by TChris

Two Border Patrol agents were convicted of a variety of crimes after they shot at a suspect who fled from a traffic stop. Agent Jose Alonso Compean fired several shots at the suspect but Agent Ignacio Ramos had better aim. His single shot struck the suspect in the buttocks. Campean picked up his spent shells and neither agent reported the incident.

A jury convicted the agents of assault, weapons offenses, obstruction of justice and a civil rights offense. They'll be sentenced in June, but here's the kicker:

Border Patrol officials will decide Thursday whether the two agents will be fired.

by TChris

New policy for officers of the Utah State Patrol: keep the keys to the evidence locker away from your chlidren.

Three 17-year-old St. George boys, one the son of a Utah Highway Patrol trooper, have been arrested for investigation into the thefts of more than 23 pounds of marijuana from the UHP's evidence locker in Cedar City.

Iron County authorities are unsure how many criminal cases may have been compromised by the thefts. Only some of the marijuana has been recovered.

President Bush must be hopping mad today. By a vote of 62-2, the House Appropriations Committee voted to jettison the Dubai Ports deal:

The House Appropriations Committee defied President Bush this evening, voting overwhelmingly to scuttle a deal giving a Dubai company control of some major seaport operations without awaiting the outcome of a 45-day review of potential security risks.

Representative Jerry Lewis, the California Republican who is chairman of the panel, made good on his threat to keep the port terminal takeover from going forward. He added an amendment blocking the transaction to an essential emergency spending measure that provides money for the war in Iraq and for Hurricane Katrina recovery. "It is my intention to lay the foundation to block the deal," he said Tuesday.

Bush has promised to veto any legislation blocking the deal. But, because the amendment is tacked on to an Iraq/Afghanistan funding bill, he may change his mind.

Here is Bush's latest executive order , issued yesterday. It's entitled, " Responsibilities of the Department of Homeland Security with Respect to Faith-Based and Community Initiatives."

The Secretary of Homeland Security (Secretary) shall establish within the Department of Homeland Security (Department) a Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (Center).....The purpose of the Center shall be to coordinate agency efforts to eliminate regulatory, contracting, and other programmatic obstacles to the participation of faith-based and other community organizations in the provision of social and community services.

The Washington Post has more.

I thought this was a joke, but it's not. Apparently in an effort to send a message to those thinking about deserting from their service in Iraq, a Marine unit is on the prowl, hunting down and jailing Vietnam war deserters.

Chief Warrant Officer James Averhart, who has commanded the Marine Corps Absentee Collection Center since September 2004, told the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times that he had ordered cold cases reopened and that his squad had caught 27 deserters in his first 11 months on the job, a rate he suggested was higher than those of his predecessors. The Corps last month updated that number to 33 cases.

"I have a different leadership style than the guys who have had this job. My job is to catch deserters. And that's what I do," Averhart told the newspaper.

One would have thought this issue was put to rest years ago:

Drudge has portions of the new Vanity Fair interview with Jack Abramoff. It's quite a read. McCain and Newt and a few others won't be pleased.

[Graphic created exclusively for TalkLeft by CL.]

In January, I wrote about Albany, New York defense lawyer (and frequent TalkLeft reader and commenter) Terry Kindlon being the first lawyer in the U.S. to file a motion challenging the Bush Administration's NSA warrantless electronic surveillance program.

U.S. News and World Reports this week has this article describing the several legal challenges mounted since. If I had any doubt that the Government might monitor TalkLeft, it's now erased:

The government has two weeks to respond to Kindlon's motions, which he says were inspired by a popular liberal criminal defense website, TalkLeft.com, created by Denver, Colo., defense attorney Jeralyn Merritt--one of Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh's principal trial lawyers. Now others, like Chicago public defender Mary Judge, are learning from Kindlon.

Mary Judge submitted a letter to the Government as I predicted lawyers would do here, and her opponent is none other than Patrick Fitzgerald:

The latest driving under the influence craze is upon us. Driving while Ambien'ed. I've heard of sleep-eating while Ambien'ed and amnesia from Ambien, but sleep-driving? Apparently, it's happening more and more.

Ambien, the nation's best-selling prescription sleeping pill, is showing up with regularity as a factor in traffic arrests, sometimes involving drivers who later say they were sleep-driving and have no memory of taking the wheel after taking the drug. In some state toxicology laboratories Ambien makes the top 10 list of drugs found in impaired drivers.

26.5 million Ambien scripts are written every year.

Ambien's maker, Sanofi-Aventis, says the drug's record after 13 years of use in this country shows it is safe when taken as directed. ...A spokeswoman for the F.D.A. said the drug's current label warnings, which say it should not be used with alcohol and in some cases could cause sleepwalking or hallucinations, were adequate.

The Government's March 2 response to Lewis "Scooter" Libby's request for presidential daily briefings was unsealed today. It consisted of an affidavit (pdf) by CIA information review officer Marilyn Dorn alleging that the request was too burdensome and could be subject to executive privilege. Dorn said it could take the CIA 9 months to compile the materials sought in Libby's original request and 3 months to assemble those for the restricted time period suggested by the Judge. Libby had sought the information to refresh his memory about the specific matters with which he was so preoccupied that he was unable to remember details about discussions with reporters concerning Valerie Plame.

Reddhedd at Firedoglake analyzes the filing.

Libby's lawyers have responded with this filing (pdf). They say Libby needs the material in the PDB's to show that the matters he was concerned with "dwarfed in importance the snippets of conversations about Valerie Plame that form the core of the Indictment."

Embattled Tom DeLay won his primary race by a wide margin.

Update: John Nichols provides analysis at The Nation, and says maybe Texas will mess with Delay.

Congress has passed the Patriot Act Renewal legislation:

The law makes it easier for federal agents to secretly tap phones, obtain library and bank records, and search homes of terrorism suspects. Bush has called it a vital tool in protecting the country. But numerous civil libertarians and librarians said it allows abuse of innocent Americans' privacy, and lawmakers agreed last year to add several safeguards before renewing provisions that were scheduled to expire.

The Meth Bill was included in the legislation:

The reauthorized Patriot Act includes new tools to combat the manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine. It will require retailers to place cold medicines with pseudoephedrine -- a key ingredient of the illegal drug -- behind counters, and will set limits on each person's monthly and daily purchases. Buyers will have to identify themselves and sign for their purchases.

The "safeguards" are largely cosmetic. The ACLU explains.

I'm deep in wiretap motions for a hearing tomorrow, so if something is going on in the world, here's a place to discuss it. And if you haven't voted in the Koufax awards yet, TalkLeft is nominated for Best Single Issue blog. I'd really appreciate your vote so TalkLeft makes it to the semi-finals. We haven't had any votes in days.

You can vote by leaving a comment that simply says "TalkLeft" here -- or if you'd like your ballot or identity to be secret, you can e-mail Dwight or Mary Beth and just say "TalkLeft for Best Single Issue Blog."

And 'round the Bloggerhood, check out:

• Law Prof Doug Berman on South Dakota sentencing laws and the new abortion ban.
• Part II of Larisa Alexandrovna's series on neo-con Michael Ledeen at Raw Story.
• USA Today: 8,000 desert during Iraq War
• Thoughts of an average woman on Wal-Mart using bloggers [hat tip Patriot Daily.]
• Avedon Carol of Sideshow and Digby and Tena at First Draft on abortion and sex and the radical right.