Free Republic

Fund-raiser Norman Hsu: Dismiss rap, give back my $2M bailBY NANCY DILLON DAILY NEWS WEST COAST BUREAU CHIEF Saturday, September 29th 2007, 4:00 AM REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - Jailed fund-raiser Norman Hsu wants his 15-year-old fraud rap dismissed on a technicality and a full refund on the $2 million bail he skipped out on three weeks ago, his lawyers said yesterday. Hsu looked frail in a waist shackle and orange jail uniform as he appeared in a San Mateo County court. He uttered only a single "yes" when Judge Stephen Hall asked if he had agreed to a five-week postponement...

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY (Bay News 9) -- USF student Youssef Megahed has been granted bail on federal explosives charges and could be released on house arrest next week. Bail was set at $200,000. The government has filed an appeal. A U.S. District Court Judge is expected to review that appeal next week. Megahed will remain in jail until that time. Megahed, 21, and fellow USF student Megahed Ahmed Mohamed, 26, were arrested in August after being pulled over for speeding near Charleston, S.C. Police said the pair had pipe bombs and other items in their car. The students have said they...

Since the "Honorable" Mesa County Judge Bruce Raaum has again set bail for Hillary's friend Norman Hsu, are there any federal crimes he's committed that he can be arrested for on his release from this Andy Taylor jail? What is the background of Judge Raaum?

Fugitive Yung Yuen “Norman” Hsu will be transferred to the Mesa County Jail sometime tonight, Mesa County District Attorney Pete Hautzinger confirmed this afternoon. Hautzinger said he was told today to be prepared to handle Hsu’s bond-setting hearing Thursday. Hautzinger said he plans to ask for at least $4 million bond for the wealthy businessman. One day before Hsu was arrested in Grand Junction, he skipped a bond hearing in a San Mateo, Calif., courtroom. “Given that he failed to appear on a $2 million bond, I have to ask the judge to double that at least,” Hautzinger said.

WASHINGTON -- The debate over illegal immigration has ceased in Congress, but almost nowhere else. Widespread concerns about the impact of illegal immigration on jobs, social services and national security continues to generate intense rhetoric. And some see a dark side emerging, evident in growing discrimination against Hispanics and a surge of xenophobia unseen since the last big wave of immigration in the early 20th century. "I don't think there's been a time like this in our lifetime," said Doris Meissner of the Migration Policy Institute and former commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. "Even though immigration is...

DENVER -- Law enforcement agencies say they followed policies and procedures, but an illegal alien, accused of sexually assaulting a nine year-old Denver girl, was still able to post a bond and flee the country.

JEDDAH, 24 September 2006 — Interior Minister Prince Naif has ordered the release of all Saudi Guantanamo Bay returnees from the Kingdom’s prisons in order to help them fast during Ramadan and celebrate Eid Al-Fitr with their families. The prisoners will be released on bail and will have to return on Oct. 30 to complete remaining legal procedures, said Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, spokesman for the Interior Ministry. The release of the Guantanamo prisoners had good results in the past. Last month nine of 29 Saudi returnees from the US detention center in Guantanamo, who were repatriated in May and...

One-time JonBenet Ramsey murder suspect John Mark Karr was offered a plea deal Tuesday in Sonoma County Superior Court on child pornography charges that would free him on probation. Assistant District Attorney Joann Risse said prosecutors would waive three of the five child pornography possession charges against him if he pleaded guilty on two remaining charges. Karr, 41, would get credit for time served and would be placed on probation for three years. Defense lawyer Robert Amparan said he would discuss the deal with Karr, but said he still believes his client is innocent. Amparan said the public had received...

Television bounty hunter Dog Chapman set free on bail in Hawaii By Associated Press Saturday, September 16, 2006 - Updated: 12:08 PM EST HONOLULU - TV reality star Duane “Dog” Chapman and two co-stars accused of illegal detention and conspiracy in the bounty hunters’ capture of a cosmetics company heir in Mexico posted bail and were released Friday. Chapman was released on $300,000 bail after spending the night in a federal detention center and his co-stars on the popular A&E show “Dog The Bounty Hunter” were freed on $100,000 bail each. Chapman, his son, Leland Chapman, and associate Timothy Chapman,...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - August 12, 2006 - Actor Lou Diamond Phillips was released from jail on his own recognizance Friday following his arrest for allegedly physically abusing his live-in girlfriend. "Our office reviewed the case today and referred it to the city attorney's hearing program. The parties will come in and sit with one of our attorneys, who will try to mediate the situation," said Jonathan Diamond, a city attorney's spokesman. "Charges could be filed down the road, but we're trying to resolve this through the hearing program," Diamond added. Phillips, best known for his roles in "La Bamba"...

A US judge has denied bail overnight to six Miami men charged with conspiracy to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago because he considered them a threat to the community. "The charges against each and everyone of these defendants are serious charges and involve crimes of violence," said Judge Ted Bandstra. "The government presents a strong case in support of conspiracy charges," he said, citing videotapes submitted to the court that show one of the defendants discussing with an FBI informant plans to blow up the Sears Tower. One of the tapes also shows the whole group pledging loyalty...

