Free Republic

At last night's Republican debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C., we heard the candidates talk about whether ex-cons should vote and we heard the candidates talk about the right to bear arms. At the next debate, I'd like to hear the candidates talk about whether ex-cons should bear arms. Asked about Mitt Romney's attacks on his candidacy, Rick Santorum complained that Romney's Super PAC had an ad that said he favored allowing felons to vote from prison, when in fact what Santorum favored was allowing felons to vote after they've served their prison sentences. Santorum asked Romney: "Do you believe people...

Ex-NC Gov. Easley Avoids Disbarment after FelonyBy The Associated Press UPDATED: 8:43 pm EST January 6, 2012 Wake County -- Former North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley will be able to resume practicing law at end of this year under an agreement reached with the State Bar on his punishment related to a campaign finance-related felony in 2010. A disciplinary panel on Friday approved the agreement between the Bar and Easley in which his law license will be suspended for another 11 months. His license was suspended more than a year ago while the Bar investigated his case.

William Jefferson Appeal Could Weaken Corruption StatuteBy Amanda Becker Roll Call Staff Dec. 12, 2011, Midnight A federal prosecutor warned Friday that if the conviction of former Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) is reversed on appeal, it would place many fraudulent acts committed by lawmakers outside the scope of current bribery law. Jefferson was convicted of 11 corruption charges in 2009, but his legal team is arguing that since the former Congressman’s scheme to connect businesses in which he had a financial stake with foreign governments was not related to his formal legislative duties, his activities are not covered by the...

On Wednesday, the Budget and Finance Committee of the Board of Supervisors will take up a bill that would give a payroll tax credit to local employers who hire ex-felons. I imagine this new law, if enacted, would lead to lots of employment rejection letters for nonfelonious citizens. Letters like this: Dear Mr. Morgan, We at the Mediocris Circus wish to thank you for submitting an application for the position of feline habitat maintenance associate. I read in The San Francisco Examiner that the unemployment rate for Americans ages 16 to 24 is about 18 percent, which must explain why...

So held a North Carolina trial court in Johnston v. State (Oct. 24, 2011). Richard Johnston had been convicted of “felonious receipt of stolen property and conspiracy to commit grand larceny” in 1978, and pled no contest “to fraudulent setting fire, conspiracy, false statement to procure, and conspiracy to receive, receiving, conspiracy to commit larceny and accessory before the fact” in 1981. (The underlying crimes occurred in 1976, and “did not involve either violence or the use of a firearm.”) Since then, Johnston has apparently led a law-abiding life, setting aside “routine traffic citations and two hunting citations, one of...

Evanovich's sisters say they know what their brother was doing was wrong, but they say the police should have handled the response because they’re trained to deal with crimes in progress. Johnita Beal says the witness should have dialed 911, "Police could have been easily contacted, easily, and my brother would have been behind bars, or something like that, but no, he's gone now."

A Duluth man continued to say someone else shot him, but nevertheless pleaded for a shorter sentence Thursday by telling the court: "If I shot myself, your honor, I don't need any prison; I need a damn shrink." Judge David Johnson was unmoved and sentenced Alcide Cloutier, 35, to a longer-than-guideline prison sentence of 7-1/2 years. Last month, a St. Louis County jury rejected Cloutier's claim that he was a good Samaritan who was shot by a black man - whom he later described as a white man - while trying to help a woman in Duluth's Lakeside neighborhood in...

Six people have recently been charged in St. Louis County with a felony crime that is rarely seen on a Northeastern Minnesota court docket: "Voting while ineligible." It's a felony punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine, but a conviction most likely will result in a probationary sentence. Under Minnesota law, a person is ineligible to vote if their civil rights had not been restored after being convicted of treason, or any felony, or while under a guardianship in which a court order revoked the ward's right to vote, or if found by...

The Summerset man who fired a loaded gun during a re-enactment of a shootout last month in Hill City that wounded three tourists is a convicted felon who has been arrested at least 15 times since 1982. Paul Doering, 49, spent more than 50 months in Minnesota prisons for six felony convictions, according to the Minnesota Department of Corrections. Pennington County authorities determined that the bullets that injured Jose Pruneda, 52, of Alliance, Neb., Carrol Knutson, 65, of Birchwood, Minn., and John Ellis, 48, of South Connellsville, Pa., on June 17 came from Doering’s gun. Three of four bullets fired...

