After 14 years in politics, former state Sen. Bill Morrow, R-Oceanside, is moving on from the Legislature -- but he's not moving very far from politics.

Morrow announced recently that he has partnered with a San Diego attorney to form a new law firm. It will specialize in political and government affairs, and will take on a wide range of legal cases, Morrow said.

"Wouldn't you know that wherever I landed, it would be in the middle of law and politics?" Morrow wrote in a recent e-mail to the North County Times. "That's just where I want to be."

Morrow, who practiced law before politics, joined with Peter Lepiscopo last month to form the new firm, with offices in San Diego and Sacramento.

The two became acquainted when Lepiscopo represented Morrow in a widely reported 2005 lawsuit to force the Carlsbad Unified School District to rescind its cancellation of a town-hall meeting on immigration on school property.

Morrow has a bachelor's degree in political science from UCLA and a law degree from Pepperdine University in Malibu. After law school, he joined the Marines, where he spent much of his time as the chief trial counsel at Camp Pendleton. He later practiced law in San Diego before running for the Assembly.

The former lawmaker, who left the Senate because of term limits, suffered a broken leg in a horseback riding accident in October, he said. He has recovered from his injury but still carries a cane with him, he said.

Speaking recently from his San Diego office, Morrow also said he was getting used to working without the help of a staff after 14 years in Sacramento. He is learning to use a computer and answer e-mails on his own, the 53-year-old former senator said.

"That has been an adjustment," he said. But the recovery after the injury "gave me time to learn how to use the computer and the Internet. I'm still learning, but I've come a long way."

The new law firm, called Lepiscopo and Morrow, LLP, will capitalize on Morrow's government experience, he said. Though state law prohibits the former senator from lobbying directly for one year after leaving office, Morrow said the firm may hire others to work as lobbyists.

Morrow said he doesn't plan to become a lobbyist himself, but said he may supervise others instead.

"It's not my desire to be a registered lobbyist," Morrow said. "There are certain requirements, and I'll be consistent with the law, but I don't want to be a lobbyist myself."

A self-described conservative lawmaker, Morrow worked to curtail "frivolous" lawsuits, counter illegal immigration, reduce state spending and fight new taxes. Morrow stirred controversy two years ago by aligning himself with anti-illegal immigrant groups, such as the Minutemen.

In 2005, Morrow attended a border-watch vigil held along the San Diego County portion of the U.S.-Mexico border by a Minuteman group based in Oceanside.

State Sen. Mark Wyland, R-Carlsbad, who won Morrow's seat, praised the former senator.

"He left a great conservative record as someone who believes in the free market, limited government, people taking personal responsibility and of being tough on crime," Wyland said.

Morrow said he has not ruled out running for public office again, although he said his options are limited.

"I've done my time. I've expressed my ambition of running for Congress," he said. But "I can read the tea leaves and I know that the people who are there are going to be there for a long time."

The conservative Republican lost a special election last year for the 50th Congressional District seat formerly held by the now-imprisoned Randy "Duke" Cunningham -- an election in which Morrow captured only 5.37 percent of the vote.

Fellow Republican Brian Bilbray won the election in a field of 14 Republican candidates. Bilbray then went on to beat Democratic opponent Francine Busby in a June runoff to replace Cunningham through the end of the year and won an election in November to fill the seat for a full term.

Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College, said Morrow's career path after the Legislature is not unusual. The law firm will allow him to wait while an seat opens or he can stay and influence policy through his work, he said.

"It can work either way, there are former legislators that go into lobbying and then come back to office -- Brian Bilbray comes to mind," Pitney said. "Or they can stay in lobbying and make a lot of money."

Morrow said part of what attracted him to legal work was his interest in constitutional law and conservative advocacy. One of his firm's clients is the Pacific Justice Institute, a nonprofit legal group that often advocates for religion to play a greater role in public life.

The institute is one of the leading proponents of keeping the Mount Soledad cross as part of the veterans war memorial in San Diego. In 1989, a City Heights resident sued the city, claiming that the 29-foot cross on city property violated the constitutional separation of church and state.

In August, President Bush signed federal legislation expropriating the cross and placing it in the hands of the Department of Defense as a national memorial. But the legal fight over the cross continues.

"As a state senator, I was involved in the political battle to save the cross," Morrow wrote in his e-mail. "As an attorney, I will be directly involved in the legal battle as well."

Jim McElroy, the attorney representing those opposing the cross, disagreed. He said Morrow's law firm represents an advocacy group that is not directly involved in the lawsuit and therefore has little influence on it. The lawsuit involves the federal government, the city of San Diego and his client, McElroy said.

"He's had no involvement to date, and I don't expect that he will have any involvement in the future," McElroy said.

-- Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-3511 or esifuentes@nctimes.com.

