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<p>MIAMI (AP) In the biggest Miami police scandal in a generation, a federal jury convicted four officers of corruption Wednesday for planting a gun on an unarmed homeless man or lying about it to protect their colleagues.</p> <p>The officers, all assigned to elite undercover teams, were charged after four police shootings in the mid-1990s left three people dead and another wounded. One of the victims, an elderly drug suspect, died in a hail of more than 100 bullets.</p>

GOP Leaders Press Ehrlich To Veto Medical Marijuana The Bush administration and other top national Republicans are heavily pressuring Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. to veto a proposal that would drastically reduce penalties for terminally ill patients who smoke marijuana to ease pain. In recent days, several Republican officials have urged Ehrlich to reconsider his longtime support of medical marijuana, which has become one of the few issues that divide the state GOP. Rest of article here.

Tom Cowart and Denise Orr never liked their grapefruit tree that much. So when the state said it was infected with citrus canker and the cutting crew came to remove it in December 2000, they didn't protest.... But when a crew came to take their tangerine tree last February, things weren't so cordial. Cowart asked for a search warrant. The cutters said they didn't need one. Cowart told them to get off his property. They said they didn't have to. A tense standoff ensued on the front lawn of Cowart's Fort Lauderdale home, with Florida Department of Agriculture officials and...

Newsbrief: This Week's Corrupt Cops Story It never ends. This week's winners are Jefferson County (Greater Louisville), KY, Metro Narcotics officers Mark A. Watson and Christie Richards. The daring duo is on trial this week in Louisville on charges of using photocopied judges' signatures to create bogus search warrants, lying on affidavits to obtain search warrants, and pocketing money they were supposed to be paying to informers. Watson faces 472 counts, while Richardson faces 467. The pair are accused of 133 separate incidents of wrongdoing, according to court documents. Watson and Richards were suspended in February 2000 after questions were...

A potentially earth-shaking Supreme Court ruling went largely unnoticed this month. Back in 1998, Thomas Bean, a Texas resident and licensed firearm dealer, traveled across the border into Mexico for dinner — not an unusual activity for those living along the border. Stopping Mr. Bean's car for a search when he tried to re-cross the border, Mexican authorities found 200 rounds of ammunition — a modest enough quantity for a firearms dealer (who will often sell 500 rounds to a single customer) to have lying about his car unnoticed ... which Mr. Bean explains is just what happened. But possession...

The Tennessee policeman who shot and killed a family's dog during a terrorizing traffic stop took just three seconds to slay the animal after it jumped out its owners' car, reports the Cookeville Herald-Citizen. Law-enforcement authorities released a videotape of the incident yesterday, which shows the three-second time frame on the tape's counter. The Cookeville police officer who shot the dog, Eric Hall, has since been reassigned to administrative duties while the incident is probed. As WorldNetDaily reported, the Smoak family was returning to their home in North Carolina on New Year's Day when three police cars swarmed their vehicle...

As family shrieks, police kill dog Wednesday, January 8, 2003 Posted: 10:26 PM EST (0326 GMT) COOKEVILLE, Tennessee (CNN) -- Police video released Wednesday showed a North Carolina family kneeling and handcuffed, who shrieked as officers killed their dog -- which appeared to be playfully wagging its tail -- with a shotgun during a traffic stop. The Smoak family was pulled over the evening of January 1 on Interstate 40 in eastern Tennessee by officers who mistakenly suspected them of a carjacking. An investigation showed James Smoak had simply left his wallet on the roof of his car at a...

'Felony stop' leaves family traumatized Mary Jo Denton Herald-Citizen Staff It was the most traumatic experience the Smoak family of North Carolina has ever had, and it happened yesterday afternoon as they traveled through Cookeville on their way home from a vacation in Nashville. Before their ordeal was over, three members of the family had been yanked out of their car and handcuffed on the side of Interstate 40 in downtown Cookeville, and their beloved dog, Patton, had been shot to death by a police officer as they watched. **************************** About that time, he heard the officer broadcast orders over...

Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - Prior to the capture of "Beltway Sniper" suspects John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo, an unconfirmed number of Maryland gun owners received surprise visits from the FBI as part of the investigation. One such gun owner had a surprise of his own for the agents when they arrived at his home. Jeff Brown of Gaithersburg, Md., was "a little nervous" when he heard the voicemail message from an FBI agent on the sniper task force who wanted to "visit" Brown at his home to check a .223 caliber semi-automatic rifle Brown purchased in 1993. Adding...

Madison, Wisconsin -- J.B. Van Hollen, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Demetrius Phillips, Beloit, DOB: 7/19/80, was sentenced today by United States District Judge John C. Shabaz to thirty-seven months imprisonment, followed by a three-year term of supervised release, for unlawfully possessing ammunition after having previously been convicted of a felony offense. Phillips pleaded guilty to this charge on June 27, 2002. Phillips shot an individual on October 31, 2001, in Beloit, Wisconsin. The firearm used in the shooting was never recovered, but a single shell casing was found at the scene. Under federal...

<p>School officials in California are warning parents that they cannot educate their children at home unless they obtain professional teaching credentials.</p> <p>Without the proper credentials, parents no longer can file required paperwork that would authorize them to home school their children, states a memo issued by the state Department of Education. As a result, those children not attending public schools would be considered "truant" by local school districts.</p>

By Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The man who videotaped a police beating near Los Angeles that enraged black leaders and then dodged a grand jury inquiry into the matter was arrested on Thursday as he prepared to grant a television interview. Photos Reuters Photo Slideshows Audio/Video (AP) Mitchell Crooks was taken into custody on warrants issued in northern California for petty theft and drunken driving. Authorities also served him with a subpoena to testify before the Los Angeles County grand jury. Crooks' arrest was videotaped and broadcast on local KCAL-TV, showing undercover officers hustling him into a sports...

Koizumi hammers Chinese authorities Asylum-seeker grab enrages TokyoPrime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Thursday that Chinese police violated the Vienna Convention when they entered the Japanese Consulate in Shenyang without consent to seize two North Koreans who had sought asylum.Koizumi told reporters he wants a "sincere response" from China regarding Japan's request that the detainees be handed over. He said any action taken by Tokyo would depend on Beijing's handling of the issue.The 1961 Vienna Convention stipulates that the premises of diplomatic missions "shall be inviolable" and that "the agents of the receiving state may not enter them, except with the...