Keepingitreal

New Guidelines For Medical Marijuana: A Step To The Right

The Department of Justice will distribute new guidelines to federal prosecutors today advising that it's not a good use of their time to prosecute medical marijuana users and distributors in states where medical marijuana is legal, as long as they're following state laws. It's been understood since before the election that President Obama intended to stop raids on medical marijuana users, and, with the exception of a few raids conducted in LA before the new leadership had gotten settled at the Department of Justice, that's been the effective policy so far. But the new guidelines--a three-page memo going out to prosecutors in the 14 states where medical marijuana has been legalized in some fashion, as well as FBI and DEA officials--will set it down in formal communique. Glenn Greenwald points out that this policy is actually more conservative than that held by the Bush administration, which vowed to enforce federal anti-marijuana laws: it's a victory for states' rights, a loosening of the federal government's centralized grip. At a time when allegations of socialism dominate criticism of the administration--when the stimulus was fought by conservative governors as a federal power-grab--a softer approach to medical marijuana laws has actually given states' rights proponents something to be pleased about with the Obama administration. Libertarians may not like much else about the administration: the stimulus, the auto bailouts, and the measured progress on Guantanamo, wiretapping, and a legal framework for terrorism suspects have all, in their eyes, marked shortcomings on behalf of the administration. But they can at least be happy about this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdONwv51Wm0

State OKs petition drive for pot legalization

(09-22) 15:41 PDT San Francisco -- Two prominent East Bay marijuana advocates got clearance from the state today to try to put a pot-legalization initiative on the November 2010 California ballot. Richard Lee, executive director of the medical marijuana dispensary known as Oaksterdam, and Jeff Jones, former director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, are the sponsors of a measure that would allow anyone over 21 to possess or grow marijuana for personal use. It would allow each local government to decide whether to tax and regulate marijuana sales. The secretary of state's office approved the initiative for circulation along with a similar measure sponsored by John Donohue of Long Beach. Each needs at least 433,971 signatures of registered voters by Feb. 18 to qualify for the November ballot. The Lee-Jones initiative would legalize possession of up to an ounce of marijuana. Lee says it would generate billions of dollars in tax revenue. Marijuana possession, cultivation and sale would remain illegal under federal law, however. After California voters approved the nation's first law legalizing medical use of marijuana in 1996, federal authorities raided local pot clubs, prosecuted growers and sought to punish doctors who recommended the drug to their patients.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/22/BACP19R095.DTL#ixzz0RssSxNSN

Kanye West pleads not guilty in LA airport case

LOS ANGELES – Kanye West has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges stemming from a scuffle with a paparazzo last year. Los Angeles City Attorney's spokesman Nick Velasquez says West entered the plea through his attorney on Friday. The 31-year-old was not in court. City prosecutors charged the rapper with misdemeanor battery, grand theft and vandalism. West was arrested on Sept. 11 after an incident in which he was shown breaking a paparazzo's camera flash at Los Angeles International Airport. West's attorney, Blair Berk, declined to comment on the plea. The next scheduled hearing in the case is July 15.

Queen Latifah Faces Royal Legal Pain

Two of Queen Latifah's subjects have proven themselves to be none too loyal, filing separate lawsuits against the star for more than $1 million in allegedly unpaid fees. Makeup consultant Roxanna Floyd and stylist Susan Moses filed their coordinated suits in Manhattan federal court Monday against the Oscar-nominated, Grammy-winning Latifah, whose real name is Dana Owens. Floyd claims she's due roughly $700,000 for work done between July 2005 and February 2008 in developing, marketing and producing Latifah's Queen Collection for CoverGirl. As for Moses, she claims she's owed $300,000, which includes a $50,000 per year salary, during the same period for advising the 39-year-old entertainer on her Curvations full-figured lingerie line. Latifah spokeswoman Aman. SOURCE:COMCAST.NET