From the beginning, Scott, his family and attorneys have all insisted he is innocent. They say he had nothing to do with the murders. The court of appeals threw out his conviction, saying his right to a fair trial was violated.

In 2002, prosecutors used a videotaped statement from Scott's former friend, Robert Springsteen, to help convict him of murder. At the time Scott did not have an opportunity to challenge it in court.It was a decision the Court of Criminal Appeals now says violated Scott's constitutional rights to a fair trial.

"Because the statement was introduced without Springsteen being there, Scott never had a chance to cross examine the statement,” appellate defense attorney Ariel Payan said. “It was just introduced and there was nothing that could be done about it."

Scott's wife Jeannine has spent five years trying to set him free. "I'm thrilled that they really did look at this and decide there's something wrong with this case," Jeannine said. She says it's time police investigators focus their attention on someone else. "I would like them to find the actual perpetrators and stop wasting the county's and the city's money in this particular endeavor," she said.

State prosecutors admit this latest decision is a setback. They say they don't agree with the Appeals Court ruling.

"If in fact it stays as it is now, Michael Scott would be tried again, " assistant district attorney Bryan Case said.

But until the decision is declared final, Case says they will continue weighing all of their legal options. They could appeal the reversal to the U.S. Supreme Court, or take the case back to trial all over again.

Scott also insists his confession to police was coerced. He say he only agreed to it after several days of almost non-stop interrogation.

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, June 6, 2007 - Shouting "I am an innocent man, this is all a setup," Abdel Nur was taken to court here and formally charged with one count of conspiracy to commit a terrorist act against the United States government.

He was remanded and will reappear in court on June 11. He was unrepresented by an attorney and told Senior Magistrate Lianne Lee Kim in the Port-of-Spain Fourth Magistrates' Court that he was poor and could not afford an attorney. Attorney Dana Seetahal SC, appearing for the Crown said that because Nur was not a Trinidadian he was not entitled to public-funded defence but it was up to the discretion of the Magistrate, pointing out there was such a precedence.

Nur, who was born as Campton Eversley, is the last of the four suspects arrested for conspiring to blow up a pipeline that feeds jet fuel to the JFK International Airport. US District Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Rosalyn R. Mauskopf has alleged that if the plan worked it would have caused untold damage. Other reports suggest that the pipeline was designed to shutdown when it detected heat and while some damage would occur it would not be on the same scale as what was feared by the authorities.

Two of the accused were arrested in Trinidad Saturday and another in New York Friday.

When his picture appeared in local newspapers neighbours in Diego Martin, in western Trinidad where he was staying approached him and urged him to turn himself in which he did just before noon Tuesday.

US court documents allege that Nur went to Trinidad to seek help from the radical Islamic Jamaat al Muslimeen to plan the attack in detail however leader of the sect, Yasin Abu Bakr, has strenuously denied involvement and distanced himself from the alleged plotters.

Abdul Kadir, a citizen of Guyana and former opposition member of parliament as a member of the Opposition People's National Congress Reform (PNCR), and Kareem Ibrahim, a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, were formally charged Monday here when they appeared in court. They will return to court June 11 for a bail hearing while extradition proceedings have been set for August 2. Their attorneys say they will fight extradition all the way to the British Privy Council.

The men have proclaimed their innocence and like Nur say that they are being set up.

In a statement released by their families, they claim that they were the victims of a campaign by the US Republican Party of President George W. Bush aimed at bolstering its standing in the 2008 presidential election by sowing fear about terrorism.

"Unfortunately, innocent persons with no connection whatsoever to the political and military disputes between the United States and the Middle East ... have been used as pawns in an international game of subterfuge."

The alleged plot has been in the making since 2006, the US District Attorney has asserted presenting selections of recorded conversations in which the men alleged plotted to blow up the airport and a section of Queens.

American investigators from the FBI are expected in Trinidad and Tobago to question the suspects in the hope of uncovering whether there are other conspirators.

Up to the time of the arrests, nearly a year and a half after the alleged plot started, the quartet was still at an "aspirational" rather than operational stage. They did not have the means (money, explosives, bomb making skill and expertise, or a detailed plan) to put the plot into action

A former civilian employee of the Department of Defense (DOD) and former member of the California Army National Guard, has pleaded guilty to defrauding the United States and conspiring with four other individuals to do the same, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division announced today.

Jesse D. Lane Jr. pleaded guilty in federal court in Los Angeles before U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson to one count of conspiracy and one count of honest services wire fraud. As part of his plea, Lane admitted that he and his co-conspirators were members of the 223rd Finance Detachment, a unit of the California National Guard that processes pay for Army National Guard members, and were deployed together to Iraq and Kuwait from March 2004 until February 2005, when they returned to their home drilling post in Compton, Calif. Beginning in March 2005, and continuing through August 2005, Lane accessed a DOD pay-processing computer system and inputted thousands of dollars in unauthorized DOD pay and entitlements for himself and his co-conspirators. In return, Lane’s co-conspirators kicked back at least half of the money they received to Lane.

