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Court upholds sentence of ex-CIA station chief
State Law Issues |
2012/12/03 19:07
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An appeals court has unanimously upheld the nearly 5 ½-year sentence of a former CIA station chief for sexually abusing an unconscious woman at the mansion the U.S. government provided for him in Algeria.
The three-judge panel ruled Friday that U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle had adequately explained why she sentenced Andrew Warren to roughly double what was called for in sentencing guidelines.
Warren argued that his Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, depression and substance abuse made it unreasonable to give him more than a brief sentence, followed by treatment at a private facility. The appeals court disagreed.
After Warren was fired, federal agents found him high on crack in a Virginia motel room with a semi-automatic pistol in his shorts. He pleaded guilty to abusive sexual contact and a gun charge. |
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Generals backed Kelley's sister in court
Law Firm News |
2012/11/15 12:54
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In the latest twist of the David Petraeus sex scandal, court records show the former CIA director and Gen. John Allen intervened last September in a messy custody dispute on behalf of Jill Kelley's sister, whom a judge described as dishonest and lacking integrity.
Kelley is the woman who received harassing emails from Petraeus' biographer and paramour, according to U.S officials. She also is thought to have exchanged flirtatious communications with Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan. Pentagon investigators are now examining Allen's relationship with Kelley.
The new court files are significant because they provide of a fuller picture of the twins' connections to Petraeus and Allen, two powerful figures ensnared in the scandal. It also raises questions why two decorated generals would vouch for Kelley's twin sister, Natalie Khawam, who had piles of legal troubles in recent years.
Petraeus resigned Friday as CIA director after disclosures that author Paula Broadwell sent the emails to Kelley, who in turn went to the FBI, setting off a series of stunning revelations that have engulfed Washington just days after President Barack Obama was re-elected.
Both Allen and Petraeus wrote letters in September supporting Khawam in her ongoing custody fight for her son, D.C. Superior Court records show. Allen met Khawam, 37, when he was deputy commander of U.S. Central Command in Tampa, where they attended social functions. Petraeus said he met Khawam three years ago through Kelley. |
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Former US Attorney taking job at law firm in Chicago
Legal World News |
2012/11/06 10:50
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Former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has a new job. Fitzgerald plans to join Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher amp; Flom LLP. Fitzgerald will become a partner in the corporate law firm's Chicago office on Oct. 29.
Ads by GoogleDuring his tenure as U.S. attorney, Fitzgerald gained recognition for leading investigations into terrorism and organized crime, as well as the prosecutions of two Illinois governors. He stepped down as the top federal prosecutor in Chicago earlier this year.
Fitzgerald says he picked Skadden over other large firms because of its global reach and the opportunity to do some public-interest work.
Skadden has about 1,800 lawyers in 23 offices around the world, including about 170 attorneys in Chicago. |
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Italian court convicts 7 for no quake warning
Law Firm News |
2012/10/27 13:44
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Defying assertions that earthquakes cannot be predicted, an Italian court convicted seven scientists and experts of manslaughter Monday for failing to adequately warn residents before a temblor struck central Italy in 2009 and killed more than 300 people.
The court in L'Aquila also sentenced the defendants to six years each in prison. All are members of the national Great Risks Commission, and several are prominent scientists or geological and disaster experts.
Scientists had decried the trial as ridiculous, contending that science has no reliable way of predicting earthquakes. So news of the verdict shook the tightknit community of earthquake experts worldwide.
It's a sad day for science, said seismologist Susan Hough, of the U.S. Geological Survey in Pasadena, Calif. It's unsettling. That fellow seismic experts in Italy were singled out in the case hits you in the gut, Hough added.
In Italy, convictions aren't definitive until after at least one level of appeals, so it is unlikely any of the defendants would face jail immediately.
Other Italian public officials and experts have been put on trial for earthquake-triggered damage, such as the case in southern Italy for the collapse of a school in a 2002 quake in which 27 children and a teacher were killed. But that case centered on allegations of shoddy construction of buildings in quake-prone areas. |
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