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Bernie's funda-mental defense Sunday, December 28th 2008, 4:34 AM If you thought Bernard Madoff’s $50 billion investment scheme was audacious, get ready for his alibi. Lawyers for the accused scammer are exploring an insanity defense, we hear. “Bernie’s family and his attorneys may argue that, somewhere along the line, he had a mental break,” says a Madoff acquaintance. “They may even say he has a multiple personality disorder.” Madoff’s grip on reality does show signs of slipping. The 70-year-old financier, now a prisoner of his East Side penthouse, wore a weird smile when he was photographed shortly after his Dec....

Sen. Larry Craig's actions an airport bathroom stall in June didn't constitute a crime and he should be allowed to withdraw his guilty plea, Craig's lawyer argued today. In a 45-minute hearing covered by a crowd of local and national media, William Martin faced skeptical questioning from Hennepin County District Court Judge Charles Porter, Jr. Porter said he doesn't expect to rule on Craig's petition for at least a week and a half. "Seeking to have a guilty plea overturned is nearly impossible and it should be," Martin acknowledged during the hearing. But he also argued that Craig's plea was...

U.S. Sen. Larry Craig's (R-Idaho) motion to withdraw his guilty plea will be heard in a Hennepin County District court room this week. You read it here first: Contrary to conventional wisdom, Craig will win this motion. I was out of the country and completely unplugged when the Larry Craig story broke. The only U.S. news I saw while I was in Egypt and Jordan were the mimeographed news sheets printed from an international Internet news service that were hung on hotel room doors each morning. Certainly it was amusing to see the men's room at the Minneapolis St. Paul...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Larry Craig should be allowed to withdraw his guilty plea in a sex sting because he was under extreme stress after being hounded by journalists asking questions about his sexuality, his lawyer argues. Craig, an Idaho Republican, pleaded guilty in August to disorderly conduct following a sting operation in a men's bathroom at the Minneapolis airport. His lawyer, William Martin, said he will file court documents Monday trying to undo that decision so Craig can fight the charge. Martin said Monday that Craig did not "knowingly and intelligently enter a guilty plea." The senator simply admitted...

Former Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong pleaded not guilty to a criminal contempt of court charge this morning in the same courtroom where he once prosecuted people accused of crimes.

NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, March 30, 2007 – The military commission judge today accepted the guilty plea of Australian detainee David Hicks to one charge of material support for terrorism, moving Hicks toward a possible jail sentence of up to seven years. Hicks, 31, entered a guilty plea March 26 in an evening court session here. After days of negotiations between prosecution and defense counsel, today’s hearing established the exact elements of the charge to which Hicks is pleading guilty. Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann, the military judge, also revealed that a pre-trial agreement limiting Hicks’s sentence to seven...

Nato plea for extra troops to fight Taliban will be ignored By Patrick Bishop, in Kabul (Filed: 13/09/2006) The chances of complete success in Nato's campaign against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan were jeopardised yesterday after it appeared that some key European allies will turn a deaf ear to an appeal for more troops. At the alliance HQ today, the 26 member nations will respond to a plea by Gen James Jones, Nato's top commander, for 2,000 extra men. But a senior Nato official admitted: "At the moment there's no indication of any substantive offers. The signs are that the...

Police report says Epstein had okayed deal in underage sex probe JULY 27--Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, now ensnared in a sleazy Palm Beach teenage sex/massage scandal, agreed earlier this year to plead guilty to an aggravated assault charge, serve five years probation, undergo "psychiatric/sexual evaluation," and have no unsupervised visits with minors, according to a police report. The details of the Epstein plea agreement--which was never finalized--are contained in an 87-page Palm Beach Police Department incident report, an excerpt of which you'll find below. According to an account by Detective Joseph Recarey, prosecutor Lana Belohlavek related to him the terms of...

