Free Republic

Several Israeli officials instructed not to visit European country due to international arrest warrant issued against them over their involvement in assassination of senior Hamas member Salah Shehade The Foreign Ministry has instructed a number of Israeli officials not to visit Spain after an international arrest warrant was issued against them on suspicion of committing war crimes. A Spanish human rights organization, believed to be representing a Palestinian group, filed a lawsuit last week against Israeli officials involved in the assassination of senior Hamas member Salah Shehade six years ago. Sixteen Palestinians were killed in the airstrike in the heart...

Returning from a brief vacation to Germany in February, Bill Hogan was selected for additional screening by customs officials at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C. Agents searched Hogan's luggage and then popped an unexpected question: Was he carrying any digital media cards or drives in his pockets? "Then they told me that they were impounding my laptop," says Hogan, a freelance investigative reporter whose recent stories have ranged from the origins of the Iraq war to the impact of money in presidential politics. Shaken by the encounter, Hogan says he left the airport and examined his bags, finding that...

Law enforcement officers may have blood drawn as evidence of DWI if they have probable cause to believe criminal vehicular operation or homicide has happened, state Supreme Court rules. When authorities have reason to believe that a drunken driver has caused a serious or fatal accident they have a right to draw the driver's blood to test its alcohol content without their consent and without a search warrant, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Friday. The ruling was greeted with relief by law enforcers. The high court reversed a ruling by a Dakota County district judge in the case of Janet...

Wireless carriers give location to police without a warrant The call came in to police just after midnight April 16. Hours before, a distraught young man had phoned his mother, hinting he wanted to kill himself. When he didn't meet her as planned, she telephoned Seattle police and reported her son missing. Because of increasing advances in technology, officers were able to find the missing man's cellular phone using his wireless network. Two hours after he was reported missing, the man was found alive but unwell lying on his desk and taken to University Hospital for a psychological evaluation. The...

OAKLAND _ A six-month pilot program where Oakland police officers would knock on doors and ask permission to search homes for guns got the green light from the City Council's public safety committee Tuesday night. It goes to the full council Tuesday, when the council will meet at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza. The consent-to-search program, as it is called, is based closely on a similar effort launched in St. Louis in 1994 and on ongoing programs in Boston and Washington, D.C. The idea is simple: To ask parents for permission to search their homes for...

Last month, the House amended the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to expand the government’s ability to monitor our private communications. This measure, if it becomes law, will result in more warrantless government surveillance of innocent American citizens. Though some opponents claimed that the only controversial part of this legislation was its grant of immunity to telecommunications companies, there is much more to be wary of in the bill. In the House version, Title II, Section 801, extends immunity from prosecution of civil legal action to people and companies including any provider of an electronic communication service, any provider...

While David Houghton and Abby Simpson were on holiday, someone broke into their home - and all they took was their old gas meter. British Gas, they discovered, had hired a locksmith to gain entry to their flat in north London and changed their old meter to a pay-as-you-go version, because the company - mistakenly - believed the couple owed them money. It may sound suprising, but according to a 2007 report by Harry Snook, a barrister for the Centre for Policy Studies, there are 266 powers allowing officials to enter your home, and not all require a warrant. Under...

A bill to extend the Protect America Act of 2007 for 30 Days Madame Speaker, I rise in opposition to the extension of the Protect America Act of 2007 because the underlying legislation violates the US Constitution. The mis-named Protect America Act allows the US government to monitor telephone calls and other electronic communications of American citizens without a warrant. This clearly violates the Fourth Amendment, which states: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable...

Boston police are launching a program that will call upon parents in high-crime neighborhoods to allow detectives into their homes, without a warrant, to search for guns in their children's bedrooms. more stories like this Witness intimidation ruling upheld Trooper says police halted his gigs as DJ Police chief pledges probe 26 arrested after Red Sox win pennant Fans celebrate Sox' World Series berth The program, which is already raising questions about civil liberties, is based on the premise that parents are so fearful of gun violence and the possibility that their own teenagers will be caught up in it...

