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2 plead guilty in NY Tamil Tiger terrorism case
Topics in Legal News |
2009/01/26 14:24
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| When customs agents questioned a carload of Sri Lankan immigrants entering the United States at the Canadian border in the summer of 2006, the men claimed they were headed to a bachelor party in Buffalo. There was no party, or even a groom. Two of the men pleaded guilty Monday. U.S. authorities say the men were part of a secret mission to help militants locked in the bloody civil war in their homeland by buying and smuggling hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of surface-to-air missiles. According to court papers, the men also wanted guns — but not just any guns. "We need AK-47s, but only if you have Russian-made or American-made," prosecutors allege one defendant said during a meeting with an undercover agent posing as a crooked arms dealer. "Not the Chinese." The videotaped sting is central to an unusual case against four alleged agents of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or "Tamil Tigers" — a Sri Lankan rebel force the State Department calls a terrorist organization. |
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Man charged in knifings at moonshine victim's wake
Headline Legal News |
2009/01/25 14:26
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| A parolee has been ordered to stand trial on charges of stabbing two men at a funeral wake for a man poisoned by moonshine. Dennis Jerome Foust of Montague faces trial in Oceana County Circuit Court on two counts of felonious assault and a misdemeanor count of domestic violence. The 33-year-old also is charged as a habitual offender, which could result in a longer prison sentence if he is convicted. Police say Foust and his wife fought Jan. 9 during the wake for Shawn Davila, who died on New Year's Day from methanol alcohol poisoning. Two men were stabbed after intervening in the fight. They were treated and released. |
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Court sides with police officers in search case
Legal Business |
2009/01/22 14:26
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| The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that police officers in Utah who searched a suspect's home without a warrant cannot be sued for violating his constitutional rights. In ruling unanimously for five officers attached to the Central Utah Narcotics Task Force, the court also abandoned a rigid, two-step test that it adopted in 2001 to guide judges in assessing alleged violations of constitutional rights. Trial and appellate judges "should be permitted to exercise their sound discretion" in evaluating such claims, Justice Samuel Alito said in his opinion for the court. Under the 2001 ruling, courts first had to determine whether an action amounts to a violation of a constitutional right and then decide whether the public official, often a police officer, should be immune from the civil lawsuit. Officials can't be held liable in situations where it is not clearly established that their actions violated someone's constitutional rights. The case grew out of a search of the home of Afton Callahan of Millard County, Utah, in 2002. An informant contacted police to tell them he had arranged to purchase drugs from Callahan at Callahan's trailer home. |
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Guilty Pleas in U.S. Death Plot
Court Watch |
2009/01/20 09:20
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Two cousins from Chicago pleaded guilty in Toledo, Ohio Federal Court for their roles in a plot to recruit and train people to kill U.S. soldiers. Zubair Ahmed and Khaleel Ahmed face up to 15 years in prison after admitting they conspired to provide material support to terrorists.
Federal prosecutors say the two cousins were recruited by three Toledo men who were organizing the plot, and that the Ahmeds were training and planning to go overseas to kill U.S. soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan. The three organizers have already been convicted and are awaiting sentencing, The Associated Press reported.
Both Ahmeds pleaded guilty to a one-count criminal information. They were arrested in February 2007. |
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For Sale: Unibomber's Property
Topics in Legal News |
2009/01/12 09:47
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The 9th Circuit upheld a plan to sell or disposal of the Unabomber's personal items - including notes, books, guns and bomb-making materials and instructions - that were seized during his 1996 arrest.
Theodore Kaczynski, the infamous "Unabomber," claimed the plan restricts his freedom of expression and impermissibly allows his victims to vie for any profits from the auction of his goods. He also contested a provision that calls for the destruction of his bomb-making materials instead of returning them to his designee.
He tried to reclaim his property in 2003, but the district court said the government had a "superior ownership interest" in the Unabomber's property. It also determined that his belongings were essentially worthless, as they had to be valued before he gained criminal notoriety in order to keep him from profiting from his crimes.
Kaczynski is serving four consecutive life sentences plus 30 years for a series of mail bombings that killed three people and injured nine others.
In 2005, the 9th Circuit held that the government has an ownership claim in Kaczynski's stuff, but only "if that property is needed to satisfy the terms of the restitution order."
The items aren't worthless, the court noted on appeal, if their sale helps fulfill the $15 million restitution order.
The court said the plan does not violate the First Amendment, because Kaczynski would receive a full set of legible copies before anything was sold.
Kaczynski argued that the originals were more valuable, but offered "no explanation as to how his right to free speech or freedom of expression is impinged by their sale," Judge Hawkins wrote. |
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