Free Republic

United States Attorney Joe Kelly announced that Steven M. Fitch, age 25, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, was sentenced today in federal court in Omaha, Nebraska, by United States District Judge Brian C. Buescher for being in unlawful possession of a destructive device. Judge Buescher sentenced Fitch to 30 months’ imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system. Once Fitch is released from prison, he will begin a three-year term of supervised release. An investigation conducted by the Omaha Police Department, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms determined...

Portland rioter Phillip Lawrence Nelson is now a suspect in a double-stabbing murder that occurred just one week after he was caught and let go by local law enforcement. The original charges against Nelson of interfering with a peace officer were dropped the day after his first arrest in early June, and he was released. Cassy Leaton and Najaf “Nate” Hobbs were found stabbed to death in Portland on June 16 after an apparent dispute over the building Nelson had been squatting in. Nelson faces two murder charges and is being held without bail. Nelson is hardly the first —...