There are so many things wrong with this prosecution and conviction, I'm not sure where to begin.

A jury in Lake County [IL.] weighed in ... Saturday, finding a Deerfield couple guilty of allowing their son's friends to drink in their basement one night last October. Two teenage guests were killed in a car crash shortly after leaving the Deerfield home of Jeffrey and Sara Hutsell.

The jury of seven women and five men deliberated seven hours before reaching its decision at about 7:40 p.m. They also convicted the Hutsells of one count of endangerment of a child and one count of obstruction of justice for lying to police officers on the night of the accident. The jury acquitted the couple of another obstruction charge for destroying evidence. The Hutsells showed no emotion as the verdicts were read.

Why should the parents be accountable for the intentional actions of other peoples' kids? One kid, age 18, drove drunk after leaving the party, killing himself and his passenger. Teenagers don't live in a vacuum. They know you aren't supposed to drink and drive. If you have to blame someone, why not blame the driver's parents who gave him the car to drive and didn't teach him better or monitor his activity to ensure he wouldn't abuse the privilege?

As the lawyer for the convicted mom told the jury,

"Did they provide alcohol? No.," .... "Did they come down and drink with them? No. Did they bring them chips and salsa? No."

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I spent a long time on the phone yesterday with reporter Sara Burnett of the Rocky Mountain News discussing the upcoming July 26th sentencing of former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio from a legal perspective.

Here's her new article on how much time he is likely to get and the extent of the forfeiture the Judge will impose.

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How out of whack are our drug laws? Enough that Al Gore, III yesterday was charged with felonies as a result of his traffic stop during which marijuna and prescription drugs (Adderall, Vicodin, Xanax and Valium)were found.

He faces two felony counts of drug possession, two misdemeanour counts of drug possession without a prescription and one misdemeanour count of marijuana possession, the district attorney's office said in a statement. Gore also was charged with a traffic infraction for allegedly driving faster than 160 kilometres per hour.

Prosecutors said he could be sentenced to a maximum of three years and eight months in prison if convicted on all counts, though he might be eligible for a drug treatment program instead of prison.

At least he's eligible for a diversion program.

There was big news today in the white collar tax fraud case of 16 former partners and employees of the accounting powerhouse, KPMG. The Judge dismissed the charges against 13 of the defendants, harshly rebuking the Government for interfering with the defendants' 5th and 6th Amendment rights to due process, to effectively prepare and present a defense and to be represented by counsel of choice.

The opinion is here (pdf). For a wrap-up of news reports on the ruling, check out White Collar Crime Blog.

In a nutshell, and I'm coming late to the case, the Government made a cooperation deal with the company and offered it a deferred prosecution for its alleged misdeeds. In exchange, the Government for all intents and purposes demanded KPMG stop its long-time policy of paying legal fees for indicted employees.

The Judge previously had ruled these actions by the Government violated the indicted employees' 5th and 6th Amendment rights. But, he refused to dismiss the Indictment because attempts were being made in other court actions and on other fronts to get KPMG to pay the legal fees.

Those fell through, the Government refused to budge, and today it paid the price. The Court granted the dismissal against 13 defendants. The remaining three, whose legal fees were not subject to payment by KPMG, will go to trial.

The Government likely will appeal.

What's at issue is the so-called "Thompson Memorandum," named for former Ashcroft Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson.

More (advance warning, this is one of the longest posts ever)...

AP Photo

A man who entered the Colorado State Capitol with a gun claiming to be "the emporor" and announcing his intention to take over the state government, was shot and killed today. At the time, Governor Bill Ritter and his staff were working in their offices at the Capitol.

The good news is Governor Ritter and his staff were uninjured.

Now the questions:

Why aren't there metal detectors in the State Capitol?

Metal detectors were installed at the Capitol after the 9/11 attacks but lawmakers later had them removed.

Was it a necessary or excessive use of force to kill the gunman? Since he hadn't fired any shots and witnesses report hearing multiple shots, all of the shooting appears to have been done by one or more state troopers. One witness recounted hearing four shots.

I have to disagree with Gov. Ritter's spokesperson Evan Dreyer, who said:

"It’s a testament to the State Patrol that this incident ended quickly and that the governor and everyone else is safe."

