Free Republic

William Jefferson's attorneys to ask that he remain free on bond after sentencingBy Jonathan Tilove November 10, 2009, 8:30PM Attorneys for William Jefferson are asking a federal judge to allow the former Democratic congressman to remain free on bond after his sentencing Friday pending appeal of his conviction on 11 counts of corruption. In the filing Tuesday, the attorneys said Jefferson's appeal stands a reasonable chance of success and that, contrary to the assertions of the U.S. attorney's office, Jefferson poses no flight risk. "Even if he could leave the country, there is absolutely no likelihood that the defendant would...

Sentencing for ex-Rep. Jefferson delayed 2 weeksUpdated: Oct 19, 2009 6:28 AM EDT ALEXANDRIA, VA (AP) - A judge has postponed for two weeks the scheduled sentencing of a former Louisiana congressman convicted of taking bribes and racketeering. A jury in northern Virginia convicted William Jefferson, a Democrat who represented parts of New Orleans, on 11 of 16 counts. Prosecutors said he received more than $500,000 in bribes and solicited millions more in exchange for using his influence to broker business deals in Africa. The sentencing had been scheduled for Oct. 30. It's now set for Nov. 13 because defense...

BET is going to the dogs. Michael Vick's reality show has found at home at the network. The eight-hour series will follow Vick's return to pro football and will air early next year. As previously reported, Vick was shopping a reality show while in the slammer. You'll also recall a sports news outlet reported that Live Feed/THR's story was false. I believe their lead was ... oh yes: "The only reality show imprisoned quarterback Michael Vick is interested in is straightening out his life and returning to the NFL." The article quoted his rep saying, "Any speculation of Mike doing...

OREGON (BNO NEWS) – Nike, Inc. has denied media reports that it has signed an endorsement contract with ex-Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, a spokeswoman told BNO News on Thursday. On Wednesday, many U.S. media outlets had confirmed through Michael Vick's agent that Nike signed a contract with Vick. Nike dumped Vick as an endorser and pulled his products from retail stores in 2007 after he was charged, and later convicted, with bankrolling and running a dog fighting ring. "Nike does not have a contractual relationship with Michael Vick. We have agreed to supply product to Michael Vick as we...

You can't make up stuff better than this! Isn't politics grand? HURRAH FOR THE DEMOCRATS! Jesse Jackson has added former Chicago Democrat Congressman Mel to Rainbow/PUSH Coalition's payroll. Reynolds was among the 176 criminals excused in President Clinton's last-minute forgiveness spree. Reynolds received a commutation of his six-and-a-half-year federal sentence for 15 convictions of wire fraud, bank fraud, and lies to the Federal Election Commission. He is more notorious, however, for concurrently serving five years for sleeping with an underage campaign volunteer. This is a first in American politics: An ex-congressman who had sex with a subordinate...won clemency from a...

William Jefferson legal saga far from overby Bruce Alpert, The Times-Picayune Friday August 07, 2009, 8:08 PM William Jefferson faces daunting challenges on top of the potentially lengthy prison term Judge T.S. Ellis III could impose Oct. 30 for his conviction this week on 11 of 16 corruption charges. The former congressman faces a forfeiture hearing at a yet undetermined date as a result of the jury's finding that he and his family received $470,000 and more than 30 million shares of stock proceeds as a result of criminal activities. He also must deal with a lawsuit in Kentucky brought...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Michael Vick was reinstated by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on Monday and could play in regular-season games as early as October. Vick can immediately participate in preseason practices, workouts and meetings and can play in the final two preseason games -- if he can find a team that will sign him. A number of teams have already said they would not. "Needless to say, your margin for error is extremely limited," Goodell said in a letter to Vick. "I urge you to take full advantage of the resources available to support Vick must show remorse and...

(WXYZ) - Action News has learned that Monica Conyers has resigned from Detroit City Council. She submitted her resignation letter to Wayne County Clerk Janice Winfrey. Her resignation will take effect July 6. Conyers' staff will be on the payroll until December 31. They will reportedly be available to assist other Council members until then. Conyers' resignation comes on the heals of a call by Council President Ken Cockrel, Jr. for Conyers to step down. He said she had forfeited her office by pleading guilty to corruption charges on Friday. Stay with Action News and WXYZ.com for the latest on...

