Free Republic

The U.S. Constitution makes clear that the judiciary has no business second-guessing prosecutorial decisions. That’s what Michael Flynn judge Emmet Sullivan decided to do. On May 13, Judge Emmet Sullivan issued a blatantly biased and unconstitutional order in the long-lasting Michael Flynn criminal case. To preserve the rule of law and our constitutional separation of powers, the Department of Justice has no choice now but to seek a writ of mandamus from the D.C. Circuit Court ordering the criminal charge against Flynn dismissed and reassigning the case to another judge. On Tuesday, Judge Sullivan shocked court watchers when he entered...

It's not a gang, it's a club. When it comes to the Houston-born Bandidos Motorcycle Club, this debate has taken on some urgency and a few twists. Following a May 17 melee in Waco that left nine dead and 18 wounded, police arrested 177 bikers. Each was charged with engaging in organized criminal activity by being part of a conspiracy to commit murder and assault as part of a turf war between the Bandidos and a lesser-known rival, the Cossacks. The distinction carries a hefty penalty, as those charged faced 15 years to life in prison if convicted - even...

The Duke lacrosse case was a spectacular scandal – a cause célèbre that had the country abuzz about race, class and gender. Three wealthy Duke students, all of them white, were charged with raping a poor black woman during a spring break party at a scruffy rental house in Durham. Then the whole mess imploded in real time, in the national media, due to prosecutorial misconduct. North Carolina, of all places in America, was perhaps the most fertile soil for a case that ended with the state attorney general declaring the three players innocent and state regulators disbarring the prosecutor,...

U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz said her office is weighing an appeal against a Tewksbury motel owner who criticized her for prosecutorial bullying last week after he won his battle in the feds’ three-year bid to seize his business, citing drug busts on the property. “This case was strictly a law-enforcement effort to crack down on what was seen as a pattern of using the motel to further the commission of drug crimes for nearly three decades,” Ortiz said in a statement. “We are weighing our options with respect to appeal.” Russ Caswell, owner of Motel Caswell, told the Herald he...

When a federal appeals court issued a ruling describing a prosecutor’s misconduct that forced a halt to a drug-trafficking trial in Tucson, the U.S. attorney’s response was to ask the court to erase the prosecutor’s name from the published decision. Bad move. After republishing the name of the errant prosecutor, Jerry Albert, the court pointed a finger at the U.S. attorney’s office and said it was time to start taking responsibility for the misdeeds of its employees. “When a prosecutor steps over the boundaries of proper conduct and into unethical territory, the government has a duty to own up to...

A Justice Department corruption investigation that helped drive John Doolittle from office has now been closed without charges being filed, the former Sacramento, Calif.-area congressman said Friday. "I'm thrilled," Doolittle said in an interview. "They've dragged this thing out for six and a half years." Doolittle's relief, though, is tinged with bitterness at how he believes the Justice Department has mistreated him. He says he accumulated $600,000 in attorneys fees, some of which he was able to pay with campaign funds. The lingering investigation hindered his ability to find work. In the beginning, he said, it proved "very devastating" to...

James O'Keefe, accused of trying to tamper with the phones of Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu, was "framed" by the media and the U.S. attorney's office, Andrew Breitbart, publisher of BigGovernment.com, told Fox News Monday. The same day the man who first published James O'Keefe's explosive videos exposing wrongdoing at community organizer ACORN came to his defense Monday, claiming the conservative filmmaker "sat in jail for 28 hours without access to an attorney" while the prosecutor made his case to the media, the U.S. attorney involved stepped down. O'Keefe, accused of trying to tamper with the phones of Louisiana Sen. Mary...

The case before the Supreme Court on Wednesday sounded like a television movie, a tale of wrongful imprisonment and the slow, inexorable wheels of justice. Prosecutors under pressure to close the case of a cop killer settle on two young African Americans. They fabricate evidence, coerce perjury and bury the investigation of a white suspect.A sympathetic prison barber unearths the investigative records that eventually lead courts to free the convicted men after years behind bars. And the men seek retribution for the prosecutors who framed them. But here's the twist: The prosecutors say that they can't be sued for anything...

A former government official facing corruption charges for accepting improper gifts from Jack Abramoff is taking an unusually aggressive approach in fighting the Justice Department’s case. Horace Cooper, a legal commentator and conservative writer who was a senior aide in then-Rep. Dick Armey’s (R-Texas) office, is accusing prosecutors of dozens of mistakes and has invoked the prosecutorial abuse investigation that overturned the conviction of former Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) in an attempt to undermine the government’s case. Cooper, an attorney himself, pleaded not guilty last week to felony corruption charges, including accepting nearly $15,000 in gifts, tickets to sporting events...