Housekeeper Sues Kobe Bryant, Wife Vanessa For Wrongful Termination

 According to the Los Angeles Times, Maria Jimenez filed a wrongful-termination lawsuit last Friday (March 20) in Orange County Superior Court, alleging that Kobe's wife badgered and harassed her, and forced her to perform demeaning tasks. The 48-year-old housekeeper, originally from Peru, claims she worked 60 house a week in the Bryant's Newport Coast home, where her duties included cleaning their house, washing their laundry and cleaning up after their children. In the suit, she says Vanessa Bryant was incredibly abusive to her, so much so that in one incident, Vanessa demanded that she search through a bag of dog feces to retrieve a tag from an expensive blouse she accused Jimenez of ruining, so she could deduct it from her salary.She also alleges that she was called "lazy," "slow," "dumb," a "liar," and was addressed with profanity often. The suit says Jimenez was so overworked, she threatened to quit on at least one occasion, but decided to ride it out after Kobe convinced her. She also claimed Vanessa accused her of stealing clothes, a toy and even her retainer from the couple. The Bryants denied the allegations in a statement from the law firm Loeb & Loeb LLP, which has offices in Los Angeles. "Ms. Jimenez's outrageous allegations of improper conduct are totally unfounded and patently false," the statement said. "The Bryants intend to vigorously defend against these untruthful allegations and are confident that the baseless nature of the allegations will be proven."Jimenez's lawyer, William Vogeler, said his client was wrongly discharged because she was working under "intolerable circumstances" that led to her leaving the job. Vogeler also said the Bryants did not provide Jimenez with health insurance.The suit does not specify the amount that Jimenez is seeking in damages, but Jimenez said in the suit that she sustained damages of more than $20,000 in unpaid overtime. Jimenez also alleges that Vanessa Bryant screamed at her for putting a $690 blouse in the washing machine, and demanded that Jimenez put her hand in a bag of dog feces to retrieve the price tag for the blouse. Jimenez refused and said she would quit, but Vanessa Bryant allegedly demanded that she pay for the blouse first, the suit states. Jimenez says she stayed on the job to work off the cost of the blouse. SOURCE:LAT.COM

Copyright battle over iconic Obama image

Artist Shepard Fairey says that he has distributed more than 300,000 copies of his iconic poster of President Obama with the word "Hope" written underneath and that it has inspired countless other versions. Now, the 38-year-old Los Angeles street artist, who says he used an Associated Press photograph as a "visual reference" for his piece, is in the middle of a copyright battle that goes to the heart of how media is made, remixed and mashed up. Given the notoriety of Fairey's iconic poster, "it is kind of the perfect storm," said Michael Kwun, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco digital advocacy organization. "It raises questions about what we as a culture and a legal society feels is proper." The question is "how much leeway do we give a second-comer when they want to use someone else's original creation," said Michael Kahn, who teaches a course on censorship and free expression at Washington University School of Law and has represented both artists and Fortune 500 companies in copyright disputes. "This would make a terrific question on a law school exam." The fear among artists and advocates is that too tight an interpretation of copyright law would stifle creativity and expressions of political dissent. But courts have long tried to balance that approach with the need to protect the value of the original work. New technology that makes it increasingly easy to combine different types of media is putting more people in legal limbo. Ask Stephanie Lenz, the Pennsylvanian woman who posted to YouTube a 29-second video of her toddler dancing to Prince's song "Let's Go Crazy" in 2007. When Universal Music Publishing Group demanded that YouTube take down the video, San Francisco's Electronic Frontier Foundation filed suit, claiming that it was a fair use of the song. The case is still ongoing. Or ask the owners of CommonWealth Press in Pittsburgh. After the Pittsburgh Steelers won their sixth Super Bowl this month, owner Dan Rugh started selling a shirt with the outline of the Lombardi Trophy, the word "Sixburgh" and the phrase "Yes, We Did" in the team's black-and-gold colors. Rugh stopped selling them after receiving a letter from the National Football League telling him that using the Lombardi Trophy image violates the league's registered trademark and the trophy's copyrighted design. Fairey's fair-use journey started in January 2008, when he created the poster by taking a 2006 Associated Press photo of Obama at a press conference with actor George Clooney and tightly cropping the image around the then-candidate's face. Last fall, Fairey told The Chronicle that "the illustration does have roots in propaganda art. I also want it to seem like a patriotic image, but not be seen as too countercultural. ... It needed just enough mainstream ingredients to transcend." SOURCE:SFGATE.COM

