Judge declines to drop death penalty for Fort Hood shooter

By Don Bolding and Jim Forsyth

FORT HOOD, Texas (Reuters) - A military judge on Thursday again denied a request from accused Fort Hood gunman Army Major Nidal Hasan to remove the death penalty as a punishment option in his forthcoming court-martial on charges of killing 13 people in a 2009 shooting rampage.

At a pre-trial hearing, judge Colonel Tara Osborn also denied requests from the defense that Hasan's trial be pushed back until September 1 and that a media affairs expert be appointed at government expense to assist the defense in jury selection.

Selection of the panel of officers who will act as the jury is set to begin on May 29, although Osborn said Thursday that interviews with prospective jurors might not begin until the following day.

Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, is facing the death penalty for opening fire in Fort Hood, Texas, on a group of soldiers who were preparing to deploy to Iraq on November 5, 2009.

In addition to the 13 killed, 32 were wounded, and Hasan, 42, is paralyzed from the chest down from gunshots fired by two civilian Fort Hood police officers who ended what was the worst shooting at a U.S. military installation.

The defense requested the trial delay because recent media reports about the April 15 Boston Marathon bombings have mentioned Hasan.

"Media coverage was saturated again," Lieutenant Colonel Kris Poppe, the lead defense lawyer, told the judge. "The comparisons are striking and troubling."

But Colonel Steve Henricks, one of the prosecutors, said prominent stories about the Boston bombings had only mentioned Hasan briefly, and Osborn said: "How do we know that nothing else will happen between now and the time of the trial that will bring this case to public attention again?"

Osborn previously denied a request by Hasan's lawyers that the death penalty be removed from consideration in return for a guilty plea. The Uniform Code of Military Justice, the unique law code that governs the armed forces, does not allow a guilty plea to a capital charge.

"The evidence is overwhelming, so the defense has always concentrated on two things: How can we delay this trial and how can we get a reduced sentence?" said Jeffrey Addicott, a former legal adviser to the Army Special Forces and a professor of law at St. Mary's University in Texas.

"The defense is hoping that the more time that goes by, they can just get the government to throw up their hands in frustration and say, OK, we'll just accept a guilty plea."

Osborn has been trying to get the trial schedule on track after extensive delays while the military justice system debated whether Hasan, who is Muslim, should be required to shave his beard to comply with military rules. Osborn has put that issue aside.

Opening arguments in the trial are expected to begin on July 1. Security is being ramped up at Fort Hood's Lawrence J. Williams Courthouse in preparation for the trial. Officials have placed bullet-proof sand-and-fiber barriers close to the building.

Fort Hood is a 340-square-mile (880-square-km) Army post located about 60 miles north of Austin, Texas.

(Editing by Corrie MacLaggan, Scott Malone, Mohammad Zargham and Andre Grenon)

View the original article here

Judge declines to drop death penalty for Fort Hood shooter

By Don Bolding and Jim Forsyth

FORT HOOD, Texas (Reuters) - A military judge on Thursday again denied a request from accused Fort Hood gunman Army Major Nidal Hasan to remove the death penalty as a punishment option in his forthcoming court-martial on charges of killing 13 people in a 2009 shooting rampage.

At a pre-trial hearing, judge Colonel Tara Osborn also denied requests from the defense that Hasan's trial be pushed back until September 1 and that a media affairs expert be appointed at government expense to assist the defense in jury selection.

Selection of the panel of officers who will act as the jury is set to begin on May 29, although Osborn said Thursday that interviews with prospective jurors might not begin until the following day.

Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, is facing the death penalty for opening fire in Fort Hood, Texas, on a group of soldiers who were preparing to deploy to Iraq on November 5, 2009.

In addition to the 13 killed, 32 were wounded, and Hasan, 42, is paralyzed from the chest down from gunshots fired by two civilian Fort Hood police officers who ended what was the worst shooting at a U.S. military installation.

The defense requested the trial delay because recent media reports about the April 15 Boston Marathon bombings have mentioned Hasan.

"Media coverage was saturated again," Lieutenant Colonel Kris Poppe, the lead defense lawyer, told the judge. "The comparisons are striking and troubling."