Lane faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for conspiracy, 20 years in prison for honest services wire fraud, and three years of supervised release. Sentencing was set for Sept. 24, 2007.

On Nov. 13, 2006, Lane’s co-conspirators Jennifer Anjakos of Chula Vista, Calif., Lomeli Chavez of Oceanside, Calif., and Derryl Hollier and Luis Lopez of Los Angeles each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud on related charges arising from this scheme. Their sentencings have been scheduled for Sept. 10, 2007.

These cases are being prosecuted by trial attorney John P. Pearson of the Public Integrity Section of the Criminal Division, which is headed by Section Chief William M. Welch II. These cases are being investigated by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, the FBI, and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, in support of the Justice Department’s National Procurement Fraud Task Force and the International Contract Corruption Initiative. The prosecution has received substantial assistance from the California National Guard and the U.S. Army Audit Agency.

The National Procurement Fraud Initiative was announced by Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty in October 2006, and is designed to promote the early detection, identification, prevention and prosecution of procurement fraud associated with the increase in contracting activity for national security and other government programs. As part of this initiative, the Deputy Attorney General has created the National Procurement Fraud Task Force, which is chaired by Assistant Attorney General Fisher.

A federal grand jury in Greenbelt, Md., has charged leaders of the violent street gang known as MS-13 with federal racketeering crimes, including two men who allegedly ordered murders inside the United States from their prison cells in El Salvador, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales announced today.

The 30-count superseding indictment returned June 4, 2007, alleges that the three defendants—Dany Fredy Ramos Mejia, aka “Sisco,” Saul Antonios Turcio Angel, aka “Trece,” and Rigoberto Del Transito Mejia Regaldo, aka “Ski”—conspired to participate in a racketeering enterprise in the United States and El Salvador that involved murder, robbery, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering through their participation in La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13. Two of the defendants allegedly communicated with MS-13 gang members from prison in El Salvador to commit a variety of crimes, including one instance which resulted in the murders of two persons in the United States.

Specifically, the indictment alleges that the three defendants and at least 13 others in the United States conspired from at least 2001 to March 2007 to operate an MS-13 enterprise in the United States and El Salvador through a pattern of racketeering activity, including: eight murders in Maryland and one in Virginia; the use of deadly weapons including firearms, baseball bats, machetes, bottles or knives in the commission of murders, attempted murders, and assaults on juvenile females, rival gang members, and an MS-13 gang member from El Salvador; kidnapping; robbery; obstruction of justice; and witness tampering.

“Today's announcement results, in part, from a series of comprehensive anti-gang initiatives undertaken by the Department to target and pursue America's most violent and dangerous gangs,” said Attorney General Gonzales.  "I also want to acknowledge the cooperation provided by officials in the government of El Salvador who have strongly demonstrated their commitment to combating MS-13 and other violent gangs that operate in El Salvador, and elsewhere in Central America, Mexico and the United States.”

Among other things, the indictment alleges that in or about September or October 2004, Mejia and Angel produced a videotape of themselves and fellow MS-13 gang members in El Salvador, in which they communicated to MS-13 gang members in Maryland regarding the activities of MS-13 in El Salvador. The indictment also alleges that on or about Oct. 9, 2005, Angel communicated with members of the Teclas Locos Salvatruchos clique in Maryland via cell phone from inside prison in El Salvador regarding acts of violence, including murder, against rival gang members, and that later that same day, other gang members in Maryland killed two people and wounded a juvenile.

The indictment also alleges that on or about Aug. 21, 2005, Regaldo participated in the premeditated murder of Anber Juarez Sanchez in Howard County, Md. The indictment further alleges that on or about May 27, 2006, Regaldo and others participated in the armed robbery of a grocery story in Reisterstown, Md.

All three defendants are currently incarcerated in El Salvador on charges for crimes allegedly committed in that country. If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum sentence in the United States of life in prison for conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise. All defendants are presumed innocent under the law until and unless convicted.

“This indictment is an example of the strategic approach that the Department of Justice has taken to combating the international and multi-jurisdictional problem of violent gangs,” said Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division.  “We have marshaled our resources to ultimately target the leadership of these gangs, whether on the streets of our neighborhoods or in cities abroad.”

“Federal, state and local law enforcement authorities are united with our international partners in pursuing gang leaders who direct criminal activity as well as members who carry it out,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein of the District of Maryland. “If you join a gang that commits crimes, you can be held accountable for all criminal activity committed by other gang members.”