Ex-girlfriend files lawsuit against Alomar

An ex-girlfriend of Roberto Alomar filed an explosive lawsuit alleging the former baseball star insisted on unprotected sex for four years despite having AIDS. The lawsuit, filed Jan. 30 and transferred to U.S. District Court on Wednesday, contains accusations that could not be corroborated but portray Alomar as someone who demanded sex without a condom despite showing obvious signs of HIV. Ilya Dall is seeking at least $15 million in punitive damages from the 41-year-old former infielder. Alomar, who was once engaged to tennis star Mary Pierce, spent 17 years in the majors and was one of the game's great second basemen. "This is a very private, personal matter and I greatly appreciate all the support I have received in the past few days from my family, friends and colleagues in baseball," Alomar said in a statement. "I am in very good health and I ask that you respect my privacy during this time. "As for the lawsuit, it is filled with lies and I am deeply saddened that someone I cared for would make such terrible accusations and try to hurt me in this way." Calls seeking comment to lawyers for Alomar and Dall were not immediately returned. Alomar lawyer Charles Bach told the New York Daily News the allegations are "frivolous and baseless." News of the lawsuit was "something out of the blue," Alomar's father, Sandy Alomar Sr., told El Nuevo Dia newspaper in Puerto Rico. "We've never talked about something like this." Dall said the two began dating in spring 2002 and had unprotected sex for the next four years. She said that on several occasions during that time, Alomar refused to get tested for HIV, despite severe fatigue, sores on his mouth and throat, a constant cough and an infection of the esophagus that is associated with AIDS. She said Alomar finally relented and tested positive for HIV in February 2006. Dall said she was angered by the disclosure and was tested herself; the result was negative. She said follow-up exams determined that Alomar had full-blown AIDS. SOURCE:SFGATE.COM

Judges back a one-third reduction in state prison population

Reporting from Sacramento -- A panel of three federal judges, saying overcrowding in state prisons has deprived inmates of their right to adequate healthcare, tentatively ruled Monday that the state must reduce the population in those lockups by as many as 57,000 people. The judges issued the decision after a trial in two long-running cases brought by inmates to protest the state of medical and mental healthcare in the prisons.Although their order is not final, U.S. District Court Judges Thelton Henderson and Lawrence Karlton and 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Stephen Reinhardt effectively told the state that it had lost the trial and would have to make dramatic changes in its prisons unless it could reach a settlement with inmates' lawyers.State officials immediately said they would appeal. If the state is ordered to reduce the prison population, it would likely be able to do so over two or three years, so it would not have to release large numbers of inmates at once. Some methods of cutting the population include limiting new admissions, changing policies so parole violators return to prison less frequently, and giving prisoners more time off of their sentences for good behavior and rehabilitation efforts.The judges said these types of measures could save the state more than $900 million a year in prison costs, money that could be used by cities and counties to put those who otherwise would have gone to prison into local jails or treatment programs.The state's 33 prisons were designed for 84,000 inmates, and they now hold 158,000, nearly double their designed capacity. The rest of the 170,000 in the correctional system are in out-of-state prisons and other facilities. The judges found that with inmates crammed into institutions, they could not receive the care to which they are entitled under the U.S. Constitution."There is . . . uncontroverted evidence that, because of overcrowding, there are not enough clinical facilities or resources to accommodate inmates with medical or mental health needs at the level of care they require," the judges wrote in a 10-page decision.They said that triple-bunking of inmates in prison gymnasiums has increased the risk of infectious disease and that a shortage of doctors, nurses and correctional officers has denied inmates access to treatment and a decent system to keep their medical records in order. In the ruling, the judges said they believe the state's prisons can safely operate at 120% to 145% of their designed capacity. Based on the current prison population, that would mean a potential reduction of 36,000 to 57,000 inmates. They reserved the right to change their numbers and did not say when their final order might come."It's a pretty comprehensive victory for us," said Michael Bien, a lawyer in San Francisco who has fought for mentally ill prisoners. "It was a message -- a very loud, clear message -- that it's time that the public officials in California took responsibility for their own criminal justice system."CONTINUE READING...

Illinois Senate Votes to Oust Gov. Rod Blagojevich

CHICAGO, Jan. 29 -- The Illinois Senate voted unanimously Thursday to remove Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) from office for abuse of power, ending a weeks-long impeachment ordeal that ranged between drama and farce.  One by one, Republicans and Democrats stood to call for the governor's ouster, rejecting his last-minute pleas and criticizing him as a liar and a hypocrite before voting in the late afternoon.  With that vote, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn (D), a former running mate who hasn't spoken with the increasingly isolated Blagojevich in 17 months, became Illinois' 41st governor.  By a matching 59 to 0 vote, the Senate also voted to bar Blagojevich for life from holding Illinois political office.  Blagojevich, who addressed the senators Thursday morning and told them he had done nothing wrong, was already home in Chicago went the votes were tallied.  When he arrived home, he changed into running clothes and went for a jog.  Earlier in the day, the House prosecutor summed up the case against the governor, saying that "the pattern of abuse of power is unmistakable" and Blagojevich should be removed from office. Blagojevich defended his actions shortly after Ellis finished, criticizing the proceedings as "a rush to judgment and an evisceration of the presumption of innocence."  "There was never a conversation where I intended to break any law," Blagojevich said. "I'm appealing to you and your sense of fairness."  "How can you throw a governor out of office on a criminal complaint and you haven't been able to show or to prove any criminal activity?" Blagojevich asked. "The evidence showed that throughout his tenure as governor, the governor has abused the power of his office and put his own interests above the interests of the people," David Ellis told the 59 senators. "Which interests?" Ellis asked, quoting Blagojevich's own words as captured on secret FBI tape recordings. "Legal. Personal. Political."SOURCE:WASHINGTON POST.COM

