[JURIST] The trial of former Ku Klux Klan (KKK) member James Ford Seale [Wikipedia profile], accused of kidnapping and killing two black men in Mississippi in 1964, began Monday. Seale, now 71 years old, was originally arrested in 1964 on suspicion of kidnapping Henry Dee and Charles Moore, who were later found dead in the Mississippi River. He was released due to lack of evidence after providing information to the FBI. Thomas Moore, brother of Charles Moore, had pushed for the case to be reopened again, but authorities hesitated until the 2005 conviction of Edgar Ray Killen [JURIST report] for the 1964 deaths of three civil rights workers. Seale was arrested in January [JURIST report] and indicted by a federal grand jury [press release] for two counts of kidnapping resulting in death, and one count of conspiracy. Seale could face a maximum of sentence of life in prison for each count. Reuters has more.

The Seale case is one of several recently reopened civil rights-era cases [US News backgrounder], including that of Killen. In 2004, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the 2002 murder convictions and life sentences [JURIST report] imposed on ex-KKK member Bobby Frank Cherry [Wikipedia profile], who was charged with connections to a 1963 Birmingham church bombing that killed four African-American girls, ages 11-14. He died in prison in November 2004 [Washington Post report].

[JURIST] US Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) [official website; JURIST news archive] was indicted [DOJ press release] Monday on 16 counts, including charges of bribery, racketeering, money laundering, and obstruction of justice. Jefferson allegedly solicited bribes from numerous companies both in the US and in Africa, setting up a fake company to launder the money. Due to the international nature of the alleged acts, Jefferson is facing charges under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act [DOJ materials]. If convicted on all counts, Jefferson faces up to 235 years in prison.

Last year, two associates of Jefferson pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the investigation into the congressman. Former aide Brett Pfeffer pleaded guilty to bribery charges [DOJ press release] last January. Last May, businessman Vernon L. Jackson pleaded guilty to bribing Jefferson [press release; WP report] and was subsequently sentenced to seven years in prison for paying more than $400,000 in bribes for Jefferson's influence in securing telecommunication contracts in West Africa. As part of the investigation, FBI agents conducted an 18-hour raid on Jefferson's congressional offices [JURIST report] last year. Jefferson is currently challenging the raid [JURIST report] before the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. AP has more.

[JURIST] A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit [official website] ruled unanimously Monday that Michigan's ban on what opponents of the procedure call "partial-birth" abortion is unconstitutional [opinion text, PDF] because it "fails to comply with the explicit limitations that the Supreme Court has established for statutes regulating abortion." Instead of banning a particular medical procedure, the Michigan statute [text] created a protected legal status for a partially delivered fetus. The court determined that since the statute did not distinguish between a viable and a pre-viable fetus, in effect it would ban a number of pre-viable abortions, including the most common abortion [JURIST news archive] procedure performed during the second trimester. AP has more.

In related news, Louisiana may become the first state to enact a "partial-birth" abortion ban following the Supreme Court's April decision which upheld the federal ban [JURIST report]. The Louisiana Senate [official website] will debate a bill [HB 614 materials] this week that was unanimously passed by the Louisiana House [official website], as well as another bill [SB 161 materials] proposed by a state senator. Both bills ban the procedure, and establish criminal liability for doctors who perform it. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US District Court for the Southern District of Texas sentenced Enron [JURIST news archive] Broadband Services former COO Kevin Hannon to two years in prison Monday. Hannon, who was charged along with four other former Enron executives and mid-level employees for conspiracy, fraud and insider trading, faced a maximum sentence of five years in prison for misrepresenting Enron's broadband network [JURIST news archive] to be more advanced than it actually was to boost Enron's stock prices.

Hannon received a more lenient sentence after pleading guilty [plea agreement, PDF] and testifying against Enron founder Kenneth Lay and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling [Houston Chronicle profiles]. AP has more.

[JURIST] A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit [official website] ruled unanimously Monday that Missouri's lethal injection procedures do not constitute cruel and unusual punishment [opinion text, PDF], making it possible for lethal injections to resume in that state. The court said that there was no indication that executed prisoners felt any unnecessary pain in any of Missouri's previous six lethal injections, all of which used a commonly used three-drug cocktail. If the cocktail is not administered properly, it can result in severe pain for an inmate. The ruling reverses previous orders [PDF text; JURIST report] by US District Judge Fernando Gaitan that required a board-certified anaesthesiologist to assist in executions. Missouri has been unable to find an anaesthesiologist to agree to do so.

