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Nejourde Meacham, a 22-year-old non-violent defendant charged with entering the U.S. Capitol on during the January 6, 2021, riot, has died while facing prosecution for four misdemeanors in what may have been a suicide. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Meacham traveled to Washington, D.C., with his uncle, Odin. Both attended the “Stop the Steal” rally at the Washington Monument before proceeding to the U.S. Capitol. Odin was arrested in May this year and charged with violent felonies, including attacking police officers with a wooden pole.

@LeadingReport BREAKING: A federal appeals court has ruled that a January 6 defendant was wrongfully sentenced in a decision that could impact hundreds of cases.

By any standard, the treatment of January 6 defendants has been a disgrace to the Department of Justice, the DC federal bench, and the Constitution. Scores of people have been held in inhumane conditions in the DC Gulag, denied their constitutional right to speedy trial, and denied access to exculpatory evidence. The blanket media coverage excoriating them as “violent insurrectionists” has prevented these constitutional outrages from becoming a national scandal. But there is a chance, a small chance, that the release of CCTV Capitol video by Speaker McCarthy may change the national consensus (other than in conservative media) that there...

To successfully claim self-defense, the defendant must prove four elements. First, with exceptions, the defendant must prove that he or she was confronted with an unprovoked attack. Second, the defendant must prove that the threat of injury or death was imminent. Third, the defendant must prove that the degree of force used in self-defense was objectively reasonable under the circumstances. Fourth, the defendant must prove that he or she had an objectively reasonable fear that he or she was going to be injured or killed unless he or she used self-defense.

A Colorado man who in August pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of “parading” inside the Capitol during the January 6 “insurrection” begged a federal judge for leniency, declaring himself “an idiot,” new court filings show, and repeatedly apologized to America for his participation in the day’s events.Colorado Springs resident Glen Wes Lee Croy, 46, wrote in the letter to the federal judge in his case, as reported by WUSA in Denver:I am guilty of being an idiot and walking into that building, and again apologize to America and everyone for my role in participating.Croy apologized in a number of...

Federal prosecutors say that a Capitol riot defendant made false claims about his medical status while incarcerated in a Washington, D.C. jail. In a court filing on Wednesday, the government said it has “repeatedly been unable to sort fact from fiction” in reviewing claims of mistreatment made by Christopher Worrell. Prosecutors said the claims have “often been refuted, or at best unsubstantiated, by the medical notes and records that the government later obtains.”

No defendant being impeached in any trial should be subjected to this level of legal uncertainty It is remarkable to contemplate that even something as basic as the standard of proof required to convict President Trump cannot be agreed on between the House Managers and the President’s legal team. What then should be the standard of proof necessary for the House Managers to establish to convict the President of the alleged crimes for which he has been impeached: abuse of power and obstruction of justice? Should it be the criminal standard—proof beyond all reasonable doubt. or the civil standard—proof that...

I hereby accuse your bank, or one if its functionaries, of altering the original document, which is a crime in the State of Rhode Island, and then recording the altered document in the Narragansett Rhode Island Registry of Deeds for the sole purpose of illegally foreclosing on Mr. Brady's property. This too is a crime. I hereby impute this crime to you as the Captain of the Ship that is Bank of America. This is but a small sampling of the documentation that I have amassed in this file, but I am certain, that as an educated man, in charge...

‘Fast and Furious’ Linked to Immunity Deal Between U.S. and Sinaloa Cartel, Trafficking Defendant Alleges in Court PapersA Mexican drug trafficker awaiting trial in a Chicago federal court claims that the notorious Sinaloa cartel received weapons from "Operation Fast and Furious" under an alleged immunity agreement that the U.S. government made with cartel leaders, in exchange for information on rival gangs.The defendant in a trafficking case before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Vicente Jesus Zambada-Niebla, also claims the immunity deal allowed the criminal cartel to "continue to smuggle tons of illicit drugs" into the United...

The illegal alien was sentenced for having a bogus Social Security card A 50-year-old illegal alien from Mexico caught with an altered Social Security card got no "Welcome to the USA" greeting from a Lebanon County judge on Wednesday. "Go back to where you're from," Judge Bradford H. Charles told Maximo Saldana-Contreras before sentencing him. Saldana-Contreras, no known address, was sentenced to the three months he already served to 18 months in county prison and fined $100 for tampering with a public document. Saldana-Contreras altered a Social Security card to make it appear it belonged to him. State police stopped...

A defense lawyer is calling for calm after death threats have been made against teenagers charged in the death of 15-year-old Phoebe Prince, who committed suicide after she was allegedly bullied by schoolmates. "Not to minimize what happened to Phoebe Prince in any way, but translating this into death threats and public harassment has got to stop," says Colin Keefe, who represents Sharon Chanon Velazquez, accused of tormenting Prince, who hanged herself on Jan. 14. "It's gotten way out of control," adds Keefe, who says Velazquez has been driven temporarily from her home.