Rep. Bill Jefferson corruption case appellate arguments scheduledBy Times-Picayune Staff Updated: Saturday, June 25, 2011, 9:03 AM After a series of lengthy delays, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has tentatively scheduled oral arguments for former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson's appeal of his corruption conviction. A three-judge panel in the Richmond, Va., court announced that it plans to hear the arguments sometime between Sept. 20 and Sept. 23. A Virginia jury found Jefferson, a nine-term New Orleans Democrat, guilty of 11 of 16 corruption charges in August 2009. The jury found that Jefferson demanded, and in some cases received,...

There are enough examples of the Obama administration's attacks on Texas to make a David Letterman Top 10 list. But, there's really nothing funny about the full frontal assault that's come out of Washington against our state in recent months. Texas versus Washington talk is popular political chatter, but if you move beyond the rhetoric there's substantial evidence that President Barack Obama's administration is waging a strategic and sustained campaign against lives and livelihoods in the Lone Star state . With all due respect, the president and his administration's hell-bent determination to tear down Texas could be better focused on...

Cultural center to be named after convicted mayorPublished 06:16 a.m., Thursday, June 2, 2011 UNION CITY, N.J. (AP) — Officials have decided to name a new cultural center after a New Jersey mayor who was convicted of federal racketeering charges. The William V. Musto Cultural Center in Union City will be dedicated on June 11. The center used to be the 15th Street Free Public Library. Musto was a state lawmaker who served as mayor from 1962 to 1970 and 1974 to 1982. That's when he was convicted of helping mobsters and contractors siphon federal funds from an expansion project...

Convicted Felon Elected Mayor in OklahomaBut Christopher Linder can't serve Updated: Tuesday, 10 May 2011, 7:29 PM MDT PHOENIX - He is a convicted felon, found guilty here in Arizona for his part in a drive-by shooting and drug charges. **SNIP** Fortunately, Oklahoma law prevents convicted felons from taking office, so Tuesday, he asked for a pardon. Christopher Linder admits he's made poor choices, but says he's a changed man. He would have made history if the pardon was granted...but the board said he's not ready. By a four to one vote, a state board decided not to recommend a...

The Honolulu hospital indicated on the Obama birth record released by the White House barred WND from its premises and threatened to call police in a visit seeking medical records of the president's mother. Kapi'olani Medical Center also has hidden away the letter President Obama purportedly wrote Jan. 24, 2009, naming the hospital as his birthplace. Sen. Sam Slom, Hawaii's only Republican state senator, confirmed to WND at a meeting in Honolulu at his legislative office May 4 that Kapi'olani now has put the letter in a safe. Nothing that would commemorate Honolulu and Kapi'olani as the president's place of...

".....From 1977 to 1990, Lenza served time in Missouri’s State Penitentiary in Jefferson City, also called “The Walls.” He was convicted of murder in 1975 after confessing to killing his first wife and mother-in-law, putting his mother-in-law’s body in a barrel and throwing the barrel into the Mississippi River....."

For years, the man known as Rafael Espinoza was widely respected as an exemplary police officer who was popular among his peers in Alaska's largest city. All that ended this week when authorities discovered he was really Mexican national Rafael Mora-Lopez, who was in the U.S. illegally and stole another man's identity, officials charged.

Grant Kruger was convicted of helping steal $13 million in military equipment from the federal government. He was hired by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development in 2008. Kruger is an unemployment insurance auditor, which means he has access to personal financial information like social security numbers, credit reports, income taxes and phone numbers for thousands of Minnesotans. Kruger also has access to sensitive corporate financial records.

Two bills are being heard in the Nevada Legislature next week that will greatly weaken our elections process, and that directly violate the Nevada Republican Party Platform, which says under the Citizenship section: “We oppose same-day registration and voting. We demand proof of U.S. citizenship and residency at the time of registration and authentic government issued photo identification at the time of voting.” AB108 is a very dangerous bill. It eliminates the deadline to register to vote for an election, and allows same-day registration and voting. This needlessly opens up the electoral process to significant fraud, and allows voters to...

Feds back Jefferson verdict111-page filing says jury got it right Bruce Alpert - Washington bureau Saturday, March 12, 2011 WASHINGTON -- A federal jury properly found that former Rep. William Jefferson engaged in "numerous bribe schemes" to "unjustly enrich himself and his family," so a federal appeals court should allow the jury's guilty verdict to stand, prosecutors say. In a 111-page filing late Thursday to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., the prosecutors urged the court to reject Jefferson's argument that the verdict, guilty on 11 of 16 corruption charges, must be thrown out. Jefferson's attorneys argued...