The lawsuit [case materials] challenging Missouri's death penalty was filed by Michael Taylor [NCADP backgrounder], who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to death for the 1989 murder of a 15-year-old girl. Taylor was hours away from being executed in February 2006 when the courts accepted his lawsuit under 42 USC 1983 [text] and halted his execution. AP has more. The Los Angeles Times has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York on Monday vacated [opinion, PDF] a determination [FCC order] by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) [official website] that Fox Television broadcasts violated the FCC's indecency and profanity prohibitions. The appeals court ruled that the FCC's "fleeting expletives" standard "represented a significant departure from positions previously taken by the agency and relied on by the broadcast industry," and violated the Administrative Procedure Act [text] because the FCC failed to articulate a reasoned basis for its change in policy. The court also found that the FCC failed to provide "any explanation for why" the separate ban on profanity was necessary, which was not regulated by the FCC prior to 2004.

The two alleged indecency violations were unscripted expletives uttered during the 2002 and 2003 Billboard Music Awards. Fox challenged the FCC's determination, saying during oral arguments [JURIST report] that the FCC's decency standard was unclear and violated free speech protections. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] Monday granted certiorari [order list, PDF] in a case where the Court must decide whether an age discrimination lawsuit against FedEx [corporate website] was filed properly. In FedEx v. Holowecki (06-1322) [docket; cert. petition, PDF], FedEx seeks to overturn a Second Circuit decision [PDF text] that an "intake questionnaire" submitted to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) [official website] met the requirements of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) [text].

The ADEA requires that plaintiffs alleging discrimination notify the EEOC and wait 60 days before filing a lawsuit with an employer. The delay allows the EEOC to notify the company and investigate the charges. Fedex alleges that the plaintiffs filed suit before notifying the EEOC. The plaintiffs say that the form filed with the EEOC contained the necessary information and that they waited for the statutory amount of time before filing their case. The case will be heard next term, which begins in October. AP has more. SCOTUSblog has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Violent crime in the US increased 1.3 percent last year, according to the Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report for 2006 [text; press release, PDF], released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation [official website] Monday. Property crime decreased 2.9 percent, but the increase in violent crimes marks the second straight year that rate rose. The 2005 Annual Report on Violent Crime [text; JURIST report] found that violent crimes had increased for the first time since 2001. The trend in violent crime [JURIST report] was initially disclosed last week by FBI Assistant Director of Public Affairs John Miller [official profile], who told AP that midsized American cities had been particularly affected. The increase in violent crime was the greatest - 3.2 percent - in cities with populations of 250,000 to 499,999, as well as cities with 25,000 to 49,999 people.

On Friday, US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced draft legislation to combat violent crime [JURIST report] that will increase penalties and restore the binding nature of federal sentencing guidelines. The preliminary FBI report is a precursor to its "Crime in the United States, 2006" report, which will include more comprehensive statistics and is set to be released in September. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The military judge presiding over military commission proceedings against Canadian Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee Omar Khadr [Trial Watch profile; JURIST news archive] Monday dismissed all charges [order, PDF] against Khadr, citing a lack of jurisdiction. A Guantanamo Combatant Status Review Tribunal [DOD materials] found that Khadr was an "enemy combatant," not an "unlawful enemy combatant" as required under the Military Commissions Act of 2006 [PDF text]. Khadr may remain in US custody despite the dismissal of charges. US State Department Legal Advisor John Bellinger [official profile], said last week that the United States might not release Khadr [CP report] even if he was acquitted, asserting that the the US would still have the right to detain him as an enemy combatant in the war on terror.

Khadr, formally charged [charge sheet, PDF; JURIST report] in April with murder, attempted murder, conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism, as well as spying, was 15 years old when he was detained in 2002. Khadr allegedly threw a grenade that killed one US soldier and wounded another while fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Last Friday, Khadr's Canadian civilian lawyer said that Khadr would not work out a plea deal [JURIST report] with the US military because it would require Khadr to serve 30 years in prison on terror charges. CBC News has more. Reuters has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Pakistan [official website] Monday returned a government complaint against lawyers who allegedly made "humiliating" statements against the military and judiciary at a seminar that was attended by suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry [official website; JURIST news archive], saying that it was incomplete, failed to cite any legal provision to prosecute the lawyers, and was not properly filed in a form of a petition. In addition, Justice Faqir Muhammad Khokhar and Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad stepped down from the panel considering the government complaint against the lawyers.

