Free Republic

BILLINGS, Mont.—A Montana rancher illegally used tissue and testicles from wild sheep killed by hunters in central Asia and the United States to breed “giant” hybrid sheep for sale to private hunting preserves in Texas, according to court documents and federal prosecutors. Arthur “Jack” Schubarth, 80, of Vaughn, Montana pleaded guilty to felony charges of wildlife trafficking and conspiracy to traffic wildlife during an appearance Tuesday before a federal judge in Great Falls. Each count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Court documents describe a yearslong conspiracy, beginning in 2013, in which Mr....

The troubled attacker who allegedly stabbed two teen tourists at Grand Central Terminal on Christmas morning was cut loose by a Bronx judge just weeks earlier — despite a string of violent busts in recent months, The Post has learned. Prosecutors wanted Steven Hutcherson, 36, to be committed to a psychiatric program for randomly threatening a stranger on a Bronx street last month, but Judge Matthew Grieco instead gave the career criminal a conditional discharge that put him back on the street, records show. Less than two weeks after that Dec. 12 hearing, Hutcherson allegedly went off the rails at...

Trump attorney Alina Habba joined "Sunday Morning Futures" with host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday to discuss the latest on the former president's civil fraud trial in New York and argued New York Attorney General Letitia James should dismiss the case. Habba told Bartiromo that she would be filing for a mistrial but said the judge was the same judge who issued a gag order. "These accusations that he overvalued assets what kind of third party people did you have or did Donald Trump have in terms of doing their own evaluation because, I mean, when you — go to get...

Newly released whistleblower documents reveal that federal prosecutors repeatedly interfered on Hunter Biden’s behalf during the probe into the younger Biden’s business dealings. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith on Thursday released five documents that include the testimonies of two IRS whistleblowers, as well as supplemental affidavits and memos detailing alleged efforts to politically interfere with the probe. The whistleblowers testified that from 2014-2019, Hunter Biden personally received 8.3 Million Dollars from Ukraine, China, and Romania and didn’t pay taxes on the income, but the Biden Department of Justice attempted to block the IRS agents investigating the tax...

Peters, a pro-Trump Republican running for Colorado secretary of state this year, has publicly asserted that the investigation was partisan and politically motivated. In a statement on her campaign website Wednesday, she said the grand jury indictment was "one of the last cards the Democrats have to play here." "Using legal muscle to indict political opponents during an election isn't new strategy, but it's easier to execute when you have a district attorney who despises President Trump and any constitutional conservative like myself who continues to demand all election evidence be made available to the public," she said. CNN has...

The first Black federal judge in Alabama spoke out against one of President Biden's potential Supreme Court picks in a letter addressed to the commander in chief that was obtained by NBC News. U.W. Clemon, a former chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, urged the president not to consider Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for the vacancy. The retired judge said that there are "several exceptionally well-qualified black female aspirants for the Supreme Court" but that he "strongly" believes Jackson should not be considered. Clemon referenced the case Ross v. Lockhead as reasoning for...

For many rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, self-incriminating messages, photos and videos that they broadcast on social media before, during and after the insurrection are influencing even their criminal sentences. Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Amy Jackson read aloud some of Russell Peterson’s posts about the riot before she sentenced the Pennsylvania man to 30 days imprisonment. “Overall I had fun lol,” Peterson posted on Facebook. The judge told Peterson that his posts made it “extraordinarily difficult” for her to show him leniency. “The ’lol’ particularly stuck in my craw because, as I hope you’ve...

A federal judge has reversed the Trump administration’s environmental approval for ConocoPhillips’ multibillion-dollar proposed Willow development on Alaska’s North Slope, throwing a significant roadblock in front of a project seen by analysts as a needed boost to the state’s flagging oil industry and tax revenue. U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason, in a 110-page ruling on two related lawsuits Wednesday, said the Trump administration’s approval of the project under the National Environmental Policy Act was flawed because it failed to thoroughly analyze potential greenhouse gas pollution, and didn’t sufficiently consider legal protections for Teshekpuk Lake, an important subsistence area on...

WASHINGTON, July 12 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Monday appeared likely to reprimand Sidney Powell, a former campaign lawyer for Donald Trump, and other attorneys over a lawsuit they filed in Michigan seeking to overturn Democratic President Joe Biden's election victory. U.S. District Judge Linda Parker in Detroit suggested the pro-Trump lawyers should have investigated the Republican former president's voter fraud claims more carefully before suing. "Should an attorney be sanctioned for his or her failure to withdraw allegations the attorney came to know were untrue?," Parker said during a court hearing via video conference. "Is that sanctionable behavior?"...

