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.

Bump and Update: It's official. The House approved the Senate Amendments and Colorado is now the first state in the nation to pass laws regulating recreational use, sale, production and taxing of marijuana.

This appears to be the final version of House Bill 1317 setting out the regulations for retail outlets. Tourists will be able to buy 1/4 ounce at a time. You can find all the versions here. The bill will go to Governor Hickenlooper who is expected to sign it into law.

Details on the driving while stoned bill that passed yesterday here.

Katherine Russell, widow of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, has added New York criminal lawyer Josh Dratel to her legal team.

Excellent choice. He's experienced in terrorism cases and is co-author of the Torture Papers: the Road to Abu Ghraib and The Enemy Combatant Papers: American Justice, the Courts, and the War on Terror.

Others he has represented:

• Australian Guantanamo detainee David Hicks
• Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, who was acquitted in federal court in Idaho in 2004;
• Wadih El-Hage, a defendant in U.S. v. Usama bin Laden, which involved the August 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania;
• Mohamed Suleiman al-Nalfi, also charged in the Embassy Bombings case.
• Mohamed El-Mezain, a defendant in the federal Holy Land Foundation case
• Attorney Lynne Stewart (in the appeal of her terrorism conviction)

And more leaks from anonymous law enforcement sources about what Dzokhar Tsarnaev told the FBI: Today's leak is that he said Ms. Russell wasn't involved in the bombing.

The Government and Enron defendant Jeffrey Skilling have filed an agreement with the Court for Skilling's sentence to be reduced from 24 years (292 months)to somewhere between 14 and 17 years (168 to 210 months.) He will get credit for the time he served since December 13, 2006. (He may also get another six weeks credit for time spent on home confinement before he reported to prison, but that will be up to the Bureau of Prisons.)

I've uploaded the 7 page agreement here. [More...]

Time has a new report on Tamerlan Tsarnaev's recent trip to Russia. Shorter version: Tamerlan was more radical than his Islamist cousin who is in a protest group. He didn't get radicalized in Russia, he tried to radicalize them. No one listened to him and they tried to dissuade him of his views.

Time reports the distant cousin "has been in jail since April 27 after a brawl with police in northern Dagestan." That's not quite the whole story. According to eyewitnesses, the cousin was part of a wedding party that got stopped by police for having an Islamic flag on the car. Ten members of the party, including the cousin, were beaten by police and arrested. In all, 17 members of the wedding party were charged. They have all been sentenced to "administrative penalties" of between 5 and 10 days in jail. Tamerlan's cousin's detention was extended a few days. [More...]

The ACLU has received a new batch of documents from the Justice Department, FBI and Executive Office of the US Attorney in response to FOIA requests.

New documents from the FBI and U.S. Attorneys’ offices paint a troubling picture of the government’s email surveillance practices. Not only does the FBI claim it can read emails and other electronic communications without a warrant—even after a federal appeals court ruled that doing so violates the Fourth Amendment—but the documents strongly suggest that different U.S. Attorneys’ offices around the country are applying conflicting standards to access communications content

You can access the documents at these links:

• 5/8/13 - Documents released by FBI
  
• 5/8/13 - Documents released by EOUSA
  
• 5/8/13 - Documents released by DOJ Criminal Division

Released Last month:

• 4/10/13 – Documents released by IRS
  

ABC reports the parents of Tamerlan Tsarnaev are now considering cremation since Russia is unlikely to accept his body:

[T]he family of Tamarlen Tsarnaev is now considering cremating the body and trying to transport the ashes back to Russia, then burying them. Although cremation is against Islamic law, the parents see it as the only way of burying their son's remains, according to Heda Saratova, a local human rights activist and spokeswoman for the family.

But Russia might not accept the ashes. There are companies in Boston that will do burials at sea -- both of bodies and cremated remains. I wonder if they have called New England Burials at Sea.