WASHINGTON — A bench warrant was issued Thursday for antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan, who did not appear for arraigment Thursday in a Washington, D.C., courtroom to face charges related to her Sept. 10 disorderly conduct arrest at the Capitol. Distict of Columbia Superior Court Judge Michael McCarthy issued the order to Sheehan around noon, a court spokeswoman said. The warrant means she is to be taken into custody and brought before the court. She also faces one count of unlawful assembly.

California Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer followed presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton's lead on Wednesday and announced they would get rid of donations from a fundraiser who is wanted for sentencing on a 1991 grand theft charge. Two California Democratic House members, Mike Honda of San Jose and Doris Matsui of Sacramento, also said they were dumping campaign cash from Norman Hsu. The moves came after two days of scrutiny on Norman Hsu, who had donated $23,000 to Clinton. The New York senator plans to give the money to charity. Hsu gave $1,000 to Feinstein and $2,000 to...

Canadian border guards are stunned by a landmark Provincial Court ruling that they must obtain a warrant before thoroughly searching a suspicious vehicle. "This is huge. I can't believe it. If this stands, we might just as well go out of business," Ron Moran, national president of the 10,000-member Custom Excise Union and a customs official for 27 years, said yesterday. "Until this judgment, it would never even have crossed our minds to obtain a search warrant. It's just not part of what we're taught." Mr. Moran was commenting on a little-noticed decision last week that acquitted a B.C. man...

NEW DELHI (AP) - A court issued arrest warrants for Hollywood actor Richard Gere and Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty on Thursday, saying their kiss at a public function "transgressed all limits of vulgarity," media reports said.

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. - A judge issued an arrest warrant Tuesday for Daniel Baldwin after he failed to appear in Orange County Superior Court on charges that he illegally took another person's car. "He had an arraignment scheduled and he did not appear so a bench warrant has been issued," said Farrah Emami, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office. "I was sitting in court. He most definitely did not show up." The 46-year-old actor's manager, Daniel Spilo, said, "You guys need to get your facts straight and call us back," but declined further comment. A second call to Spilo...

A month before Tuesday's raid at Swift & Co. slaughterhouse in Worthington, Minn., federal agents already had cornered a Honduran national accused of trafficking in genuine identification documents in the small Minnesota town. Federal agents, acting on a tip from Worthington police, set up a sting to buy three Puerto Rican birth certificates and Social Security cards from Bismarck Guillen-

ON THE HILLNews from the Louisiana delegation in the nation's capital Sunday, September 03, 2006 By Bruce Alpert and Bill Walsh Waiting on warrant protocol The Justice Department doesn't plan to issue guidelines for executing criminal search warrants on congressional offices until after the legal wrangling with Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, is over, a top official said last week. "What is decided there (in the case) might be informative for us," Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty said in a brief interview. **SNIP** Jefferson leads pack in postal privileges Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, leads the Louisiana delegation in sending...

Warrant will give EU judges power over British police By David Rennie in Brussels (Filed: 02/06/2006) The Government signed up to a European Evidence Warrant yesterday that gives foreign judges the power to send British police into a British home and seize evidence in connection with suspected crimes committed in other European Union nations. The new warrant is founded on the principle of "mutual recognition", meaning that British authorities have only the most slender, technical of reasons to object to a warrant, and in most cases must execute them automatically, as if they were issued by a British court. The...

Press Release of Senator DeWine DEWINE, GRAHAM, HAGEL & SNOWE INTRODUCE THE TERRORIST SURVEILLANCE ACT OF 2006 Contact: Mike Dawson Thursday, March 16, 2006 Today, Senators Mike DeWine (R-OH), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) introduced the Terrorist Surveillance Act of 2006, a measure that would provide a statutory framework, with congressional and judicial oversight for the President to conduct electronic surveillance on the international communications of suspected terrorists, while protecting the rights and liberties of American citizens. “As the President has said, when terrorists call the United States, we want to know who they’re...

