"The House Judiciary Committee will investigate the role of a federal task force in the controversial drug arrests of 46 mostly black citizens at Tulia, Texas, nearly four years ago, a committee spokesman said Thursday. The undercover officer whose uncorroborated testimony led to 38 convictions in the small West Texas town was working for the Panhandle Regional Narcotics Trafficking Task Force."

Three Democratic members of the Congressional Black Caucus requested the review: Reps. John Conyers of Michigan, Charles Rangel of New York and Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas.

The undercover agent has since been indicted on perjury charges. 13 defendants remain in jail, pending a decision by the Texas appeals court. Our complete prior coverage of the case is here.

ABC reports that the FBI was told 12 years ago that Katrina Leung was secretly working for the Chinese.

Now-retired FBI agent I.C. Smith says the FBI learned then that Leung had tipped off Chinese authorities about a secret mission he took to China to evaluate embassy security. He says he even took still photos of the Chinese agents he caught following him. "They knew we were coming before we even left," I.C. Smith said. Traveling with him to China, it turns out, was the other now-retired FBI agent accused of having a secret sexual relationship with Leung, William Cleveland of San Francisco. It was clear to him, I.C. Smith said, that at least 12 years ago a pretty big warning flag went up to the FBI. "There's no doubt about it," he said. "And I viewed that as absolutely a monumental management failure within the FBI that allowed this source to continue to operate."

Leung was indicted today on five charges, including "two counts of copying defense-related documents with reason to believe they would be used to the injury of the United States or to benefit a foreign nation and three counts of unauthorized possession of documents relating to the national defense."

We find it curious that Leung has not been charged with espionage. We suspect this is due to the Government's desire to avoid having to disclose classfied information to the defense.

Pete Townsend, lead guitarist for the Who, has resolved his legal difficulties arising from his arrest on child porn charges this past January. He will receive a "caution" and be listed in the sex offender registry for five years.

British authorities concede Townsend cooperated in the investigation against him, and that he did not download any material from the website he accessed. Townsend said he accessed the site while doing research--he believes he was sexually abused as a child.

"I accept that I was wrong to access this site, and that by doing so, I broke the law, and I have accepted the caution that the police have given me," Townshend said in a statement.

We don't see the value to labeling Townsend a sex offender. But it's better than facing criminal charges and jail, so we certainly understood why he agreed to it.

A Virginia Judge today upheld most of the teen sniper suspect's confession. The legal buzz around here is that the Judge erred. That's our position as well.

Defendants are not allowed to appeal adverse suppression rulings before trial. So the jury will hear John Malvo's statements to police, and if convicted, you can be sure it will be a major ground for appeal.

Essentially, the Judge ruled that 17 year old Malvo had waived both his right to a lawyer and his right to remain silent.

The interview with Detective Boyle and the F.B.I. agent, Brad Garrett, began at 4 p.m. When they told Mr. Malvo they wanted to talk to him, he said, "Do I get to talk to my attorneys?" Detective Boyle said yes. Mr. Malvo then said, "Because the lawyers told me, don't talk until they get here."

Detective Boyle testified that she then told Malvo he "was now facing some new charges in Virginia and they needed to get some information about him."

Defense lawyers argued that the questioning should have stopped when Malvo asked about his lawyers. But Roush disagreed, ruling that Malvo's questions about his lawyer are "at best a request for a clarification of his Miranda rights."

Malvo's lawyers had this to say:

``From our perspective, the actions taken by law enforcement with regard to Mr. Malvo's detention, transport to Virginia and interrogation were deliberate and designed to circumvent his constitutional rights,'' the defense said in a statement.

The Judge's 23 page opinion is available here.

Scott Peterson appeared in court today in civilian clothes to hear his lawyer, Mark Geragos, argue to keep the search warrants and affidavits sealed in his case.

He argued that Peterson's defense could be harmed if details of what he called a "voodoo-type" investigation were made public. The court set another hearing on the issue for June 3.

Geragos told the media after the hearing that he was not going for just a reasonable doubt defense, but one which would prove that Scott is factually innocent. He also said the defense wants to find the true murderer(s).

Trial begins Monday in Miami for Fabio Ochoa Vasquez, reputedly the biggest Colombian Druglord Extradited since 1977.

