The Judge in the Scott Peterson trial ruled today that the prosecution may introduce evidence of Peterson's wiretapped calls:

Judge Alfred A. Delucchi was unswayed by the arguments, saying investigators followed proper procedures when monitoring the calls and any privileged information they heard was "so minimal to be of no consequence."

....During the first few months of 2003, investigators monitored about 3,000 of Peterson's calls, including 76 between the former fertilizer salesman and his first attorney.

Since the hearing was held behind closed doors yesterday, we don't know what those calls contain. But, earlier reports are that there is no smoking gun or confession on them.

Jury selection begins tomorrow.

Liberal Oasis dissects four questions from reporters that Scott McClellan refused to answer yesterday on Haiti:

1. “Did the United States at any point say that it would not protect him if he stayed?”

2. “Who is it that gave permission for the plane [that took Aristide away] to land in Haiti?”

3. “You said we took steps to protect him as he left Haiti [but] our forces were not around him as he left, [so] then what were the steps we took to protect him?”

4. “Three weeks ago, the administration was stressing the fact that Aristide's was a democratically-elected government. Two days ago, you began saying that Aristide had failed as a leader. What changed over that time period to shift your focus?”

It's not just the file disclosure failure in the Terry Nichols case that is under scrutiny. The failure may have been routine--and may impact cases nationally--giving some defendants cause to seek to reopen their cases:

In an oversight that could impact cases nationwide, the FBI hasn't routinely searched a special computer space where agents store investigative documents to see whether those materials should be sent to defense lawyers, Congress or special investigative bodies like the Sept. 11 inquiry.

The existence of the unsearched "I-drive" computer files, brought to the attention of The Associated Press by concerned FBI agents, could give lawyers an avenue to reopen numerous cases to determine whether documents that could have aided the defense of criminal defendants were withheld.

The FBI is uncertain about the nature or breadth of the documents on the computer space and has asked its internal investigation unit, its inspection division, to determine how many documents on I-drives in FBI offices across the country did not make it into official case files, officials said Monday.

If a large number are found, a review would begin to determine whether they should have been turned over to defense lawyers, bodies like the Sept. 11 commission or Congress, officials said. FBI supervisors said they were unaware of the problem until it was brought to their attention by AP.

A group of anti-war lawyers in Britain have submitted a petition to the International Criminal Court in the Hague seeking to indict British PM Tony Blair for war crimes:

The group Legal Action Against War have submitted a petition to the international criminal court in the Hague today, asking them to investigate alleged offences by Mr Blair, Jack Straw, Geoff Hoon, and the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith.

The group said "a principal charge" was "intentionally launching an attack knowing that it will cause incidental loss of life or injury to civilians". The legal team said the reasons given for the war - from weapons of mass destruction to the violation of UN resolutions and regime change - were not justified under the UN charter. Michael Mansfield QC, who is leading the campaign, said "The consensus of international legal opinion suggests the basis for the war was illegal."

The latest, misguided target of the Bush Administration's War on Drugs is prescription abuse--for pain killers, sedatives and stimulants. A crackdown was announced yesterday.

Under the strategy announced Monday, the government will pay states to help develop monitoring systems to track patients' drug use. The programs would flag cases indicating a pattern of abuse, such as ``doctor shopping,'' where a patient gets prescriptions for drugs from multiple physicians.

Federal officials also plan to seek out pharmacies that sell controlled substances illegally over the Internet, which will entail deploying modern Web-crawler technology. to search out those peddling prescription drugs online.

Under President Bush's proposed 2005 budget, funds to attack the illicit use of prescription drugs would increase by $20 million, to $138 million. Most of the money would be directed at reducing the abuse of opium- and morphine-based painkillers, which are among the most widely prescribed medications.

Pain doctors and some advocates for patients with chronic pain say the government has become overzealous and has created a "chilling effect" that keeps many doctors from prescribing painkillers that patients need. They argue that the more pressing problem regarding painkillers is that so many patients in pain are not getting them.

What effect will this have on consumers? Plenty.

Some progress in fighting drug war hysteria: The Drug Enforcement Administration will allow a South Carolina doctor to treat 12 trauma victims with Ecstasy to study the drug's therapeutic potential.

The DEA's move marks a historic turn for a drug that has long been both venerated and vilified. Ecstasy, also known as MDMA, is popular among casual drug users for its reputed capacity to engender feelings of love, trust and compassion. The government classifies it with LSD and heroin as a drug with no known medical use and high potential for abuse.

Although the study's approval is by no means a federal endorsement of uncontrolled use, it will give ecstasy's proponents their first legitimate opportunity to prove the drug can offer medical benefits.

Eric Alterman on the Kerry-Edwards debate:

I was amazed at how hard Edwards came after Kerry, given that I thought he was running for vice president by this time. He’s not. He may end up with the job, but it will take a lot of swallowing by Kerry, and it’s weird that Edwards would want to go down making so much noise. On the other hand, Edwards was terrific, again, and Kerry seemed uncomfortable. That line about God and Abe Lincoln was a killer. Kerry, I dunno. I tried for some pre-debate reassurance from his people that he had a plan for dealing with his Q-rating problem. They wouldn’t grant a thing. They told me people say he’s more likable than Bush. I’m not buying. And I’m certainly not buying when you combine it with the words “Massachusetts liberal” and Bush’s two hundred million plus, and the whole thing gives me a headache.

