It's official. There's no Patriot Act in the NBA:

NBA Commissioner David Stern said Monday that Kobe Bryant should continue to play for the Lakers this season, even as Bryant faces a potential trial for a sexual assault charge in Colorado.

"Absolutely," Stern said. "We don't have a Patriot Act in the NBA. That means that you're innocent until proven guilty. If every time someone was accused and there were allegations, they were required to stop their life, that wouldn't be a good thing. That could be their choice, but they shouldn't be forced to [stop]."

[thanks to Steve Smith for the heads up yesterday on this, we're just a little late getting to it.]

The Fresno Bee reports that an inmate doing time on a parole violation claims Scott Peterson asked about having Laci kidnapped a month before her disappearance. The inmate's lawyer says he passed a polygraph. Despite the gag order, somehow the Fresno Bee has a copy of the polygrapher's report.

Peterson's attorney Mark Geragos says he'd love to comment about the report, but can't, due to the gag order.

The inmate, Corey Lee Carroll, says he met Peterson at a strip club and Peterson, after learning Carroll had been in jail, asked him if he knew anyone who could steal his wife's car for insurance money. Carroll says Peterson paid him $300.00 to introduce Peterson to two neo-nazis and the four went to a motel to discuss the car theft. Carroll says he left when the subject of a kidnapping came up.

Carroll's lawyer says his client has nothing to gain by coming forward. Carroll is being held without bail on a parole violation. Last year he was jailed on another parole violation following a theft by receiving conviction. We're not buying it.

Actor and comedian Tommy Chong, sentenced last week to 9 months in prison for selling bongs on the Internet, may appeal his sentence.

The grounds: the Judge based the sentence on "the character he played and not the person he is."

"The United States attorney made a big deal about Tommy's movies and how he portrayed drug usage and law enforcement," Stanton B. Levenson said Friday. "We didn't think it would be appropriate to consider his public persona. ... That's not him."

Levenson said attorneys were still researching possible appeal issues, but they were concerned that U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Schwab didn't separate Chong from the hippie stoner he portrayed in movies he made with comedy partner Cheech Marin. An appeal notice was filed Friday.

Robert Blake's lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the murder charges against him today. They says the state has no evidence:

The motion, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims no forensic evidence links Blake to the shooting. No gunshot residue was discovered on Blake, and no DNA tests connected him to the murder weapon, the motion states.

Blake's lawyer, Tom Mesereau, said the prosecution has no case. "The reality is they came up with no evidence at all he participated in the shooting," he said.

The motion will be heard October 31. We'd like to read the motion. Usually, once a judge finds probable cause to bind the case over for trial, it's up to the jury to decide whether the evidence is sufficient. If the prosecution's proof falls short, the defendant moves for a judgment of acquittal at the end of the prosecution's case. We're thinking there must be more to the motion than the lack of direct or physical evidence.

The sheriffs in LA have finished their investigation into the shooting death of a woman at music producer Phil Spector's house last year. They have concluded it was not suicide and that Spector shot the gun. LA prosecutors are now considering charges against Spector. According to officials, possible charges range from second degree murder to manslaughter. A decision is expected next week.

Spector has been represented so far by former OJ attorney Robert Shapiro. Just what California needs, three high profile trials at the same time--Robert Blake, Scott Peterson and now Phil Spector.

Former radical Kathy Boudin left prison today after more than twenty years. Our good wishes go out to her and her son Chesa. We've expressed our support for Ms. Boudin's parole several times, inlcuding here and here.

Update: You can access the transcript of her parole hearing here.

We were curious why Pete Rose was on our plane to Denver yesteray--he sat in the row in front of us. He is a really big, beefy guy. We couldn't figure out who he was at first, but after a few people approached for autographs, we figured it out. Anyway, this might have something to do with his Denver appearance: The John Elway golf tournament which is going on this week.

From the Boulder Daily Camera:

Baseball Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt, who's also playing this week at the Elway Classic, has been one of the major big-name backers of Pete Rose in his bid to be reinstated by major league baseball. Schmidt, a former teammate of Rose, and Johnny Bench and Joe Morgan met this summer with commissioner Bud Selig to make their case for Rose, who was banned for allegedly gambling on the game.

Rose "is a good friend and he needs support, so I've been working with the commissioner," Schmidt said Thursday, adding that Selig will likely announce a decision on the matter during the World Series. "I'm optimistic, but that's just my feeling," Schmidt said.

A decision is due on Rose this fall.

A mock trial was held at Harvard in July over whether he should be reinstated. Catherine Crier presided, Johnny Cochran represented Rose and Alan Dershowitz argued against reinstating Rose. The jury came back in favor of his reinstatement. You can watch a video of the trial here.

We agree with the mock jury. We don't think the fact that he had a gambling problem and may have bet on baseball games should keep him out of the Hall of Fame, if he otherwise deserves to be there.

