In the truth is stranger than fiction department, as if things couldn't get any more bizarre in the coverage of suspect John Mark Karr in the Jonbenet Ramsey murder investigation, now comes this: Karr had made several visits to a sex-change clinic in Thailand.

Staff at the Pratunam Clinic, Thailand's top transgender center, said Saturday that John Mark Karr, 41, was a patient but wouldn't say how close he was to getting "sexual-reassignment" surgery. The disclosure came a day after it was discovered that Karr sought cosmetic surgeons' help changing his face in Bangkok. In his nine months there, he made 12 phone calls from his hotel room, nine to plastic surgeons.

... Two calls were to the Pratunam Clinic, which specializes in putting men under the knife to become "ladyboys," as they are called locally, and sponsors the annual World's Most Beautiful Transsexual competition. It charges $1,600 for the surgery, which could cost $25,000 in the West.

"Yes, he had treatment here," a representative said. "He was our patient. He came a number of times. But we cannot give out details on his treatment as we are ethically bound to keep these things private."

He's on his way back to the U.S. His plane will land in L.A. tonight.

If you blinked during the Joe Scarboro show tonight on MSNBC, you missed me. Too many guests, too little time. So here's my one minute (literally) clip - talking about the villification of the parents of JonBenet Ramsey:

I suspect this is the John Karr arrested in Thailand for the murder of JonBenet Ramsey.

Here's his bio which he posted on a website looking for a job:

• Marital Status: Single • Desired Teaching Level: Children
• Desired Pay Per Month: Not Specified
• Degree: Bachelor of Science at Regents College in New York
· Education
- Bachelor of Science at Regents College in New York
· Experience
- Seoul, Korea: I was a classroom teacher of English for children aged 6 to 12. Duties included planning lessons, conducting classes as the sole teacher in the classroom, making assignments, and issuing grades. I taught 22 classes per week. The classes were 45 minutes in duration with an average class size of 18.

by Last Night in Little Rock

This is the text of a letter I e-mailed this evening to NBC at NBCiQuestions@nbcuni.com, per their website, asking Jay Leno to apologize to the Ramseys. Too bad Patsy Ramsey is not alive to hear it, if it ever comes:

by Last Night in Little Rock

New Jersey's Attorney General Zulima Farber resigned Tuesday over an ethics complaint investigated by a special prosecutor as reported in the NY Times and on CNN.com. The picture on the NY Times website seems particularly telling.

The Attorney General of New Jersey is a unique appointed position of great power over the state's entire law enforcement mechanicism, which makes the alleged transgression appear worse than it might have been. But, in politics, appearance is reality.

Congrats to my pal Joe Tacopina who represents Joran van Der Sloot in the New York civil lawsuit filed against him by Natalee Holloways' parents. The Judge, quite properly in my view, has dismissed the lawsuit, finding no reason for it to have been filed in New York.

Los Angeles prosecutors today filed two misdemeanor charges against Mel Gibson, one for DUI and one for having an open container of alcohol in his vehicle.

Interesting: The police reports said Gibson was "clocked" going 85 miles an hour in a 45 mile per hour zone. Yet he's not charged with speeding, which would have required a jail sentence if convicted.

Under state law, a driver under the influence whose speed exceeds the posted limit by 20 mph or more on streets or 30 mph on faces a minimum of 60 days in jail if convicted.

Nor was he charged with resisting police or arrest.

In his report, Deputy James Mee said Gibson "attempted to escape custody" and repeatedly threatened him.

Mel Gibson has entered rehab for alcoholism treatment. He has also issued a statement denying he is an anti-semite and asking to meet with Jewish leaders of the community.

Please know from my heart that I am not an anti-Semite. I am not a bigot. Hatred of any kind goes against my faith.

I'm not just asking for forgiveness. I would like to take it one step further, and meet with leaders in the Jewish community, with whom I can have a one on one discussion to discern the appropriate path for healing.

Unlike his apology of the other day, this one directly acknowledges his hateful comments towards Jews:

[Restored from another computer]

Mel Gibson has issued an apology of sorts. He acknowledges he said "despicable" things to a Sheriff's deputy and that he has been battling alcoholism all his life. [Background here and here.]

An investigation is underway in L.A. to determine whether he received preferential treatment by not including his allegedly anti-semitic comments in the first official report released to the media. The Sheriff's office says:

"There is no cover-up," [Sheriff Lee Baca] said. "Our job is not to [focus] on what he said. It's to establish his blood-alcohol level when he was driving and proceed with the case.

But Gibson has donated in the past to a charity spearheaded by Baca and provided other support to the Sheriff's department:

He served in 2002 as a "celebrity representative" for the L.A. Sheriff's Department's Star Organization, a group that provides scholarships and aid for the
children of slain sheriff's deputies. Gibson donated $10,000 to the stepdaughter of
a deputy shot and killed in the line of duty and filmed public service announcements for Baca's relief committee dressed in a sheriff's uniform.

From Gibson's statement:

[Restored from Google Cache]

If Mel Gibson doesn't become a pariah, I'll be amazed. On the one hand, there have been reports for years that the actor and creator of Passion of the Christ is anti-semitic. On the other, if the following police report is accurate, now there's evidence of it straight from his own mouth.

TMZ has obtained the unredacted copy (pdf) of Gibson's DUI arrest report, handwritten by the officer.

Once inside the car, ....the report says Gibson told the deputy, "You mother f****r. I'm going to f*** you." The report also says "Gibson almost continually [sic] threatened me saying he 'owns Malibu' and will spend all of his money to 'get even' with me."

The report says Gibson then launched into a barrage of anti-Semitic statements: "F*****g Jews... The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world." Gibson then asked the deputy, "Are you a Jew?"

I may never watch Tequilla Sunrise again.

[Reconstructed from Google Cache]

Via Sentencing Law and Policy: WorldCom's Bernie Ebbers lost his appeal today. His 25 year sentence stands. The court opinion is here. (pdf)

Among the grounds Bernie lost on: the unfairness of the use of snitch testimony when the government gets to pick who to immunize and refuses to immunize defense witnesses.

On appeal, Ebbers principally contends that the district court erred in permitting the government to introduce testimony by immunized witnesses while denying immunity to potential defense witnesses who were rendered unavailable to Ebbers by their invocation of the privilege against self-incrimination. He also claims that the court should not have given a conscious avoidance instruction and that the government should have been required to allege and prove violations of Generally Accepted Acounting Principles ("GAAP"). Finally, he challenges his sentence as based on an inaccurate calculation of losses to investors, as significantly greater than those imposed on his co-conspirators, and as unreasonable in length.

The court also upheld a two level enhancement for Ebbers "for obstruction of justice on the basis of Ebbers' having testified contrary to the jury's verdict."

Just another reason most defendants don't take the stand. You might be telling the truth, but if the jury doesn't agree, you get a longer sentence.

As for cooperators, the Court gives it stamp of approval to the disparity between Scott Sullivan who got 5 years notwithstanding he was the chief architect of the Worldcom scheme, and Ebbers who got 25 years.

by TChris

The former police officers who avoided racketeering convictions for the assistance they provided to the Mafia (including eight murders) are still behind bars. The judge who threw out their convictions on the ground that the statute of limitations expired denied them bail on a surviving charge that the men conspired to deliver methamphetamine.

Today, after he denied the two men bail, Judge Weinstein took them to task, calling them "dangerous criminals with no degree of credibility" and saying they had been "publicly shamed" at the very trial he had upended with his order of acquittal. He said the drug count -- an alleged deal hatched over dinner in a Las Vegas restaurant -- was a "serious" charge and sternly ordered federal marshals to haul the men to jail.