BART officer arrested in connection with New Year's Day shooting

(01-13) 21:36 PST Oakland -- Johannes Mehserle, the former BART police officer who shot and killed an unarmed man on an Oakland train platform on New Year's Day, was arrested in Nevada today in connection with the shooting, The Chronicle has learned. Mehserle, 27, was taken into custody in Douglas County, Nevada, said Deputy Steve Velez of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office. The arrest was also confirmed by David Chai, chief of staff to Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums. Mehserle was arrested in connection with an investigation by the Oakland Police Department into the shooting of Oscar Grant, 22. An Alameda County judge signed an arrest warrant, and Mehserle surrendered without incident, authorities said. Douglas County sheriff's officials refused to disclose what crime Mehserle was accused of committing in the arrest warrant. Deputy Velez said Sheriff Ron P. Pierini would make a statement on Wednesday. Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff was also expected to announce details of the arrest Wednesday. Efforts to reach attorneys for Mehserle were unsuccessful. The arrest comes on the eve of a scheduled protest at 4 p.m. Wednesday outside Oakland City Hall, the latest in a series of demonstrations in which BART has been accused of mishandling the shooting investigation. On Monday, BART police turned over the results of their preliminary investigation to Orloff's office. The separate investigation by Oakland police was launched last week. The state Attorney General is also monitoring the case. BART officers had detained Grant and several other passengers at about 2 a.m. on Jan. 1 as they investigated a fight aboard a train from San Francisco. Grant was lying face-down when Mehserle pulled his service weapon from his holster and fired one shot into his back. Mehserle resigned last Wednesday rather than answer questions from BART investigators. His departure came the same day Grant was buried and a peaceful protest at the Fruitvale BART Station erupted into violence in downtown Oakland. Demonstrators set cars on fire and broke windows at dozens of businesses. By night's end, police arrested 105 people. SOURCE:SFGATE.COM

Brown pushes D.A. to act swiftly in BART case

(01-10) 20:34 PST -- Attorney General Jerry Brown, concerned about the pace of the investigation into a BART police officer's fatal shooting of an unarmed man early New Year's Day, said Saturday that he is sending an observer to the Alameda County district attorney's office to encourage prompt action. "The wheels of justice cannot grind so slowly that it appears that justice is not being served," Brown said at a news conference in his Oakland office after meeting with leaders of the NAACP, who called for criminal charges. While declining to criticize District Attorney Tom Orloff, Brown said he's not sure why Orloff needs two weeks to decide whether to prosecute the officer. Also on Saturday, the union that represents the Bay Area Rapid Transit system's 296 police officers and other personnel said it supports the current investigations by BART and the prosecutor's office into police conduct in the death of Oscar Grant at BART's Fruitvale Station in Oakland. "We have been working with the Alameda County district attorney's office, BART management and the Oakland Police Department to ensure that all of the facts are revealed in an expeditious and transparent manner," Jesse Sekhon, president of the BART Police Officers Association, said in a statement. He offered condolences to Grant's family and friends. Grant, 22, of Hayward, was shot in the back while lying facedown on the Fruitvale Station platform at about 2:15 a.m. on Jan. 1. He was one of a group of young men taken into custody by BART police at the station after a fight on a train from San Francisco. Johannes Mehserle, 27, the officer who fired the shot, quit his job Wednesday, the day he was scheduled to be questioned by BART investigators, who could have ordered him to answer or face disciplinary action. Exercising his right to remain silent, he has declined to speak to Orloff's office, which is looking into possible criminal charges. Neither Mehserle nor his lawyers have issued any public statements. Investigators are reportedly looking into the possibility that Mehserle thought he was firing his Taser stun gun - a belief that would make the killing accidental and probably not subject to a murder prosecution. Orloff said Thursday he would decide in about two weeks whether to file charges. Brown told reporters Saturday he has spoken with Orloff and is confident that "he is carrying this investigation out in the manner he should." But the attorney general, whose office oversees county district attorneys, added that "I'd like to understand why it would take that long" to decide whether to prosecute. Brown said he will send a high-ranking deputy, whom he did not identify, to Orloff's office to meet with the prosecutor's staff, observe the investigation and report back to him. CONTINUE READING...

