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Airline attack suspect sought martyrdom
Legal Topics |
2011/10/11 16:33
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A young Nigerian allegedly on a terrorist mission for al-Qaida prayed, washed and put on perfume moments before trying to detonate a bomb in his underwear to bring down an international jetliner on Christmas 2009, a prosecutor told jurors as the man's trial opened Tuesday.
Virtually everyone aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 had holiday plans, but Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab believed his calling was martyrdom, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Tukel said.
In the plane's bathroom, "he was engaging in rituals. He was preparing to die and enter heaven," Tukel said. "He purified himself. He washed. He brushed his teeth. He put on perfume. He was praying and perfuming himself to get ready to die."
After returning to his seat, Abdulmutallab pushed a small plunger on the chemical bomb in his underwear, an action that produced a "pop," the prosecutor told jurors.
The bomb didn't work as planned but Abdulmutallab was engulfed in flames, said Tukel, who displayed the flight's seating chart on a screen to show jurors where things happened on the plane.
Opening statements began after an unexplained 70-minute recess requested by Abdulmutallab and his attorney, Anthony Chambers, shortly after they entered the courtroom. |
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Alberto Gonzales joins Nashville law firm
Legal Topics |
2011/10/06 16:25
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Former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, the first Hispanic attorney general in U.S. history, has joined one of Nashville’s largest law firms and will play a role in mentoring younger lawyers.
Gonzales, 56, will focus on government relations, government investigations and white-collar defense for Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis LLP, the firm said Wednesday.
He also will be involved in the firm’s diversity initiatives, which include a mentoring program.
“It is a great honor for me to join Waller Lansden, a firm that I greatly admire,” Gonzales said in a statement. “Waller Lansden has a reputation for providing incisive legal representation while caring deeply for its clients. The firm’s breakthrough initiatives to encourage diversity in the workplace are admirable.”
Gonzales became the first Hispanic attorney general in U.S. history when President George W. Bush appointed him in 2005.
But he left the post in 2007 under a cloud of controversy stemming from allegations that, under his watch, the U.S. Justice Department improperly hired and fired several U.S. attorneys for political reasons. |
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Ga. ban on guns in places of worship before court
Legal Topics |
2011/10/05 16:25
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A federal appeals court in Atlanta is hearing from a gun rights group that wants to overturn a Georgia state ban on guns in places of worship.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta will hear arguments Thursday on whether the 2010 law violates the First Amendment's religious freedom protections.
The challenge was brought by GeorgiaCarry.org. The gun rights group maintains that religious institutions should be allowed to decide whether to allow firearms inside.
State lawyers counter that the ban allows worshippers to pray in safety. |
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Mass. man charged in terror plot pleads not guilty
Legal Topics |
2011/10/03 18:05
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A man accused of plotting to fly explosives-packed remote-controlled model planes into the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol pleaded not guilty Monday. The bail hearing that had been scheduled for Rezwan Ferdaus, of Ashland, was delayed for several weeks because his lawyer, Catherine Byrne, asked for more time to prepare. Authorities said Ferdaus, a 26-year-old Muslim American with a physics degree from Northeastern University, was arrested in Framingham last week after federal agents posing as al-Qaida members delivered what he believed was 24 pounds of C-4 explosive. They said the public was never in danger from the plot. Byrne said the case was "orchestrated and facilitated by the government." "We have asked for a continuance for additional time in order to prepare and to further investigate so that we can present a more complete picture of what happened," she told reporters as she left the federal courthouse Monday. The arrest was the latest in a string of terror arrests to emerge from similar sting operations. A federal affidavit says Ferdaus began planning jihad, or holy war, against the U.S. in early 2010 after becoming convinced through jihadi websites and videos that America was evil. |
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US soldier found not guilty in contractor death
Legal Topics |
2011/10/02 18:08
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A U.S. soldier has been found not guilty by reason of lack of mental responsibility in the killing of a Hungarian civilian contractor in Iraq, military officials said Saturday.
Pfc. Carl T. Stovall had pleaded not guilty in the March 2009 shooting of Hungarian laborer Tibor Bogdan near Camp Taji, just north of Baghdad. Bogdan was shot while digging a hole at the camp.
The shooting came less than a month into Stovall's third deployment to the Middle East.
He opted to be tried by a military judge at Fort Hood instead of a jury. Testimony was heard this past week.
In a statement Saturday, officials with the military post said the court ordered Stovall to receive a psychiatric/psychological evaluation before a post-trial hearing is conducted on Nov. 10. Stovall faced a maximum sentence of life without the possibility of parole.
Stovall had allegedly once told investigators he believed Bogdan, who worked for a contractor specializing in trash and waste removal, was a terrorist planting a roadside bomb. Prosecutors, however, said Stovall, now 28, has changed his story multiple times, allegedly denying any involvement in one version.
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Appeals court hears challenge to health care law
Legal Topics |
2011/09/26 16:36
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A conservative-leaning panel of federal appellate judges raised concerns about President Barack Obama's health care overhaul Friday, but suggested the challenge to it may be premature.
The arguments at the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington over a lawsuit against Obama's signature domestic legislative achievement focused on whether Congress overstepped its authority in requiring people to buy health insurance or pay a penalty on their taxes, beginning in 2014.
But Judge Brett Kavanaugh, a former top aide to President George W. Bush who appointed him to the bench, said that he has a "major concern" that courts might not be able to rule on the law's constitutionality until 2015. That's because a federal law bars most challenges to tax-related legislation before the tax or penalty is paid.
A federal appeals court in Richmond cited that law in throwing out another challenge to the overhaul. Two other appeals courts have reached differing conclusions — one declaring the law unconstitutional and the other upholding it. The Supreme Court is expected to weigh in and could possibly even decide to review the law before the Washington circuit issues an opinion. |
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W.Va. lawyer nominated to federal appeals court
Legal Topics |
2011/09/09 15:39
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President Barack Obama has nominated Hamlin native Stephanie Dawn Thacker as a judge on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Thacker has been a partner in the Charleston law firm of Guthrie & Thomas since 2006.
Before that she spent seven years with the U.S. Department of Justice. Her work as a trial attorney there focused on prosecution and training in connection with child pornography and sexual exploitation, sex trafficking, obscenity and other offenses.
She also served as an assistant federal prosecutor and worked for the state attorney general's office.
The U.S. Senate must now consider Thacker's nomination to the Richmond, Va.-based court. The seat became vacant after the March death of Judge Blane Michael.
The 15-member court covers North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. |
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