Bobby Rush, a former member of an organization known for killing police officers, doesn't want honest people to own gunsWe have written here frequently about the importance of the Second Amendment in the defense of the United States against militant "Muslims" and other terrorists. Although militant "Muslims" feel free to perpetrate rampant violence and gang rape in Europe, these practices are far less frequent here because of the widespread private ownership of firearms. Representative Bobby Rush (D-IL), a former Black Panther and a convicted felon whose illegal possession of firearms lost him his own right to own firearms, has proposed...

Received in the email, author unknown; you need to be patient and read this all the way to the end.

Former House speaker Thomas M. Finneran, seeking to cleanse the stain left by his 2007 conviction for obstruction of justice, is angling for a last-minute pardon from President Bush and has lined up a group of former Massachusetts governors to back his request. Finneran submitted an application for a presidential pardon last month, and the four governors - Democrat Michael Dukakis and Republicans William F. Weld, Paul Cellucci, and Jane Swift - followed up with a letter to the White House praising his integrity. Finneran has already been "severely punished," the governors wrote, citing the loss of his state pension,...

ST. PAUL, Minn.—A convicted felon who got a break from a judge who delayed his sentencing so he could vote failed to show up in court. Twenty-four-year-old Javontez Lavel Ross pleaded guilty to a drug charge Sept. 11. Ramsey County District Judge Margaret Marrinan agreed then to delay his sentencing so he could vote in what she called a "historic election." Felons can't vote until they finish serving their prison time and probation. When Ross failed to return to court Wednesday, a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. Marrinan said she didn't regret granting the delay.

ST. PAUL, Minn.—A convicted felon who got a break from a judge who delayed his sentencing so he could vote failed to show up in court. Twenty-four-year-old Javontez Lavel Ross pleaded guilty to a drug charge Sept. 11. Ramsey County District Judge Margaret Marrinan agreed then to delay his sentencing so he could vote in what she called a "historic election." Felons can't vote until they finish serving their prison time and probation.

Twenty-four-year-old Javontez Lavel Ross pleaded guilty Thursday to possessing several bags of suspected heroin with intent to sell. But he asked Ramsey County District Judge Margaret Marrinan to postpone his sentencing so he could vote in the Nov. 4 election......... The judge granted his request, calling the contest a "historic election." She set his sentencing for Nov. 12.

Handcuffed and shackled, Randal Rushing blew the awaiting media a kiss as he was led from a Wilkes-Barre apartment Thursday afternoon. Handcuffed and shackled, Randal Rushing blew the awaiting media a kiss as he was led from a Wilkes-Barre apartment Thursday afternoon. “I had fun,” the man accused of a triple homicide in Scranton said when asked whether he had killed three people. Ten hours after a grizzly discovery at his residence on South Irving Avenue — three people so badly bludgeoned that the manner of death was difficult to determine — Rushing, 25, was taken into custody just after...

DAYTON — The second time Keison Wilkins acted as his own attorney for a felonious assault trial didn't work out so well.Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Mary Katherine Huffman sentenced Wilkins to 42 years in prison Monday, June 30. The sentencing capped off a week of Wilkins' antics, which frequently caused Huffman to clear the courtroom. At one point he began yelling about lynchings. On Thursday, he apparently faked a heart attack, collapsing to the floor while uninterested observers watched. After the "attack," during which medical personnel checked him out and found nothing wrong with him, Wilkins sat in a...

Photos Of 6-Year-Old Holding Handgun Gets Felon Arrested POSTED: 4:28 pm EDT June 6, 2008 UPDATED: 5:49 pm EDT June 6, 2008 PALM BAY, Fla. -- A convicted felon was arrested in Palm Bay after allegedly putting a gun in a 6-year-old child's hands and forcing her to pose for pictures. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SEE PHOTOS: 6-Year-Old With Handgun, Suspect With Rifle VIDEO REPORT: Felon Arrested After Police Discover Photos Of 6-Year-Old -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Investigators said 30-year-old Toby Allen took the disturbing photos on a cell phone. They finally tracked him down at a house in Palm Bay on Tucson Street (see map),...