But Colonel Steve Henricks, one of the prosecutors, said prominent stories about the Boston bombings had only mentioned Hasan briefly, and Osborn said: "How do we know that nothing else will happen between now and the time of the trial that will bring this case to public attention again?"

Osborn previously denied a request by Hasan's lawyers that the death penalty be removed from consideration in return for a guilty plea. The Uniform Code of Military Justice, the unique law code that governs the armed forces, does not allow a guilty plea to a capital charge.

"The evidence is overwhelming, so the defense has always concentrated on two things: How can we delay this trial and how can we get a reduced sentence?" said Jeffrey Addicott, a former legal adviser to the Army Special Forces and a professor of law at St. Mary's University in Texas.

"The defense is hoping that the more time that goes by, they can just get the government to throw up their hands in frustration and say, OK, we'll just accept a guilty plea."

Osborn has been trying to get the trial schedule on track after extensive delays while the military justice system debated whether Hasan, who is Muslim, should be required to shave his beard to comply with military rules. Osborn has put that issue aside.

Opening arguments in the trial are expected to begin on July 1. Security is being ramped up at Fort Hood's Lawrence J. Williams Courthouse in preparation for the trial. Officials have placed bullet-proof sand-and-fiber barriers close to the building.

Fort Hood is a 340-square-mile (880-square-km) Army post located about 60 miles north of Austin, Texas.

(Editing by Corrie MacLaggan, Scott Malone, Mohammad Zargham and Andre Grenon)

View the original article here

Judge: No more excuses for would-be Jackson jurors

Apr 15 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $4,139,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $3,137,920 3. Matt Kuchar $2,442,389 4. Adam Scott (Australia) $2,100,469 5. Steve Stricker $1,935,340 6. Phil Mickelson $1,764,680 7. Dustin Johnson $1,748,907 8. Jason Day $1,659,565 9. Hunter Mahan $1,553,965 10. Keegan Bradley $1,430,347 11. Charles Howell III $1,393,806 12. John Merrick $1,375,757 13. Russell Henley $1,331,434 14. Michael Thompson $1,310,709 15. Kevin Streelman $1,310,343 16. Bill Haas $1,271,553 17. Billy Horschel $1,254,224 18. ...

View the original article here

French judge to rule if Hopi masks can be sold

PARIS (AP) — Is there such a thing as too sacred to sell? That's the question a French judge could answer Friday in a potentially landmark decision in Paris on whether dozens of Native American tribal masks can go up for auction.

The masks are undoubtedly striking pieces of art — surreal faces made from wood, leather, horse hair and feathers — and painted in vivid pigments of red, blue, yellow and orange. But to Arizona's Hopi Indians they are also stolen spiritual vessels, and they want them back.

The case has drawn ire on both sides of the Atlantic, with art experts, Native American activists, and even Robert Redford weighing in on who is the rightful owner. In an 11th hour appeal Thursday evening, the U.S. Ambassador to France sent a letter to both the French government and the auction house asking for a delay to the sale.

A lawyer for the Hopi Tribe and the association Survival International argued at a hearing Thursday that the items are "unsellable" under French law because of their spiritual value. He called for the auction to be suspended so that their origin can be determined.

But auctioneer Gilles Neret-Minet at the Drouot auction house says a ruling to stop the sale of artifacts owned by an anonymous French citizen would have trans-Atlantic repercussions, and potentially force French museums to empty out their collections.

"If we lose this case, there will be no more sales of objects of indigenous art in France," Neret-Minet said. "I guess that museums will be obliged to give back their collections. It's major ... It would be terrible for the art market in general."

The 70 objects, mainly Hopi, went on display for the first time as the court battle kicked off on Thursday, offering a rare public glimpse of such works in Europe. They date to the late 19th century and early 20th century, and are thought to have been taken from a northern Arizona reservation in the 1930s and 1940s. The most expensive single mask is estimated to be worth at least 50,000 euros ($66,000).

The Associated Press is not transmitting images of the objects because the Hopi have long kept the items out of public view and consider it sacrilegious for any images of the objects to appear.

If the judge rules in the auction house's favor on Friday, the items will go up for sale within hours.