BART SHOOTING: Attorney Holds Press Conference

OAKLAND, Calif. -- John Burris, an Oakland civil rights attorney hired by the family, will hold a news conference about the shooting at his office at 11 a.m. Sunday.Burris said he will discuss the legal ramifications of Thursday's shooting of 22-year-old Oscar Grant, who BART officials say was unarmed when he was shot by a BART police officer.Family members and friends of Grant, as well as witnesses to the shooting, are also expected to attend the news conference, Burris said.The news conference will take place at 7677 Oakport St. in the fifth floor conference room.On Friday, Burris, an Oakland attorney who has filed numerous lawsuits against police departments on behalf of family members of people who have been shot and killed by officers, said, "My sense is clear that this was an unjustifiable shooting."Based on his interviews with witnesses to the incident on the platform of the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland shortly after 2 a.m. Thursday that took the life of 22-year-old Oscar Grant of Hayward, Burris said he believes the Alameda County District Attorney's office should consider filing manslaughter charges against the officer who shot Grant. BART officials have not released the name of the officer who shot Grant. They said the officer has worked for BART for nearly two years.The officer has been placed on administrative leave and tested for both alcohol and drugs as part of standard BART police policy. CONTINUE READING..

As Economy Dips, Arrests for Shoplifting Soar

Richard R. Johnson is the first to admit it was a bad idea.Recently laid off from a job building trailers in Elkhart, Ind., Mr. Johnson came up a dollar short at Martin’s Supermarket last month when he went to buy a $4.99 bottle of sleep medication. So, “for some stupid reason,” he tried to shoplift it and was immediately arrested.“I was desperate, I guess,” said Mr. Johnson, 25, who said he had never been arrested before. As the economy has weakened, shoplifting has increased, and retail security experts say the problem has grown worse this holiday season. Shoplifters are taking everything from compact discs and baby formula to gift cards and designer clothing.Police departments across the country say that shoplifting arrests are 10 percent to 20 percent higher this year than last. The problem is probably even greater than arrest records indicate since shoplifters are often banned from stores rather than arrested.Much of the increase has come from first-time offenders like Mr. Johnson making rash decisions in a pinch, the authorities say. But the ease with which stolen goods can be sold on the Internet has meant a bigger role for organized crime rings, which also engage in receipt fraud, fake price tagging and gift card schemes, the police and security experts say.And as temptation has grown for potential thieves, so too has stores’ vulnerability.“More people are desperate economically, retailers are operating with leaner staffs and police forces are cutting back or being told to deprioritize shoplifting calls,” said Paul Jones, the vice president of asset protection for the Retail Industry Leaders Association.The problem, he said, could be particularly acute this December, “the month of the year when shoplifting always goes way up.”Two of the largest retail associations say that more than 80 percent of their members are reporting sharp increases in shoplifting, according to surveys conducted in the last two months.Compounding the problem, stores are more reluctant to stop suspicious customers because they fear scaring away much-needed business. And retailers are increasingly trying to save money by hiring seasonal workers who, security experts say, are themselves more likely to commit fraud or theft and are less practiced at catching shoplifters than full-time employees are.More than $35 million in merchandise is stolen each day nationwide, and about one in 11 people in America have shoplifted, according to the nonprofit National Association for Shoplifting Prevention.CONTINUE READING..

Man Involved In B.I.G. Murder Case Denied New Trial

Excerpt from XXL Magazine -- Waymond “Suave” Anderson, the man known for his shady claims surrounding the death of The Notorious B.I.G., is back in the news again after an L.A. judge denied his bid to overturn his own separate murder case. According to the Los Angeles Times, Anderson tried to have his verdict reversed yesterday (12/10), in order to obtain a new trial in a 1993 arson murder that he is currently serving life in prison for. The inmate claimed he couldn’t have been responsible for the crime because he was in Mississippi at the time. The judge on the other hand called his alibi “entirely unbeilievable.” “This court finds it totally incredible that the defendant would not be able to state that he was in Mississippi . . . when he was interviewed by the police after being arrested,” the judge wrote. “Besides his obvious bias and motive to lie now, he is an admitted perjurer.” Anderson, who was an admitted drug dealer and user, was convicted in 1997 for killing a man after he didn’t pay a drug debt by setting a known crackhouse on fire. Despite his career in the 80s as an R&B singer, Anderson is more known in the hip-hop community for his involvement in murder case of slain rapper Biggie Smalls. In 2007 Anderson went on the record saying that LAPD officer David Mack was responsible for the death of the rapper. But during a deposition in a case that Biggie’s family had against the city of L.A. he withdrew the claim. Then over the summer he implicated Mack once again for B.I.G.’s murder along with former LAPD officer Rafael Perez, saying that the reason he recanted his claim last year was because former Death Row mogul Suge Knight was sending him death threats. – Jesse Gissen

