This week, two boys in Florida were tried for the bludgeoning-murder of their father. With accusations raised of the actual killing to have been done by another, adult male with alleged sexual ties to the two boys,
the boys were found guilty only of a lesser second-degree murder charge, claiming the adult must have done the actual deed... yet the jury was unaware the adult accused and being tried for that very idea was
acquitted of all charges the previous week. The issue? Both trials were handled by the same prosecutor
who presented completely different theories to each jury... in other words, not settling on a confident belief of who actually performed the killing, the prosecution tried to get both the adult and the pair of boys convicted for it. Isn't that risky? Or, if you like a different flavor of debate, isn't that completely unethical?
posted by XQUZYPHYR
on Sep 7, 2002 -
40 comments
Government plans to use Flight 93 cockpit tapes in Moussaoui trial "Additional recordings would be played from the cockpit of an executive jet that tracked Flight 93 on Sept. 11"
"An official for NetJets, a company that sells shares in private business aircraft, confirmed that the plane tracking Flight 93 belonged to the company.
The official, who asked not to be identified by name, said the company was asked not to comment on the Sept. 11 flight but would not say who made the request."
Finally someone admits that there was a plane up there when Flight 93 crashed. But who was it and why?
posted by bas67
on Aug 10, 2002 -
15 comments
U.S. Representative James Traficant (D-Ohio) has been found guilty on all 10 charges he faced, including kickbacks, fraud, bribery, and racketeering. The Congressman, known for his
hatred of the IRS(
God bless him) and his love of
pork barrel projects, has lit up the Congress with his
bombastic behavior since he was elected in 1984. Controversy has never been far from Traficant, he still claims that the trial is due to the
bizarre, humorous, and grotesque story of his mob-funded election to Sheriff of Youngstown. He claims that he will run as an
independent in the newly formed 17th District in the next congressional election. Will he be out of jail? Does he have a chance? What is
Congress going to do with him?
Fascinating background information courtesy of investigative journalist Dan Moldea's website
posted by insomnyuk
on Apr 11, 2002 -
11 comments
Discarding evidence because of a possible
Miranda violation. Sure, Miranda serves a (good) purpose but are the scales of justice tipped a little too much in favor of the accused when the entire chain of evidence can
be discarded because of a confession of a
possibly dubious nature?
posted by owillis
on Feb 16, 2002 -
16 comments
Fed Up? Happy? Excited? Step right up and add your comments to the Microsoft Antitrust Trial. Due to the Tunney Act, all of us have the right to comment on the proceedings. The comment period closes Monday morning (the 28th) so if you have an opinion, and we know everyone here does, email/snail mail/call the DOJ.
posted by plemeljr
on Jan 23, 2002 -
5 comments
Convicted Hockey Dad Killer to get only 3- 5 years? i know he only threw a few punches, but he was 275 lbs and his victim was 165 lbs. I'm sorry, but killing a guy nearly half your size in front of children - in front of both of their children even - is reason enough for throwing the book at this thug. 20 years = 10 years if he stays cool in the pokie - a pittance if you're the victims kids. Hopefully the Mass judge will make an example out of this totally unneccessary tragedy.
posted by tsarfan
on Jan 11, 2002 -
48 comments
Judge May Reject Olson Guilty Plea "A day after Sara Jane Olson pleaded guilty to attempted bombing charges and then denied her guilt outside the courtroom, a Los Angeles judge announced he will hold a hearing next week to decide whether to toss out the plea."
Even if she's actually innocent, I can't help but think the former Symbionese Liberation Army fugitive should've kept her mouth shut until after the sentencing at least.
The
LA Times isn't very sympathetic, either.
posted by phartizan
on Nov 2, 2001 -
6 comments
And So It Ends. With Guilty pleas, the Gold Club trial is over. Now the Feds own the most profitable strip club in the country. Will they pave it? Turn it into a wetland? Or set it up for exploratory oil drilling?
posted by dwivian
on Aug 2, 2001 -
21 comments
U.S. Embassy bomber given life sentence. This is kind of the flipside of the McVeigh execution; Saudi man helps bomb the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi which kills 213 people. Jury cannot agree to execute him, as some believe he would become a martyr for the cause, and others believe this wouldn't "alleviate the suffering of the victims or family members". Why is this any different from the McVeigh situation?
posted by Big Fat Tycoon
on Jun 13, 2001 -
31 comments
If you've seen Patrick Naughton's (former Infoseek Exec) FBI affidavit before, you can see that when he was arrested, he turned over his laptop, admitting to having numerous kiddie porn images on it, and he knew the person he chatted with was a woman (since they spoke to each other on the phone several times). In the chats, he also stated on several occasions that he messed around with several other young girls before. So now that his trial is beginning in LA, and he's facing up to 40 years in prision, his lawyers are claiming that
the chats were pure fantasy and he never thought he'd actually meet a young girl. His lawyers are also claiming that the kiddie porn on his hard drive was
unsolicited and he hadn't gotten around to deleting the unwanted images. Yeah, riiiiiight. I hate to say it, but this guy is so far beyond a doubt guilty that his defense sounds like a last-gasp effort to avoid the inevitable.
posted by mathowie
on Dec 7, 1999 -
1 comment