Neret-Minet insisted the auction would be "a beautiful homage" to the Hopis. But Hopi representatives don't think that's enough. They want the auction house to prove the masks weren't stolen — through certificates of ownership, for example.

They say the masks have a special status, and are far more than just art: They are their dead ancestors' spirits.

"This is not just an art object, artifact or something that you hang on the wall or wear on the day of a wedding. This is where the spirit of the dead communicates with the living," said the tribe's French lawyer, Pierre Servan-Schreiber, outside the courtroom Thursday. "Under French law, you cannot sell or purchase a tomb."

He said the masks were never sold or given away, and "clearly" belong to the Hopis: "It's impossible for those masks to have left the tribe without (someone) violating some law."

The tribe's chairman, Le Roy Shingoitewa, said only a Hopi has the right to possess them.

"Given the importance of these ceremonial objects to Hopi religion, you can understand why ... they (Hopis) regard an auction not as homage but as a desecration to our religion," said Shingoitewa in a letter written to the auction house last week.

The Hopi camp are hoping an individual or organization will step in to buy back the objects for the tribe, since they don't have enough money.

Hollywood star Redford on Thursday wrote a letter protesting plans to sell off the masks, calling the proposed sale "sacrilege" — and even a "criminal gesture." Redford condemned the looming auction in Paris and warned of "grave moral consequences" if it went ahead.

Describing himself "as a close friend of the... Hopi culture," Redford wrote that the masks "belong to the Hopi and the Hopi alone."

____

Thomas Adamson can be followed at Twitter.com/ThomasAdamsonAP

____

Associated Press writer Felicia Fonseca in Flagstaff, Arizona, contributed to this report.

View the original article here

Arias judge denies motion to sequester jurors

PHOENIX (AP) — The judge in Jodi Arias' murder case on Thursday denied a defense motion to order jurors sequestered for the remainder of the trial during a bizarre week when one panelist was removed and videos emerged of Arias' parents telling authorities she has mental problems.

Defense attorney Kirk Nurmi sought the sequestration after noting the release of the footage and parts of Arias' journal to the media, explaining it could bias the jury.

"This case must be tried in the courtroom not in the media," Nurmi told the judge.

He said that despite daily admonitions from the judge to the jury not to follow media coverage of the trial, some on the panel are likely doing it anyway, calling it an "absolute fiction" to believe they are not.

Judge Sherry Stephens denied the motion then admonished the jury again on Thursday to avoid all media coverage of the trial.

The move comes during a week when one juror was removed from the panel for making statements the defense claimed called into question her impartiality.

In a statement to the media after her removal, the juror said she would not comment on the case until a verdict is reached. Her removal came just a few days after defense attorneys accused prosecutor Juan Martinez of misconduct by posing for photographs and signing autographs for fans outside court. The judge has not yet ruled in that matter.

Thursday's motion was just another twist in the murder trial that has captivated the nation with tales of lurid sex, lies and a bloody killing, playing out for the pubic via an unedited web feed from inside the courtroom.

Arias faces a possible death sentence if convicted of first-degree murder in the June 2008 killing of Travis Alexander in his suburban Phoenix home.

Authorities say she planned the attack on her lover in a jealous rage. Arias initially denied involvement then blamed it on two masked intruders. Two years after her arrest, she said it was self-defense.

Testimony has been ongoing for three months.

Later Thursday, psychotherapist Alyce LaViolette continued her testimony discussing Arias' relationship with the victim after spending several days explaining to jurors the traits of victims and abusers in generalities.

The defense witness, who spent more than 40 hours interviewing Arias, said the defendant and the victim appeared to be in a comfortable relationship and that Arias wasn't stalking him as some of Alexander's friends have indicated.

"It looks like a comfortable relationship where there's a lot of back and forth," LaViolette said.

She also explained again how battered women tend to minimize the abuse by their partners "or not talk about it at all."

Arias says Alexander was physically abusive and attacked her on the day of the killing, forcing her to fight for her life, yet no other evidence at trial has shown the victim was ever violent in the past. Arias says she was too ashamed to tell anyone.

In developments outside court, authorities released to the media videos of investigators questioning Arias' parents after her arrest in 2008.

Both of her parents told police they believed Arias has mental problems.

