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White House, senators strike immigration reform deal
Breaking Legal News | 2007/05/18 10:33

Key US senators from both political parties and White House cabinet officers reached a tentative agreement on immigration reform on Thursday, after weeks of negotiations. The proposal, which President Bush calls "secure, productive, orderly, and fair", gives more weight to an immigrant's education level than his family connections in the US when awarding green cards. Additionally, illegal immigrants would be able to obtain a probationary card allowing them to live and work legally in the United Sates, but which would not place them on the road to permanent residency or citizenship. Once border security is improved and the high-tech worker identification program is implemented, however, such card-holders would be able to seek permanent residency status. Illegal immigrants would have to pay a $5000 fine plus fees in order to obtain a "Z visa," placing them on an eight- to thirteen-year track toward permanent immigrant status.

A temporary guest worker program would also be implemented once the borders are declared secure, and the worker identification program is enacted. Finally, up to 1.5 million migrant farm-workers could obtain legal status through an "AgJobs" measure, supported by Senator Diana Feinstein (D-CA) and Senator Larry Craig (R-ID). AgJobs would be a five year pilot program that would grant legal status to those would have worked in US farms for at least 150 days in the last two years.



Former CIA Official Pleads Not Guilty
Breaking Legal News | 2007/05/16 01:40

A former top CIA official pleaded not guilty Monday to new charges that he pushed a proposed government contract worth at least $100 million for his best friend in return for lavish vacations, private jet flights and a lucrative job offer. The indictment, returned last week, replaced charges brought in February against Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, who resigned from the spy agency a year ago, and defense contractor Brent Wilkes.

The charges grew from the bribery scandal that landed former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham in prison.

Foggo and Wilkes now face 30 wide-ranging counts of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. Each faces more than 20 years in prison if convicted, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors claimed in their earlier 11-count indictment that in fall 2003, while he was working as a logistics officer at a CIA supply hub overseas, Foggo arranged a $1.7 million contract for one of Wilkes' companies to be a middleman in supplying bottled water to the agency.

The new indictment outlines a second scheme in which Foggo is suspected of providing Wilkes with "sensitive, internal information related to our national security," including classified information, to help him prepare bids for providing undercover flights for the CIA under the guise of a civil aviation company and armored vehicles for agency operations.

Foggo, who was the agency's executive director at the time, is also charged with encouraging his CIA colleagues to hire Wilkes without disclosing that the pair were childhood friends.

Prosecutors say that in return, Wilkes offered to hire Foggo after he retired from government service and treated his friend to extravagant meals and vacations, including a trip to Scotland during which they racked up a $44,000 hotel bill and took $4,000 helicopter rides to play golf.

Wilkes was charged in a separate indictment with conspiracy, bribery, money laundering and unlawful monetary transactions to Cunningham in return for government contracts.

A new indictment was returned in that case last week that included new charges against another defendant, New York mortgage banker John T. Michael, who was described as a co-conspirator in Cunningham's 2005 plea agreement. Michael now faces counts of money laundering and unlawful monetary transactions in connection with wire transfers allegedly used to pay off the mortgage on Cunningham's $2.5 million mansion.

Wilkes and Michael pleaded not guilty to the new charges. All three men remain free on bail.

U.S. District Judge Larry Burns set a Sept. 18 trial date for Wilkes and Michael, followed by a trial for Foggo and Wilkes starting Oct. 23. Burns denied a request by Foggo's attorneys that their client be tried separately in Virginia, where he lives.

Burns also heard arguments from defense attorneys on several key issues, including a request for an investigation into government leaks to news organizations including The Associated Press during the probe.

Wilkes' attorney, Mark Geragos, has said he believes the information was leaked to pressure Justice Department officials into approving criminal charges sought by prosecutors in San Diego before ousted U.S. Attorney Carol Lam resigned in February. The indictments were returned two days before her departure.

"It's clear - clear to me at least - that they were scrambling," Geragos said after Monday's hearing. "It sure looks to me as though something's going on in that office, and I don't know what it is."

Prosecutors have said that the timing had nothing to do with Lam's departure. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Forge told the judge the matter had been referred to another U.S. attorney's office as part of an internal Justice Department review.

Burns ordered that the results of the review be turned over to him and said he would require the government to disclose to defense attorneys the identities of any witnesses who had been identified as leakers.

The initial charges came 20 months after the FBI opened an investigation into Cunningham, who served on key House committees with oversight of government contracts. He pleaded guilty in November 2005 to taking $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors and was sentenced to more than eight years in prison.

Foggo and Wilkes played high school football together growing up in Chula Vista, south of San Diego. They roomed together at San Diego State University, were best men at each other's weddings and named their sons after each other.

Foggo, the former No. 3 official at the CIA, resigned from the spy agency in May 2006 after his house in suburban Virginia and office at the CIA's Langley, Va., headquarters were raided by federal agents.



Supreme Court hears case of death row
Breaking Legal News | 2007/05/14 09:05

The US Supreme Court ruled Monday that a US district judge did not abuse his discretion in refusing to allow an Arizona death row inmate to pursue an ineffective assistance of counsel claim after the inmate refused to allow his lawyer to present mitigating evidence at his sentencing hearing. In Schriro v. Landrigan, the defendant told the trial judge that he did not wish his lawyer to present mitigating evidence during sentencing, but then later attempted to obtain post-conviction relief because his lawyer failed to conduct further investigation into mitigating circumstances.

