Free Republic

The ultra-liberal 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals made one of its trademark assaults on the Constitution Tuesday, illegally overturning a Washington State law barring convicted felons from voting. I use the word "illegally" because judicial review (the invented power of federal courts to overturn democratically-enacted laws) is listed nowhere in the Constitution as an enumerated power. Furthermore, as the proposal of the 1875 Blaine Amendment demonstrates, the federal government was never intended to have the power to overturn state legislation...

The Jeffersons can stop fretting about their reputation: Stephanie GraceBy Stephanie Grace, The Times-Picayune November 15, 2009, 5:36AM Mose Jefferson, convicted brother of a convicted former congressman, recently asked a federal judge to delay his Dec. 10 sentencing for one crime so as not to prejudice potential jurors in his Jan. 25 trial on allegations of another, which is related to neither his nor his famous sibling's prior indictment. At this point, you've got to wonder: Why bother? **SNIP** What she didn't say is that timing really doesn't matter, because any damage to the collective Jefferson reputation is already done....

(IsraelNN.com) Three British Muslims were convicted by a jury in London Monday of plotting to murder thousands by detonating liquid explosives on at least seven airliners bound for the United States and Canada in 2006. Four other alleged conspirators were acquitted of conspiring to blow up the planes. The jury could not reach a verdict on an eighth man. All of the defendants, except the eighth man, had pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance but denied the terrorism charges.

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Former major league outfielder Mel Hall was sentenced to 45 years in prison Wednesday after being convicted of raping a 12-year-old girl he coached on an elite basketball team. Hall was convicted on three counts of aggravated sexual assault and two counts of indecency with a child. Among his accusers during sentencing Wednesday were others who said he carried on inappropriate relationships with them.

ARUSHA, Tanzania – A former Rwandan army colonel was convicted Thursday of genocide and crimes against humanity for masterminding the killings of more than half a million people in a 100-day slaughter in 1994. Survivors in Rwanda welcomed the watershed moment in a long search for justice. The U.N. courtroom in Tanzania was packed for the culmination of the trial of Theoneste Bagosora, the highest-ranking Rwandan official to be convicted in the genocide. Onlookers were silent as the 67-year-old was sentenced to life in prison.

More than 30,000 Florida felons who by law should have been stripped of their right to vote remain registered to cast ballots in this presidential battleground state, a Sun Sentinel investigation has found. Many are faithful voters, with at least 4,900 turning out in past elections. Another 5,600 are not likely to vote Nov. 4 — they're still in prison. Of the felons who registered with a party, Democrats outnumber Republicans more than two to one. Florida's elections chief, Secretary of State Kurt Browning, acknowledged his staff has failed to remove thousands of ineligible felons because of a shortage of...

LONDON - Clad in mud-smeared combat fatigues, the young Muslims trained on picturesque British farmland, hurling imaginary grenades, wielding sticks as mock rifles and chopping watermelons in simulated beheadings. A four-year inquiry, which came to a close Tuesday with guilty pleas from the last two of seven gang members, has exposed a network of alleged British terrorism training camps meant to prepare recruits for mass murder. Security officials believe hundreds of men — including a gang that made a failed attempt to bomb London's transit network — passed through camps set up across the English countryside. Investigators say it was...

NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario - Danny Glover has been convicted in Niagara Falls, Ontario, for trespassing in a hotel during a union rally in 2006. Glover, who wasn't in court, was convicted Thursday along with UNITE HERE union representative Alex Dagg and Ontario Federation of Labour President Wayne Samuelson. Canadian Niagara Hotels charged the three with trespassing at their Sheraton on the Falls property during a Sept. 16, 2006, protest. The 60-year-old actor took part in the protest as part of a larger campaign that aims to increase salaries and improve working conditions for hotel workers in the U.S. and Canada....

MIAMI (AFP) - Jose Padilla, a US citizen convicted of supporting the Al Qaeda terror network, could face anywhere from decades to a lifetime behind bars, a federal judge said on Tuesday. Judge Marcia Cooke rejected defense claims that Padilla, 37, and two co-conspirators had not commited any actual act of terrorism. She ruled that a special provision for stiffer penalties applied and that the three could each face prison sentences of 30 years to life. Before Cooke delivers sentence, probably later this week, lawyers for the two sides will present their arguments for sentencing. The prosecutors want Padilla, Adham...

BOSTON - Three former leaders of an Islamic charity were convicted Friday of duping the U.S. government into getting tax-exempt status by hiding the group's pro-jihad activities. Care International Inc., which is now defunct, described its mission as helping war orphans, widows and refugees in Muslim nations. But prosecutors said the organization also distributed a newsletter promoting jihad and supported Muslim militants involved in armed conflicts around the world. Emadeddin Muntasser, the founder of Care International; Muhammed Mubayyid, the group's former treasurer; and Samir Al-Monla, the president of Care from 1996 to 1998, were charged with tax code violations, making...