"Jodi has mental problems, Jodi would freak out all the time," Sandra Arias says on the tape. "I had quite a few of her friends call and tell me I needed to get her some help."

On the tape, William Arias says he had suggested that she might be bipolar.

The videos have not been admitted into evidence at the trial, and Arias' parents have not been called as witnesses.

View the original article here

Ohio judge postpones sentencing of convicted Craigslist killer

By Kim Palmer

AKRON, Ohio (Reuters) - An Ohio judge on Tuesday postponed the sentencing of Richard Beasley, the former street preacher found guilty earlier this month of murdering down-on-their-luck men who responded to an ad on Craigslist for a non-existent job.

Summit County Common Pleas Judge Lynne Callahan set a new sentencing date for Thursday, April 4, at 10 a.m. The delay was necessary because defense attorney James Burdon was ill, Callahan said.

Beasley, 53, was found guilty on March 12 of kidnapping and killing David Pauley, 51, of Norfolk, Virginia; Ralph Geiger, 56, of Akron; and Timothy Kern, 47, of Massillon, Ohio.

He was also convicted of the attempted murder of Scott Davis, 49, a South Carolina man who answered a Craigslist ad and was shot in the arm while escaping after meeting Beasley and a teenage accomplice, Brogan Rafferty.

Jurors unanimously recommended the death penalty for Beasley, granting the judge the option of sentencing him to death.

Prosecutors said Beasley was the mastermind and triggerman in a scheme to rob the victims and steal their identities. He and Rafferty, now 18, were convicted in separate trials of promising men a bogus $300-a-week job as a ranch hand in rural Ohio.

Rafferty was 16 when the murders were committed and ineligible for the death penalty. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole and plans to appeal his conviction.

(Editing by James Kelleher and Bob Burgdorfer)

View the original article here

Judge won't let Fort Hood suspect plead guilty

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — An Army psychiatrist will not be allowed to plead guilty to any charges in the deadly 2009 Fort Hood shooting rampage, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Maj. Nidal Hasan's attorneys previously said he was ready to plead guilty to the 13 counts of premeditated murder he faces in the worst mass shooting on a U.S. military installation, but Army rules prohibit a judge from accepting a guilty plea to charges that carry the death penalty.

Defense attorneys then asked that Hasan be allowed to plead guilty to 13 counts of unpremeditated murder, which does not carry the death penalty.

No guilty pleas would have stopped his murder trial or possibility of being sentenced to death.

But the judge, Col. Tara Osborn, ruled Hasan cannot plead guilty to those lesser charges or the 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder that he also faces. He still would have been tried on the premeditated murder charges, so pleading guilty to the attempted premeditated murder charges could have been used against him at trial, Osborn said.

She also said he would not be allowed to plead guilty to unpremeditated murder and unpremeditated attempted murder, because that "would be the functional equivalent of pleading guilty to a capital offense." A capital offense is a charge that carries the death penalty.

Hasan's court-martial is to start with jury selection May 29 and with testimony July 1 on the Texas Army post.

Some military law experts have suggested Hasan wanted to plead guilty to lesser charges to try to avoid a possible execution, with defense attorneys hoping at least one juror would have seen Hasan's guilty pleas as a sign of remorse. Unlike other military trials, a jury's decision for a death sentence must be unanimous.

After hearing several hours of testimony Wednesday, Osborn also said she would consider whether to allow a terrorism consultant to testify at the trial. Prosecutors said Evan Kohlmann's testimony and report on Hasan would show motive. But defense attorneys said Hasan isn't charged with terrorism, so Kohlmann's testimony would be prejudicial to the military jury.

View the original article here

English judge says fugitive oligarch defrauded Kazakh bank BTA

By Kirstin Ridley

LONDON (Reuters) - An English judge said oligarch Mukhtar Ablyazov, who has been in hiding since he was sentenced to jail for contempt of court last year, organised a complex fraud to embezzle billions of dollars from Kazakh bank BTA.

Judge Nigel Teare said on Tuesday that Ablyazov must have orchestrated or authorised false loans and "deceived" BTA's board by failing to disclose his interest in borrowers.