New piece of Bailey slaying puzzle surfaces

The leader of Your Black Muslim Bakery expressed satisfaction on the morning Chauncey Bailey was killed, saying the journalist got what he deserved for taking on the troubled organization in his reporting, a bakery member told Oakland police in a recently discovered account given the day after the slaying.Bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV summoned the woman to watch a TV news story about three hours after Bailey, 57, was gunned down on his way to work on Aug. 2, 2007, she told homicide investigators. As they watched the report on the Oakland Post editor's slaying, Bey told her, "That will teach 'em to f- with me," she said.<Interactive Graphic: The Assassination Of Chauncey Bailey.>> he woman worked at the bakery headquarters on San Pablo Avenue in Oakland and stayed in Bey's room there the night before Bailey was killed, she said. The Chronicle obtained a tape of her account and police notes of her interview, but is not naming her at the request of authorities who say her safety could be threatened.The woman's statement came to the attention of the Alameda County district attorney only within the past two months, authorities said - mysteriously, in the file of a separate criminal investigation into the bakery. The lead police investigator into Bailey's killing, who has long been a friend of Bey's, did not mention it in his official account of the probe. The belated discovery adds to questions already surrounding the police investigation into Bailey's death. The state attorney general, the district attorney and Oakland police internal affairs investigators have all launched probes into whether the Bailey case was handled appropriately. Assistant Police Chief Howard Jordan, the No. 2 officer in the department, said he knew nothing of the woman's statement before being contacted by The Chronicle on Friday.This is the first I've heard of it. I'm a little surprised," Jordan said. "I will follow up on it. I'll look into it and will take appropriate action when necessary."21-year-old handyman at the bakery, Devaughndre Broussard, is the only person accused of murdering Bailey. But Broussard's attorney has said his client was the "fall guy" for a killing carried out at Bey's behest. he woman interviewed by police said she believed that Bey, 22, was behind the slaying and said bakery members would never have carried it out without his approval.Bey has not been charged with Bailey's killing, and one of his attorneys, Ted Washington, has denied that his client was involved.

Confessed, recanted: Broussard confessed to police after being arrested on Aug. 3, 2007, telling them he shot Bailey because of the journalist's reporting on the bakery and because he "wanted to be a real strong soldier." He subsequently recanted his statement, however, saying Bey had pressured him into taking sole responsibility when Oakland police put the two in a room alone after both were arrested. CONTINUE READING

Firm denies workers' comp in racial killing

Taneka Talley was stabbed to death in March 2006 while she was working as a clerk at a Dollar Tree store in Fairfield. Her killer's only motive, prosecutors say, is that she was African American.That's also the reason the store's workers' compensation insurer is denying $250,000 in death benefits to Talley's 11-year-old son.The boy's grandmother, the child's legal guardian, said Specialty Risk Services is taking the position that a racially motivated killing is personal, not work-related - even though the man charged with killing Talley had never met her before. The insurance company, Dollar Tree and their lawyers aren't talking publicly about the case but are defending their position before a state appeals board that hears workers' compensation disputes."I think it's unfair. It's discrimination," said Carol Frazier of Vallejo, who gained custody of her grandson, Larry Olden, after her daughter's death and is challenging the insurer's refusal to pay in a case that eventually could go to court."They're saying (the killing) didn't arise out of her employment, except that in this case she wouldn't have been killed if she hadn't been at work," said Frazier's attorney, Moira Stagliano. "This person didn't know her, just walked into the store and picked her out."The opposition by Dollar Tree and its insurers to paying benefits to Talley's son represents an attempt to set new limits on California's workers' compensation system, under which a company provides benefits to employees or their survivors for work-related deaths or injuries regardless of whether the firm was at fault.Businesses have long assailed the system as overly generous to employees and as expensive, complaints that led to passage of state laws in 2003 and 2004 tightening limits on what medical treatment is covered by compensation payments. The man accused of stabbing Talley, Tommy Joe Thompson, 45, of West Sacramento, is tentatively scheduled to go to trial Dec. 10 in Solano County Superior Court on a charge of murder. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison. Talley, of Fairfield, was 26 and working full time at the Dollar Tree on North Texas Street to support herself and her young son. She was stocking shelves just after 9 a.m. on March 29, 2006, when a man walked in and stabbed her, authorities said. The killer fled. Thompson was arrested that evening. He had previously served a prison sentence for beating his young son in 1994, records show. At a hearing in March in which Thompson was found mentally competent to stand trial, a defense psychiatrist, Herb McGrew, testified that Thompson had told him he stabbed Talley because she was black. Thompson is white. "You know that he got up that morning, and he said, 'I'm going to kill a black person,' " said Deputy District Attorney Dane Neilson, according to a transcript of the hearing. "She was, unfortunately, the first person he saw, correct?" CONTINUE READING