A Nogales, Sonora, police commander is in the Santa Cruz County jail after immigration authorities matched his fingerprints to a warrant out of California. On April 4 at about 10:30 p.m., U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers detained Jesus Rolando Villanueva Ramos, 45, as he attempted to pass through the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry in Nogales, Ariz., said Roger Maier, Customs and Border Protection spokesman. Officers pulled Villanueva Ramos over for a secondary check and discovered a California warrant for his arrest after running his fingerprints through the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS), Maier said. He was detained...

On March 10, parts of the Patriot Act expire again. Section 215, most famous for the alleged threat it poses to library patrons ... doesn't single out libraries but relates to official requests for "... books, records, ... etc.". The provision is not known to have been invoked yet .... To hear the ALA talk, librarians are the last bulwark defending our most cherished civil liberties against government assault. Yet two recent examples show again that self-anointed guardians of the public good can be very selective about the people, and rights, they choose to protect. One example came from Newton,...

MARINE CORPS RECRUITING STATION DENVER (Feb. 8, 2006) -- Making the transition from enlisted Marine to warrant officer is something that many Marines often dream of, but rarely act on. However, Chief Warrant Officer Thomas W. Walker, formerly a gunnery sergeant, has long established himself as a leader. He now looks forward to his next steps as an officer of Marines. “The Corps offers many bittersweet moments and this is one of them,” said Master Sgt. Al Matthews, assistant recruiter instructor for RS Denver. “I hate to see him go. He was an outstanding NCOIC and recruiter who, as a...

U.S. MARINE CORPS FORCES, PACIFIC, CAMP H. M. SMITH, Hawaii (Feb. 01, 2006) -- Surrounded by friends, coworkers and with his wife on the cell phone from North Carolina, Todd D. Nicodemus was promoted from gunnery sergeant to warrant officer during a ceremony at the USS Arizona Marine Corps Remembrance at Pearl Harbor, Feb. 1. Nicodemus chose the location of the ceremony in honor of the 73 Marines that gave their lives and the 15 who fought and survived the attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941. “It is truly an honor to be promoted at the USS Arizona Marine...

Daniel E. McAllister, 48, remains free on bail after pleading guilty Friday to having grown up to $1 million worth of marijuana plants at his Hillsborough Road residence. His attorney is preparing an appeal to a higher court to challenge the search of his client's property that led to the charge. Mr. McAllister will remain out on $150,000 bail until he is sentenced in about two months, according to Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne J. Forrest. Mr. Forrest said that Mr. McAllister faces up to 40 years in prison for admitting to maintaining a marijuana production facility and to possessing between...

LYON, France - The international police organization Interpol said on Wednesday it had issued a worldwide arrest warrant for Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, who is wanted in several countries for attacks he allegedly carried out for the Al Qaeda terrorist organisation. The so-called Red Notice was issued at the request of Algeria, which wants Zarqawi arrested in connection with the kidnap and murder of two Algerian diplomats in Iraq in July 2005. The head of Al Qaeda operations in Iraq, Zarqawi is also wanted by police in Germany for his part in a number of terrorist offenses and is sought...

It was 28 seconds past 7:45 p.m. on Aug.18 when the 911 dispatcher took the call from Sascha Wagner. “There’s someone breaking into the house,” she yelled at the 911 operator, giving the address of the home she shares with David Scheper on the 800 block of West Lombard Street. “Send police now!” The intruders? They got in. They took $1,440 in cash Scheper says he withdrew from his bank account in order to buy a used pickup truck. They hit a 70-year-old art-deco-style metal desk with an ax. They took 18 of Scheper’s guns—mostly inoperable antiques, he says—and some...

There’s a lot being said about Bush’s wiretapping without a warrant. However, this intrusion into our privacy is nothing new. According to Drudge, Clinton did it and so did Carter. Clinton "authorized to approve physical searches, without a court order" during what it now falsely deemed the golden age of peace during the fat 90s, when our current and real enemies were planning death in secret. So why did Clinton seek such a broad extention of his executive powers? Bush at least has done so with the war against Islamism as an alibi. Ditto for Carter during the Cold War....