LOS ANGELES - Film director Lee Tamahori pleaded no contest to criminal trespass in return for two prostitution charges against him being dropped, authorities said Thursday. The plea deal stemmed from Tamahori's Jan. 8 arrest for allegedly soliciting an undercover police officer in Hollywood and offering to perform a sex act for money. The two dropped charges, said city attorney spokesman Frank Mateljan, were misdemeanor counts of solicitation and loitering with the intent to commit prostitution. Tamahori, who was not present at the hearing in Superior Court, was placed on three years probation, ordered to attend an AIDS education course...

Jefferson 'perplexed' by aide's guilty plea; says he did no wrong By: CHEVEL JOHNSON - Associated Press Last modified Friday, January 13, 2006 10:32 PM PST Louisiana Congressman, William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, left, and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, appear before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Housing and Community Development meeting in New Orleans Friday afternoon Jan. 13, 2006. The subcommittee came to New Orleans to discussing the housing problems caused by Hurricane Katrina. (AP Photo/Bill Haber) NEW ORLEANS -- Two days after his former aide's guilty plea implicated him in a bribery case, Rep. William Jefferson said Friday he...

Sometimes you get to wondering about emails you receive -- especially in the political blogsphere. One email which ended up in my inbox has got me to thinking: Is this a legitimate email, a plea for help from genuine Iranian dissidents, some crazy rant/fatwa by Islamists, or yet another in a string of Internet scams? I've been receiving emails over the last month from "goftare nik" (moslem11@gmail.com) which is addressed to hamahd19@yahoo.com, a mailing list which must somehow contain my own email address. The subject line of the email is "(( raahbare mellate iran agha pro.ebrahim mirzaie))," which obviously pertains...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican House members disturbed that their former GOP colleague Randy "Duke" Cunningham will get to keep his pension despite pleading guilty to bribery want to pass a law to strip federal pensions from white-collar criminals. Under federal law, only a conviction for a crime against the United States, such as treason or espionage, can cause a member of Congress or other federal employee to lose his or her government pension. That means Cunningham, a San Diego-area Republican, will keep his pension despite admitting taking $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors and others in exchange for government...

Ex-Cuba inmates in hostage plea New video footage shows the men wearing orange jump suits Britain's former Guantanamo detainees call for the release of Norman Kember and three other hostages held in Iraq. Moazzam Begg told the BBC's Newsnight he and his fellow former inmates had been reminded of their ordeal by seeing the 74-year-old Briton in a jumpsuit. UK foreign secretary Jack Straw has repeated calls for the men's release and urged the captors to make contact. Meanwhile, friends and supporters of Mr Kember have been holding a candelit vigil outside Peterborough Cathedral. The Swords of Truth group had...

THE GOP'S SCANLON NIGHTMARE....Uber-activist Paul Weyrich told the LA Times a few weeks ago, "I've been talking to some [Republican] members who are scared to death" by the Abramoff affair. Weyrich added, "That one has the potential for blowing into something far larger." With this in mind, it's difficult to overstate just how much Michael Scanlon's plea deal strikes fear into the heart of Congress. A onetime congressional staffer who became a top partner to lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiring to bribe a congressman and other public officials and agreed to pay back more than $19 million...

TAMPA - Before she could plead not guilty by reason of insanity to charges she committed lewd or lascivious battery on a teenager, Debra Lafave pleaded guilty. But, she will not go to prison. The former Greco Middle School teacher, accused of having sex with a 14-year-old boy, came to a plea agreement with prosecutors Tuesday. As part of the agreement, Lafave, 25, will serve three years community control (house arrest), and seven years probation. The judge said Lafave could have been sentenced to decades in state prison. "I accept full responsibility for my actions," Lafave told the court. Prosecutor...

Bird flu: plea for vaccine stockpile Tough measures agreed to combat virus Leo Cendrowicz in Brussels, Helena Smith in Athens and John Aglionby in Jakarta Saturday October 15, 2005 The Guardian (UK) EU health officials last night demanded tough new measures to prevent the spread of deadly bird flu into Europe, including limits on public access to wetlands in high-risk areas and requirements that some poultry be kept inside. Veterinary experts agreed recommendations from the European commission that will require poultry farmers to be vaccinated against the human flu virus and to remain vigilant for tell-tale signs such as a...

