Free Republic

On Friday, Judge Thomas S. Kleeh issued a decision striking down the federal prohibition against 18 to 20-year-olds purchasing handguns. The plaintiffs in the case are Steven Robert Brown, Benjamin Weekley, the Second Amendment Foundation, and the West Virginia Citizens Defense League. Judge Kleeh, a Donald Trump appointee, is Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia. Kleeh put the case in context: This case requires the Court to assess the protected right of the people under the Second Amendment to the Constitution to keep and bear arms. U.S. Const. amend. II. Plaintiffs...

Jonathan and Diana Toebbe pleaded guilty for a second time on Tuesday to federal charges that they tried to sell secrets about U.S. submarine nuclear propulsion systems to a foreign country. The couple originally pleaded guilty in February but a judge threw out the plea agreements last month after deciding the sentences called for were too low. At the time of his plea, Toebbe conceded he sent a package to a foreign government, listing a return address in Pittsburgh that contained a sample of restricted data and instructions for establishing relationship to buy additional restricted data. Toebbe said he began...

The Navy submarine engineer and his leftist wife who were both charged with spying on the U.S. for an unidentified foreign government were ordered held without bail during a court appearance Tuesday. Jonathan Toebbe, 42, and his wife, Diana, 45, wore jail-issued orange jumpsuits and were handcuffed as they stood before a judge in Martinsburg, West Virginia. The couple was scheduled for a detention hearing on Friday at 11am and a preliminary examination into their case was set for October 20, at 1pm. The Toebbes, who were given a court-appointed counsel after the hearing, could face either life in prison...