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Fifth Somali guilty plea entered in piracy trial
Criminal Law Updates | 2011/05/25 10:39

Two more Somali men pleaded guilty on Monday to piracy for their roles in the hijacking of a yacht that left four Americans dead, including one who identified which of the 19 men fired at hostages aboard the boat.

Burhan Abdirahman Yusuf and Jilani Abdiali face mandatory life sentences, but as part of a plea agreement they could serve less time than that and eventually be deported to Somalia.

The duo are among 14 people from Somalia and one from Yemen facing charges related to the February hijacking of the yacht Quest. Three of those men have already pleaded guilty to piracy in plea deals.

The owners of the Quest, Jean and Scott Adam of Marina del Rey, Calif., along with friends Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay of Seattle, were shot to death several days after being taken hostage several hundred miles south of Oman.

They were the first U.S. citizens killed in a wave of pirate attacks that have plagued the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean in recent years. Prosecutors said the men intended to bring the Americans to Somalia and hold them for ransom there. Pirates typically seek millions of dollars for hostages.

In a statement of facts Yusuf agreed to Monday, Yusuf said the 19 men who had taken control of the yacht would have split 65 percent of the ransom money among themselves and an interpreter. The other 35 percent would be given to a financier. In Abdiali's statement of facts, he said he saw that pirates were making a lot of money and had big houses and cars, so he spoke with a financier about joining a pirate expedition that ultimately led him to board the American yacht.



Ex-IMF chief may use tried, tricky consent defense
Lawyer Blog News | 2011/05/25 10:39

Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has shed little public light on his account of what happened between him and a hotel housekeeper who accused him of sexually attacking her. But in a potentially revealing hint, one of his lawyers has said he doesn't expect the evidence will show a forcible encounter.

If Strauss-Kahn's lawyers are planning to argue there was a consensual liaison, they would be using a common sex-crime defense argument — but one that has both succeeded and failed in other high-profile cases. It sets up a "he-said, she-said" confrontation that can pose challenges for defense lawyers and prosecutors alike, legal experts say.

"They're really difficult cases because, by their very nature, nobody else is there," said Brenda Smith, an American University Washington College of Law professor who has studied sexual violence. Even DNA or other forensic evidence might establish sexual contact but still not prove an attack, "so it really is the credibility of the complainant and the defendant, and also the facts and information that each side can marshal to support their version of what occurred."

For now, Strauss-Kahn is under house arrest in a Manhattan apartment on a total of $6 million in bond and cash bail, facing attempted rape and other charges. At the time of his May 14 arrest, the 62-year-old economist and diplomat led the powerful, loan-making IMF and was considered a leading contender to challenge French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Prosecutors say he chased down the cleaner in a penthouse suite, groped her, tried to pull down her pantyhose and forced her to perform oral sex.



Supreme Court to CA: Cut prison inmates by 33,000
Lawyer Blog News | 2011/05/24 16:09
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that California must drastically reduce its prison population to relieve severe overcrowding that has exposed inmates to increased violence, disease and death.

The decision, however, doesn't mean the prison gates will swing open in an uncontrolled release.

The high court's 5-4 decision calls on the state to cut the population to no more than 110,000 inmates. To get there, state officials have two years to either transfer some 33,000 inmates to other jails or release them.

California has already been preparing for the ruling, driven as much by persistent multibillion-dollar budget deficits as by fears for the well-being of prison inmates and employees. The state has sent inmates to other states. It plans to transfer jurisdiction over others to counties, though the state doesn't have the money to do it.

"They've made a lot of plans already,'' said Michael Bien, one of the attorneys who sought the ruling on behalf of mentally and physically ill inmates who suffered in severely crowded conditions. "We're sure it can be done safely and appropriately.


Former UK minister to take police to court
Legal World News | 2011/05/24 12:10

Britain's former deputy prime minister won the right Monday to a legal review of the way London's Metropolitan Police handled the wide-ranging phone hacking campaign mounted by a British tabloid newspaper.

John Prescott — who was the deputy of former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair — claimed police breached his human rights by not informing him that people working for the scandal-hungry News of The World may have listened to his voice mails.

High Court judge David Foskett granted Prescott and three other people — lawmaker Chris Bryant, journalist Brendan Montague and former senior police officer Brian Paddick — the right to seek a judicial review of the way the Metropolitan Police dealt with their cases.

Their lawyer, Hugh Tomlinson, said the men believed police became aware of the phone hacking in 2006, but failed to inform them they were victims, did not respond adequately to their requests for information and failed to carry out an effective investigation at the time.

James Lewis, the lawyer acting for the Metropolitan Police, argued that a judicial review is not necessary because police are now carrying out their own investigation into the phone hacking scandal.



Hartford Courant wants plagiarism suit dismissed
Business Law Info | 2011/05/24 12:09

Lawyers for The Hartford Courant say in recently filed court documents that a $7.5 million plagiarism lawsuit filed by a competing newspaper should be dismissed because no copyright laws were broken.

The motion to dismiss filed on May 4 in Hartford federal court comes nearly two years after Courant CEO and Publisher Richard Graziano acknowledged that the newspaper had plagiarized competitors, but not intentionally.

The Journal Inquirer of Manchester first filed the lawsuit in state court in 2009, but withdrew it for technical reasons. The paper refiled the lawsuit in federal court in February, saying the Courant plagiarized at least 10 Journal Inquirer stories in violation of copyright laws.

The Courant says in the new court documents that there was no "substantial similarity" between the Courant and Journal Inquirer stories.



OC woman sentenced for embezzlement
Criminal Law Updates | 2011/05/24 10:12
Orange County prosecutors say a law office manager has been sentenced to four years in state prison for embezzling more than $500,000 from her firm and spending the cash on a lavish lifestyle.

The district attorney's office says 68-year-old Donna Joy Henderson pleaded guilty on Monday to one felony count of grand theft by embezzlement.

Henderson joined Tustin law firm, Rinos & Martin, LLP, in 2000 and oversaw the firm's financial accounts.

Prosecutors say that, between 2003 and 2009, Henderson wrote 122 company checks to herself, to cash, personal credit cards, relatives or fictitious businesses, then deposited them into personal bank accounts.

She allegedly spent the money on timeshare properties, vacations, home improvements and room additions, jewelry, pampered pet day spa visits, and gambling.



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