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Mattew L. Perna, a Pennsylvania man prosecutied for his 20-minute walk through the U.S. Capitol on Jan 6, 2021m tiij gus iwb kufe ib Feb. 25 because of "a broken heart" and a justice system that "killed his spirit and his zest for life," his family said. Perna, 37, os Sharpsville, was due to be sentenced on April 1 in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., in a plea agreemtns on charges of obstructing an official proceeding, aiding and abetting, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building.....

Texas prosecutor Mike McCrum says the grand jury that indicted former Texas Governor Rick Perry has made two mutually exclusive factual findings. The grand jury, McCrum says, has alternately declared that Perry's public statement threatening to veto a spending bill was 1) An official act; and 2) Not an official act. The significance of this will be described below. First, though, recall that there are two Counts in the indictment against Perry: COUNT ONE: Abuse of Official Capicity. This count alleges that Perry abused the office of Governor by "misusing" government "property" (the veto is the item Perry allegedly misused)...

Despite ‘Castle Doctrine,’ defendant is convicted in slaying A PHILADELPHIA JUDGE said Wednesday he was convinced that a disabled, retired Marine was being attacked in the moments before he fatally stabbed a man last October, but he concluded that the stabbing was still a criminal act rather than self-defense. Common Pleas Judge Benjamin Lerner then convicted Jonathan Lowe, 57, of voluntary manslaughter and possession of an instrument of crime. The judge found him not guilty of the more-serious charges of first- and third-degree murder. Lowe, who wears a pacemaker and has survived two strokes and two heart surgeries, could face...

Admitted thieves are going free, while an elderly Wheat Ridge man is facing the possibility of spending the rest of his life behind bars, all, he says, for trying to defend his property and his life. 82-year-old Robert Wallace said in February that he looked out his window and saw two men hooking his flatbed trailer up to their pickup. He yelled at them to stop, but they sped away, stealing his trailer. He told police he fired two shots at the pickup. Minutes later, police say 32-year-old Damacio Torres dropped 28-year-old Alvaro Cardona off at a hospital emergency room...

Earlier this week, I argued that Canada's human-rights censors have managed a seemingly impossible task: They've found a way to rehabilitate the image of neo-Nazis, transforming them from odious dirtbags into principled free-speech martyrs. Case in point: At this week's much-anticipated human-rights hearing in Ottawa, a team of journalists and bloggers were campaigning openly in support of hatemonger Marc Lemire. The villains were Canadian Human Rights Commission (HRC) investigator Dean Steacy and the other apparatchik who've made a career out of parsing Lemire's phobic Web postings. Tuesday's hearing probably won't change the outcome of the case against Lemire: Like a...

CAMP PENDLETON, California (CNN) -- A U.S. Marine will serve no more than eight years in prison in connection with the killing of an Iraqi civilian, a Marine Corps spokesman said Saturday. Marine Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington was sentenced to 14 years' confinement but will serve no more than eight under a plea agreement, Marine spokesman Sean Gibson told CNN. Pennington pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges regarding the death of Hashim Ibrahim Awad, 52, in Hamdaniya, west of Baghdad. Pennington was among a group of seven Marines and a Navy medic charged in Awad's death. He and two other Marines...

SOMEONE OUGHT to tell the Bush administration that prisons are for criminals, not law-enforcement personnel trying to do their jobs. On Thursday, a federal judge in Texas sentenced two former Border Patrol agents to 11 and 12 years in prison because they shot at a drug smuggler who was evading arrest. In February 2005, Border Patrol agent Jose Alonso Compean got in a scuffle with smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, who was driving a van that carried 743 pounds of marijuana. Compean and fellow agent Ignacio Ramos shot at Aldrete-Davila -- they say they thought he had a gun, which Aldrete-Davila denies....

Americans love to poll, test and otherwise assess themselves. A news item barely hits the wires before a poll follows indicating Americans' reaction. Applying for a new job? Just fill out this short questionnaire to determine whether you're racist, sexist, homophobic, heterophobic, ageist, height-ist, or a fat-o-phobe. In that spirit of sensitivity, I submit the following pop quiz to gauge your bias as a news consumer. After reading the following characteristics, please select the college group that most likely fits the description: The group has a 100 percent college graduation rate. Sixty percent have a 3.0 grade point average or...

Pardon the vanity post, but I wanted to let Freepers know that two Duke players have been arrested in the rape case.

LEBANON VA - An emergency medical technician who pleaded guilty to killing a co-worker with a defibrillator paddle will be released from jail in early 2007 following a judge's decision Tuesday evening. Russell County Circuit Judge Mike Moore called the June 1, 2005, death of 23-year-old Courtney Leighann Hilton "a senseless, foolish act" before handing down a 12-month jail sentence to Joshua Phillip Martin, 25, who entered an Alford plea in January to one count of involuntary manslaughter. In an Alford plea, a defendant maintains his innocence while acknowledging that the evidence is strong enough that a judge or jury...

UPDATE: Homosexual Attorneys from Justice Department Advise Philadelphia Police On Arresting Christians One Internet news service says not to expect an investigation because of the involvement of the Justice Department homosexual attorneys A few days ago I wrote you about the situation in Philadelphia in which four Christians were arrested. They are charged with eight crimes, including three felonies: possession of instruments of crime (a bullhorn), ethnic intimidation (saying that homosexuality is a sin), and inciting a riot (reading from the Bible some passages relating to homosexuality) despite the fact that no riot occurred. They face a possible 47 years...

Gentle Freepers, Today I received a phone call from Don Adams. The case he and his sister Teri are waging against the Teamsters, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, and Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham is in imminent danger of failing for lack of funds. (If you are not familiar with Don and Teri Adams and their struggles, please turn to the "REMEDIAL SECTION" below.) Now, I know that FreeRepublic is not a forum for fundraising, but FreeRepublic has been involved in the plight of the Adamses since the moment it began in October, 1998, and because Freepers have given generous support...