Interesting segment last night on Fox News 31 (Denver) on the cost to taxpayers of prosecuting Aurora Theater Shooting defendant James Holmes as a death penalty case. It explains the cost is likely to be in the tens of millions of dollars. It brings up the Nathan Dunlap case, brought by the same office. Dunlap was recently scheduled for execution in August and a petition for clemency is pending. The cost of his case so far: $18 million.

It also points out that the D.A. turned down Holmes' offer to plead guilty and accept life without parole. I kept waiting for some former DA to come on and attempt to justify the decision to seek the death penalty. It didn't happen. Maybe they couldn't find anyone to take the other side.

O.J. Simpson could get a new trial in his Nevada case. Hearing next week.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev is buried in Richmond, Virginia. Get over it. The protests are nothing more than rank bigotry.

“He’s a Muslim. We don’t need that here,” Margaret Stevens, a 68-year-old-retiree, said.

Via Blog at the Legal Times, the Department of Justice has filed this brief seeking to prevent an Office of Legal Counsel memo of advice to the FBI on electronic surveillance from being released to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The DOJ document "establishes the scope of the Executive Branch’s authority under federal law to obtain private communications records without legal process or a qualifying emergency, in spite of apparent statutory prohibitions to the contrary," the EFF lawyers said in their court papers.

Here is the amicus brief filed by several groups, including the ACLU, CREW, the Brennan Center and Washington Post.

While the sand slipped through the opening
And their hands reached for the golden ring....

CNet reports Apple has been so swamped with law enforcement demands to decrypt iPhone data, it has created a waiting list.

For background on the decryption, see here and this earlier article. I've uploaded the two pages of the October, 2012 ATF search warrant discussing Apple's ability to bypass security codes and provide the information to law enforcement here. (Obtained from Pacer in the Kentucky case, it's a poor copy but readable.)[More...]

Via Wired's Threat Level: Buried in the 800 page proposed immigration reform bill is a provision creating a biometric database for all Americans, not just immigrants.

The bill, titled Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act is here.

Buried in the more than 800 pages of the bipartisan legislation is language mandating the creation of the innocuously-named “photo tool,” a massive federal database administered by the Department of Homeland Security and containing names, ages, Social Security numbers and photographs of everyone in the country with a driver’s license or other state-issued photo ID.

Employers would be obliged to look up every new hire in the database to verify that they match their photo.

Privacy advocates say "Think of it as a government version of Foursquare, with Big Brother cataloging every check-in." [More...]

Here is the Government's latest salvo in the federal criminal case in Virginia against Kim Dotcom and his partners. Here is Dotcom's Rebuttal. Torrent Freak has a good explanation without the legalese as to what it's about.

More interesting to non-lawyers is #kimdotcom's announcement today that Megaabox is ready for launch. [More...]

Funny and apt.Starts about 1 minute in.

Lawyers for George Zimmerman today filed a motion asking the jury in his upcoming trial over the shooting death of Trayvon Martin be anonymous. The motion is here.

It's pretty unusual for a defendant (as opposed to the prosecution) to ask for an anonymous jury (sometimes called an innominate jury.) Will the state object? In at least one case, that of an outlaw motorcycle gang, the state defended a judge's discretion to order an innominate jury. (An innominate jury is one in which all information about the jurors is disclosed to the parties, with the exception of the jurors' names, addresses, and exact place of work. Some courts use the term "innominate," instead of "anonymous" because anonymous connotes a "clandestine, forbidden, and obscure" jury panel.)

Among the factors that may warrant an anonymous/innominate jury in Florida is where "extensive publicity that could enhance the possibility that jurors’ names would become public and expose them to intimidation and harassment." [More...]

Update 5/10/13: Here is where he is buried.

Here is the statement from the City of Worcester, MA. informing the public that Tamerlan Tsarnaev has been laid to rest.

Worcester, MA (May 9, 2013) - As a result of our public appeal for help, a courageous and compassionate individual came forward to provide the assistance needed to properly bury the deceased. His body is no longer in the City of Worcester and is now entombed.

The Police Chief would like to thank all of the officers who worked the security detail at the funeral home and acknowledge their professionalism and dedication.

[More...]

There's a congressional hearing today on the Boston Marathon bombing - undoubtedly more calls for security and information sharing.

Ariel Castro's bond was set at $8 million.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Rod Stewart is back with a new album. I loved watching him sing this song on Jimmy Kimmel Live the other night. Click on the full view button. Starting around 1:20, you can see how happy he is to be singing his own songs again. He also seems to be in great shape. Maybe it's his 8 kids, ages 2 to 50, that keeps him so enthused about life. Whatever it is, it's fun to watch and the song is very catchy.

Two cases I'm not following: Jodi Arias and the released Cleveland women. If you are, feel free to comment.

What to watch tonight: Slim pickings, but it will be The Voice, Survivor and Nashville. American Idol is so boring.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.