[b]Boxer Asks Presidential Scholars about Former White House Counsel's Statement that Bush Admitted to an "Impeachable Offense"[/b] News from the Sen. Boxer's office: Washington, D.C.– U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) today asked four presidential scholars for their opinion on former White House Counsel John Dean’s statement that President Bush admitted to an "impeachable offense" when he said he authorized the National Security Agency to spy on Americans without getting a warrant from a judge. Boxer said, "I take very seriously Mr. Dean's comments, as I view him to be an expert on Presidential abuse of power. I am expecting a...

2:47pm 10/19/05 Court issues warrant for DeLay, sets bail: AP By William L. Watts WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- A Texas court on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and set his bail at $10,000 in a routine step before his first court appearance on conspiracy and state money laundering charges, the Associated Press reported. The issuance of the warrant is "a matter of routine and bond will be posted," DeLay attorney Dick DeGuerin told the A.P. The lawyer said DeLay would make his first court appearance Friday morning. DeLay, who remains a member of...

Wednesday July 13, 11:28 PM LEAD: N. Korean agent on wanted list taught Korean to Japanese abductees(Kyodo) _ (EDS: CLARIFYING 6TH GRAF, ADDING INFO IN 7TH GRAF) A former North Korean agent, who is on an international wanted list, taught the Korean language and North Korean philosophy to two Japanese citizens including Megumi Yokota who were abducted to the North in the late 1970s, sources familiar with the issue said Wednesday. Sin Guang Su, the 76-year-old North Korean agent, was in charge of providing education to Yokota and Hitomi Soga at a guesthouse in Pyongyang where the two Japanese were...

Baltimore police said yesterday they raided an East Baltimore clothing store allegedly used as a front for the illegal sale of high-powered weapons and accessories, including assault rifles, shotguns, handguns, ammunition and body armor. Organized-crime detectives raided the store, Moon Wear in the 2400 block of Greenmount Ave. on Thursday, about 15 hours after its owner, Andre Mills, 33, was pulled over on a traffic stop, police said. During the stop, officers said they discovered ammunition for high-powered rifles. Police obtained a warrant and searched the store, recovering one Bushmaster assault rifle, three handguns, a Mossberg shotgun equipped with a...

Legalized Theft Mark Jurries II @ 8:11 pm Y'all have no doubt heard about the Supreme Court's decision to allow local governments to seize homes if it's proven to be in the public's interest. This is, as Thomas Fleming and Joseph Farah have pointed out, a trampling on a vital right, the right to land ownership. Essentially, this ruling takes the view that the government owns the land in practice, and can boot tenants out as it sees fit. While I generally don’t get all worked up over greedy businesses and what have you, it’s nonetheless obvious that unscrupulous...

ELKHART -- A grand jury Monday cleared Elkhart Police Cpl. Doug Ryback of any charges in connection with the shooting death of Stanley Creal, 50, who was killed Oct. 6 as police executed a search warrant. Ryback said he couldn't comment on the grand jury's decision, citing policies of the police department and a possible internal investigation, common practice in police shootings. Ryback's relief, however -- and that of several of his colleagues, who spent the day with him -- was evident after the jurors left the Elkhart Circuit Courtroom. Prosecutor Curtis Hill also said little about the case or...

Controversial cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri has been arrested in London on an extradition warrant issued by the US government. Scotland Yard has confirmed a 47-year-old man was arrested at his home in west London at 0300 BST on Thursday. Mr Abu Hamza, who preaches outside the Finsbury Park mosque in north London, will appear before magistrates sitting at Belmarsh on Thursday. He is currently fighting attempts to remove his UK citizenship. A Scotland Yard spokesman said his home was being searched by anti-terrorist officers under the Extradition Act 2003. BBC social affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford said the Americans had been...

Jackson to turn himself in tommorrow (20 NOV 03) according to family. This is despite the recent reports from other news agencies that he assured Sherrifs' office that he would surrender immediately upon landing in Santa Barbara after returning from Las Vegas.

