hotnews: charged

‏إظهار الرسائل ذات التسميات charged. إظهار كافة الرسائل

الخميس، 30 أغسطس 2012

Arrested illegals who were released charged with 16,226 subsequent crimes

President Barack Obama‘s decision not to deport some arrested illegal immigrants has enabled a crime wave — but no American or immigrant victims have been publicly identified, and GOP politicians have mostly remained mute.

Illegal aliens who have been released from custody between 2008 and mid-2011 have been charged with 16,226 subsequent crimes, including 19 murders, 142 sex crimes and thousands of drunk-driving offenses, drug-crimes and felonies, according to a new report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.

“Rather than protect the American people he was elected to serve, President Obama has imposed a policy that allows thousands of illegal immigrants to be released into our communities,” said a statement from Rep. Lamar Smith, the chairman of the House judiciary committee.

The criminals “were in the government’s custody, were identified as illegal immigrants and then let go because this administration has refused to request the resources to hold them and deport them,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies.

The White House press office did not respond to The Daily Caller’s questions.

The CRS study uses data subpoenaed from the federal government by House Committee on the Judiciary. The data details 159,286 cases where legal and illegal immigrants were arrested, identified via FBI databases and then let free, said the report.

Over a 33-month period, from October 2008 and July 2011, roughly one-sixth of those let go were later arrested for crimes.

The data shows that 26,412 of the 159,286 released legal and illegal immigrants were arrested later for 57,763 crimes, said the CRS.

The CRS found the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency “likely” had authority to deport only 7,283 — or 40 percent — of those repeat offenders. The other 19,129 had some form of legal status, and would not be liable for deportation until after conviction in a civil court.

After being released, the 7,283 deportable aliens were later charged with 16,226 crimes, including 19 murders, 142 sex crimes — such as rape or child molestation — almost 1,000 other major criminal offenses or violent crimes, plus 489 cases of theft, 551 traffic violations, 1,929 DUI violations and 156 parole violations.

Together, the released 26,412 illegal and legal immigrants were charged with 59 murders, 542 sex crimes, 6,270 drug crimes and up to 5,342 “major criminal offenses … [or] other violent crimes.”

“It is amazing to me there hasn’t been more fallout … [but] it is the Messiah’s administration [and] the media isn’t making a fuss,” Krikorian said. “It’s appalling.”

So far, the GOP “is cowed and scared that Hispanics won’t vote for them if they highlight illegal-alien murders” of Hispanics, he said. “It is so ridiculous, because the victims of immigrant gang-members are other immigrants.”

Chairman Smith, however, has pushed the issue. Obama’s “unwillingness to enforce immigration laws puts our communities at risk and costs American lives. We elect leaders to protect us — not put us in danger,” he said.

The new data about crimes committed by released legal and illegal immigrants comes as the administration rolls out a variety of new measures to boost the administration’s support among Hispanic voters. (RELATED: Obama immigration policy loosens work permit requirements)

The administration has also boosted welfare programs for legal and illegal immigrants and has redefined nearly all welfare programs to bypass laws barring welfare-receiving immigrants from residency or citizenship.

The Internal Revenue Service has also rolled back oversight of fraud in a program intended to handle immigrants taxes and refunds, according to an investigation by the IRS inspector general. The program provided $6.8 billion in refunds to immigrants, said an Aug. 8 report in The Washington Times.

Illegal immigrants were fraudulently given $4.2 billion in 2010 child-support tax credits, according to a July 2011 report by the Treasury Department’s inspector general. In 2012, that illegal claims likely will reach $7.4 billion, said the report.

In 2012, top Senate Democrats blocked a reform of the refund process.

Administration officials have rolled back enforcement of immigration laws, and have directed immigration-officers to release illegals, including some who have been approved by judges for deportation.

In recent months, the administration has offered what conservatives call a de-facto amnesty to an estimated 1.76 million illegal immigrants, including an estimated 350,000 illegals with little or no high-school education. The policy will more easily grant work permits, and will allow them to compete for jobs against 23 million unemployed or under-employed Americans.

The two-year amnesty, dubbed “deferred action,” is being offered free to illegal immigrants, including people also schedule for deportation. However, the illegals will have to pay the standard cost of $465 for the work permit.

The amnesty will not include convicted felons, drunk drivers or people who committed a series of felonies.

However, immigrant officers will not try to find out if amnesty applicants have committed crimes, such as identity theft, an administration official said Aug. 6. “We want to maximize participation.”

Follow Neil on Twitter
Join the conversation on The Daily Caller

الأحد، 12 أغسطس 2012

Colorado shooting: Suspect is charged, no word on death penalty

James Holmes had his second court appearance Monday, as prosecutors formally filed the charges against him.

Mr. Holmes, accused of opening fire in an Aurora, Colo., movie theater this month, killing 12 people and injuring 58, was charged with 142 counts, including 24 counts of first-degree murder, 116 counts of attempted murder, one count of possession of an explosive device, and one count of a sentence enhancer for a crime of violence.

He was charged twice for each of individuals killed. Colorado has several different classes of murder charges. One set of the charges refers to the fact that Holmes allegedly shot after deliberation. The second set accuses him of killing “under circumstances evidencing an attitude of universal malice manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life generally."

IN PICTURES: Aurora, Colo. shooting aftermath

Holmes also waived his right to a preliminary hearing within 35 days.

