O.J. Simpson is on the witness stand in Las Vegas. You can watch live here. He's very composed.

Right now he is going through the events at the hotel room. He sounds very credible to me.

Attorney General Eric Holder says he recused himself from the investigation into the leak of Undiebomber Wannabe II that resulted in the Justice Department subpoenas of telephone toll records of Associated Press Reporters. Apparently, the subpoenas were authorized by Deputy AG James Cole.

Deputy AG James Cole wrote this letter today to the Associated Press. He says each of the phone numbers for which records were sought were associated with AP personnel involved in the reporting of classified information. The investigation is ongoing.

The Associated Press has issued this statement in response.

Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell agreed today to two life sentences and waive his appeal rights in exchange for the state taking the death penalty off the table.

Gosnell was convicted of first degree murder on Monday in the deaths of three babies who were born live and then killed by severing their spinal chords with scissors. As part of the deal, Gosnell, 72, will serve two life sentences without the possibility of parole or the opportunity to appeal.

Sentencing is set for tomorrow. [More...]

There are new expert reports from the State in the George Zimmerman case on who was screaming in the 911 call to police made by Witness 11. You can read them here. Shorter version:

I scream,
You scream,
We all scream for ice cream

In the first report, despite the cries on the 911 call being deemed "minimum-to-marginal material for identification purposes", the authors picked 6 "screams" to analyze. It concludes Martin likely made the first two screams and Zimmerman the last two screams. [More...]

Washington Post: The real scandal in the AP phone logs matter: That it's legal. (and reporters already get more protection than the rest of us.)

Angelina Jolie explains her decision to have a preventive double mastectomy.

Caroline Kennedy has been selected as a juror in a NYC crack cocaine case.

Eric Holder will testify tomorrow at a congressional hearing. Added to the agenda: The AP telephone toll records and IRS targeting of conservative groups. Already on the agenda:

Intelligence coordination issues related to the Boston bombings, DOJ spending that Republicans deem wasteful, and conservative allegations of politicization under Holder.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Jason Leopold has obtained the March 5, 2013 revised protocol for force-feeding prisoners at Guantanamo. You can read it here .

The policy went into effect about a month after the most recent hunger strikes began. On Friday, the strike will be in its 100th day.

Jason, who recently left Truthout and is now free-lancing, wrote the account for al-Jazeera. He is visiting Gitmo this week to report on the hunger strikes. Not surprisingly, after his arrival today, he received a request from officials to discuss his article.

The Justice Department has disclosed to the Associated Press that it subpoenaed more than two months of phone records of several AP editors and reporters in 2012. The AP, as well as civil liberties groups, are angry.

Obtaining a broad range of telephone records in order to ferret out a government leaker is an unacceptable abuse of power. Freedom of the press is a pillar of our democracy, and that freedom often depends on confidential communications between reporters and their sources."

This foiled airline plot from Yemen in May, 2012 appears to be what triggered the phone records searches.

Update: Check out this 2010 OIG Report on fBI use of national security letters and telephone toll records. I've excerpted the part about obtaining reporters' telephone toll records here. [More...]

There was a hearing in the James Holmes Aurora theater shooting case today. The judge ruled Holmes has met the test for changing his plea to not guilty by reason of insanity. The change of plea hearing will be held at a later date.

Abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell has been convicted of first degree murder.

Busy day today, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

O.J. Simpson is in court today, seeking a new trial in his Nevada robbery and kidnapping case. The grounds: ineffective assistance of counsel. His lawyer, Yale Galanter, denies the allegations.

Galanter is also being sued in federal court by his local co-counsel in the case, Gabriel Grasso. Grasso alleges he had an oral agreement with Galanter to be paid $250,000 in legal fees for his participation in the defense. Grasso says he expended over 1,000 hours and expended thousands in costs. He says Galanter received $500,000 for defending OJ and never paid him anything other than a partial cost reimbursement of $15,000. In pleadings obtained from PACER, Galanter argues there was no written fee agreement with Grasso and under Nevada ethical rules, it would be improper to share fees with another lawyer without the written permission of the client. [More....]

Move over, Bon Jovi. One of the happiest and funniest videos, from of all places, the Jay Leno Show's Pumpcast News. In three days, it's gotten 6 million views. (Thanks to reader Magster for pointing me to it last night.)

Jay brought the couple back to the show to sing with the Late Show band. Is The Voice next?

My agenda tonight: The Survivor finale, Celebrity Apprentice and Nurse Jackie.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Happy Mother's Day to All. What's Mothers' Day without pictures of the kids who made us mothers? Here are some of my favorites of the TL kid and me, in chronological order:

1982: Denver

[More...]

RiaNovosti in Russia recently interviewed Devens Medical Center spokesman John Colautti about Dzokhar Tsarnaev's conditions of confinement.

Jahar is locked down 23 hours a day 5 days a week and 24 hours a day on weekends. He has no TV. He could listen to a walkman radio if he had $45 to buy it. His meals are brought to his cell. A book cart is brought by his cell a few days a week. He eats every meal alone in his cell. He gets three showers a week -- in his cell. He's not allowed contact with other prisons. Even if his injuries improve and he is moved to another facility, it's unlikely his living conditions will be any different -- he'll be deemed to be a "celebrity" inmate who needs to be segregated from general population. This could easily go on for a year.

The only people he sees besides medical staff are his lawyers, and they are 30 miles away. He still can't have visitors because it takes a while. He has to submit the names of visitors -- they have to be people he knew before being arrested -- and then a thorough background check is done on them.

His cell is about 10 feet by 10 feet and contains only a bed bolted to the floor, a sink and a toilet. When he is taken out for exercise, he is shackled at the hands and feet by two guards, and brought to a cage type place outdoors where he can exercise. If weather is inclement, there's an indoor room where he could exercise alone. If the prison gets put on lockdown, or staff is short (e.g. from furloughs), he doesn't get to go.

More details here.