Ex-Ark. Governor Loses Bid to Change Plea By KELLY P. KISSEL Associated Press Writer Jim Guy Tucker LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A federal appeals court rejected former Gov. Jim Guy Tucker's bid to withdraw his guilty plea in a tax fraud case that arose during the Whitewater investigation of his predecessor, Bill Clinton. Tucker admitted in 1998 that he conspired to impede the Internal Revenue Service by hiding the sale of a cable television business. The plea came two years after he was convicted of fraud in a case also brought by Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr. Tucker resigned but was...

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...

June 15, 2005 -- The shattered father of a Queens deli clerk shot dead by a retired police detective last fall collapsed in tears yesterday, telling a crowded courtroom how the incident had torn his life apart. "Every day, I miss his smile," said Noe Chametla, 40, of his boy. "Every day, I miss the phrase, 'Papi, I love you.' I don't have the chance to see him grow older, to see him become a man."

White farmers reject Mugabe plea to return By Toby Harnden , Chief Foreign Correspondent (Filed: 22/05/2005) White farmers evicted by Robert Mugabe's government have reacted with contempt to an offer that they should return to Zimbabwe to take part in "joint ventures" with those who brutalised them and stole their land.Gideon Gono, the governor of the country's central bank, suggested the idea last Thursday as a possible solution to Zimbabwe's economic crisis. A Zimbabwean woman surveys her devastated maize crop Greg McMurray, a tobacco farmer who fled Zimbabwe in 2001 and is now a grinder at a factory in Wiltshire,...

FORT HOOD, Texas — A military judge on Wednesday rejected Pfc. Lynndie England's guilty plea agreement in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal after another prisoner's testimony cast doubt on the prosecution's case. Earlier in the day, Pvt. Charles Graner Jr., the reputed ringleader in the scandal, contradicted a key part of England's guilty plea, in which she said she knew she was committing wrongful acts when she took part in the mistreatment of Iraqi detainees. Graner said that the notorious photos taken of England at the prison had a legitimate use, endangering England's guilty plea to seven abuse charges. Under...

The small joys of life when you live freely: walking into your kitchen for that first cup of coffee, driving down a curvy back road with no other cars in sight, choosing what you'll fix yourself for dinner. We take for granted these small freedoms -- yet they are freedoms we should value and recognize. A just society does not yank these rights from a young man for the rest of his life for a petty crime. The United States of America did just that when a federal court in Alabama sentenced Clarence Aaron to life without parole for a...

When Sgt. 1st Class James Martin deployed to Iraq, he had firm, negative opinions about the Iraqi people. Now, the Army National Guard soldier's perspective has changed. By U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class James Martin 230th Forward Support Battalion BAGHDAD, Iraq — Today I was sitting in the foyer of the clinic in Iraq. It had been a fairly busy day: a couple of cases of pink-eye, a few upper respiratory infections, many muscle strains, a broken leg. We treated about 50 soldiers and one Iraqi civilian who was trying to get something out of a car just before it...

NEW YORK (AP) - Anti-war activists planning a major demonstration on the eve of the Republican National Convention said Tuesday they will cancel a rally if they are denied permission to hold it in Central Park. The anti-war group, United for Peace and Justice, and city lawyers met for a hearing before state Supreme Court Justice Jacqueline Silbermann, who is considering whether the expected crowd of 250,000 people can assemble in the park on Sunday for a rally that the city argues would ruin the grass. The rally, featuring several speakers and an afternoon of programs, would follow a march...

According to Harvey Levin ("Celebrity Justice") from sources connected with both sides in Eagle, Colorado: 1) Kobe accepts a plea bargain for a non-sex crime misdemeanor such as Third-Degree assault. (misdemeanor, Kobe might get probation, wouldn't have to register as sex offender). 2) Kobe settles the civil case. Pays a financial settlement. Gives letter of apology saying, "that even though Kobe Bryant belived that he was doing nothing wrong, that she felt she had been assaulted in the hotel room, and for that he was sorry." No plea deals struck, but parties talking about it.

