The investigation into misuse of steroids is expanding past athletes and onto other entertainers and the physicians who prescribe them, not just for athletic prowess but for anti-aging.

Entertainers including the singer Mary J. Blige and the rapper 50 Cent are among thousands of people whose names are turning up in an investigation into obtaining steroids or human growth hormones, an Albany newspaper reported on Sunday.

The Times Union reported that the investigation, being conducted by the Albany County district attorney, P. David Soares, also found evidence that in addition to Ms. Blige and 50 Cent, other possible recipients included two other musicians, Wyclef Jean and Timbaland, and Tyler Perry, an author, actor and producer in theater, film and television.

None of the celebs are being investigated for criminal conduct. It's the doctors the feds are after.[More...]

Despite a recommendation by federal prosecutors that Marion Jones receive 0 to 6 months in prison for lying to officials about her steroid use and a check scam involving her ex-husband, a federal judge today sent her to jail for six months -- followed 800 hours community service and 2 years of supervised release. Why? He said she let children down.

"Athletes in society have an elevated status," the judge said before imposing sentence. "They entertain. They inspire. And perhaps most importantly, [they serve] as role models for children around the world."

Those children, the judge inferred, were lied to by Jones who should instead have been a model for "hard work, sportsmanship," and the lessons of "how to win and lose within the rules."

Marion Jones didn't plead guilty to lying to children. She pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators. While the judge stayed within the prosecutor's recommendation, he came in at the top end and it seems largely because of her denials of steroid use contained in a book she authored that were not part of the case against her. Is it allowed? Yes. But I'd rather he based her sentence on her criminal conduct rather than on her civic responsibility.

And it does seem like she caught a break for lying about the check scam so perhaps it all balances out in the wash.

O.J. Simpson is back in custody pending a bail violation hearing next week in Nevada. The prosecutor filed this complaint (pdf) alleging he left a voicemail for his bondsman asking him to contact a co-defendant, Clarence Stewart, who is not cooperating, and tell him to not to change his story from what he had previously told O.J. O.J.'s voicemail:

"I just want, want C.J. to know that the whole thing all the time he was tellin' me that (bleep), ya know. I hope he was telling me the truth. Don't be trying to change the mother (bleeping) (bleep) now, mother (bleeping) (bleep) holes. I'm tired of this (bleep). Fed up with the mother (bleepers) changing what they told me."

A condition of O.J.'s bond is that he not contact witnesses, victims or co-defendants personally or through his agents.

[More...]

While I'm pretty glued to New Hampshire and have to work do as well, there's other important news happening. Here's a roundup which I'll add to as the day goes on:

• The ACLU begins its Close Guantanamo campaign today on the eve of the 6th anniversary of the first detainees' arrival. Please wear orange on January 11 to support the campaign for closure.
• Jose Padilla's sentencing hearing began today. It's expected to last three days.
• Inmates in Georgia complain of widespread beatings.
• Ohio Death Row Inmate Ken Richey freed after 20 years, to return to Scotland.
• Georgia Supreme Court takes up banishment of offenders.

Michael Vick has been transferred to the federal prison camp at Leavenworth, KS to enable him to participate in a drug treatment program which could knock a year off his 23 month sentence.

The Bureau of Prisons Residential Drug Abuse Program is a program available to all qualifying federal inmates with a drug problem.

An inmate must meet the following eligibility criteria to be admitted into RDAP: (1) sentenced to BOP custody, (2) determined by the BOP to have a substance abuse disorder, (3) sign BOP's "Agreement to Participate in the Bureau's Residential Drug Abuse Program," (4) reside in a BOP institution, (5) serving a sentence with enough time to fully participate in a residential drug abuse program, and (6) willing to participate in a residential drug abuse treatment program. Upon successful completion of RDAP, an inmate can receive a sentence reduction of up to 12 months, limited financial rewards, and additional privileges within the institution. If inmates fail to complete the program, they are ineligible to receive these incentives. Inmates are ineligible for the sentence reduction if their current or past criminal history includes a serious violent offense.

It's not only available at Leavenworth. In 2005, 18,027 male and female inmates participated in BOP’s residential drug abuse treatment programs.

We need more federal prisons to offer these programs, not outrage that Vick was allowed to participate in one.

Time Magazine has a list of the top ten crime stories of 2007. Maybe it was a last minute thing, but it's woefully inadequate. Missing from the list:

• Scooter Libby's trial and conviction in the Valerie Plame Leak Case
• Jose Padilla's trial and conviction
• Bernie Kerik's Indictment
• Crack Cocaine Sentencing Guidelines Reduction
• The 200th DNA exoneration
• The failed Duke Lacrosse Player's alleged sexual assault case
• Norman Hsu
• Larry Craig Guilty Plea
• Michael Vick Guilty Plea
• Phil Spector Trial
• Joseph Nacchio Trial
• Paris Hilton
• The Liberty City terror case acquittals
• The convictions and sentences of U.S. troops in the Mahmoudiya rape and killings

And crime stories that as yet have produced no indictments:

• the NSA warrantless wiretaps
• The U.S. Attorney Firing scandal

What else did Time leave out?

When we last checked in with Vincent Margera, better known as MTV's "Don Vito," he was on a suicide watch at the Jefferson County, Colorado jail following his conviction for groping two teenage girls at an autograph signing event.