Federal judge Analisa Torres, an Obama appointee, dismissed a shooting case against a reputed gang banger because the grand jury that indicted him was drawn from a grand jury pool in White Plains with an “underrepresentation of Black and Latinx individuals.”It looks to me that Judge Torres is using an invented term, Latinx” to invoke an invented right. Via the New York Post:“The Government has failed to meet its burden by coming forward with evidence rebutting the presumption that such underrepresentation was the result of purposeful discrimination,” she wrote Monday.“Therefore, Defendant has established a violation of his Fifth Amendment right...

A federal judge in Manhattan tossed an indictment against a Bronx shooting suspect because of a lack of racial diversity in the White Plains grand jury pool — the first such ruling since city cases were moved to the suburban county amid the pandemic. Judge Analisa Torres sided with defendant William Scott, who had argued that black and Hispanic people were underrepresented in the grand jury pool that returned an indictment against him in June of last year. Scott was charged with possessing ammunition in connection to a shooting in the Bronx, but was charged in the Southern District of...

A federal judge in Manhattan tossed an indictment against a Bronx shooting suspect because of a lack of racial diversity in the White Plains grand jury pool — the first such ruling since city cases were moved to the suburban county amid the pandemic. Judge Analisa Torres sided with defendant William Scott, who had argued that black and Hispanic people were underrepresented in the grand jury pool that returned an indictment against him in June of last year. Scott was charged with possessing ammunition in connection to a shooting in the Bronx, but was charged in the Southern District of...

A federal judge in South Dakota is on the warpath against the US Marshals service that provides courtroom security, accusing them of ‘kidnapping’ and criminal contempt after they refused to disclose Covid-19 vaccination status. On Monday, US District Judge Charles Kornmann fulminated for nearly an hour at the courthouse in Aberdeen, as Justice Department lawyers and two of the Marshals he wants criminally prosecuted took notes. “This was such an outrageous thing to do,” the judge reportedly said, according to the Washington Post, referring to the incident last month when a female deputy refused to tell him if she was...

Former Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Brett Blomme stood mute during a court appearance on Thursday in the face of felony charges of possessing child pornography. In March, the former children’s court judge was charged with seven felony counts of possession of child pornography. A complaint accused him of uploading graphic images and videos of boys as young as toddlers to an online messaging site. Blomme appeared before Dane County Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn on Thursday by video. He waived his right to a preliminary hearing and stood mute in the face of the charges. The court entered a plea of...

A U.S. federal judge on Thursday rejected Parler’s demand that Amazon.com Inc restore web hosting services for the social media platform, which Amazon had cut off following the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol. U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein in Seattle said Parler was unlikely to prove Amazon breached its contract or violated antitrust law by suspending service on Jan. 10, and that it was “not a close call.” She also forcefully rejected the suggestion that the public interest would be served by a preliminary injunction requiring Amazon Web Services to “host the kind of abusive, violent content at...

The ruling came from the Third Circuit Court LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - Ballot counting in Michigan has been ruled as fair. Yesterday the state’s third circuit court announced the ruling. Friday, the court denied a petition that would have required Detroit and Wayne County to retain all ballots. The petition would have prevented election results in the county from being certified. A group called “The Election Integrity Fund” challenged results earlier this week, alleging there was a shortage of bipartisan voting inspectors, and misconduct with ballot handling. Third Judicial Circuit Court Chief Judge Timothy Kenney called the allegations “mere speculation.”...

state judge on Thursday dismissed the Trump campaign's lawsuit seeking to halt the counting of absentee ballots in Michigan. Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens said during a hearing she would be rejecting the campaign's lawsuit, filed the previous day, that alleged Republican officials had been denied access to video of ballot drop boxes.

A federal judge named Joe Biden as a possible “witness” along with his son Hunter in a criminal fraud case last year that ended in the convictions of two of Hunter’s business partners, according to little-noticed court documents. The Democratic presidential candidate’s appearance on a witness list casts new doubt on his claims he knew nothing about his son’s shady business dealings. Hunter Biden blamed one of his convicted partners — Devon Archer — for his father's name appearing on a list of potential witnesses in a juror questionnaire in the case, which was filed Jan. 11, 2019. In a...

Judge Karen Geivers ruled Tuesday to extend the recount deadline for Palm Beach County until November 20 in Florida’s U.S. Senate race, according to reports. ===== The extension comes after Sen. Bill Nelson’s (D-FL) legal team filed a lawsuit in a federal court this afternoon in a bid to extend the deadline for recounting votes statewide.

BARRON COUNTY, Wis. -- A Barron County judge has ruled that a temporary restraining order against Gov. Tony Evers' order restricting indoor capacity in Wisconsin bars and restaurants be lifted, meaning that it is once again in effect. Earlier this month, Gov. Evers ordered new restrictions limiting indoor capacity to 25 percent at all bars, restaurants, and stores statewide. Many business owners complained their businesses won't survive. The Tavern League of Wisconsin sued, and last week Sawyer County Judge Don Yackel temporarily blocked the order with a restraining order. Monday, Judge James Babler removed the restraining order, arguing the plaintiffs...