Also Monday, the Supreme Court postponed the hearing of a petition filed by journalists for a week, although Justice Javed Iqbal reiterated the judiciary's "full support [for] the media." Media outlets have complained of growing government pressure [JURIST report] not to provide live coverage of rallies in support of Chaudhry. Pakistan Information Minister Mohammed Ali Durrani told AP that the government had only requested the media to cover news relating to Chaudhry in a "fair manner." Last Friday, several television stations said they had been told not to cover a march in support of Chaudhry, and President General Pervez Musharraf told [press release] the media last week to follow the regulations set down by Pakistan's media regulatory authority. Many Pakistani lawyers and opposition leaders believe Chaudhry's suspension to be an assault on the independence of the country's judiciary and an indirect bid by Musharraf to continue his eight-year rule in an election year. PTI has more. AFP has additional coverage.

[JURIST] A Bangladeshi court Sunday ordered the continued detention of Abdul Jalil, the secretary general of the Bangladesh political party Awami League [party website], on charges of corruption and misuse of power despite Jalil's lawyers' request that he be released on bail due to poor health. The investigation against Jalil is a part of the Bangladeshi interim government's "anti-corruption campaign" [JURIST news archive], which has involved the questioning and detention of at least 60 parliamentarians and former government ministers. Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina [Banglapedia profile] criticized the arrests, saying they were an "autocratic move" motivated by politics rather than a legitimate attempt to stamp out corruption.

Last week, the interim government arrested [JURIST report] four former government ministers, two mayors and an ex-president of the Federation of the Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry [official website]. In January, President Iajuddin Ahmed became leader of the emergency government [JURIST report] with the backing of the military, and declared a state of emergency [JURIST report], allowing detention without warrants or specific charges. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] The treason trial of Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] and ten other opposition members resumed Monday, after a year-long delay following the voluntary withdrawal of two judges. Besigye, who has been charged [JURIST report] with plotting to forcefully overthrow the Ugandan government between 2001 and 2004, has maintained his innocence and says that the charges against him are politically motivated.

Prosecutors allege that Besigye is affiliated with the People's Redemption Army (PRA) [Wikipedia backgrounder], which the Ugandan government says operates from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The existence of the PRA is disputed, and the Ugandan government has been accused of fabricating the group's existence to support its crackdown on political opponents. In March, Ugandan judges went on strike [JURIST report] to protest an incident in which government security agents surrounded a courthouse, rearrested six opposition supporters who had been charged with treason but granted bail, and beat a defendant's lawyer unconscious. The incident also prompted lawyers to strike [JURIST report] and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni [BBC profile] promised to implement more transparent procedures for making arrests [JURIST report]. BBC News has more. From Uganda, The Monitor has local coverage.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] handed down decisions in three argued cases Monday, including Uttecht v. Brown [Duke Law case backgrounder] where the Court held that federal courts reviewing claims that a juror was improperly dismissed due to their views on capital punishment "owe deference to the trial court, which is in a superior position to determine the demeanor and qualifications of a potential juror." The Supreme Court reversed the Ninth Circuit's decision [PDF text] in the case. Read the Court's 5-4 opinion [text] per Justice Kennedy, along with a dissent [text] from Justice Stevens, and a second dissent [text] from Justice Breyer. AP has more.

In Safeco Insurance v. Burr [Duke Law case backgrounder; JURIST report], the Court held that initial rates charged for new insurance policies may be considered adverse actions under the Fair Credit Reporting Act [PDF text] that a company can be found to have violated the FCRA for both knowing violations of the law and for reckless disregard of the FCRA requirement that a consumer subjected to "adverse action" based on information contained in their consumer credit report be notified of the adverse action. Read the Court's opinion [text] per Justice Souter, along with a concurrence [text] from Justice Stevens, and a second concurrence [text] from Justice Thomas. AP has more.