When the verdict was announced, Margera, 51, fell on the floor, saying: “Just kill me now. I can’t spend my (expletive) life in prison. I didn’t do anything.”

Magera was facing from 2 to 6 years to life on the charges. Judge MJ Menendez today sentenced him to 10 years probation, during which he can't appear on television or act as his Don Vito character.

More....

Three current and former Duke lacrosse players who were not among those indicted in the failed criminal case, have filed a civil lawsuit against 45 defendants, including Duke University, DA Mike Nifong, the Durham police department and several individual officers, the Duke medical center and the SANE nurses, the DNA lab and its owner in a 400 page complaint filed in federal court.

The introductory paragraph of the complaint states:

This action arises out of a combination of actors and entities that, from time to time, we refer to herein as the Consortium. The Consortium included a world renowned University, its faculty, its police department, its medical center, and a SANE nurse; a city, its city manager, its police department, and a rogue officer; a private DNA lab, its lab director, and its owner; and a prosecutor who was disbarred, and subsequently convicted of contempt and incarcerated for certain of his acts in furtherance of the Consortium’s conspiracy.

The complaint alleges a conspiracy to railroad the team members:

Plaintiffs’ claims arise out of the Consortium’s conspiracy to railroad 47 Duke University students as either principals or accomplices based upon the transparently false claim of rape, sexual offense, and kidnapping made by a clinically unreliable accuser on March 14, 2006. The conspiracy was facilitated by overt acts and by the refusal to intervene on the part of those in the Consortium who knew of the wrongs conspired to be done to Plaintiffs, had the power and authority to intervene, and refused to do so.

The complaint is available in three parts, here, here and here (pdf.)

More...

Update: Nothing on classified information or telecoms and NSA surveillance requests. Neither side brought it up.

I'm in the courtroom at the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals waiting for oral arguments to begin in the appeal of former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio who was convicted earlier this year of insider trading. I'll be live-blogging over at 5280.com for as long as my batteries and internet connection last.

Update: Conclusion: This is no slam dunk for the Government, particularly on whether Judge Nottingham erred in excluding expert defense witness Fischel without a Daubert hearing and perhaps on the materiality instruction. The judges were definitely harder on the Government than on Maureen Mahoney. You can't predict the outcome of an appeal based on the questions. Still, two of the judges seemed more favorable to the defense than the government on the materiality issue and all three had problems with the exclusion of the defense expert witness without a Daubert hearing. If I were Nacchio, I'd be cautiously optimistic. If I were the Government, I'd be concerned. But no one has a crystal ball and everyone will have to wait until the opinion is rendered.

Radley Balko, the journalist-blogger who has relentlessly followed the unjust conviction and death (now life) sentence of Cory Maye in Mississippi, has just returned from his fifth trip there and a week of visiting with Cory's family. He provides a very moving update.

If you don't remember the details of Cory's case, TChris recounted them a while back:

The police broke down Maye's door during a drug raid in Mississippi. The officers claimed they knocked, but having gone to the trouble of securing a "no knock" warrant, that claim is suspect. Maye, not realizing that the people invading his house in the middle of the night were police officers and concerned about the safety of his young daughter, shot an intruder without realizing he was shooting a police officer. The officer turned out to be the son of the police chief. The police turned out to have busted down the wrong door; their warrant was for the adjoining unit in the duplex where Maye lived. Maye is black; the officer and jury were white; and Maye, who seems to have been acting in self-defense, was nonetheless sentenced to death.

Since then, Cory's death sentence was changed to life without parole. Radley writes that he's recently been moved to Parchman, Unit 32. [More...]

Update: The Commission has unanimously voted for retroactivity. Press Release is here. Reaction and newer post here.

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[Note: This is a long post, covering the issues of the guidelines, mandatory minimums, the informant system of sentence reduction and the need for Congress to act to change the law.]

The U.S. Sentencing Commission will vote today on whether to make the recently enacted small (two level) guideline reduction for crack cocaine offenses retroactive so that some of the 19,500 inmates currently serving federal crack sentences can benefit from it. It is widely expected they will vote for retroactivity and I'll update and bump this post when they do.

The thing to remember is, this doesn't solve the problem. The much bigger problem is with mandatory minimum sentences. Only Congress can change those. Neither yesterday's Supreme Court decisions nor the guideline reduction addresses this problem. Today, like yesterday, judges are powerless to go below the 5 or 10 (or in some cases 20) year mandatory minimum sentence unless the defendant cooperates with the Government and the Government asks the judge to impose a lower sentence. The judge can't do it on his own -- or at the request of a defendant. That's just wrong-headed.

More...

Bump and Update: 24 year old Matthew Murray, the home-schooled son of a prominent neurologist, has been identified as the shooter in yesterday's Colorado Springs church shooting.

The law enforcement official said Murray was believed to be the gunman in both attacks. Murray did not appear to have a criminal history but "hated Christians," the official said.

....Murray's father, Ronald S. Murray, is a neurologist who is chief executive of the Rocky Mountain Multiple Sclerosis Center in Englewood.

Murray attended the Youth With a Misson program in Arvada about three years ago but was kicked out. He began sending them hate mail a few weeks ago.

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Original Post 12/9/07

Shooting Deaths at Two Colorado Evangelical Sites

Three people and a gunman are dead in Colorado following two shooting sprees at evangelical sites, 70 miles apart.

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