(AP) - Federal agents were looking for a rocket launcher and automatic weapons when they pulled up to a house on a rural Montana ranch, but the warrant they carried mentioned nothing about the suspected cache. The omission was a mistake by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Agent Jeff Groh, and it could cost him. Unless the Supreme Court says otherwise, Groh will face a lawsuit for damages for violating the constitutional rights of Joseph and Julia Ramirez, who lived on Moose Creek Ranch. During a lively argument session Tuesday, several justices seemed unwilling to let Groh off the...

<p>FREMONT -- A 41-year-old Fremont man whose dog was shot by police officers when they forcibly entered his house looking for marijuana plants has a prescription from his doctor to use pot and a certificate from the Oakland Cannabis Cooperative allowing him to grow and possess it, according to documents obtained by ANG Newspapers. Robert Filgo and his wife, Yvette Filgo, 38, were arrested Tuesday night after seven police officers served a search warrant at their Niles home and found 79 plants in the back yard and garage.</p>

<p>Dww.papercut.biays after cops ransacked the home of Marie and Robert Rogers and held the Queens couple at gunpoint in a mistaken drug raid last year, their attorney issued a prophetic warning.</p> <p>"We must do a better job of no-knock search warrants," lawyer Norman Siegel said during an October press conference. "Otherwise, someone might wind up dead as a result of how we implement this procedure."</p>

Dawn Marie Gentry says she's been victimized twice -- once by her husband, who is charged with beating her, and once by State Attorney Lawson Lamar's office. Someone in Lamar's office made a data-entry error that led police to arrest her, not her husband, in the case. The result: She spent a night in the Orange County Jail. That's because someone in Lamar's office incorrectly entered data into the state attorney's computer system that mistakenly described Dawn Marie as the suspect while correctly naming her husband, Ronnie Gentry. So when police went to make the arrest Tuesday night, the suspect's...

Back in the last century, in high school American government class, we actually had to be able to recite and discuss each of the first ten amendments to our Constitution. I still remember reciting the Fourth Amendment in class. "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated and no Warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." The important words, we learned, were that...

<p>Long Duy Tran's family hadn't seen him in more than a week, so they called police to report him missing.</p> <p>The next day, investigators kicked in the family's front door and served a search warrant on the home near Flickinger Park, where Tran was accused of deadly assault for his part in last week's fatal brawl between rival San Jose State University fraternities.</p>

Subject to inspectionBelleville inspectors and armed police officers show up without search warrants to check for occupancy code violations, and ticket people who don't let them in -- a practice experts say is unconstitutional. BY GEORGE PAWLACZYKBelleville News-Democrat and Beth HundsdorferInvite friends over, babysit your grandchildren or allow relatives to spend the night in Belleville and you risk an armed police officer turning up at your door to search your home and give you a ticket.Enforcement teams consisting of a housing inspector and a police officer do not obtain search warrants before showing up to check for occupancy code violations,...

Teenage drinkers to face penalties WAYNE - Police will have the authority to enter private property and fine minors caught drinking alcohol unsupervised under a new township ordinance. Federal law dictates that anyone under the age of 21 is prohibited from purchasing or drinking alcoholic beverages. Until now, police could enforce the law only if underage drinking was observed in a public area. In 2000, Gov. Christie Whitman signed a bill that allowed local authorities to enforce the law within private properties, provided there was probable cause. Under that law, minors are allowed to drink alcohol only in the presence...

http://news.findlaw.com/cnn/docs/sniper/usmhmmd102302wcmp.pdf Very interesting read...the warrant of John Allen Muhammad.

FAIRFIELD -- A man who investigators say wounded a sheriff's deputy before killing himself Saturday had his guns taken away from him by police last month -- but one apparently slipped through the cracks. Ray Weaver, 60, of Wendell owned the .357 magnum revolver that was used in the shootings, said Gooding County Sheriff Shaun Gough. Weaver on July 29 was supposed to have turned every gun he owned over to officers in connection with a charge of violating a civil protection order, Wendell Police Chief Dave Fisher said. Weaver that day did hand over 11 guns -- including a...