“MS-13 is a criminal organization that has terrorized our nation’s neighborhoods and jeopardized community safety for far too long,” said Acting Director Michael J. Sullivan, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. “This indictment sends a strong signal that anyone who joins the gang and participates in violent acts on its behalf will continue to be brought to justice, no matter where they may hide.”

“This indictment should send a message to MS-13 and other gangs that their violence will not be tolerated in our streets and our neighborhoods, and we will not permit gang leaders to seek refuge outside of our borders to commit crimes within the United States,” said Assistant Director Kenneth W. Kaiser, FBI Criminal Investigative Division. “The FBI’s MS-13 National Gang Task Force, in partnership with local, state, federal and international law enforcement, is working diligently to dismantle MS-13 and eradicate the threat it poses around the world.”

Attorney General Gonzales announced in San Salvador on Feb. 5, 2007, a far-reaching set of anti-gang initiatives in cooperation with El Salvador, Mexico, and neighboring countries. The February announcement included the establishment of a new Transnational Anti-Gang Center (TAG), including up to a dozen investigators from the Civilian National Police (PNC) in El Salvador, embedded prosecutors from the El Salvador Attorney General’s office, special FBI teams assigned to El Salvador, and State Department support. The effort to stand up the TAG center is underway, and PNC investigators who are part of the new center assisted in the investigation in this case.

In matters related to this case to date, 42 MS-13 gang members have been charged with various federal offenses, with 30 defendants charged in this RICO conspiracy case. Jose Hipolito Cruz Diaz, a/k/a “Pirana,” Omar Vasquez, a/k/a “Duke,” and Henry Zelaya, a/k/a “Homeboy,” were convicted at trial by a federal jury on April 27, 2007, of the racketeering conspiracy and face a maximum sentence of life in prison. Edgar Alberto Ayala, a/k/a “Pony,” and Oscar Ramos Velasquez, a/k/a “Casper,” were convicted at trial by a federal jury in November 2006 of racketeering conspiracies. Ayala was sentenced on June 1, 2007, to 35 years in prison, and Velasquez faces a maximum sentence of life at his sentencing scheduled for July 23, 2007. Nine defendants, all of Maryland, have pleaded guilty, including: Walter Barahona, who was sentenced on April 16, 2007, to 14 years in prison; Franklin Mejia Molina, who was sentenced on Dec. 4, 2006, to more than nine years in prison; and Juan Lopez, who was sentenced on Oct. 16, 2006, to 87 months in prison. Jose Pena Aguilar was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Nov. 6, 2006, for using a firearm in furtherance of a racketeering conspiracy, to be served consecutive to a 20-year sentence received in the Circuit Court of Prince George’s County for attempted murder.

The charges span three states, three federal districts, and two countries. In addition to the murders in Maryland and Virginia, and the conduct in El Salvador, the indictment also alleges a relationship to alleged MS-13 gang members and activity charged recently by a federal grand jury in Nashville. That indictment charges 14 defendants with RICO and gun charges and is being prosecuted by the Criminal Division’s Gang Squad and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee.

The charges stem from a long-term investigation initiated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland, conducted jointly with the Gang Squad of the Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice and a task force headed by the ATF. The Regional Area Gang Enforcement (RAGE) Task Force is comprised of agents and officers from the ATF; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Department of Homeland Security; the Maryland National Capital Park Police; the Prince George’s County, Howard County and Montgomery County Police Departments; as well as the Maryland State Police. Both the FBI’s MS-13 National Gang Task Force and the PNC in El Salvador assisted the Task Force with investigating the international defendants in El Salvador.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys James Trusty and Chan Park from the District of Maryland and Trial Attorney David Jaffe from the Justice Department’s Gang Squad are prosecuting this case.

Carlos Burruezo, who had been managing partner in Fisher & Phillips' Orlando office, led the exodus of six lawyers to Littler Mendelson, which has made Orlando the site of its 43rd office nationwide and second in Florida after Miami.

Burruezo said he had been contacted by Littler "not many weeks ago to found an office in Orlando," and that by joining a significantly larger firm he and his colleagues could "take our practice to the next level."

Meanwhile, Theresa Gallion, the manager and sole remaining lawyer at Fisher & Phillips' Orlando office, is actively recruiting replacements, she said this week. Expressing no hard feelings, she said she expects to have three or four new lawyers working in the Orlando office by summer's end, and as many as 10 lawyers in the office within a year or two.

"We don't want people to be concerned with our commitment to Orlando," said Gallion, who also manages Fisher & Phillips' Tampa office, one of 18 nationwide.

Joining Burruezo at Littler Mendelson are Anthony Hall, Desiree Hill-Henderson, Jeffrey Jones, Juan Lopez-Campillo and Janine Toner. Burruezo said the office will move from its temporary quarters in Baldwin Park to permanent space in downtown Orlando within the next few months.

www.littler.com