The four week long preliminary hearing of Scott Peterson ended today with a Judge ruling Peterson must stand trial for the murder of his wife Laci and the couple's unborn child.

We're not impressed with the State's case. The forensic evidence consists of a single hair of Laci's found in a pair of pliers on Scott's boat. There's no evidence as to when or how the hair got there or as to whether Laci was ever in the boat.

The police failed to follow up on leads of people sighting Laci after the time police say she disappeared. There's been no evidence that anything untoward happened in the home, as the prosecution contends.

We see a cheating husband whom police immediately tagged as a suspect and then followed and focused on relentlessly, until he became so uncomfortable with the scrutiny he moved back to his parents home in San Diego and changed his appearance to stop being recognized by the public.

We find no evidentiary value in his telling Amber Frey he was unmarried and a widower. There's no evidence to suggest he would intentionally harm his wife or unborn child.

It's not surprising the case was bound over for trial. Most cases are because the burden of proof is so low and the rules of evidence are so relaxed that untested hearsay is routinely admitted and considered by the Court.

We're scheduled to debate the evidence with former OJ cop Mark Fuhrman and Westchester DA Jeannine Pirro tonight on Hannity and Colmes.

This is very funny....from Big Channel News....the war on terror has ended with the capture of a famous suspect.

"Massachusetts' highest court ruled 4-3 today that same-sex couples are legally entitled to wed under the state constitution, but stopped short of allowing marriage licenses to be issued to the seven couples who challenged the law. The court ordered the Legislature to come up with a solution within 180 days."

The text of the opinion is here, courtesy of Grumpy Old Bear.

Update: Trish Wilson sat in on the legislative hearings in Mass., including those on
gay marriage and civil unions. (She had provided written testimony opposing the partial birth abortion ban which was being heard the same day.) Her observations about that day are here.

The Alaska Court of Appeals last week refused to overturn a decision allowing possession of marijuana for personal use:

The Alaska Court of Appeals has rejected a request by the state to reconsider a decision allowing adults to possess small amounts of marijuana for personal use.

In a ruling Friday, the court denied Alaska Attorney General Gregg Renkes' petition for a rehearing in the case of David Noy, a North Pole man who was arrested in 2001 after he was found with marijuana in his home.

The state now will seek review by the Alaska Supreme Court. Among the grounds: pot is more potent today than it was when the law was enacted.

The ultimate goal, Guaneli said, is for the state to be able to prove to a court that marijuana is stronger and is causing more harm in Alaska than back when the 1975 Ravin decision came out. Then the state might be able to show it has a strong enough interest in making it illegal to override the constitutional questions.

For background on this legal fight, go here. [hat tip: Jacob Sullum at Reason]

The National Security Archive of George Washington University has released the second of a two part report on Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. It's called Justice Delayed is Justice Denied and is available here. Beginning on page 5, it lists the ten oldest unfulfilled FOIA requests, some of which were filed more than ten years ago.

Democratic Underground reports:

Read this official budget carefully and you will see that Bush is gearing up the draft--there is no longer any doubt about it. Selective Service must report to Bush on March 31, 2005, that the system is ready for activation within 75 days. So on June 15, 2005, expect the announcement that the first draft lottery since Vietnam will be held for 20 year-olds.

Here is where the DU rubber hits the road, my friends. This is a DU EXCLUSIVE as far as I know, so please read this one carefully and let me know what we are going to do about it. To put this all into context, the SSS has lain basically dormant for decades and now in the 2004 budget, Bush has added $28 million to get the whole thing ready to fly in 2005. The 4 performance goals below basically make the system ready for activation.

Their source? The Selective Service itself.

D.U. says, "VOTE FOR BUSH IN 2004, BE DRAFTED IN 2005!!

President Bush's trip to Great Britain promises to be anything but smooth. The Mayor of London calls him "the biggest threat to life on this planet that we've ever seen."

More on the Mayor, Ken Livingstone:

Mr Livingstone, who is holding a "peace party" for anti-war groups in City Hall tomorrow, added: "I don't formally recognise George Bush because he was not officially elected. So we are organising an alternative reception for everybody who is not George Bush."

There will be 16,000 police officers guarding him. Thats one of every nine police officers in England and Wales. The tab: at least £7m, paid for by the British taxpayers.

100.000 demonstrators are expected at a demonstration in Central London Thursday.

Here is Bush's schedule.