I apologize for the vanity, and hopefully this ends up in the right forum. My interest was really piqued though and I'm pretty sure there are a few folks here who can give me opinions. I was reading the Constitution this evening and noticed that the 24th Amendment states in part: "[Voting privlidges] shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax." The part of the Amendment which I found intriguing is the last three words, "or other tax". The Federal Income Tax, and...

UPDATE: Rozita Swinton, the woman arrested today for falsely tipping off the police that she was an abused child bride at the FLDS polygamy cult in Texas is a PLEDGED BARACK OBAMA STATE DELEGATE!! It was her initial false report that started the investigation which has led to the removal of 400 children from their parents' custody. Patterico: In an odd coincidence, a person named Rozita E. Swinton of Colorado Springs is listed on the El Paso County Democratic Party website as an Obama delegate. From the webpage. The number next to her name indicates the precinct she's in. How...

The foundation that runs — and accepts donations for — the online encyclopedia Wikipedia neglected to do a basic background check before hiring a chief operating officer who had been convicted of theft, drunken driving and fleeing a car accident. Before she left in July, Carolyn Bothwell Doran, 45, had moved up from a part-time bookkeeper for the Wikimedia Foundation and spent six months as chief operating officer, responsible for personnel and financial management. In March, she signed the small nonprofit's tax return, which listed more than $1.3 million in donations. At the time, she was on probation for a...

PHOENIX -- Police have arrested a man who they say sexually assaulted a 4 year old girl at a playground at University Park. Suspect booked into 4th Avenue Jail Police say the girl was at the playground with her family near by. Several witnesses say they saw suspect William Speed grab the girl while she played on the jungle gym and begin sexually assaulting her. The girl screamed and her family had to fight Speed to get him off of the girl. The family and nearby witnesses restrained Speed until police arrived. Suspect William Speed is a Level 3 sex...

The man behind the wheel of a vehicle that rolled four times and killed 10 illegal immigrants has been found guilty for his role in the accident that occurred a year ago near Yuma Proving Ground. Adan Pineda-Doval, 21, of Michoacán, Mexico, was found guilty late Thursday afternoon by a federal jury in Phoenix of 10 counts of transportation of illegal aliens resulting in death, one count of transportation of illegal aliens placing lives in jeopardy and one count of re-entry after deportation. Pineda-Doval was transporting 20 illegal aliens in a vehicle to Los Angeles and caused a rollover collision...

If Sen. Hillary Clinton is to chart her own course independent of her husband, why did she choose Sandy Berger to give her advice on foreign policy? This suggests reunion time for cronies. In 2003, Mr. Berger took several highly classified documents about the Clinton-era Millennium terror plot from the National Archives while "aiding" the September 11 commission. Mr. Berger successfully negotiated a plea bargain and received only two years probation, along with a security-clearance suspension and a $50,000 fine. Were he anything less than a member of the permanent Clinton establishment, he would be in sitting in a prison...

WASHINGTON - Sandy Berger, who stole highly classified terrorism documents from the National Archives, destroyed them and lied to investigators, is now an adviser to presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. Berger, who was fired from John Kerry’s presidential campaign when the scandal broke in 2004, has assumed a similar role in Clinton’s campaign, even though his security clearance has been suspended until September 2008. This is raising eyebrows even among Clinton’s admirers. “It shows poor judgment and a lack of regard for Berger’s serious misdeeds,” said law professor Jonathan Adler of Case Western Reserve University, who nonetheless called Clinton “by...

Will Sandy Burgler advise the Hillery campaign how to lie, cheat & steal...or did the Clintons teach him how to steal classified documents from the National Archive and lie about it so as to cheat the 911 Commission out of the truth about Bill Clinton's failure to take terrorism seriously? Or do the Clintons fear what Sandy Burgler might say during the campaign, so they are keeping him on a short leash?