In the final decision in an argued case, the Court held in Sole v. Wyner [Duke Law case backgrounder] that a party cannot be awarded attorneys' fees in an action brought under 42 USC 1983 [text] when the party wins a preliminary injunction in the case but does not ultimately win on the merits. The Supreme Court reversed the Eleventh Circuit's decision [PDF text] in the case, ruling that "a final decision on the merits denying permanent injunctive relief ordinarily determines who prevails in the action for purposes of §1988(b). A plaintiff who achieves a transient victory at the threshold of an action can gain no award under that fee-shifting provision if, at the end of the litigation, her initial success is undone and she leaves the courthouse emptyhanded." Read the Court's unanimous opinion [text] per Justice Ginsburg.

The Court also issued a per curiam decision [text] in Erickson v. Pardus, ruling that the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit erred in concluding that William Erikson's allegations that a prison doctor's decision to stop his Hepatitis C treatment caused Erikson substantial harm were too conclusory under pleading standards set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2) [text]. Justice Scalia would have denied the petition for a writ of certiorari and Justice Thomas issued a dissent [text] in the case.

Lastly, Claiborne v. United States [Duke Law case backgrounder; JURIST report] was dismissed [PDF text] as moot because the petitioner in the case died last week. The case involved the federal sentencing guidelines and questioned whether a sentence substantially lower than the minimum suggested by the guidelines could only be justified by extraordinary situations.

[JURIST] Thousands of survivors of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] filed a class action lawsuit against the United Nations and the Netherlands Monday, alleging that both are liable for their failure to protect civilians, many of whom were refugees that relocated to the Srebrenica enclave declared [S/Res 819, PDF] to to be a "safe area" by the UN Security Council in 1993. The lawsuit, filed at the Dutch Supreme Court, will be heard by the Hague District Court, where the UN can acquiesce to or challenge the Dutch court's jurisdiction. Marco Gerritsen, who represents approximately 6,000 family members of victims in the lawsuit, faulted the UN and the Netherlands for not being willing to take responsibility for the 450 Dutch peacekeepers that did not intervene and reportedly even assisted as Bosnian-Serb forces rounded up Bosnian Muslims, many of whom were bused away and later massacred.

Tom Karremans, the commander of the peacekeepers, testified [JURIST report] in 2005 that Dutch troops could not intervene to protect the refugees because early phases of the massacre had initially been represented as an "evacuation." An independent report [text] by the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation [official website] found that Bosnian-Muslims had been mistakenly advised by Dutch troops to depart from the Srebrenica enclave, although it absolved the Dutch troops of blame because the peacekeepers were outnumbered, lightly armed, insufficiently supplied, denied air support, and under rules of engagement that permitted only self-defense. Five of the 161 suspects indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] remain fugitives, including Ratko Mladic [ICTY case backgrounder; JURIST news archive] and former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic [ICTY case backgrounder; BBC profile, both of whom are wanted for their alleged role in the Srebrenica massacre. AP has more. Reuters has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Former Liberian President Charles Taylor [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] boycotted the opening of judicial proceedings against him Monday at the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) [official website], saying in a letter to the court that his confidence in the SCSL's "ability to dispense justice" was "misplaced" because he was prevented from seeing his preferred lawyer and that his single court-appointed defense lawyer was outnumbered by the court's prosecution team. Taylor's assigned lawyer, Karim Khan, told the court that Taylor has fired him and was seeking to represent himself and left the opening of the trial despite requests from the court that he continue as Taylor's defense lawyer, at least for the first day of trial. Despite Taylor and Khan's absence, the court determined that opening statements would continue.

Taylor's trial will adjourn for three weeks after Chief Prosecutor Stephen Rapp's opening statement Monday and will resume on June 25. The trial, which is expected to last 18 months, was relocated to The Hague [JURIST report] for security reasons. Last Thursday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] urged [press release; JURIST report] international donors to increase their contributions to the SCSL, echoing a call by Rapp who has warned that the tribunal would be forced to release Taylor if it runs out of resources. Unlike other international criminal tribunals, the Special Court for Sierra Leone relies solely on voluntary contributions.

Taylor has been indicted [amended indictment text, PDF; SCSL materials] on charges of crimes against humanity and violations of international humanitarian law, including murder, rape, and the recruitment and use of child soldiers during a bloody civil war in Sierra Leone. AP has more.