The judge, William Sylvester, set a date for a preliminary hearing on Nov. 12. The next court hearing in the case will be Aug. 9, when the court will address a motion filed by several media outlets to unseal records in the case. A court order has kept virtually all case documents sealed, and a gag order has limited what attorneys, police officers, and others can say about the case.

Holmes made his first court appearance a week ago; this time, cameras and electronic equipment were barred from the room.

The charges were hardly a surprise, since Holmes’s involvement in the shooting, and the nature of the crimes, seem clear. At this point, most of the speculation centers on whether Colorado prosecutors will seek the death penalty for Holmes, and whether his defense team will be able to mount an insanity defense.

Capital punishment in Colorado exists, though it’s seldom used. In the past 45 years, one person has been executed in the state: Gary Lee Davis, in 1997, for rape and murder. (Between 1972 and 1984, the state had no death penalty.) Three people now sit on death row.

But it also seems likely that prosecutors will seek the death penalty in Holmes’s case.

“If James Holmes isn’t executed,” former Denver prosecutor Craig Silverman told Reuters last week, “Colorado may as well throw away its death penalty law.”

To qualify for the death penalty, Colorado law says, one of 17 aggravating factors must be present in addition to first-degree murder.

Holmes “satisfies many of them,” says Sam Kamin, a law professor at Denver University. The factors include killing multiple people, killing in an especially heinous or cruel way, lying in wait for the victim, and creating a grave risk of death for one or more people in addition to the victim.

“What we don’t know yet, and can’t know, is what the case for mitigation will be,” adds Professor Kamin. The murders and aggravating factors will have to be balanced against that case – most likely centered on Holmes’s mental state, he says.

Conflicting reports have emerged in the past 10 days about Holmes’s mental state, and what information about the attack he may have mailed to a University of Denver psychiatrist.

Court papers last week confirmed that Holmes was seeing a psychiatrist, Lynne Fenton, at the university, but it’s unclear what she was treating him for. News outlets also claimed that Holmes had mailed a package to Dr. Fenton that contained a sort of journal describing plans for the attacks in detail.

However, prosecutors have said that much of the reported information was inaccurate, though they have confirmed that the notebook exists. It’s unclear exactly what the notebook contains, and when the package was received – whether it had been sitting in the mailroom since July 12, as Fox News originally reported, or whether it arrived there the Monday after the shooting.

Holmes’s defense team has filed a motion seeking to determine whether prosecutors or police were responsible for leaking information about the package to media. That had been expected to be discussed at Monday’s court hearing, but was postponed.

Evidence already appears to exist that the shooting was premeditated and that Holmes spent months planning it. In particular, authorities say that Holmes began buying bullets and ballistic gear online four months ago, and bought four weapons at Colorado stores in May and June.

Such planning may make an insanity defense more difficult to prove. Ultimately, though, the success of such a defense in Colorado would rest on whether Holmes’s lawyers can prove that he was unable to tell right from wrong when he committed the attack.

“We don’t know what was going on inside the mind of what is clearly a disturbed individual,” says Kamin, adding that prosecutors will need to show that Holmes is sane enough to stand trial and was sane enough at the time of the crime to be held accountable for it. They will also need to address any possible mitigating factors in his past.

“The evidence of [Holmes’s] involvement is without question,” Kamin says. “The case is going to ultimately come down to the mental state of this defendant.”

IN PICTURES: Aurora, Colo. shooting aftermath

السبت، 28 يوليو 2012

Colorado judge bans cameras in hearing when shooting suspect charged

(Reuters) - The judge in the case of the man accused of Friday's shooting rampage at a Colorado movie theater on Tuesday ruled that no cameras or electronic recording equipment will be allowed at next week's hearing when formal charges will be filed.

Arapahoe County District Judge William Sylvester issued the written ruling in response to a request by Denver-area media for expanded media coverage of the July 30 hearing for James Holmes.

The public defenders appointed as Holmes' defense attorneys had objected to the request, according to court papers. Monday's initial appearance for Holmes had been televised over the objection of his attorneys.

Holmes will be charged formally on July 30.

(Reporting by Dan Burns; Editing by Jackie Frank, Gary Crosse)

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

الجمعة، 27 يوليو 2012

Paparazzo charged with crime in Justin Bieber chase

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A freelance paparazzo was charged on Wednesday with driving recklessly after speeding through a Los Angeles freeway to photograph pop star Justin Bieber earlier this month, the first use of a new anti-paparazzi law.

Celebrity photographer Paul Raef is being charged under a 2010 California law that penalizes paparazzi for dangerous driving when taking photos for commercial gain.

Raef was charged with two counts of violating the new law, as well as single counts of reckless driving and failing to obey police orders, according to the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office.

He could face up to a year in prison and $3,500 in fines if convicted of the charges, and will be arraigned in August.

The charges stem from a July 6 incident in which Bieber, 18, was pulled over and cited by the police for driving 80 miles per hour (130 km per hour) in a 65 mph zone in his Fisker Karma sports car on Los Angeles' 101 Hollywood freeway.

The singer, whom police described as polite and cooperative at the time, told officers he was being chased by paparazzi, and police said they saw a second car pursuing Bieber's automobile that sped away without being stopped.

Thirty minutes after the incident, Bieber called police to report that he was being followed again by the same paparazzo, and officers found Raef and other photographers gathered in downtown Los Angeles.

Bieber's speedy driving caught the attention of a Los Angeles city councilman, Dennis Zine, who happened to be on that portion of the freeway at the same time and called 911. Zine told reporters earlier this month that Bieber was "driving in a careless, reckless fashion."

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and Dale Hudson)