Why don't we start a letter writing campaign to the court to encourage them to give solid, real sentences to these monsters and not give them a slap on the wrist? By doing that we'll ensure that justice is done.

The attorney for one of six South Hadley High School students accused of bullying Phoebe Prince in the months leading up to her suicide is asking for highly personal information about her, a move decried by a former prosecutor and victims advocates as “unconscionable.” In a six-page motion filed in Northampton Superior Court, Terrence M. Dunphy, the lawyer for Austin Renaud, asks for the names of any physicians, psychologists or rape counselors Prince saw; any medical and psychological records viewed by the prosecutor; details of any prior allegations of rape or abuse by Prince; and a statement as to whether...

IMAGE: Star Simpson, right,19, of Lahaina, Hawaii, talks to her attorney, Thomas Dwyer, outside East Boston District Court, Friday, Feb. 1, 2008. Simpson was arrested by state troopers after she set off an airport bomb scare wearing a computer circuit board and wiring on her sweatshirt when she went to the airport to pick up her boyfriend last September. Simpson's attorney asked a judge to throw out the charges, saying the device was a legitimate form of free speech. (AP Photo/Bizuayehu Tesfaye)BOSTON (AP) — A computer science student who unwittingly created an airport bomb scare by wearing a blinking...

NEW YORK - A Houston oil trader with a minor role in the United Nations' oil-for-food scandal will not go to prison after admitting wrongdoing, a judge said Thursday. Ludmil Dionissiev, 61, pleaded guilty earlier this year to a smuggling charge for helping bring Iraqi oil into the United States in January 2001. In sentencing Dionissiev to two years of probation and ordering him to pay a $5,000 fine, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin called him the "least culpable" of those charged. Before he was sentenced, Dionissiev apologized, saying he knew what he was doing was wrong when he committed...

An appellate court has denied a motion to reinstate Sen. Hillary Clinton as a defendant in a lawsuit that claims she, former President Clinton and others induced a former supporter to finance a 2000 fundraising gala. The 2nd District Court of Appeal upheld a lower court's decision to remove the New York senator and Democratic presidential candidate from a lawsuit filed by Peter Paul. The three-judge panel also said Clinton can recoup legal costs. Paul claims he spent more than $1.9 million to underwrite the lavish Hollywood fundraising gala in August 2000 that attracted Brad Pitt, Diana Ross and Cher....

A federal judge today sentenced the last of four defendants indicted for voter registration fraud on the eve of the 2006 elections. Kwaim A. Stenson was sentenced to four months and five days, most of which he’s already served because his pre-trial release was revoked for illegal marijuana use. He’ll report to a half-way house in Springfield next week. “I’m sorry for all of this,” Stenson said before hearing his sentence. “I’m ready to get a new start on life.” The indictments against Stenson and three others sparked controversy earlier this year when critics charged that they were politically motivated....

The Case Against Jefferson06.07.2007 In The United States District Court For The Eastern District of Virginia Alexandria Division United States Of America v. William J. Jefferson, Defendant CRIMINAL NO. 1:07CR209 • Count 1: 18 V.S.C. & 371 (Conspiracy to Solicit Bribes by a Public Official, Deprive Citizens of Honest Services by Wire Fraud, and Violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act) • Count 2: 18 V.S.C. & 371 (Conspiracy to Solicit Bribes by a Public Official and Deprive Citizens of Honest Services by Wire Fraud) • Counts 3-4: 18 V.S.C. & 201(b)(2)(A) (Solicitation of Bribes by a Public Official) • Counts...

BOSTON --A judge refused to grant a mistrial Monday for a defendant who punched a juror as other jurors watched in court. Richard Glawson, 46, is on trial in Suffolk Superior Court for a list of charges stemming from a crime rampage in 2001 that allegedly included shooting a Dedham police officer in the hand. On Friday, as jurors were filing out of the courtroom at the end of the day, Glawson punched an elderly male juror in full view of the 15 other jurors hearing the case. The punch knocked the juror to the floor, but he was not...

SANTA ANA - A federal agent testified Friday that investigators found a computer disk with sensitive details on the Navy's next generation of destroyers when they searched the home of a Chinese-American engineer accused of illegally sending technology information to China. FBI Special Agent James Gaylord said the CD was found at the home of Chi Mak after his arrest and it contained materials related to the so-called DDX, highly advanced guided-missile warships that are under development. The documents were sent by the Navy to companies during contract bidding, including the company Mak worked for, Power Paragon Inc. The company...