Our pals Roy Black and Howard Srebnick are defending Ochoa. Security is so tight that "that the anonymous jurors will be driven back and forth to court in vans with tinted windows to protect their identities."

Ochoa served five years in a Colombian prison in the 1990s for helping pioneer drug smuggling by air. Under the extradition treaty, the United States cannot try him for any of his cartel activities, including his alleged role in the 1986 hit on drug pilot and informant Barry Seal.

The case against him is built instead on allegations he got back into the cocaine business by joining up with a longtime friend and former cartel lieutenant, Alejandro Bernal Madrigal, in an operation that smuggled as much as 30 tons of the drug into this country per month.

Ochoa has denied returning to the cocaine business, proclaiming at the time of his 1999 arrest that he would be "stupid" to get into drugs again. Before his extradition, he erected billboards in Bogota and Medellin declaring: "Yesterday I made a mistake. Today I am innocent."

The case is largely dependent upon testimony of drug dealers who made a deal with the government to testify against Ochoa in exchange for leniency in their own cases.

Josh Marshall says he should have figured it out sooner-- Larry King has been feeding cases to Mark Geragos . [link via Instapundit] Josh also reprints the Larry King transcript from the show a few nights ago where Nancy Grace got her come-uppance from Scott Peterson's father. I saw that show--and agree, she had it coming. But she always has it coming. The real question is why does Larry King put her on so much--both as a guest and as a substitute host? The answer is very clear. Ratings. The public loves her "try 'em and fry 'em" mentality, and when she's on the air, ratings go up. I hope that in a future column Josh will address what the more significant and troubling import of the media's massive coverage of the Peterson case: Guilt sells.

The public will tune in to watch a person who under our legal system is presumed innocent-- that is, a person accused but not yet tried for a heinous murder-- get crucified on tv night after night, for weeks and months. I have been in three states since the Peterson case exploded in the media--Colorado, Texas and New York --in all three, it was the topic du jour in public places like airports, hotel bars, taxicabs, beauty salons and department stores. Everyone knew Scott Peterson--and had an opinion about his guilt. Everyone knew that he dyed his hair, had an affair with a woman named Amber and was arrested with $10k in cash in San Diego while DNA tests were being on the remains of his wife and unborn child --they even knew his alibi of going fishing.

Ask yourselves, what happens when someone is found innocent? How long does the case stay in the news? Can you name even one of the 127 persons released from prison or death row after DNA proved their innocence? Of course not. There is a short AP story on the case, usually never to be mentioned again.

Guilt sells. Innocence doesn't. This is what is so sad about the massive, non-stop Peterson coverage. The media disappears when it comes to covering the innocent - because it doesn't get ratings. People aren't interested in watching cases about innocence. We might as well be living in the days of gladiators and the Roman Coliseum. It's a game, a sport to the American public.

The issue shouldn't be whether Mark Geragos gets another case or whether Nancy Grace is a disgrace to the legal profession. The real issue is why does the American viewing public tune in night after night to see a person presumed to be innocent get ravaged, tried and convicted on sheer speculation by former prosecutors, cops, forensic experts and criminologists who have no first-hand knowledge of the facts or evidence in the case?

Gary Condit, John and Patsy Ramsey--none of them were charged, let alone convicted, of the crime for which they were under investigation or "the umbrella of suspicion." Yet former prosecutors went on TV nightly proclaiming their guilt based on rank speculation.

The media is positively giddy about the Peterson case. And like it or not, the coverage is going to continue. I went to the studios five times this week for Fox and MSNBC (two of the five times I was bumped while in the chair when Bush chose the exact moment of my segments to make long winded speeches.) I turned down three more requests due to schedule conflicts. I fly back to Denver at 8 am Sunday morning, will be back on Fox at 4:35 pm EST and then again at 8pm for an hour long show covering the Laci Peterson memorial service. I have already been asked about my availability for the coming week. As they say in the media business, the story has legs.

Personally, I'm glad. I'll take every chance I can get in any case, be it Scott Peterson, John Walker Lindh, Robert Blake, Zacarias Moussaoui or anyone else, to stick up for the presumption of innocence, remind people about reasonable doubt and try to convince the viewing public to view these cases through the lens of the Constitution.