You would have thought the United States committed some unforgivable crime against humanity if you listened to the howls of rage of liberals whining over the fate of an illegal alien who played them for suckers. Her name is Elvira Arellano and she knows just how to unleash a flood of liberal do-gooder tears... For the past year Arellano has been playing the role of victim. She wailed that deportation would separate her from her 8-year-old son, the by-product of some sexual encounter with a man she either refuses to identify or whose identity has somehow slipped her mind. Obviously,...

SEE VIDEO CLIPS HERE Hillary Is A Felon: Just Released Tape Proves Crime In preparation for submitting the just released video of Hillary Clinton engaged in various felonies, to the California Appellate Court reviewing Hillary’s protection by California’s Anti-SLAPP law in Paul v Clinton et al., election law expert and US Supreme Court/Constitutional Lawyer John Armor determined on June 14, 2007, after analyzing the video of Hillary Clinton on a conference call with Peter Paul, Stan Lee, et al, that the video captures Hillary engaged in a series of felony violations of the law. The videotape, with clear audio...

Group Annouces Support for JeffersonWednesday June 13, 7:02 pm ET By Cain Burdeau, Associated Press Writer Jefferson Backers Claim Justice Department Using Indicted Congressman As a Scapegoat NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Supporters of a Democratic congressman charged with bribery and money laundering harkened to their civil rights days on Wednesday as they denounced the allegations against U.S. Rep. William Jefferson. The group, including ministers and the president of the local chapter of the NAACP, alleged the 16-count corruption indictment was the work of a Republican White House and Justice Department scheming to target black Democratic leaders and shift attention from...

It backfired as hit man humor and now Herald columnist Howie Carr wants Tom Finneran behind bars for a tongue-in-cheek threat to have him whacked and stuffed in the trunk of Gov. Deval Patrick’s Cadillac. “Real men don’t talk about putting people in trunks, they just do it,” Carr sniffed yesterday of the former Democratic House speaker, who traded up a felony conviction for a plum gig hosting WRKO-AM’s morning talk show. Last week, Finneran told Patrick on the air that the two of them should take “Howie Carr for a ride,” and “only two will come back.” Calling the...

WASHINGTON -- Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John McCain are set to introduce a revised version of their sweeping plan to overhaul the nation's immigration laws, in a bill that's likely to restart a tense debate in Congress. The measure, which is being drafted in consultation with the White House, will largely mirror the immigration bill that stalled last year, according to lawmakers and aides involved in the process. That measure was blocked primarily because House Republican leaders were adamantly opposed to provisions that would have allowed undocumented immigrants to become US citizens.

Release from Prison Equivalent to Death Sentence for Some By Neil Osterweil, Senior Associate Editor, MedPage Today Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco January 10, 2007 SEATTLE, Jan. 10 -- Persons newly released from prison, within their first two weeks of freedom, have a nearly 13-fold higher risk of death than those in the general population. And even two years after release, former inmates have a 3.5-fold greater risk of dying than others in the community, found Ingrid A. Binswanger, M.D., of the University of Washington in Seattle, and colleagues in...

Bill seeks to restore felons' voting rights TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A bill that would automatically return voting rights to felons after they complete their sentences has been introduced by a Florida legislator who is still in office even though he is a felon. The bill introduced Thursday by state Sen. Gary Siplin would change the state's long-standing constitutional ban on felons voting. Now, a felon's rights can be restored only by the state's clemency board, which must hear each case in a process that can take months or years. Florida is one of just three states – all in the...

TALLAHASSEE · Democrats in the Florida Senate are raising money to help re-elect fellow Democratic Sen. Gary Siplin, the Orlando legislator convicted earlier this year of felony grand theft. Senate Minority Leader Steve Geller of Hallandale Beach and seven other Democratic senators are named as hosts on invitations that have been sent out to lobbyists and others for an evening fundraiser on Siplin's behalf. The event will be at a bar a block from the Capitol when legislators return to Tallahassee next month for committee meetings. The invitations ask contributors to give Siplin $500 each, the maximum allowed by law....