Mayor Ron Gonzales was indicted by a county grand jury Thursday on six counts, his office said, but the allegations were not immediately clear. Prosecutors have said they were investigating whether Gonzales committed any crime for secretly negotiating a trash hauling contract with Norcal Waste Systems that cost taxpayers an additional $11.25 million in labor costs. Neither authorities nor Gonzales could immediately be reached for comment, but the mayor's office said he and aide Joe Guerra posted bail Thursday morning. Guerra's lawyer, Alan Lagod, hadn't seen an indictment, but said his client and the mayor "self-surrendered at the sheriff's department...

A Brick Township woman is free on $2 million bail as she awaits trial, accused of murdering her husband and disposing of his dismembered body parts in three suitcases. Melanie McGuire, 32, posted bail Saturday and was released from the Middlesex County Jail. She is charged with killing her husband, William T. McGuire. William McGuire, 39, was killed between April 28 and May 5, 2004, according to his wife's indictment. Melanie McGuire shot her husband in their Woodbridge apartment, dismembered the body and placed the remains in black plastic trash bags inside three suitcases, according to court documents. The suitcases...

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - A federal judge set bail at $300,000 Friday for a Chinese-American engineer accused of stealing U.S. military secrets, but ordered his younger brother held until another hearing later this month. Chi Mak, his wife and brother were indicted Tuesday on a charge of acting as agents of a foreign government without prior notification to the U.S. attorney general. If convicted, each could face up to 10 years in prison. According to the original affidavit, Mak, 65, stole computer disks from defense contractor Power Paragon, where he was lead engineer on a sensitive research project involving...

UNITED NATIONS - A Russian U.N. official accused of money laundering was released on $500,000 bail posted by his government on Friday, Russia's U.N. Mission said. Vladimir Kuznetsov, 48, who chaired the powerful U.N. budget oversight committee, had been jailed since Sept. 1 on charges that he conspired with a U.N. procurement officer to launder hundreds of thousands of dollars from foreign companies seeking contracts with the world body. He has pleaded innocent to the charges. Maria Zakharova, press secretary at Russia's U.N. Mission, confirmed that Kuznetsov was freed after the Russian government paid his $500,000 bail. Moscow is keeping...

An attempt to bail her husband out of jail was successful but seems to have landed a Miami County woman behind bars herself. Katrina Hyde’s husband, Todd Hyde, was cooling his heels in the Miami County Jail, held on charges of dealing methamphetamine and possession of anhydrous ammonia with a $25,000 bond. So, using three credit cards police say she stole from her parents, Katrina Hyde obtained a cash advance, went to the jail and put up the 10 percent surety required for Todd Hyde’s release. She also used the cards to hire an Indianapolis attorney for her husband’s pending...

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - A judge rejected a U.S. request that a Canadian marijuana activist be held without bail on Tuesday in a case that is likely to ignite debate over the countries' diverging drug policies. U.S. officials say Marc Emery illegally sold millions of dollars worth of marijuana seeds, but Emery's supporters say his business activities were well known for years and tolerated by groups that included Canada's federal health ministry. Emery is a founder of the pro-legalization B.C. Marijuana Party and his arrest comes as the Canadian government is pushing a measure to decriminalize possession of small...

Mugabe in plea for S Africa to bail him out of crisis By David Blair in Johannesburg (Filed: 19/07/2005) President Robert Mugabe's destruction of Zimbabwe's economy began to strike home yesterday after he had to ask South Africa for a rescue package. Unable to arrest the spiralling crisis or buy essential supplies of fuel, Zimbabwe has turned to its powerful neighbour. ‘Embarrassing’: Robert Mugabe has finally acknowledged the gravity of Zimbabwe's situation Senior officials have visited South Africa to request an emergency injection of money likely to run into hundreds of millions of pounds. About one third of Zimbabwe's economy...

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) - A federal judge ordered a 90-year-old woman and her 60-year-old son jailed without bail on drug charges, saying they might represent a danger to the community if freed. Lucious Westry, also known as "Big "Mama," and son Calvin Westry pleaded innocent Friday. Defense attorneys asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Bert Milling Jr. to let them stay with Calvin Westry's daughter until the case is resolved, but he refused. "I'm not concerned about a risk of flight," the magistrate judge said. "I am concerned about the danger to the public because of a long-standing drug activity in that...

TWO terrorists wanted in connection with the 2002 Bali bomb blast may be on the run in the southern Philippines, a US thinktank believes. The private sector intelligence group Stratfor, said reports from the Philippines indicated the two members of the terror group Jemaah Islamiah (JI) had been sighted in a mountainous region bordering the southern Muslim-dominated provinces of Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur on the island of Mindanao. Pitono, also known as Dulmatin, and Umar Patek, are both sought in connection with a series of attacks against Western targets in Indonesia, including the October 2002 Bali nightclub bombing that...