The Democratic-controlled Montana Senate voted 27-21 Friday to give second-reading approval to a bill that would eliminate the death penalty in Montana. Third reading is slated for February 24 before the measure goes to the Republican-controlled state House of Representatives.

Eleven US states have recently suspended the death penalty pending review of the manner in which the death penalty is administered. In early-February, Tennessee governor suspended executions pending procedural review. In January a North Carolina state judge issued an injunction blocking executions there until Governor Mike Easley issues new procedures to execute capital defendants without the presence of doctors. Capital punishment has also been suspended in Florida, California, and New Jersey, Arkansas, Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio, and South Dakota.

Raymond George Bohning, 59, of Hollywood, Fla., entered a guilty plea in U.S. District Court in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., for preying on children, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta for the Southern District of Florida, and FBI Special Agent in Charge, Jonathan I. Solomon, announced today.

At a hearing held today before Senior District Judge Jose A. Gonzales, Bohning pleaded guilty to the enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity, production of images of a child engaging in sexually explicit conduct, distribution of child pornography to a minor to persuade her to engage in sexual conduct, and possession of child pornography.

In November 2003, Bohning traveled from Florida to Birmingham, England, in order to sexually abuse 13 and 15-year-old girls. The father of the 13-year-old girl intercepted a telephone call between his daughter and Bohning upon Bohning’s arrival in the United Kingdom in which he discussed his planned sexual activity with her. The young girl’s father contacted U.K. law enforcement who notified the FBI in Miami. Bohning was arrested in the U.K. and charged with various offenses including possessing and distributing lewd images of minors. A search of his person and hotel room revealed he was in possession of numerous items including: a laptop computer, Viagra pills, Vaseline petroleum jelly, a teenage pornography magazine, and Polaroid images of a teenager engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Bohning pleaded guilty in the U.K. to possessing and distributing indecent images and publishing an indecent article and was sentenced to 30 months in prison. He was subsequently extradited to the United States for prosecution.

An investigation conducted by the FBI revealed that Bohning had an extensive collection of child pornography images depicting minors being sexually abused, including babies and toddlers. The defendant convinced a 15-year-old girl to engage in sexually explicit conduct in order to produce images which he saved; distributed images to a minor in an effort to persuade her to engage in sexually activity with him; and created a list of 374 individuals’ Internet screen or user names, mostly minors whom he catalogued by physical attributes, state or country of residence, and the nature of their sexual experiences.

Bohning faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 30 years for production of child pornography. The defendant faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and a maximum of 30 years for enticing a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity. For distributing child pornography to a minor to induce her to engage in sexual activity, Bohning faces up to 20 years in prison. He also faces up to 10 years in prison for possessing in excess of 600 images of child pornography. Bohning is subject to a fine for each count of up to $250,000 and faces a possible lifetime period of supervised release. A sentencing hearing is currently scheduled for May 11, 2007.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robin Waugh for the Southern District of Florida, and Deputy Chief Sherri A. Stephan and trial attorney Bonnie Kane, both of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Criminal Division. This case was investigated by FBI Special Agent Catherine Koontz in Miami, and the West Midlands Police Department in the United Kingdom. The analysis of the computer forensic evidence was accomplished by the High Technology Investigative Unit of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.

This case is being brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims.

Judge William R. Wilson Jr. of the US District Court of Eastern Arkansas ruled Friday that the Little Rock School District was "substantially complying" with its Revised Desegregation and Education Plan ("Revised Plan") and released the school district from court supervision. The Little Rock School District voluntarily entered into the Revised Plan in 1998 "as a way of settling...over forty years of more or less continuous desegregation litigation." The Revised Plan required the school district to "substantially comply with hundreds of desegregation obligations in order to achieve unitary status."

In September 13, 2003, Wilson issued a memorandum opinion finding that Little Rock had substantially complied with all of its obligations in the Revised Plan with the exception of one that requires the school district to annually assess and improve the effectiveness of academic programs in improving African-American achievement. The school district unsuccessfully applied for unitary status in March 12, 2004. The Little Rock School District was the location of infamous 1957 confrontation between Arkansas governor Orval Faubus and the federal government following the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, which outlawed racial segregation in public education.

Cisco has held the trademark "iPhone" since the year 2000. Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled Apple's cellular iPhone at a San Francisco tradeshow in January, despite not having agreed to the terms proposed by Cisco for use of the name. The two companies had been negotiating terms of a deal for several years, and were close to agreeing on terms as late as a few hours before Jobs made his announcement. The lack of an agreement before Apple's unveiling prompted Cisco's suit. Apple argued that Cisco's iPhone, which does not operate on cellular networks, but instead operates over the Internet, was materially different from their own.

Justice Breyer expressed skepticism Wednesday about AT&T's argument, stating that it could pave the way for extensive patent infringement allegations whenever US patented products are copied overseas. Conversely, Justice Kennedy questioned the difference between the master discs supplied by Microsoft and the subsequently copied discs distributed to foreign manufacturers for installation on their computers, while Justice Alito noted that the ease of copying the discs abroad renders Microsoft's distinction "artificial." Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr. recused himself at the start of oral arguments; according to his financial disclosure form, Roberts owns between $100,001 and $250,000 worth of Microsoft stock.

In Marrama v. Citizens Bank of Massachusetts, the Court ruled 5-4 that a debtor's right to convert a Chapter 7 bankruptcy to a case under Chapter 13 is not absolute. Marrama initially filed a bankruptcy petition under Chapter 7 but then attempted to convert his case to a Chapter 13 petition in order to preserve his interest in an $85,000 piece of property. Citizens Bank challenged the conversion, and the bankruptcy court refused to allow the conversion due to Marrama's bad faith. The Supreme Court upheld the lower court decision from the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, concluding "that the courts in this case correctly held that Marrama forfeited his right to proceed under Chapter 13." The Court wrote:

Nothing in the text of either §706 or §1307(c) (or the legislative history of either provision) limits the authority of the court to take appropriate action in response to fraudulent conduct by the atypical litigant who has demonstrated that he is not entitled to the relief available to the typical debtor. On the contrary, the broad authority granted to bankruptcy judges to take any action that is necessary or appropriate "to prevent an abuse of process" described in §105(a) of the Code, is surely adequate to authorize an immediate denial of a motion to convert filed under §706 in lieu of a conversion order that merely postpones the allowance of equivalent relief and may provide a debtor with an opportunity to take action prejudicial to creditors.

A Seattle attorney has filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of people who reported getting sick after eating contaminated peanut butter.

It's one of at least three lawsuits filed against ConAgra Foods, which is recalling all Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter made at its Sylvester, Georgia, plant.

Federal officials have linked the peanut butter to a salmonella outbreak that has sickened almost 300 people nationwide since August. No deaths have been reported.

The Seattle firm Marler Clark says it has been contacted by 25-hundred people. Attorney William Marler says the lawsuit seeks compensation for people who got sick, but were not hospitalized. Marler says the more-serious cases will be handled separately.

A ConAgra spokeswoman says the company takes consumer concerns seriously -- that's why it has recalled the peanut butter.