Legal Schnauzer asks a smart question about the Justice Department's prosecution of Don Siegelman: if what Siegelman did (acting in support of a campaign contributor) is illegal, why isn't the Justice Department prosecuting his Republican successor for doing much the same thing?

Now, let's consider the case of current Alabama Governor Bob Riley, a Republican. Riley took a sizable campaign contribution from supporters of a biotechnology center in Huntsville and helped steer millions of state dollars to the project. ... Has Riley gotten in trouble with federal prosecutors for what appears to be a "quid pro quo" very much like the one Siegelman allegedly arranged? Heck, no. ...

(more ...)

From a letter Herman Perry wrote to his younger brother shortly before his military execution in 1945:

"I did wrong myself please don't make the same mistake its very easy to get in trouble but hell to get out of . . . "

Good advice. Perry's story, by the way, is fascinating.

This is the kind of accident that can happen to anyone, particularly if the driver is inexperienced:

Thornton ... skidded past a stop sign on a poorly lit road and collided with an SUV ....

The two unbelted occupants of the SUV died. William Thornton, a 17 year old black resident of Sumter County, Florida, "had no drugs or alcohol in his system, and no criminal record." Without investigating the case, his lawyer advised Thornton to plead guilty to two counts of vehicular homicide.

A judge sentenced Thornton to 30 years in prison. That's right. Thirty years for the unintended consequences of careless driving. (more ....)

Update: The jury acquitted on all counts. Congratulations, Geoff and Gerry and Van!

The U.S. District Court jury returned its not guilty verdicts Monday afternoon in the case against the 57-year-old Fieger, of Bloomfield Hills, and 46-year-old Ven Johnson of Birmingham. It heard 18 days of testimony, then deliberated over parts of four days.

Geoff had this to say:

“I’m very pleased with the American system and the jury. I thank the jury for listening. I hope this puts an end to political prosecutions in the age of Mr. Bush,” Fieger said.

More...

Update: Grits for Breakfast has a news and blog roundup and some commentary.

The Texas Supreme Court has upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that found there was no valid justification for seizing children at the compound of a polygmamous religious sect.

The Texas Supreme Court agreed with a lower court's ruling, that Child Protective Services did not present ample evidence that the children were being abused. The high court ruling could possibly clear the way for the children to be returned to their families. They were removed in April from the Yearning for Zion (YFZ) Ranch, near Eldorado.

"We are not inclined to disturb the court of appeals' decision," the ruling said. "On the record before us, removal of the children was not warranted."

Via How Appealing: Today's ruling of the Supreme Court of Texas consisted of a majority opinion and an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part. The majority opinion in a second, related case can be accessed here.

It's time to return these children to their parents. Background on the Court of Appeals ruling is here.

The Supreme Court today refused to consider the appeal of former Illinois Governor George Ryan, who is serving a 6 1/2 year sentence on corruption charges.

In other Chicago corruption trial news, the Tony Rezko jury is still deliberationg. They've been meeting part-time over the past 14 days, putting in only 6 days of deliberations. But they must know they're slacking off. Today's reason for cutting out early after four days off was that a juror had a job interview to go to. In a note, the jury wrote:

the jury told the judge in the second part of its note that it will be working until 5:50 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday. The longer hours were "to help conclude our decision," the jury note said.

Friday is a no-deliberate day as one has child care problems that day. [More...]

More rational minds than those prevailing at the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles are speaking out against the ill-conceived prosecution of Lori Drew:

If the charges against Drew are upheld, it will be a serious blow to anyone who wants to remain anonymous on the Internet, said Brock Meeks, a CDT spokesman. "Everybody that is sympathetic to this case and saying finally we've got something to nail her on here, they're not looking hard enough at the fact that the Justice Department blundered by using this anti-hacker law," he said.

The charges suggest that anyone who uses a fake name to sign up for a Web service like Yahoo or Gmail could be charged with a federal crime, Meeks said. "If that's a federal crime, then I'm certainly guilty of a federal crime and there are probably a million other people out there who are probably also guilty."

The CDT, an advocacy group that promotes open Internet use, will hold a press conference on the issue Tuesday morning, Meeks said.