The death penalty phase is underway in the trial of convicted sniper John Muhammad. Trying to convince jurors to vote for life after a conviction for a heinous crime is always difficult. It is even more so when the defense does not acknowledge committing the crime during the guilt phase. Here's how Muhammad's lawyers plan to proceed:

Jonathan Shapiro, one of Muhammad's attorneys, pleaded for his client's life with a short, somber statement to jurors. Shapiro said that nothing the attorneys say can excuse the crimes, that the defense will explain how Muhammad's life experiences affected him.

Shapiro said evidence will show that Muhammad took the loss of his children "extremely hard" and that he used to live a productive life as a "solid, hard-working guy" who was very attentive to his children. He asked jurors to find something in Muhammad worth saving. "You will put him in a box of one sort or the other," Shapiro said. "One is made of concrete, and one is made of pine."

On one capital count, Muhammad was convicted under Virginia's new terrorism statute. Years of appeals will follow, first in the state and then in the federal courts, over whether this law is unconstitutionally vague and whether it was intended to apply to the kind of crime spree Muhammad and Malvo engaged in. Also, under the terrorism statute, the community at large is the victim. We think that makes everyone in Virginia ineligible to sit on the jury. Another grounds for appeal.

Howard Dean is surging in New Hampshire in the latest Marist poll. 39% for Dean, 23 for Kerry. Clark slips to 4%. Voters there think Dean has the best chance of all Democrats of beating Bush. But Gephardt is leading Dean in Iowa.

Dean has released his first ad attacking Dick Gephardt over Gephardt's support for Bush's war.

Using photos of Gephardt in the White House Rose Garden with Bush, Dean questions Gephardt's work with the Bush administration in drafting the congressional resolution authorizing the president to use force in Iraq, and Gephardt's support for the $87 billion for rebuilding Iraq and Afghanistan.

"October 2002, Dick Gephardt agrees to co-author the Iraq war resolution -- giving George Bush the authority to go to war," the ad says. "A week later, with Gephardt's support, it passes Congress. Then, last month, Dick Gephardt votes to spend $87 billion more on Iraq." "Howard Dean has a different view," the ad says. Dean then says, "I opposed the war in Iraq, and I'm against spending another $87 billion there."

Clark is going to spend almost $1 million a week on ads from now until January 27. Will that get him back in the race? As much as we like Clark, it seems doubtful.

Maryland's Republican Governor, Robert L. Erlich, Jr. is putting into action his long-held vision of putting rehabilitation over punishment.

The major part of Mr. Ehrlich's plan is allocating $2 million to hire 210 staffers to rehabilitate prisoners before their release. "It is giving people who are coming back to the community a choice not to re-offend." he said. "Basically, they [will] have a choice now."

Erlich is not alone. 25 states have replaced mandatory minimum sentences with programs that substitute treatment, rehabilitation or early-release over long prison sentences.

Kansas is one of these states:

Kansas legislators, for example, needed to build $15 million worth of prisons but instead passed a law that sends some nonviolent drug offenders to treatment instead of jail. John Vratil, a Republican and chairman of the state Senate Judiciary Committee, said the change could reduce Kansas' prison population by about 15 percent.

Alabama, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin and Washington also have passed similar legislation for first-time or nonviolent criminals.

Who's driving the shift away from long sentences? Believe it or not, it's the Republicans.

The shift away from "get tough" sentencing has been led mostly by Republican lawmakers who are faced with a state budget crisis and are unwilling to increase taxes to build more prisons.

We hope the Democratic congressional and presidential candidates across the country take notice and add this to their platforms.

Anthony Pellicano, the high-profile LA private investigator, entered prison today to begin serving a likely 27 to 33 month term for possession of illegal explosives. He also got married this weekend--for the fifth time.

Pellicano volunteered to begin serving his sentence today. He pleaded guilty in October to two felony counts of possessing hand grenades and C-4 explosives. He is not scheduled to be sentenced until January.

Meanwhile, the FBI probe continues into whether major Hollywood lawyers who retained Pellicano knew he was illegally wiretapping people on their behalf. Pellicano has refused to cooperate in the probe.

"My clients and the lawyers who hired me are completely innocent," Pellicano said in a telephone interview Sunday night — his first public comment on the investigation since its scope became known. Pellicano's attorney, Donald Re, took part in the interview.

"They did nothing wrong," Pellicano said, referring to his clients and employers. "The government should leave them alone. And me, I'm going to take this punishment like a man. I will not participate in any way, shape or form with this investigation."

Background on the story is here and here.

Showtime will air the controversial movie about Ronald Reagan that CBS pulled on November 30.

As Nathan Newman says, "If you need to order Showtime, click here."