by Last Night in Little Rock

A new issue: How far may a police officer go in searching an arrestee's personal GPS device for where he has been?  The first apparent first case is now working its way through the courts.

From the Journal Times of Racine, WI, by Janine Anderson: Sheriff's department uses Google Earth to pinpoint marijuana fields.

The Racine County Sheriff's Department used Google Earth -- an online mapping program -- last week to pinpoint marijuana fields in Mount Pleasant and bust a Racine man for harvesting pot.

In death, Ken Lay has escaped both conviction and incarceration.  Lay died before his sentence commenced, and today, a federal judge vacated his conviction.  Since Lay died before his case could be reviewed on appeal, the law gives Lay a posthumous pass.

In a technical sense, the UPI may be correct to say that the action "lifts a cloud from Lay's name."  In the real world, those who saw Lay as a symbol of corporate avarice will not forget that a unanimous jury found the evidence of his guilt convincing beyond a reasonable doubt.

The federal judge in Ken Lay's Enron trial has vacated his conviction. Charges against him were dismissed.

In his decision, Lake cited a decision in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that makes death, before the appeals process has been exhausted, grounds for throwing out a conviction and dismissing an indictment.

Although the Justice Department tried to get Congress to trump the precedent by passing a law, no member of Congress voted for it.

On 60 Minutes, Ed Bradley is interviewing the Duke Lacrosse players charged in the Duke lacrosse alleged rape case, and the second dancer.

There's lots of discussion in the TalkLeft forums, but you can comment here as well.

Is the D.A.'s case hopeless? I'll be back with my thoughts after it airs here.

The three Duke Lacrosse players accused of rape will speak out for the first time this Sunday on '60 Minutes.'

Ed Bradley speaks with defendants Collin Finnerty, Reade Seligmann and David Evans, who are free on bail pending their trials in the racially charged case that made national headlines. All three of the accused are white; their accuser is black.

Bradley also speaks to the accuser's dancing partner the night of the alleged rape, Kim Roberts.

There's lots of comments about this over on the TL Duke Forum Boards.

While I doubt Tom Tancredo is doing this to help Dog the Bounty Hunter (Duane Chapman) as opposed to trying to further his xenophobic immigration platform, I'm all for the result:

U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo and 28 other members of Congress recently sent a letter to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, asking her to deny the extradition of Duane "Dog" Chapman to Mexico.

"Thanks to Mr. Chapman, Luster is now serving a 124-year sentence," said Tancredo. "It seems that Mexican authorities are pressing this case only because they are so stung by the embarrassment of failing where Mr. Chapman succeeded."

A former aide to President Ronald Reagan and veteran Republican advisor was sentenced to 5 to 10 years in state prison.

A veteran GOP consultant was sentenced today to 5 to 10 years in prison for luring two male college students into his home on separate occasions, holding them captive in his spartan apartment and threatening them with Mafia retaliation if they contacted their friends or family.

A jury convicted Leon Abramovitz, of Shadyside, in July on charges of theft, coercion, false imprisonment, unauthorized practice of law, simple assault, indecent assault and making terroristic threats. His victims, 24-year-old and 22-year-old University of Pittsburgh students, were lured into his home with the promise of jobs tailored to their career goals.

by TChris

Maybe he thinks better when he's not confined by clothing.

A security camera caught a city prosecutor walking around naked in a government building after business hours, authorities said. ... The night before, security video had captured Blauvelt naked in another area of the building, where city offices are located, he said.

Despite being charged with public indency, it appears the prosector was roaming empty halls alone, save for the prying lens of the security camera.

by TChris

The police arrested three Burger King employees in New Mexico who sprinkled marijuana on the officers' burgers. The officers ate half the burgers before discovering the extra ingredient. The officers went to the hospital to be examined; no word on whether they developed a case of the munchies and returned to finish the burgers.

Update: (TL) The employees and Burger King manager are being charged with "possession of marijuana and aggravated battery on an officer, a felony." Talk about over-charging....

by TChris

As TalkLeft reported here, the government had a weak case against John "Junior" Gotti, and shouldn't have been surprised when the prosecution ended in a hung jury last year. Undaunted, the government took Gotti to trial again, and got another hung jury. At that point, the judge should have told the government that enough is enough and dismissed the case, but the government instead was allowed a third chance to convict Gotti.

The government hauled out its same tired witnesses -- snitches and thugs -- and, in a trial that ended yesterday, obtained the same tired result: yet another hung jury. Rather than admitting defeat (and apologizing for wasting taxpayers' money three times), "U.S. Attorney Michael J. Garcia said prosecutors would tell the court soon how they will proceed in the case." How many chances does the government think it deserves?

Update: The hostage who was shot has died. She was 16 and her name was Emily Keyes. The gunman killed himself. The question now is why did the cops rush in?

Update: It's over. The gunman's dead.

*******
Is this Columbine redux?

One person has been brought out on a gurney at the scene of a hostage standoff at a high school in Bailey. Two girls were being held by a gunman there. Jefferson County spokesperson Jackie Kelley said the parents of the two students being held have not yet been notified.

"We have almost no information on this suspect," she said. We don't know who he is or what he wants."

Columbine expert and author Dave Cullen is following events closely and made a google map. This is in a county close to Jefferson where Columbine is situated, but here's the key difference: The perp is reported to be a parent, not a student:

Enron's former CFO Andrew Fastow caught a big break from the sentencing judge today. Instead of the ten year sentence he agreed to in his plea agreement, (pdf) the Judge granted him leniency and sentenced him to only six years.

As I wrote here about Bernie Ebbers (who entered prison today) and Scott Sullivan, there is something morally bankrupt about a system that allows a defendant who exercises his constitutional right to go to trial to get 25 years while a codefendant with greater or equal culpability who cooperates with the Government and tells the Government's truth at trial when testifying against that defendant gets five years.

Was Jeffrey Skilling, who faces a possible 185 years, but is likely to get far less, let's say 30 years, five times more culpable than Fastow? No. He was convicted with Fastow's testimony. purchased by the Government with promises of years of freedom.

The whole thing stinks.