Jury selection began today in the state trial of Terry Nichols. Oklahoma is seeking the death penalty against him. The Judge denied the latest defense request for a continuance based on news that the FBI had not turned over all documents regarding other suspects, however, he gave the prosecution a stern warning:

"This case is going to trial today because this court has been assured" by state prosecutors and federal officials that they have turned over to the defense all relevant documents, Taylor said. Should that prove to be false, the judge said, "There will not be a mistrial. There will be a dismissal of this case."

Given the repeated failure of the FBI to get its act together regarding the documents in this case, our money is on a dismissal.

Mary Beth Williams of Wampum Blog is running for a seat in the Maine House of Representatatives. She will be blogging about the process as she goes along.

Walter in Denver hosts the new edition of the Rocky Mountain Blog Roundup.

The Dreyfuss Report says Richard Perle didn't quit, he was pushed, from his position on the Defense Policy Board--by Rumsfeld.

Skippy is all things awol, all the time. He kept track of who made political comments at the Oscars last night--and says he's not tired of Lord of the Rings. He also writes about the many official government websites that are still "proffering the untrue version of what awol did in the 70's, ie, they say he served with distinction."

Randy of Beautiful Horizens takes on the issue of whether Aristede was pushed.

Daily Kos reports and comments on the Sierra Club's request that Justice Scalia recuse himself from the Cheney Energy case pending in the Supreme Court.

Dave Cullen of Conclusive Evidence has been in Seattle judging the Dart Awards which will be handed out in New York in April. The Dart Center is "a global resource for journalists who cover violence."

Digby is covering Haiti.

Defense Secretary Rumsfeld announced plans today for 18,000 more National Guard troops to head to Iraq:

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld ordered on Monday that 18,000 National Guard soldiers be alerted for possible duty in Iraq, beginning this fall or early in 2005.

....The units affected by Monday's order including the headquarters of the 42nd Infantry Division of the New York National Guard in Troy; the 256th Infantry Brigade of the Louisiana National Guard; the 116th Armored Brigade of the Idaho National Guard; and the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment from the Tennessee National Guard.

The Washington Post says it's the biggest deployment of the Guard since WWII.

The Government gave its initial closing argument in the Martha Stewart trial today. They painted her as a liar. The defense lawyers for her co-defendant, stockbroker Peter Bacnovic, began their closing today, calling the Government's case one without foundation, built on a house of cards.

We think the strongest charge against Martha is the one that she made false statements to investigators when she said she didn't recall being told that Waksal was dumping his stock shares. We don't think the defense was successful in destroying Douglas Fanueil's credibility. But, in the end, we don't think the Government's case against Martha is strong enough--we think at least one juror will refuse to convict her.

The prosecution isn't done though. They get the last word--a second closing argument, after the defense lawyers have finished. The trial will end with their last words, and then jury instructions. Hopefully, Robert Morvillo will anticipate what the Government intends to say in its rebuttal closing and debunk it in his closing. If we had to guess what the prosecution will save for its rebuttal, we'd say it will stress to the jury that the case against Martha isn't small potatoes, it's an important one--and then do a little flag waving.

Bump and Update: Kobe's lawyers say his accuser may have had sex within 15 hours after having sex with Kobe:

Kobe Bryant's lawyers said today that the woman accusing him of rape had sex with someone else less than 15 hours after her alleged assault by the NBA star. The accusation was made in a court filing in which the defense argued that the woman's sex life should be admissible at Bryant's trial, despite Colorado's rape-shield law.

The defense said the woman had "multiple acts of sex" in the three days before her June 30 encounter with Bryant. Bryant's lawyers also said she had sex with two prosecution witnesses, which could affect their credibility.

If one of those sex partners is the bellman, so much for his value as a "prompt outcry" witness. He'd hardly be an impartial witness. It also strikes us as rather non-credible that a rape victim would have consensual sex within 15 hours of being raped.

The defense won a key ruling today. The Judge ordered the prosecutors to turn over to the defense two pairs of underwear --one the accuser wore the night of the encounter with Kobe and one she wore the next day to her rape exam. The Judge was angry the DA's hadn't done it before and gave them 24 hours to do so.

Update: The Judge has delayed the testimony of Kobe's accuser until March 23-24. He is reconsidering a request to limit the questions she may be asked.

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Original Post:

One Denver news station reported tonight that the defense in the Kobe Bryant will not be moving for a change of venue and the trial will be held in Eagle, probably in August or September.

Hearings resume Monday morning, and the accuser is scheduled to testify on Tuesday.

[comments closed. Comments are for commenting, not reprinting news articles. We can't afford the bandwidth. Also, this thread is about the Kobe Bryant case not Mike Tyson.]