Ablyazov, 49, a former theoretical physics graduate, entrepreneur and Kazakh government minister, denies fraud allegations he says are designed to rob him and eliminate him as an opponent to Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

In a judgment against three of Ablyazov's co-defendants, the High Court judge, who has presided over much of the tortuous case since it was brought in 2009, backed BTA's allegations that its former chairman committed one of the largest frauds ever tried in Britain.

"...there can be only one explanation for the fact that the very large sums of money which were advanced were immediately transferred to companies owned or controlled by Mr. Ablyazov, namely, that the original loans were part of a dishonest scheme whereby Mr. Ablyazov sought to misappropriate monies which belonged to the bank," Teare said.

Ablyazov has been debarred from defending himself against around $6.0 billion of fraud claims because he ignored court orders.

Teare, who awarded BTA an initial $2.1 billion damages in a default judgment against Ablyazov last November, granted the bank another $1.74 billion on Tuesday in three further claims against some of Ablyazov's allies.

He found that Zhaksylyk Zharimbetov, a former deputy chairman of BTA's management board who now lives in London, Ildar Khazhaev, former head of BTA's Moscow office and Cypriot company Usarel, which owns Vitino Port on the White Sea, knowingly helped Ablyazov misappropriate cash from BTA.

All three defendants had pleaded not guilty.

BTA expects the judge next week to hand down further damages awards against Ablyazov, whose attempt failed last month to halt proceedings by appealing to the UK Supreme Court to review a case he says denies him a fair trial.

Ablyazov fled oil-rich Kazakhstan after BTA was nationalised and declared insolvent in 2009, saying his life was in danger. He was granted political asylum in Britain in 2011, but has said he believes his security remains at risk and refuses to disclose his current whereabouts.

Because it does not expect him to heed the court's damages demands, BTA plans to begin the process of selling some of his more valuable UK properties held under a worldwide freezing order. These include his nine-bedroom former home in London and a 100-acre (40-hectare) country estate.

However, the bank's efforts to start liquidating assets it says belong to Ablyazov are complex because many are controlled via a chain of companies using trusted nominees and holding companies that are often registered in offshore jurisdictions.

(Reporting by Kirstin Ridley; Editing by Anthony Barker)

View the original article here

W. Va. judge blocks youth testimony in Ohio trial

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A West Virginia judge has rejected requests that three juveniles be called to testify at the Ohio trial of two high school football players charged with raping a 16-year-old girl, a decision one defense attorney says puts his client in "a tough situation."

The juveniles' testimony was expected to bolster the players' defense against charges that they attacked the alleged victim, who is from West Virginia.

No legal case was cited from anywhere in the country to support the argument that the three West Virginia juveniles can be compelled to testify in Ohio, Hancock County Judge Ronald Wilson ruled Wednesday in an order obtained by The Associated Press.

Ohio and West Virginia law is different for a juvenile delinquency hearing compared to a criminal trial, Wilson said in the four-page ruling.

"The proceeding in Ohio is not a criminal action — it is not a criminal prosecution — and it is not a criminal proceeding," Wilson wrote.

"A trial judge follows the law — he does not make it," Wilson added. No law his court follows gives him the right to honor the request for the subpoenas, he said.

The two players go on trial Wednesday in Jefferson County juvenile court in Steubenville on charges they attacked the girl after an alcohol-fueled party last August. Their attorneys have denied the charges.

The request for the subpoenas came through Ohio Judge Thomas Lipps, after defense attorneys filed motions with him asking that the three witnesses appear at the trial. Nothing in the court ruling indicates what the juveniles would testify about.

The juveniles' expected testimony and knowledge was "material" to the Ohio case, Wilson's ruling said.

"It puts us in a tough situation," Walter Madison, a defense attorney representing Ma'Lik Richmond, said Friday. He declined further comment.

The lawyer representing defendant Trent Mays said the West Virginia witnesses are trying to avoid testifying. Attorney Brian Duncan said they have refused to speak to defense investigators.

"The truth will be exposed through evidence and testimony submitted at the upcoming trial, and the same will prove that our client did not rape the alleged victim," Duncan said in a statement Friday.

Dozens of witnesses for both sides are expected to testify at the trial. Their testimony is considered crucial because the girl was severely intoxicated that night and appeared to be passed out at times, according to several witnesses, and is not expected to testify herself.