Free Tommy Chong--Action Alert --Tell Congress To Stop Prosecuting Paraphernalia Sellers

Ironically, Tommy Chong was sentenced on September 11, 2003, exactly two years after the worst terrorist attacks in American history. With Osama Bin Laden still on the loose and President Bush admitting that the war on terrorism is far from over, it is preposterous that we would waste valuable law enforcement resources locking up a comedian for selling glass pipes. Can anyone here honestly say they feel safer today because Tommy Chong, a comedian and actor, has been sentenced to 9 months in federal prison for selling pipes on the internet? Of course not. These laws do nothing except make criminals out of otherwise law abiding businessmen.

Bump and Update: Did the feds threaten to prosecute Chong's wife or son if he didn't plead guilty? One of the commenters to our post about Chong's guilty plea in May said he talked to Chong and that's what Chong told him.

I spoke with Tommy, he said that, "if he didn't plead guilt that they, the government, was going to charge his son, Paris, and his wife, Shelby."

We've also heard it from a legal source who is unconnected to the case. It's a rumor at this point, but if true, this should be disclosed so the public can learn about such prosecution tactics.

Here's a detailed news report on yesterday's sentencing. Howard Bashman of How Appealing says the Judge used to be a lawyer at his law firm.

****************
From 9/11...11:56 am.

Absolutely outrageous. Tommy Chong, one half of the team Cheech and Chong, was sentenced today to nine months in federal prison because he had a business that sold bongs and drug paraphernalia on the Internet. Chong was one of those rounded up during one of Ashcroft's massive raids in Feburary during his Operation Pipe Dreams. He was the first defendant of 55 around the country to plead guilty. Chong also forfeited $100,000.00. After getting out of prison, he will have to be supervised for another year. He was fined $20,000. At least he was given a voluntary surrender.

This stinks.

The California Supreme Court had bad news for Andrew Luster today--he can't appeal his convictions or 124 year sentence due to his flight.

The so-called "fugitive disentitlement doctrine" generally prohibits or limits fugitives from appealing federal or state convictions. Not allowing Luster to challenge his conviction "offends fundamental notions of human dignity and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment," attorney Roger Diamond wrote in court briefs to the California justices, who on Wednesday refused to hear the case. "He should have a right to go ahead with the appeal," Diamond said in an interview.

Diamond will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Now we just need Mexico to leave Dog the Bounty Hunter alone.

Ben Glisan, originally charged in 24 counts of a 109 count Indictment naming him and Enron ex-execs Andrew Fastow and Dan Boyle, was sentenced today to five years in prison. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud without a cooperation agreement (meaning he didn't rat out the others) - and got the maximum term for the count. He was taken into custody immediately.

The judge recommended a minimum-security facility for Glisan.

Legal experts who watch the Enron cases see the plea arrangement as a minor win for both sides: Prosecutors show momentum in the huge slow-moving case by finally putting an Enron official behind bars, while Glisan gets a sure, swift sentence, cutting the risk that he could receive a far greater sentence after a protracted and expensive trial.

....Robert Mintz , a New Jersey-based attorney and former federal prosecutor who has followed the case, said he thinks this plea arrangement will set the bar for the sentencing of others. "It lays out a five-year standard. It's not likely the government will offer something more lenient to someone who was more culpable and isn't cooperating," Mintz said.

Glisan was a top-level executive at Enron.

Here are the details of the "new evidence" in the Michael Skakel/Martha Moxley murder case. The source of the information, Tony Bryant, who kept it quiet for 26 years, is coincidentally, a cousin of Kobe Bryant.

The essence of the new information is this: Three young black males, including Bryant, traveled to Belle Haven the night of the murder. They were hanging out with another Belle Haven kid who was then 11, and who died of a drug overdose at 17. Two of the black males were obsessed with Martha and planned to kill her "caveman style." The third, Tony Bryant (Kobe's cousin) wanted no part of it and returned to New York. Days later, the other two reportedly confessed to Bryant, telling him they had picked up a golf club on the Skakel's lawn and used it to bash Martha's head in. Bryant sat on the info until December, 2001, when he told another classmate, Tres Mills, who had been trying to write a screenplay about the murder and had sought out Bryant's help.

Bryant and Mills attended the same private school in Greenwich as Moxley. Mills said Bryant refused to tell his story to the police, even after Skakel was convicted. Mills says he approached both the prosecution and defense before the trial with Bryant's story but wouldn't reveal Bryant's name. He identified him only as "one of two blacks in the class."

Skakel's new lawyers confirm that Bryant has now "reluctantly" told his story to their investigators. Tres Mills now speaks publicly about the incident. He used to work for CBS News but was fired after he shook up Dorothy Moxley with his story during one of her appearances there.

How viable is the new information?