The law was intended to provide a vehicle for prosecution of cases like this, not for the federal prosecution of harassment of one neighbor by another.

While the degree of moral fault assignable to Lori Drew as the cause of Megan Meier's death is open to debate, it is unquestionable that Megan's suicide is tragic. That sad reality does not justify stretching federal laws against identity theft and computer-aided fraud in an effort to prosecute as a federal crime (in Los Angeles, no less) Drew's use of a fabricated MySpace account to send mean messages to Megan, her neighbor in O'Fallon, a suburb of St. Louis.

With the help of others, Drew allegedly created a MySpace account under the fictitious name of Josh Evans. "Josh" engaged in an email flirtation with 13-year-old Megan before telling her in a final message that the world would be better off without her. Megan hung herself shortly after reading that message and died the next day. More detailed background is available here and here.

The indictment (pdf) charges Drew with using a computer in O'Fallon to access the MySpace server in California, "without authorization and in excess of authorized access," to obtain information from the MySpace computer to further the tortious act of inflicting emotional distress upon Megan. The "without authorization" allegation is grounded in the claim that Drew violated her "Terms of Service" agreement by lying to MySpace when she created an account in a fictitious name.

Think about that one for a minute. (more...)

"Private Eye to the Stars" Anthony Pellicano and his co-defendants, including a former LAPD officer, were convicted of multiple counts of racketeering and other crimes related to illegal wiretapping today. (Background on the charges is here.)

The trial lasted 9 weeks. The jury began deliberating May 1. Pellicano, who had recently finished serving time on explosives charges when this case began, represented himself. He refused to provide information about his clients:

Pellicano told the jury he was just a P.I. trying to get information. But he never revealed his secrets.

After publicly toying with testifying, he told the judge he would never discuss his clients. "It's not going to happen ever, no matter what the consequence," he said.

Back in 2003, when the probe started, he said: [More...]

The Government is expected to rest its case against outspoken Michigan lawyer Geoffrey Feiger tomorrow. He's accused of violating campaign finance laws by reimbursing associates for donations to John Edwards and obstruction of justice. His lead counsel is Gerry Spence. (Background here.)

It looks like Fieger's biggest liability is his mouth. Today's headline: "Gym owner says Fieger called him an 'idiot' for speaking to FBI"

Southfield attorney Geoffrey Fieger raised his voice to the owner of his gym and called the man an idiot when he learned the man had spoken to FBI agents who were investigating him, Fieger's criminal trial in federal court was told Wednesday. Shant Gharibian, owner of Exclusive Fitness in West Bloomfield, testified Fieger told him "he must be some kind of idiot" to talk to the FBI. "He raised his voice and yelled at me," Gharibian said.

Only when you get to the end of the article do you learn:

But under cross-examination, Gharibian testified Fieger never told him to lie to the FBI and Fieger told him he believed the reimbursements were legal.

Good luck Geoff and Gerry.

Reason has a new documentary, Mississippi Drug War Blues, about Cory Maye.

"Mississippi Drug War Blues" is a story about the intersection of race (Maye is black and Jones was white); the war on drugs; the disturbing increase in the militarization of police tactics; and systemic flaws in the criminal justice and expert-testimony systems.

It is a tragedy in which one man is dead and another may spend his life in prison.

As a result of the efforts of Reason Senior Editor Radley Balko, Cory Maye received new legal representation and his death sentence was changed to life in prison without parole. The legal fight for relief for Cory goes on. A clip from the documentary and status update is below the fold.

I'm on a lunch break from court but logged in and saw this sad news: Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the D.C. Madam, has taken her own life:

Local police responding to a call late Thursday morning discovered the woman's body in a storage shed to the side of the home, according to a statement released by the Tarpon Springs, Fla. Police. Hand-written notes were found nearby which "describes the victim's intention to take her life," according to the statement.

Palfrey was at her mother's mobile home in Florida. A note was found indicating her intent. Previously, she had vowed not to ever do another day in jail.

If you don't remember the details of her case,

A jury in Washington, D.C. found Palfrey guilty of money laundering, racketeering and using the mail for illegal purposes in connection with a prostitution ring she ran from 1993 to 2006.

R.I.P. Ms. Palfrey.