Former national security adviser Sandy Berger removed classified documents from the National Archives in 2003 and hid them under a construction trailer, the Archives inspector general reported Wednesday. The report was issued more than a year after Berger pleaded guilty and received a criminal sentence for removal of the documents. Inspector General Paul Brachfeld reported that when Berger was confronted by Archives officials about the missing documents, he said it was possible he threw them in his office trash. The report said that when Archives employees first suspected that Berger _ who had been President Clinton's national security adviser _...

TALLAHASSEE - Orlando Democratic State Sen. Gary Siplin has earned a distinction unique in the history of Florida: He's the only legislator to remain in office even though he is a convicted felon. And Siplin -- who still owes Miami-Dade taxpayers nearly $200,000 for a business loan he once received ---- is probably going to stay in office for a while. Unlike local elected officials, who can be suspended by the governor after a felony conviction, Siplin's fate rests only in the hands of his fellow senators. And so far, neither Republican leaders in the Senate nor Democratic colleagues support...

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - A California court issued arrest warrants Wednesday for former Hewlett-Packard Co. Chairwoman Patricia Dunn, former senior counsel Kevin Hunsaker and three private investigators tied to the technology giant's pretexting scandal after they were charged with felonies in connection with the H-P boardroom leak scandal. The five are charged with fraudulent wire communications, wrongful use of computer data, identity theft and conspiracy. ~ snip ~

CBS) LAKE FOREST, Calif. A man was arrested after spitting at an anti-illegal immigration protester in Lake Forest then running away from pursuing deputies. At about 8:30 a.m., a man allegedly drove past a rally at Jeronimo Lane and Orange Street and spat at one of about 40 protesters gathered at the corner, according to Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino. When sheriff's deputies caught up with the man and stopped his vehicle, the man exited his car and ran as officers pursued him. The suspect, 24-year-old Hugo Maldonado, was discovered to have an outstanding warrant for his arrest....

A man is suing an auto-parts store for assault and battery after he attempted to hold up the business and employees responded by beating him with a metal pipe. Dana Buckman, 46, walked into an auto shop brandishing a semiautomatic pistol July 5, 2005, only to have it turned on him by employees Eli Crespo and Jerry Vega, police said. The men beat Buckman with a metal pipe and held him with his own gun. Buckman escaped, only to be arrested a week later. He pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery and was sentenced to 18 years in prison as a...

SAN ANTONIO (AP) - Former San Antonio mayor Henry Cisneros says the United States has the right to secure and seal its borders, but he warned it should be done with "a sense of humanity and human rights." Cisneros, the former U.S. housing secretary under Democratic President Bill Clinton, made an impassioned speech on the subject Friday during the Bilateral Immigration Forum. "I believe in immigration," he said. "I have used religious words in this regard. It is the salvation of the American future." Cisneros cited personal reasons behind his stance. His grandfather came to Texas from Mexico to escape...

ISSAQUAH - The Issaquah man who claims he shot a black bear in self-defense near his home Monday night is now under investigation by the Department of Fish and Wildlife for being a felon in possession of a firearm and for hunting a bear out of season. King County Sheriff's deputies, officers with the Department of Fish and Wildlife, and agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms served a search warrant Wednesday at Aaron Enright's home in the rural High Point neighborhood near Issaquah. They seized the 10-gauge shotgun he used to shoot the bear, a .22-caliber rifle...

UK hacker Gary McKinnon should be recommended for extradition to the US, a district court judge has ruled. The decision means Mr McKinnon will face trial in America for what the US has called "the biggest military hack of all time". Although he has admitted hacking US military networks, Mr McKinnon said he was motivated by curiosity not malice. The final decision on whether the Londoner should be sent to the US for trial rests with the home secretary. Hack attack The decision was given at Bow Street Magistrates' Court in London and ends three years of uncertainty for Mr...

