. Howard Douglas Porter has been convicted in the death of 85-year-old Frank Craig — a murder committed to hide the fact that Porter had stolen $1.1 million from the elderly man under the false pretext of building an agricultural museum. Porter staged two car wrecks in his effort to kill Craig in Hickman, California.
Continue reading “Preacher Convicted of Murdering Elderly Man to Conceal Theft of Money”
As expected, Osama Bin Laden’s former driver Salim Hamdan was found guilty of five counts of material support to a terror organization in the September 11, 2001, attacks. He was tried before the military tribunal and found not guilty of conspiracy to aid a terror organization by a panel of six military officers. The verdict is likely to be dismissed around the world due to the means used to secure it. The tribunals have been rightly ridiculed as kangaroo courts, even by conservatives.
Continue reading “Bin Laden’s Driver Convicted in Military Tribunal”
As Congress contemplates cutting more programs and the deficit sours due to the costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan war, a U.S. audit has found that the Iraqi government is sitting on an estimated four-year $80 billion oil surplus.
Continue reading “Iraq Found with $80 Billion Oil Surplus as U.S. Pours Money Into Reconstruction”
Sgt. Joseph Chavalia has been acquitted in the SWAT case from Lima, Ohio. Prosecution experts in the trial of Chavalia concluded that the SWAT killed Tarika Wilson, 26, by shooting her in the neck and chest while she was on her knees, complying with their orders, and holding one of her children. Her one-year-old son was also shot and had to have a finger amputated. This is only the latest such controversy involving a SWAT team.
In the aftermath of the e-coli outbreak at the Boy Scout Reservation at Goshen, Virginia, here, another summer camp is the subject of a court filing by families. Families of more than 100 children have joined a class-action lawsuit involving the Teamsters Union. Cameras were planted at the camp run by the Fraternal Order of Police in what police believe was part of a fight over who would represent the police officers: the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) or the teamsters. [Disclosure: I have previously represented officers and members of the FOP]. Prosecutors have charged former Metro police lieutenant Calvin Hullett and teamster representative with federal charges of conspiracy, embezzlement and unlawful interstate commerce after accusations of bribery and misusing money.
Continue reading “Civil and Criminal Charges Brought in Teamster Summer Camp Controversy”
Mary Winkler was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the 2006 shooting death of her husband, Church of Christ minister Matthew Winkler. However, she has now been reunited with her children and given full custody.
Continue reading “Home with Mommy: Mary Winkler Resumes Custody of Children After Killing Their Father”