Mos Def sought in Vegas over camera scuffle

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mos Def was being sought by police on an arrest warrant stemming from a scuffle with a photographer at a fashion trade show last August, authorities and the alleged victim said Thursday. "I had no idea who the man was," said Volker Corell, 60, a Los Angeles-based photographer who said the 35-year-old rapper and actor, whose real name is Dante Terrell Smith, ripped his camera from around his neck Aug. 26. Corell said he was credentialed to represent a trade publication, and was taking photos at the Men's Apparel and Garment Industry Convention in Las Vegas when he was allegedly attacked. He said the last four photos before his camera was broken clearly show Smith reaching toward him. "The last shot was his hands in front of the lens," Corell said. Investigators expected Smith would turn himself by the end of the week to face a warrant charge of felony robbery and misdemeanor malicious destruction of property, Las Vegas police spokesman Ramon Denby said. Mos Def's publicist, Carleen Donovan in New York City, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. The warrant was issued Tuesday, said Michael Sommermeyer, a court spokesman. Corell said he received a cut on his left hand in the scuffle, and that two Las Vegas Convention Center security guards retrieved the camera. Repairs to the camera cost $178, police said in court documents. Robbery can carry a sentence of probation or two to 15 years in state prison. A conviction for misdemeanor destruction of property less than $250 can bring up to six months in county jail. Smith built a following as an underground hip hop artist in the 1990s, and has been nominated for Golden Globe, Emmy, and Grammy awards. He is the host of the award-winning HBO spoken word show "Def Poetry." SOURCE:AP

This time, Simpson verdict draws a muted reaction in L.A.

The day after a Las Vegas jury convicted O.J. Simpson of armed robbery and kidnapping, reaction was largely muted in Los Angeles neighborhoods that 13 years ago were riveted by the not-guilty verdict in his double murder "trial of the century." With the Miami-based Simpson no longer a presence in Los Angeles and many of the murder trial's old landmarks erased from the landscape, Los Angeles residents said the new case failed to resonate with them as they are consumed by more pressing issues such as the economy and presidential election. "There are way more important things going on in the world right now," said Lauren Lyster, 26, who was eating a muffin with friends at Peet's Coffee in Brentwood -- the spot that once housed Mezzaluna Restaurant, where victim Ronald Goldman worked. "Who cares about people committing stupid crimes?" Thirteen years ago to the day Friday, a Los Angeles jury acquitted Simpson of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Goldman. At the time, the trial stoked racially charged emotions, with many in the black community supporting Simpson. Two years later, Simpson was found civilly liable for the deaths and ordered to pay the victims' families $33.5 million. When he is sentenced in December in the Las Vegas case, Simpson, 61, faces a minimum of 15 years in prison. In his armed robbery trial, prosecutors contended that Simpson masterminded the alleged robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers in a casino hotel room last year. Earl Ofari Hutchinson, president of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable, said that local reaction to Friday's verdict was relatively subdued because the former football star's public image has changed. "In the 13 years, a lot has happened . . . The case polarized America along racial lines. With the passing of time, it's not as deep and not as passionate," Hutchinson said. "He represented a symbol: racial division. And it was questioning the fairness of the system," he said. "He was a symbol of that division 15 years ago -- he's not now." Nonetheless, Hutchinson said that because of the landmark case in 1995 and now his new conviction, "I don't think OJ Simpson will ever go away."While Hutchinson said that race did not enter into Friday's guilty verdict, some blacks saw racial politics at work in the fact that Simpson faced an all-white jury in Las Vegas. (Two of the six alternates were black.) Outside McDonald's on Crenshaw Boulevard, Hank Myles said Simpson never had a shot at a fair trial. "If they would have had some blacks, he would have won, or at least it would have been deadlocked," said Myles, 78, a retired post office worker. "With all the black people in Las Vegas, they could have gotten some of them [on the jury]." Andy Brown, 32, a travel industry manager, said he had mixed feelings about Friday's verdict."I just couldn't believe they actually got him on this as opposed to a double murder," said Brown who lives in Brentwood within five minutes of Nicole Brown Simpson's former condo. "I saw the look in his eyes, the way he was nodding his head, and I sensed that he was thinking, 'They finally got me.' " On the other side of town, at the farmers market in Leimert Park, DJ Ron "Rhythm" Gantt said he had not been following the trial closely because it was in Las Vegas. A Los Angeles resident, Gantt noted the difference between this trial and the cultural spectacle that played out in the downtown courthouse 13 years ago. "This time he didn't kill anybody, and he wasn't chased halfway through Los Angeles," said Gantt, 66, referring to the police pursuit of Simpson in his white Bronco televised live to TV viewers.
Gantt said he wasn't sure if justice was served with Friday's verdict, but he did believe that Simpson was guilty the first time around. So his past finally caught up to him, Gantt said. "He was going to get his sooner or later," Gantt said of Simpson. "I believe in retribution." Walking down Degnan Boulevard, Ray West said he had been following the trial periodically. He said he believed Simpson wasn't guilty of murder in the first trial and he wasn't sure if the former football star was guilty in the Las Vegas case.Nonetheless, West said, Simpson put himself in the situation that landed him in trouble at the Vegas hotel room and should have known better."He might have been innocent, but didn't learn his lesson the first time," said West, 33, an aircraft mechanic. Frank Snowden, 23, reflected on the fascination the Hall of Fame player continues to elicit. "I think he's a cool guy, misunderstood possibly," Snowden said. "I don't know enough about him to really say. He was a good running back." SOURCE:LAT.COM