(Sgt. Charles Robert) Jenkins Ready for Court-Martial Yomiuri Shimbun Charles Jenkins, the husband of former abductee Hitomi Soga, has confided to his nephew that he is prepared to be court-martialed, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. Jenkins, who is accused of deserting the U.S. Army while stationed in South Korea in 1965, made the comment in a handwritten note delivered to James Hyman before he returned to his North Carolina home last Sunday. Hyman claimed in a press conference Friday in Tokyo that the Japanese government had prevented him from seeing his uncle. In the letter, Jenkins, whose full name...

STOCKTON - A day after he ruffled Democratic lawmakers by calling them "girlie men," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pressed ahead Sunday with another shopping mall attack but avoided repeating the reference. The Republican governor didn't soften his theme otherwise, nor shy away from plucking famous lines from his movies to thrill the crowd, as he urged thousands of fans jammed into a food court to unseat Democratic legislators in November if they do not agree to his version of a state spending plan, now 19 days late. "I am going to make you officially right now the terminators," Schwarzenegger said. "If...

Italians reject hostages plea (Filed: 28/04/2004) Italy's political leaders refused yesterday to bow to Iraqi kidnappers' threats to kill three Italian hostages unless there are mass protests against their country's military involvement in the country. But the men's relatives urged people to turn out at rallies next week. The men, captured outside Baghdad, were working for a private American security firm. A fourth Italian captive was killed after the kidnappers demanded the withdrawal of Italian troops from Iraq.

BAGHDAD, April 10 -- Insurgents attacked a U.S. airbase north of Baghdad Saturday with mortars, killing one soldier and wounding two. The death, announced by the Army, came at the close of the most violent week of combat since the capture of the capital a year ago.

Disclosure of Limbaugh plea talks draws rebuke By John Pacenti, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Saturday, January 24, 2004 WEST PALM BEACH -- The release Friday of hundreds of pages of records about the Rush Limbaugh investigation, including plea negotiations, incensed the radio commentator's attorney and brought renewed charges of a smear campaign by prosecutors. Responding to a conservative legal foundation's request for documents to support such a theory, State Attorney Barry Krischer's office released allegedly confidential letters between Limbaugh's attorney and prosecutors in which each side rejected the other's proposal late last year to make the prescription fraud case...

Plea for Bam rescuers not to fly home James Astill in Bam and David Pallister Thursday January 1, 2004 The Guardian (UK) Rescue teams now leaving Bam were implored to stay by the Red Crescent's senior official in the city yesterday, because he believes up to 1,000 people could still be buried alive. In a rebuke to the United Nations' strategy of redirecting resources to relief work, Jalil Tabatabaei said last night: "These [UN] officials think everyone is dead because they have no experience [of earthquakes]. On my calculations, I am sure 1,000 trapped people are still alive; we will...

LAFAYETTE, Ga. - A former crematory operator accused of dumping decaying bodies around his family business pleaded innocent Tuesday to some charges and contested the validity of hundreds of others. Ray Brent Marsh, 29, faces multiple counts of burial service fraud, making false statements, abuse of a dead body and theft. He remains free on bond. At Tuesday's arraignment hearing, Marsh pleaded not guilty to 122 counts of burial service fraud and 47 counts of making false statements. His lawyer, Ken Poston, said Marsh was withholding pleas on 179 counts of abuse of a body and 439 counts of theft...

<p>Invoking the words of Ronald Reagan -- another actor-turned politician -- Arnold Schwarzenegger told state Republican leaders and activists Saturday he is the only GOP candidate who can unite the party and take back the governor's office from the Democrats.</p>

Tornillo To Serve Two Years In Plea Deal Tornillo Will Get Two-Year Sentence NBC 6 News Team POSTED: 12:58 p.m. EDT August 25, 2003 UPDATED: 7:13 p.m. EDT August 25, 2003 MIAMI -- The longtime leader of the Miami-Dade County teacher's union pleaded guilty Monday in a deal after a public corruption task force found he fraudulently charged the organization for up to $650,000 in personal expenses for cruises, vacations and other luxuries. Pat Tornillo, on leave from the United Teachers of Dade, pleaded guilty to mail fraud and filing a false tax return under the deal in exchange for...