I'm glad Mark Geragos will be representing Scott Peterson. He did a great job for Susan McDougal, is media savvy --essential in defending a high-profile case--and is a seasoned, skilled defense lawyer. He will assemble a team of quality experts to assist him in investigating, preparing and presenting Scott's defense.

As for having to endure Nancy and the legions of former prosecutors who, for whatever reason, don't find anything unprofessional about going on television to voice their opinion that a person is guilty before trial, all I can say is get used to it. This is what the public has dictated it wants to watch, night after night.

Unless people stop watching and ratings go down, the Nancys and Marks are here to stay--as are we defense lawyers. Television is a business. The higher the ratings, the more the stations can charge for advertising and the more money they make. I want people to keep watching. I think we defense lawyers have a point of view that needs to be expressed at every turn. But I'd also like to see intelligent journalists like Josh Marshall cover the real issue--why does guilt sell?

High profile criminal defense lawyer and cable news commentator Mark Geragos announced today he will represent Scott Peterson, who is charged with killing his wife, Laci Peterson, and their unborn child.

Update: Don't miss Josh Marshall on Nancy Grace.

Update: The Daily Howler has a bulls eye view of Nancy Grace as well.

Seven Enron executives, including the wife of former CFO Andrew Fastow have surrendered to authorities to face federal charges.

The wife of Enron Corp.'s former chief financial officer Andrew Fastow and six former executives of the fallen company's defunct broadband unit surrendered to federal authorities early Thursday.

Lea Fastow, 41, a former Enron assistant treasurer, walked into the Internal Revenue Service office in Houston shortly after daybreak accompanied by an attorney.

At the same time, the six men were surrendering at an FBI office in Houston. They included the former co-chief executive officers of Enron Broadband Services, Ken Rice and Joe Hirko; Kevin Hannon, EBS chief operating officer; Dan Boyle, vice president; Ben Glisan, treasurer; and F. Scott Yeager, another executive.

At least the feds avoided the temptation of public arrests. But they won't be able to resist parading them in handcuffs for a mini perp walk when they appear in court today on the charges.

A lawyer for Dan Boyle, one of the execs, said today, ""Prosecuting this guy is like prosecuting a piano player in a whorehouse."

Mrs. Fastow's lawyers are expected to assert that she is being used as a pawn to make her husband agree to cooperate against his higher-ups, Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. Her husband was indicted previously on 78 counts of fraud.

Full Enron coverage since 2001 is available from the Houston Chronicle.

James Smith, the FBI agent who had a long term romantic affair with Katrina Leung while he was her "handler" is being afforded limited immunity from proseuction. First, he gets bond and she doesn't. Now he gets limited immunity. We think this supports Leung's lawyers' contention that Smith is receiving preferential treatment.

Ms. Leung's lawyers, Janet Levine and John Vandevelde, said prosecutors' willingness to negotiate a deal demonstrated that they were treating Ms. Leung "more severely" than the retired agent. "Katrina had a few pages of outdated, useless papers that Smith brought to her house in the first place, and she voluntarily let the F.B.I. have them without asking for immunity," the lawyers said in a statement. "He was released the day of his arrest by agreement with the government. She is in jail because the government fought her release. There seems to be a double standard being used."

Larry King Wednesday: Scott Petserson's father took on Nancy Grace, front and center. Mr. Peterson stated what so many of us watching the show the last month have noticed--Nancy's continuous demonization of Scott Peterson seems to have a personal aspect to it. Someone needed to call her on the carpet over her comments, her facial expressions and her inappropriate and complete disregard of the presumption of innocence, and Mr. Peterson, in a calm and measured tone, did a great job.

Scott Peterson likely will have a new lawyer tomorrow--Mark Geragos, who previously represented Winona Ryder and Susan MacDougal. Mark also is a constant staple on Larry King's show. We hear it's a done deal.

The lead investigator for Fairfax County, VA in the Sniper case testified today that she kept questioning then juvenile Robert Lee Malvo after he requested a lawyer.

Prosecutors did not dispute that Mr. Malvo asked, "Do I get to see my attorneys?" and later said, "My attorneys told me not to say anything to the cops until they got there." But they said those statements fell short of the clear demand for a lawyer needed to halt questioning. Detective Boyle said she told Mr. Malvo that he could see his lawyers but that she first wanted to ask a few questions. She advised him that federal charges had been dropped and that he was facing new charges in Virginia and continued questioning him.