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to reverse the Ninth Circuit's decision in the case. The majority wrote:

In cases where an applicant for federal habeas relief is not barred from obtaining an evidentiary hearing by 28 U. S. C. §2254(e)(2), the decision to grant such a hearing rests in the discretion of the district court. Here, the District Court determined that respondent could not make out a colorable claim of ineffective assistance of counsel and therefore was not entitled to an evidentiary hearing. It did so after reviewing the state-court record and expanding the record to include additional evidence offered by the respondent. The Court of Appeals held that the District Court abused its discretion in refusing to grant the hearing. We hold that it did not.

Read the Court's opinion per Justice Thomas, along with a dissent from Justice Stevens.



Laporte Teen Accused of Shooting In Court
Breaking Legal News | 2007/05/12 10:24

The Laporte teen accused of shooting his ex-girlfriend and himself last month was at the center of an emotionally charged court appearance this morning.

Nineteen year-old Timothy Schaub was crying as he entered the courtroom, wearing a helmet because of recent surgeries.

He was not the only emotional one Schaub's father went after the media for taking pictures and video of his son. The shooting happened April 9th but timothy Schaub's ex-girlfriend, Katherine Perkins, is still in the hospital, her condition is not being released.



Monica Goodling granted immunity in DOJ probe
Breaking Legal News | 2007/05/11 14:41

US District Judge Thomas Hogan approved an offer of immunity Friday for former Department of Justice aide Monica Goodling, clearing the way for Goodling's testimony before Congress on the firings of eight US Attorneys. Under Hogan's order, Goodling may not refuse to testify. The House Judiciary Committee voted in April to grant Goodling immunity from prosecution. Goodling told the committee in March that she would not testify about her role in the firings, and stated through her lawyer that she would seek protection under her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination if the committee issued her a subpoena. The DOJ said earlier this month that although officials preferred that Goodling not receive immunity, the department would not try to block immunity for Goodling.

Goodling resigned from her position as White House liaison at the DOJ in April and the DOJ has since opened an investigation into whether she considered the political affiliations of candidates for career prosecutor positions in the DOJ, contrary to federal law and longstanding departmental practice.



Alleged flasher eyed in sex assaults
Breaking Legal News | 2007/05/10 12:40


A Santa Fe man suspected of stripping to his underwear in a local business was arrested today and quickly became a ‘person of interest’ in a series of sexual assaults.
For now David Giba is being held without bond charged with breaking and entering and indecent exposure, according to police.  He is expected to be arraigned on those charges Friday.

Giba, said to be in his 40s, is alleged to be the man recorded on a business surveillance system walking around partially clothed.  KRQE News 13 broadcast photos from the business, first with the face obscured at the request of police, and then today with his face visible.

Police said they received several calls about the identity of the man in the photos.

Giba works in a law firm in Santa Fe, possibly as a receptionist, and that's where he was arrested late this morning.  At this point he has not been charged with any of the seven attacks on women.

“We are not prepared to call him a suspect at this point,” Capt. Gary Johnson of the Santa Fe Police Department said.  “However he is a strong person of interest, and we are going to compare him to these other assaults and see if we develop any other information."

Police are hoping to compare Giba’s DNA with DNA collected at crime scenes.

In addition Johnson said Giba is believed to be a registered sex offender in Oregon although requirements in Oregon don't meet guidelines for registration in New Mexico.



Planned Parenthood Defends Detriment of Young Girls
Breaking Legal News | 2007/05/10 09:56

Planned Parenthood (PP), Southwest Ohio Region, and its representatives were without comment on Wednesday, May 9, 2007, when they were named as defendants in a lawsuit filed in Warren County Ohio, alleging that they violated Ohio law by their failure to report the sexual abuse of minors.  The suit alleges that on November 15, 2004, 16 year-old Denise Fairbanks, was brought to PP by her father, who had been sexually assaulting her since she was 13. He sought an abortion for his daughter at PP's Auburn Avenue facility in order to cover up the sexual abuse and resulting pregnancy. 

"If the allegations are true, then PP is complicit in the abuse of Ms. Fairbanks when they should have protected her," says Dana Cody of Life Legal Defense Foundation (LLDF).    "Our children deserve better."   

Attorney Brian E. Hurley of Cincinnati based law firm Crabbe, Brown and James, who is representing Ms. Fairbanks, stated in the complaint that PP's "don't ask, don't tell policy" resulted in another one and one-half years of abuse of Ms. Fairbanks.  It wasn't until a basketball coach reported the abuse that Ms. Fairbanks's father was tried and convicted of sexual assault. 


The suit also alleges the failure to report abuse of another unnamed minor as proof of PP's pattern and practice of non-reporting of sexual abuse of minors.


In addition to the failure to protect Ms. Fairbanks by not reporting the abuse in violation of the law, the suit calls into question PP's policies and procedures as well as the training and supervision of clinic employees.  


A copy of the complaint is available at www.lldf.org.  LLDF is helping to fund a similar case, also in Ohio, Roe v. Planned Parenthood.  That suit seeks damages against PP for performing an abortion on a minor in violation of  Ohio law, including laws mandating reporting of suspected sexual abuse of minors .  There is a hearing in that case next week, wherein PP has objected to producing records requested by "Roe," who is making allegations similar to those of Ms. Fairbanks.  "Roe" is also being represented by Mr. Hurley.



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