About 35,000 art enthusiasts packed the Boca Raton Museum of Art this spring to view exhibits that included the paintings of Milton Avery, a modernist often called the "American Matisse." Now, seven of those paintings have vanished and so has the ex-con with a suspended driver's license who was entrusted to drive them to the Avery estate in New York. Authorities are looking for Patrick McIntosh, 36, a 6-foot, 9-inch art-transport driver who disappeared April 18 with a rented Budget truck after he loaded Avery's works along with furniture, sculptures, photos and other art from at least 14 other collectors...

I need help with setting up a website against a RINO politician. I have plenty of experience with editing the webpage etc, I need to know some of the places I can go to register the RINO's name. Since this will be the real name of the incumbent (county official) I am concerned that they could shut down the website, because I am using their real name. I know my name will be known, I am not afraid of being found out. I just want to list the facts about this idiot under their own name. I want to use...

President Victor Yushchenko’s bloc, Our Ukraine, on Tuesday attacked its main rival at the upcoming parliamentary election by bringing up an issue of jail sentences apparently served by former Prime Minister Victor Yanukovych, Ukrainian journal reported. The attack focusing on Yanukovych’s jail sentences, apparently in 1969 and 1970, and apparently for robbery and assault, may shatter the party’s rating ahead of the vote, analysts said. Roman Zvarych, the chief of Our Ukraine’s legal department and former Justice Minister, said his group had filed an inquiry with law enforcement agencies whether Yanukovych’s jail sentences had been canceled legally. Internal Affairs Minister...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) - A man who won a school board seat while jailed on a parole violation says he will resign. Randy L. Hale said Tuesday he will step down from the Romoland School District board to save the district from spending money to contest the election. Trustees in the district 70 miles north of San Diego voted last month to take steps to prevent Hale from serving. "My goal is to help the community and help inform people about what they need to know," Hale told the Riverside Press-Enterprise in a phone call from the state prison in...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) - A local school board will ask a newly elected member to resign because he is a convicted felon and is in prison. The board of the Romoland School District voted Tuesday to take steps to ensure that Randy L. Hale doesn't take the seat he won last month while serving time for violating parole. He has convictions for robbery, burglary, domestic abuse and drug possession that date to the mid-1980s. If Hale refuses to resign, the district could contest the election and file a lawsuit asking a court to decide Hale's election status. Hale did not...

Is Hillary a centrist? Let's look at her votes President Bill Clinton was elected in 1992, and I'm still trying to figure out exactly what a "New Democrat" is. Specifically, was the phrase anything more than a cynical Clintonian effort to make liberal Democrats appear more moderate? Looking ahead, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), who must be considered the early Democratic front-runner for the White House in 2008, seems to be adopting a similar strategy. Over the past year, much has been made in various media accounts of Clinton's leaving her liberalism behind in favor of the center.

HELENA, Mont. - A hunter who drew one of two dozen coveted licenses to take part in one of Montana's first bison hunts in 15 years is a convicted felon who legally can't carry a gun. The state Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks acknowledged that it has no authority to strip the man of the license. However, officials have alerted the man's probation officer. "Obviously as a convicted felon (on probation), he cannot possess or use a firearm," said agency spokeswoman Mel Frost. "If he does use a firearm, it is not violating Fish, Wildlife and Parks rules. It...

ANGELES -- Dozens of protesters wave signs branding police as "baby killers." They heckle passing police cars as lines of baton-toting officers keep close watch on the restless crowd. A police shootout this week that took the life of a toddler whose father held her as a shield has brought irate residents back to the streets of Watts, where 40 summers ago a deadly riot came to symbolize America's urban despair. "We've got some trigger-happy policemen that don't belong on that force," Joeanne Gibson, 47, said at a growing makeshift memorial for the young victim, Suzie Pena. "I don't think...

"If we went down to the Camelback Inn today in Phoenix and arrested everyone who’s working there illegally, the place would probably shut down," McCain was quoted as saying in The Hill, a nonpartisan newspaper covering politics in the nation’s capitol.