Fred Abdalla Jr., chief probation officer for the Jefferson County juvenile court and the spokesman for issues around the trial, declined comment.

__

Andrew Welsh-Huggins can be reached on Twitter at https://twitter.com/awhcolumbus.

View the original article here

Judge: France's terror risk grows with Mali effort

PARIS (AP) — The longer that France's military intervention goes on in Mali, the greater the risk that homegrown Islamic militants will organize to plot attacks back in France, a top French counterterrorism investigator told The Associated Press.

Investigating Judge Marc Trevidic said young radicals in France see the Paris government as enemy No. 1 in the "new jihad" and consider France's intervention in Mali, which started last month to help the Malian government fight al-Qaida-linked militants, as an aggression against Islam. Small groups of France-based militants have already headed to Mali.

"The longer it goes on, things rot, the groups get organized, and the more networks constitute themselves. The longer it goes on, the more dangerous it grows," Trevidic said in an interview late Thursday. "The groups will need time to catch their breath, set up networks and possibly take action."

The investigating judge, who has been involved in some of France's biggest terrorism cases in recent years, spoke after diplomats and other French officials acknowledged to the AP this week that French forces are likely to remain in Mali at least through July.

President Francois Hollande and his major ministers have talked about a gradual pullout of the 4,000 troops now in Mali starting this month. But the combat in rugged Sahara Desert mountains is growing harder, and the threat is rising that the militants will turn to suicide attacks, hostage-takings and other guerrilla tactics.

Meanwhile, it's proving tougher to mobilize African troops to eventually take over the security lead from the French and to get European trainers on the ground to help better professionalize Mali's bedraggled soldiers.

Authorities in France for years have monitored radical Islamists — many whose families hail from former French colonies in northern Africa — who travel abroad to wage jihad, or holy war, and could return home with battle skills and know-how to carry out terrorist attacks.

But unlike Iraq, or the border regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, which continue to draw some French militants, Mali and much of West Africa were once French colonies. Thousands of French and dual nationals reside there, do business and maintain family ties. And that makes it especially tricky to monitor suspect travelers.

Mali "is the fashionable jihad at the moment. ... In this new jihad, the enemy is clearly France," Trevidic said.

The 7-week-old French campaign, backed by Malian and other troops notably from Chad, has driven al-Qaida's affiliates out of the cities in northeast Mali that they controlled for 10 months. Now, French officials say, the hardest fighting is taking place where many insurgents have holed up in the Adrar des Ifoghas range along the extensive Algerian border.

Trevidic said French judicial cases involving Mali were first opened in June. Extremists took advantage of a power vacuum in Mali after a coup last year and started imposing harsh rule on cities across northern Mali.

"We noticed excitement from the moment that young French radical Muslims learned that Shariah law was being applied in north Mali," he said. Many French radicals with dual citizenship — French-Malian, French-Nigerien, French-Nigerian, French-Congolese — wanted to go.

About 15 people have traveled to the region, and a few have returned to France, Trevidic said. Legal cases have been opened involving about 10 people — most of whom never left France but sent allies to Mali to join Islamic groups.

A challenge for French authorities is monitoring them to see if they plot attacks and not arresting them right away — to solidify judicial cases against them — and especially trying to "control" those who do return home to France.

The French military intervention that started Jan. 11 all but halted militants' departures toward Mali, Trevidic said. "For now, the situation is too tumultuous," he said. "We're in a bit of wait-and-see about what happens in the months to come."

Since the French air and ground campaign began, militants in France have lowered their profiles.

"Everybody ... has ducked. They're not getting noticed. A big problem in the current legal cases is when people in groups being monitored converse and have normal relations, and then suddenly cut all ties. They don't call each other, they stop seeing each other," Trevidic said.

"You think, 'it's because of the military action, it's hot, and they don't want to get noticed'," he added. "But it can also be worrisome, sometimes, it could be a sign that they are getting close to an action."

"Maybe it will calm down, by some miracle. But it's all going to depend on the states involved and how they manage their own problems," he said. "If the French army leaves, will the Malian military be strong enough to thwart the counterattacks of the Islamists? For the moment, we don't quite have that impression."

View the original article here