If Ronald Cantrell's case had gone to trial, jurors might have learned that DNA evidence never clearly linked him to the sexual assault of an 8-year-old girl. They also might have heard that the girl has accused another man, her mother's boyfriend, of abusing her in the same way, by forcing her to perform oral sex. Instead, he pleaded guilty, accepting a six-year sentence. And serious questions about his case, such as whether there ever was any DNA evidence, were never asked until a crisis at the Houston Police Department crime laboratory forced the review of hundreds of cases, including...

<p>WASHINGTON - Gov. Gray Davis pressed Washington on Tuesday for federal money to plug California's record budget gap, saying the state and others are ``being shortchanged'' by shouldering increased costs for Medicaid and domestic security.</p> <p>The governor, joined by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, also complained that eliminating the tax on stock dividends -- the centerpiece of President Bush's $674 billion economic-stimulus plan -- would drain $1 billion to $1.5 billion from California's coffers unless the state figures out a way to tax dividends separately.</p>

Tuesday, 8 October, 2002, 11:05 GMT 12:05 UK Cash plea for Russian meteor chasers The impact happened in Siberia on Thursday By Dr David Whitehouse BBC News Online science editor Scientists investigating what is believed to be a "significant" fresh meteor crater in a remote part of Siberia are begging for funds to mount an expedition. A British meteorite expert has called on the international scientific community to help Russian scientists get to the impact site, which may be of major scientific importance. It is imperative that US and UK funding bodies to support our Russian colleagues in their investigation...

Accused September 11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui withdraws guilty pleas.

March 4, 2001 An Epidemic of Gas Sniffing Decimates Arctic Indian Tribe By MARY ROGAN Photographs by ARLENE GOTTFRIED ate last fall, in a remote village in the north of Labrador, native leaders took the extraordinary step of asking the government to take their children away. "The safety of these children is the paramount issue," explained Paul Rich, Innu tribal chief, in a statement to the provincial government requesting the removal of nearly two dozen of the village's children. "The ongoing situation is drastic, and we need to take drastic measures," the plea continued. "We insist that these children...

<p>Washington -- By reaching a plea bargain with a man accused by the attorney general of fighting "side by side with tyrants," the government swiftly eliminated the risk of bringing unwanted attention to the underside of the U.S. war against terror.</p>

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Reuters) - John Walker Lindh, an American captured by U.S. forces during the war in Afghanistan ( news - web sites), has agreed to plead guilty to aiding the Taliban fundamentalist movement and carrying explosives, CNN said on Monday. CNN said the plea deal was announced at a hearing at U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, where Lindh's case was being heard. Lindh had originally pleaded not guilty to a 10-count indictment charging him with conspiring with the Taliban and Osama bin Laden ( news - web sites)'s al Qaeda network, blamed by the United States for the...

The Arthur Andersen auditor who oversaw Enron Corp.'s books pleaded guilty Tuesday to directing the shredding of Enron documents and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. Former partner David B. Duncan is believed to be the first person in the Enron case to strike a deal with federal prosecutors. He was fired by Andersen after the firm acknowledged the large-scale destruction of Enron documents and deletion of computer files related to the collapse of the energy giant. Duncan admitted persuading co-workers and others to shred documents to thwart the government's investigation into the collapse of the energy giant, according to court...

Duncan Agrees to work with prosecutorsA senior Arthur Anderson auditor was charged Tuesday with a single obstruction charge, and has agreed to plead guilty to thwarting the government's invesitgation into the collapse of Enron Corp, people familiar with the matter said Tuesday.

Negotiations about a possible sale of Arthur Andersen all but collapsed yesterday, even as senior executives of the firm decided that it would not plead guilty to charges of obstruction of justice in the Enron case, people close to the firm said. Signaling the new resolve, lawyers for the company delivered a letter to the Justice Department (news - web sites) last night, assailing the planned charges as "a gross abuse of governmental power." The aggressive posture was taken just hours before a government- imposed 9 a.m. deadline today in which Andersen, the accounting giant, had the choice of pleading...