Law and Disorder

JERKLOW:

Former South Dakota Rep. Bill Janklow, convicted of speeding through a stop sign and killing a motorcyclist, was sentenced on Thursday to 100 days in jail, avoiding a potentially lengthy prison term.

What potential was that?

A long-time friend of President Bush, Janklow resigned from South Dakota's lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, effective earlier this week.

Judge Rodney Steele of the Moody County Circuit Court ruled Janklow should serve the first 30 days of his 100-day sentence in jail then begin a daytime work release program, which Steele said he hoped the former governor would use to teach.

Steele also fined Janklow $5,700 and ordered him to pay court costs. Following his jail term, Janklow will be on probation for three years, during which he will not be allowed to drive.   article


ENRON:

[Richard Causey, chief accountant and]..critical witness in any potential criminal case against former Enron chairman Kenneth Lay and and chief executive Jeffrey Skilling was indicted yesterday after refusing to cooperate with federal investigators.

...Causey was also well compensated. Between 1998 and 2001, he received more than $14 million from the sale of Enron stock and stock options and was paid $5 million in salary and bonuses. At the same time, Enron's stock collapsed from its 1998 high of $90 a share to virtually nothing, costing 5,000 employees their jobs and leaving the lifetime savings for 20,000 retirees almost worthless.   article

Oh well, too bad.

The charges against Causey are part of the systematic effort to snare Skilling and Lay, said Assistant Attorney General Christopher A. Wray. "The dominoes continue to fall," he said.

And they may just miraculously stop before they get to "Kenny Boy".

...a special internal Enron report raised questions about Causey's value as a witness. It concluded that Causey should have been more aggressive in scrutinizing the deals. It also said Causey had not fully cooperated with their investigation. In early meetings with investigators, Causey reportedly said he felt Skilling was aware of the special transactions, but he was regarded as less than forthright, "like he was tapdancing," one person familiar with the the investigation said.

He refused to testify during Congressional hearings two years ago, taking his Fifth Amendment protection.

Causey surrendered before dawn yesterday morning in Houston and pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court. He faces maximum sentence of 55 years in jail and a $5 million fine. After entering the courthouse in handcuffs, he pleaded not guilty.

But, we have good attorneys when we make $5 million salaries.

"Rick Causey is a decent, honorable and innocent man," one of his attorneys, Mark Hulkower said. "He has done nothing, absolutely nothing, wrong."

A decent, honorable man who bilked thousands and thousands of people out of their jobs and life savings.


ARAR:

Need a reminder?

A Syrian-born Canadian is suing US Attorney General John Ashcroft for deporting him to Syria, saying that government officials knew he would be tortured in a Damascus jail.  article


MZOUDI:

This is the case where the German courts had to let an accused 9/11 terrorist go free (while continuing the trial) for various reasons, including refusal of the U.S. to release certain information or permit the testimony of a witness we have in custody - the same problem stalling the case of accused terrorist Moussaoui here in our own system. The German court's action prompted a dig from John Ashcroft, which prompted a retort from Germany.

A German court has agreed to allow a new prosecution witness in the trial of an 11 September suspect which appeared to have all but crumbled last month.

The dramatic move has delayed the verdict in the case of Abdelghani Mzoudi which was expected this week.

Mr Mzoudi, 31, is accused of being an accessory to the murder of more than 3,000 in the 2001 attacks on America and membership of a terrorist group.

...The surprise turn could also undo the guilty verdict a German court returned in February against another Moroccan, Mounir Motassadeq, on the same charges.

...Prosecutors gave no details of the new witness but Mr Mzoudi's defence lawyer, Guel Pinar, said the witness was an unidentified Iranian intelligence officer who was claiming to have informed US authorities of an impending attack before September 2001.  article


PLAME:

Sources with knowledge of the case tell TIME that behind closed doors at the E. Barrett Prettyman federal courthouse, nearby the Capitol, a grand jury began hearing testimony Wednesday in the investigation of who leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame to columnist Robert Novak and other journalists.

...Grand juries aren't always used in criminal probes, but they are the preferred way to go in cases with potential political fallout, if only to lend credibility to the result. One conclusion to be drawn from this latest step, said one lawyer familiar with the case, is that investigators clearly have a sense of how the case is shaping up. "They clearly have a sense of what's going on and can ask intelligent questions" to bring the grand jury up to speed. A grand jury is not a trial jury, but is used as an investigative tool and to decide whether to bring indictments in a case.

Anyone who's subpoenaed in the inquiry, noted the lawyer, can be almost certain that prosecutors aren't contemplating indicting him or her. Subpoenas are rarely sent to the targets of an investigation, and if they are, the recipients must be told in advance that they are considered targets—at which point they would almost certainly cite the 5th Amendment and refuse to answer questions.

...It's also possible that prosecutors will learn who perpetrated the leak but won't have enough to bring charges. But true to form, the Bush administration continues to be extremely tight-lipped about the investigation -- even internally. "No one knows what the hell is going on," says someone who could be a witness, "because the administration people are all terrified and the lawyers aren't sharing anything with each other either."   article


You go find out about Kobe Bryant on your own.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.