 

Ga. judge tells T.I. to pay more child support

A judge on Tuesday ordered rapper T.I. to pay more child support to the mother of two of his children after she claimed he wasn't providing enough money.Superior Court Judge Bensonetta Tipton Lane told the two-time Grammy winner, whose real name is Clifford Harris, to pay just over $3,000 a month to LaShon Dixon. He had been paying about $2,000 per month.The judge also said the 27-year-old performer must continue to pay for the boys to attend private school, uninsured medical bills and expenses related to the children's extracurricular activities.Tipton Lane also awarded the couple on Tuesday joint custody of the boys, ages 7 and 8. Dixon, 28, was granted primary physical custody. The children previously spent about 40 percent of their time with the rapper.Dixon's attorney, Randy Kessler, said his client is still unsatisfied with the amount the judge ordered T.I. to pay but is happy to receive more child support."Every little bit helps," Kessler said. "She was just getting by with the children, while they lived a different life with their father. It can't be complete opposites on the other side."An e-mail to one of T.I.'s lawyers was not immediately returned Tuesday.He also has two sons with his fiancee, Tameka "Tiny" Cottle, of the defunct R&B group Xscape. SOURCE:NEWSVINE.COM

Suspect in Matt Garcia slaying arrested in Las Vegas

Henry Don Williams, a suspect wanted in the fatal shooting of Fairfield City Councilman Matt Garcia on Labor Day, was arrested Saturday in Las Vegas. The Fairfield Police Department, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service assisted in the arrest at 2:40 p.m. Williams, who was wanted on a murder warrant that was issued last week, was apprehended without incident at a Las Vegas restaurant where he was working. Garcia's stepfather, Raymond Courtemanche, praised police after the capture, saying it will help bring "healing and closure" to the Fairfield community. "We're glad he's off the street," Courtemanche said. Williams was being held Saturday at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas, awaiting extradition to California. The 32-year-old Fairfield resident has an extensive criminal record, authorities said. He served prison time in California for violently resisting a law enforcement officer and in Nevada for forgery, authorities said. At the time of his arrest Saturday, he was on probation for a misdemeanor drunken-driving case in Fairfield. A second suspect in Garcia's killing, Gene Allen Combs, 45, of Suisun City, was arrested Sept. 13 on murder charges. Authorities said that Combs was with Williams the night of Sept. 1 and that Williams shot Garcia. Police say Williams thought he had opened fire on someone else. Authorities said the men were in the area to collect on a drug debt. Investigators said Garcia was an innocent victim who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Police initially arrested a third suspect, 33-year-old Nicole Stewart of Fairfield. Police said the native of Germany, who was nine months pregnant when she was arrested, was with Combs and Williams at the time of the slaying. She was later released. The slain councilman was 22, one of the nation's youngest elected officials. Garcia was shot in the back of the head outside a friend's house on the 5000 block of Silverado Drive in the Cordelia section of Fairfield about 8:30 p.m. when a man stepped out of a parked car and fired several shots.Garcia was declared brain-dead the next day, and his organs were donated by his family. SOURCE:SFGATE.COM