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) -- A nephew of Trevor Berbick has been convicted along with another man of killing the 54-year-old former heavyweight champion. A jury Thursday found 21-year-old Harold Berbick guilty of murder and 19-year-old Kenton Gordon guilty of manslaughter in the death of the former boxer. The judge ordered both men jailed pending their Jan. 11 sentencing. Authorities said the nephew and Gordon beat Berbick to death in October 2006, leaving his body in a church courtyard in Portland. Harold Berbick had been involved in a land dispute with his uncle. Trevor Berbick was the last fighter to face...

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) - A man accused of killing his Kent County Jail cellmate because he suspected the man of stealing his snack cake has been convicted of murder. Prosecutors say he dragged Estrada from the top bunk of his bed after discovering his Honey Bun snack cake was missing.

SAN FRANCISCO – A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld the death sentence for convicted murderer Kevin Cooper, whose 2004 execution was stayed just hours before he was to die by lethal injection. The planned execution was halted after the 9th U.S. District Court of Appeals reopened the case so two DNA tests on a blond hair and a bloody shirt found at the murder scene could be done. DNA testing wasn't available in 1984. Cooper, who has long maintained his innocence, was convicted of the murders of Douglas and Peggy Ryen, both 41, their 10-year-old daughter, Jessica, and Christopher...

Federal records show wanted man raised big money for Dems. Congressman Mark Udall's U.S. Senate campaign committee is among dozens of mostly Democratic political organizations to have received a large financial contribution from a New York fundraiser who has been wanted by authorities in California. Federal Election Commission records indicate that Norman Hsu, listed as a resident of New York, gave $1,000 to "Udall for Colorado Inc." on June 25. Hsu has a lengthy record of gathering large contributions for prominent Democratic campaigns, including those of presidential hopefuls Sen. Hillary Clinton, of New York, and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. FEC...

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - A military jury on Wednesday convicted a Marine of conspiring to murder an Iraqi man in a bungled attempt to abduct and kill a suspected insurgent in Hamdania. Cpl. Trent Thomas, 25, was the first of seven Marines and a Navy corpsman to go to trial in the killing, which squad members tried to cover up by planting a gun near the victim after he was gunned down in a ditch. Thomas faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, according to his defense attorney, Victor Kelley. While several of the men pleaded guilty in the...

SCRANTON, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - A Pennsylvania man was convicted on Friday of plotting to blow up U.S. oil pipelines and energy installations and of attempting to enlist al Qaeda militants on the Internet to help carry out his plan. A federal jury of six women and six men took a little more than an hour to convict Michael Curtis Reynolds, 49, on those charges and of possessing a hand grenade. He faces a maximum 57 1/2 years in prison. The government accused Reynolds, from Wilkes-Barre, of scheming to attack the Alaska and Transcontinental pipelines and other energy installations to prompt...

BAGHDAD — Saddam Hussein's cousin and two other former regime officials were convicted Sunday of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity and sentenced to hang for the brutal crackdown that killed up to 180,000 Kurdish civilians and guerrillas two decades ago. Two other defendants were sentenced to life in prison for their roles in the 1987-1988 crackdown, known as "Operation Anfal." A sixth defendant was acquitted for lack of evidence. Death sentences are automatically appealed. The most notorious defendant was Saddam's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali" for ordering the use of mustard gas and nerve agents...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Marijuana advocate Ed Rosenthal was convicted for a second time today of violating federal drug laws by growing pot plants for medical patients, but he faces no punishment for the felony convictions, apart from the one day in jail that he has already served. Rosenthal, 62, of Oakland, a well-known authority on cannabis cultivation, former columnist for High Times magazine and author of a recent book calling for legalization of marijuana, was convicted by a federal jury in San Francisco of three charges of illegal cultivation and conspiracy after a day of deliberations. He was acquitted of...

Following a 13-day trial that included video recordings of former state Sen. John Ford receiving cash payments from an FBI undercover agent, a 12-person jury found the Memphis Democrat guilty on one count of bribery. The jury deadlocked on an extortion charge. He was acquitted of all three charges of intimidation. The bribery charge carries up to 10 years in prison. Using an FBI sham company called E-Cycle Management, which claimed to be in the business of recycling computers, undercover lawmen operating in Tennessee Waltz bribed elected officials to draft, sponsor and change legislation that benefited E-Cycle. He will be...

MIAMI - The former head of a national organization of black Baptist churches spent four years in prison for stealing millions of dollars from the group. Now he wants one of his old jobs back: leader of the organization's Florida chapter. The Rev. Henry Lyons, 65, was wildly popular before his conviction and is still highly regarded by many church members. He was vying with two other ministers Wednesday to lead the Florida General Baptist Convention, a chapter of the National Baptist Convention USA, which claims to represent some 7.5 million members of black churches nationwide. Representatives of member churches...