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The conflicted jury in the Conrad Black case, which last week told the court it couldn't agree on all of the 16 counts against him, has returned a guilty verdict on three fraud charges and obstruction of justice.

Black faced 20 years in prison on the most serious counts. The three fraud charges carry a maximum penalty of five years each.

The North Carolina State Bar today filed its formal opinion in the disbarment of Durham DA Mike Nifong for his actions in the discredited Duke Lacrosse players' case.

The opinion is here.

Nifong also has a criminal contempt hearing on deck for July 26. He has been ordered to appear personally. He also has a new lawyer.

On Monday in Los Angeles, David J. Bershad, a former partner at the huge class action law firm Milberg Weiss, until yesterday known as Milberg Weiss & Bershad, became the first principal of the firm to plead guilty in an investigation into kickbacks. Bershad, the law firm and another partner, Steven G. Schulman, were indicted last year. The investigation is continuing.

The 20-count indictment, which included conspiracy and other charges, detailed a scheme that began in the 1970s and continued as recently as 2005. In that scheme, lawyers inside Milberg Weiss paid $11 million in “secret and illegal kickbacks” to named plaintiffs in more than 150 class-action and other shareholder lawsuits. The lawsuits, according to the indictment, earned the firm more than $216 million.

Bershad, represented by Karl Rove lawyer Robert Luskin, pleaded guilty to conspiracy. He is cooperating with the Government.

Bershad could receive up to five years in prison. His sentencing date is set for June, 2008. Why is it so far away?

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Al Gore III, the son of Al and Tipper Gore, was busted in L.A. today for driving 100 miles per hour and drug possession.

He was taken into custody at 2:15 a.m. following a traffic stop:

A subsequent search yielded a small amount of marijuana, along with prescription drugs including Valium, Xanax, Vicodin and Adderall, said sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino. There were no prescriptions found, he said.

Gore was arrested on suspicion of drug possession and booked into the Inmate Reception Center in Santa Ana, about 34 miles south of Los Angeles, on $20,000 bail, he said.

Gore is not a first-time arrestee:

He was arrested in 2003 for marijuana possession and in 2002 for suspected drunken-driving.

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Paris Hilton was on Larry King Live for the entire hour tonight describing her three weeks in jail. She exhibited both grace and humility. She seemed genuine to me. There was no self-pity.

She's clearly struggling to find herself and seems determined to have something positive come out of the experience.

I doubt it's easy for anyone to go in front of millions of people and describe her fears and psychological disabilities or to describe something as humilitating as being strip-searched.

Interesting: Paris denies ever taking illegal drugs. She says she doesn't have a drinking problem. She has ADD and takes Adderall. Her parents don't support her financially, she describes herself as a businesswoman with her own successful businesses.

I'm sure there will be a million comments on the internet in the wake of tonight's interview tearing her down. I give Paris a lot of credit.

A Georgia judge has denied bond for Genarlow Wilson, opining that the state statute does not allow for appeal bonds on the crime of which he was convicted.

His lawyer disagrees, saying Genarlow's case is a habeas case and the Judge looked at the wrong statute.

On June 11, as TChris wrote, Genarlow was ordered released from his 10 year sentence for having consensual oral sex with a girl who was only two years younger.

While serving his sentence, Genarlow filed a Habeas Petition, arguing the sentence violated the 8th Amendment ban against cruel and unusual punishment. It was granted. It is the state that is now seeking appellate review of the habeas decision. So which statute should apply, the habeas or the appeal bond?

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Paris Hilton looks none the worse for the wear of three weeks in jail. As TMZ notes, she looks....refreshed.

I don't think the news will be all Paris, all the time tonight. ABC and NBC decided not to do exclusive post-jail interviews after unconfirmed reports that the networks would pay big bucks for the rights to photos from the Hilton family. Instead, Larry King Live will get the "honors."

As for the length of her sentence, as the LA Times reports:

An examination by The Times of seven years worth of sentencing data showed that Hilton's 23-day jail stay was more than five times the average than served since 2002 by those serving time for similar charges.

Meanwhile, the allegations against the City Attorney who asked for her jail sentence and his wife (who drove with a suspended license and no insurance but avoided jail even after being in an accident) continue raise questions about "fairness and hypocrisy" in the LA criminal justice system:

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