Give MySpace Hoaxer Probation: Lawyer

(NEWSER) - Five black students accused of beating a white classmate in Louisiana pleaded no contest to misdemeanor civil battery today, ending a trial that triggered a huge civil rights demonstration, the Alexandria Town Talk reports. Critics said that the so-called "Jena Six," originally charged with attempted murder, were treated harshly for being black. A judge fined them $500 each and sentenced them to a week of unsupervised probation. More»

My client was drunk, stupid, sleazy—oh, and black, argues Jefferson's lawyer

(NEWSER) - What do you say when you’re defending William Jefferson, on trial for allegedly taking $100,000 in bribe money and hiding it in his freezer? Pretty much whatever the heck you can think of, writes Dana Milbank of the Washington Post. The lawyer for the then-Congressman opened his defense yesterday with a crack about “frozen assets” before arguing that his client was sleazy and stupid, but not technically guilty. More»

Ahmed Ghailani to be tried for bombing US embassies

(AP) - The first Guantanamo Bay detainee has landed on US soil, landing in New York to face trial on charges of bombing US embassies, the Justice Department said today. Ahmed Ghailani arrived in the early morning, to be held in law enforcement custody until his trial in federal court in lower Manhattan; his first court appearance is expected later today. More»

Probation is no deterrent: prosecutors

(NEWSER) - Federal prosecutors are pushing for the maximum 3-year prison sentence for Lori Drew, whose MySpace trickery drove a 13-year-old to kill herself. “Defendant has become the public face of cyberbullying,” prosecutors wrote. “A probationary sentence might embolden others.” But in a presentencing report, probation officers said Drew should serve no more than 6 months, Wired reports. More»

Google searches, Twitter posts force end to cases

(NEWSER) - When a juror admitted last week that he had done online research during a major Florida drugs case, the judge thought he could dismiss the juror and continue. But he had to declare a mistrial when he questioned the jury—and found eight other jurors had been doing the same thing. As the New York Times reports, iPhone and BlackBerry-wielding jurors across the country are wrecking centuries-old rules of jurisprudence, and nobody knows what to do about it. More»