The Alabama Criminal Appeals Court has reversed the conviction and death sentence of a Vietnamese immigrant who allegedly killed his four children by throwing them off a bridge, citing the trial court's rejection of a motion to change venue due to pre-trial publicity. The 90 page opinion is here.

"It is clear that publicity surrounding the murders completely saturated the Mobile community in 2008. A great deal of that publicity was prejudicial... Luong was denied his constitutional right to an impartial jury. Therefore, we must reverse Luong's convictions and sentence of death and remand this case for a new trial."

The Court also ruled the trial judge erred by refusing to allow the defense to individually question the jurors, who had filled out questionnaires, on what they had heard about the case. [More...]

After hours of debate yesterday, the Democrat- controlled House in Colorado passed four gun control bills on a voice vote:

• House Bill 1224: Limits ammunition magazines to 15 rounds.
• House Bill 1229: Requires universal background checks for gun sales or transfers.
• House Bill 1228: Requires gun customers to pay the costs of their criminal background checks by the Bureau of Investigation.
• House Bill 1226: Outlaws concealed-carry permit holders to pack heat in campus buildings.

The official vote will be Monday. The bills then move to the Senate. [More...]

Alberto Morales, the violent, schizophrenic inmate who escaped from custody in Grapevine, TX while being transported from Florida to Nevada has been shot and killed by police.

Morales... was spotted in a wooded area where he brandished wooden sticks in an effort to elude police. Before he could attack, he was killed by members of the fugitive task force, said Grapevine police Sgt. Robert Eberling.

I've got a busy day at work, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Oscar Pistorius has been charged with premeditated murder in South Africa.

Maureen O'Connor, former mayor of San Diego and widow of the founder of Jack in the Box, gambled over a billion dollars and has been charged in federal court with money laundering. The feds have agreed to a deferred prosecution, very unusual in federal court. She allegedly transferred more than $2 million from her late husband's foundation to her personal account to pay gambling debts, which bankrupted the charity. The money laundering charge includes only one $449,000. transfer. If she pays the charity back the money she took, the case will be dropped and no guilty plea will be required.[More....]

Republicans today filibustered the nomination of Chuck Hagel as defense secretary. Will it matter?

Both sides still think the former GOP senator from Nebraska will be confirmed, but the filibuster brought stark condemnations from Obama and Senate Democrats, who decried it as an unprecedented partisan move against a nominee to lead the Pentagon.

A cheerful song for the beleaguered, hungry, cruise passengers about to depart the filthy Carnival cruise ship, which just arrived in Mobile, AL. after five days of conditions from hell and being towed by tugboat for a few hundred miles. Passengers say it was like spending 5 days in a porta-potty.

It will take them hours to get off the ship. Some will then have to spend a more few hours on buses traveling to hotels in other cities. [More...]

At a hearing today, Judge Debra Nelson ordered the clerk to summon 500 prospective jurors for George Zimmerman's trial for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, scheduled for June 10.

The Judge also refused to delay the self-defense immunity hearing, which will begin April 22 and last up to two weeks.

Mark O'Mara said he may ask that the immunity hearing be "enveloped" into the trial. [More...]

One of the great thinkers of our time, Ronald Dworkin, has passed away.

R.I.P.

From our heart to yours, Happy Valentine's Day.

Now we need some Valentine's Day tunes - for love, and all the joy, despair, reckless abandon and hopefulness that comes along with it. A few that come to mind:

Bob Dylan: The Wedding Song (love the lyrics)

[More...}

The San Bernadino Sheriffs office today denied they intentionally burned down the cabin where Christopher Dorner died.

"We did not intentionally burn down that cabin to get Mr. Dorner out," Sheriff John McMahon said at an afternoon news conference.

He said deputies initially fired conventional "cold" tear gas into the cabin in Seven Oaks, near Big Bear Lake, then switched to "pyrotechnic-type" rounds" known as "burners."

Since I was updating live,I was listening to the police scanner feeds (until they went down.) It was confusing since I didn't understand all the terminology, but I did hear the things on this video of the scanner communications. [More...]

Christopher Dorner appears to be dead.
In Grapevine, TX, escaped convict Alberto Morales (story here), is still on the run. [More...]

President Obama is about to deliver his State of the Union Address. Here's a thread to discuss it.

No ABC for me. They started out showing all the people there supporting more gun control. And then said they will show updates of Dorner on the bottom of the screen.

You can watch online here, free of talking heads and news anchor commentary. [More....]