A federal jury on Friday acquitted W.R. Grace & Co. and three of its former officials of charges that they knowingly exposed residents of Libby, Mont., to asbestos poisoning associated with a mining operation and conspired to hide it. The verdict brings to an ignominious end one of the most significant criminal prosecutions the government had ever filed against a corporate polluter. The acquittals raise new questions about prosecutorial failings in the Justice Department, which already was reeling from the dismissal of its corruption case against former Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska).In Libby, where an estimated 1,200 residents have died or...

RALEIGH (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice will not investigate former Duke lacrosse prosecutor Mike Nifong for his handling of the case, a spokesman for the agency said Wednesday. That decision also jeopardizes a possible investigation at the state level, according to a spokeswoman for Attorney General Roy Cooper, who said prosecutors in North Carolina can't indict someone on charges of lying to investigators. The DOJ carefully considered the case but decided that it was an issue better resolved inside the state, said spokesman Peter Carr in a statement. "We believe the State of North Carolina has the primary...

TAMPA - An appeals court called the case against Mark O'Hara "absurd" and "ridiculous," but the Hillsborough State Attorney's Office is refusing to drop charges against the 45-year-old Dunedin man. O'Hara appeared before Hillsborough Circuit Judge Ronald Ficarrotta Wednesday morning, his first time in court since his release from prison July 25. During the brief hearing, prosecutor Darrell Dirks indicated his office plans to pursue a second trial for O'Hara, who was accused of drug trafficking after authorities found 58 Vicodin pills in his bread truck. He had legal prescriptions for the drugs.

Wrong Arm Of The Law Rogue Prosecutors: Mike Nifong, the poster child for misusing the justice system for a personal agenda, may soon get his comeuppance, his targets freed. Sadly, the same can't yet be said of Patrick Fitzgerald and Johnny Sutton. Paul Caulfield, a writer for Inside Lacrosse Magazine, told Fox News last week that several sources had told him the three Duke lacrosse players charged with rape, assault and kidnapping charges will soon be freed with all charges dropped. We welcome the result and are not surprised by it. We also won't be surprised or disappointed if the...

"60 Minutes" never mentioned during is two-part segment on the Duke case broadcast last Sunday night that the Duke case is a Democrat scandal. But, IT IS! Durham County, North Carolina is a Democrat bastion; Durham County's appointed District Attorney Michael B. Nifong is a Democrat; the North Carolina Governor (Michael Easley) who appointed Mr. Nifong is a Democrat; and North Carolina Attorney General (Roy Cooper) who has not intervened in the interests of justice, is a Democrat. After the "60 Minutes" Duke case expose, responsible (and smart) Democrats will stand for justice instead of stand with Mr. Nifong. "60...

AUSTIN — Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle is suing to keep secret the details about his investigation of indicted former House majority leader Tom DeLay. The Houston Chronicle filed a request under Texas' open records law in March seeking vouchers, hotel and airfare receipts, budget documents, memos and e-mails describing the expenses for the DeLay inquiry and related investigations. DeLay, indicted last year on conspiracy and money laundering charges connected to the financing of 2002 state legislative races, resigned from Congress on June 9. Earle, in his attempt to keep details of his investigation out of public view, appealed...

The charges they wish to dismiss against Pinkerton(without prejudice) from three arrests in six months are 9 counts: 1 count impersonating a police officer 1 count terroristic threatening a police officer 1st degree 1 count intimidating a witness (police officer) 2 counts assault in the 1st degree against police officers 1 count resisting arrest 1 count criminal property damage 1 count open container 1 count DUI Pinkerton has presented the evidence exposing the conspiracy against him, which can be found at http://www.kpinkerton.com . This website is now exculpatory evidence. The conditions of the plea agreement are very peculiar. The nature...

<p>Very few things ever surprised the recently deceased editor of the Wall Street Journal, Bob Bartley. However, I know of one first hand. When the first amendment rights of the American Spectator were trampled by the Clinton administration, specifically via a melodramatic grand jury investigation, almost no one from the press paid any attention.</p>

<p>As Melissa Ann Rowland's unborn twins got closer to birth, doctors repeatedly told her they would likely die if she did not have a Caesarean (search) section. She refused, and one later was stillborn.</p> <p>Authorities charged 28-year-old Rowland with murder on Thursday, saying she exhibited "depraved indifference to human life," according to court documents. One nurse told police that Rowland said she would rather "lose one of the babies than be cut like that."</p>