By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

"Barefoot Bandit" Colton Harris-Moore is scheduled to be sentenced Friday in a Seattle federal courtroom for his two-year international crime spree of break-ins and boat and plane thefts.

The 20-year-old pleaded guilty last month to his state crimes and was sentenced to seven years.

Federal prosecutors have asked for six-and-a-half years to be served while he serves the state time. Harris-Moore's attorneys want less than six years.

Authorities say he flew a plane stolen in Washington to the San Juan Islands; stole a pistol in British Columbia and took a plane from Idaho to Washington; stole a boat in southwestern Washington to go to Oregon; and took a plane in Indiana and flew to the Bahamas, where was arrested in 2010.

He committed several of the crimes without wearing shoes.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

A Superior Court judge testified in a murder case against a man who posed as an heir to the Rockefeller fortune, saying that more than two decades ago he lent a chain saw to the defendant while the two were living in San Marino.

William Stewart said he was a lawyer when Christian Gerhartsreiter, then known as Christopher Chichester, asked to borrow an electric chain saw in late 1984 or early 1985.

"He said he had a problem with a branch on a tree that was scratching a window," Stewart said Thursday.

Stewart, who met the defendant at his church, said Chichester kept the tool for several months, returning it just before leaving town in the spring of 1985.

The hearing for Gerhartsreiter will determine whether there is enough evidence to put him on trial for the apparent bludgeoning death of John Sohus that only came to light when the victim's bones were dug up at the former home of John and Linda Sohus in 1994, nearly 10 years after the couple vanished. Gerhartsreiter was a tenant in the guesthouse at the home.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

A federal judge has set a new court date to hear more evidence about the mental health of a man accused of firing shots at the White House in November.

Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez of Idaho appeared Wednesday in federal court in Washington, where a judge set another hearing for Friday. Ortega is accused of using an assault rifle to fire at the White House on Nov. 11, when President Barack Obama was out of town. He is charged with attempting to assassinate the president.

Acquaintances have said Ortega acted strangely in recent months, suggesting he believed he was Jesus and calling Obama "the devil." A preliminary psychiatric screening found him competent to stand trial, but federal prosecutors are asking for more extensive tests.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

A state appeals court has overturned the conviction of a Los Angeles man found guilty of killing a 17-year-old girl and her 16-year-old brother, ruling that the judge in his trial admitted improper evidence.

City News Service says the 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled Monday that a judge wrongly allowed evidence that one of Williams' alibi witnesses was arrested in possession of a gun used in the killings.

The court said the evidence was prejudicial and the trial court abused its discretion.

A jury found Williams guilty of the 2004 killing of Shulma and Jason Ramos, and he was sentenced to life without parole.

Prosecutors said the teenagers were looking for a party with friends when a group of gang members that included Williams fired at their car.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

A former state lawmaker who championed legislation fighting child pornography was sentenced Thursday to a five-year term for viewing nude images of underage girls.
Neil Cohen will serve the term either in prison or a mental hospital. The state Corrections Department will decide which venue. He could become eligible for release and be placed under intense supervision in several months.

Appearing pale and unsteady, Cohen did not speak during sentencing. His lawyer told the judge the former assemblyman has been suicidal and has several mental health issues, including chronic depression. He has been hospitalized for months, according to the lawyer, Mark Tuohey.

Judge Gerald Council imposed sentence in Mercer County Superior Court.

"This is a sad day," the judge said. "But for this incident, he had an unblemished record."

Cohen pleaded guilty in April.

He served 17 years in the state Legislature as a Democrat representing Union County. He resigned following his arrest in July 2008.

The former lawmaker admitted viewing images of underaged girls on computers in his legislative office and law office.

Anthony Picione, the deputy attorney general who prosecuted the case, said 34 images of girls in various stages of undress were found on the computers. He said authorities have been able to match some of the images to photos on the list of Missing and Exploited Children.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

A Colorado pot grower who tried unsuccessfully to use state medical marijuana law in his defense on federal drug charges has said he now plans to plead guilty.

Christopher Bartkowicz, of Highlands Ranch, was scheduled to change his plea on Thursday. Court spokesman Jeff Dorschner said Bartkowicz told the court he planned to plead guilty, though the plea change won't be final until the hearing.

Bartkowicz faces federal marijuana cultivation charges after he showed off his marijuana growing business to a TV reporter in February. Soon after Denver's KUSA-TV promoted the story in February, federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided Bartkowicz's home and seized more than 200 plants.

Bartkowicz has changed his plea before. He first changed his plea to not guilty in April and asked the judge to let him use Colorado's 2000 constitutional amendment allowing medical marijuana rules in his defense.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

The former top attorney for the Cleveland area's sewage agency has been sentenced to five years, 10 months in prison for pursuing thousands of dollars in bribes.

Sixty-4-year-old William Schatz admitted shaking down a contractor for more than $682,000 and diverting about $167,000 in agency checks to his accounts.

The federal judge in Cleveland who sentenced Schatz on Tuesday also ordered him to pay back the money and gave him two years of supervised release.

Schatz resigned in 2007 from the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District. He pleaded guilty in May to bribery, theft and tax fraud.

He could have received more than seven years in prison. His attorneys had asked for mercy, noting his age and statements he made expressing remorse.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

The driver of a van and a tour operator have been sued over a crash in Utah that killed three Japanese tourists and injured 11 others.

The Salt Lake Tribune says the lawsuit filed Friday in federal court claims passenger Kei Maeda has suffered incomplete quadriplegia since the Aug. 9 crash. Maeda was among 14 tourists in the vehicle when it crashed near Cedar City during a trip from Las Vegas to Bryce Canyon National Park.

The lawsuit claims driver Yasushi Mikuni had THC in his system, indicating marijuana use, when he fell asleep at the wheel. Investigators, however, say he was not impaired.

Mikuni has been charged with negligent driving under the influence. The operator has not been charged.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

The 10 suspects accused in anti-gay attacks on four men in the Bronx are due in court.

They have been charged with crimes including assault, sexual abuse and harassment, all as hate crimes. The men are scheduled to appear in Bronx state Supreme Court on Thursday.

Their families and attorneys say they are innocent. They have not entered pleas.

Authorities say the Oct. 3 attacks were touched off by the gang members' belief that one of their recruits was gay. Police say the 17-year-old recruit was beaten and sodomized. They say another 17-year-old also thought to be gay was attacked, and a 30-year-old and his brother were beaten.

City officials say it's the worst case of anti-gay violence in recent memory.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

A 22-year-old Lebanese immigrant accused of placing a backpack he thought contained a bomb near Chicago's Wrigley Field this month is set to appear in federal court.

Sami Samir Hassoun was charged last week with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and an explosive device. He is scheduled to appear in court Thursday.

Prosecutors allege Hassoun took a fake bomb given to him by undercover FBI agents and planted it in a trash bin near the home of the Chicago Cubs.

Hassoun's attorney, Myron Auerbach, says his client isn't a terrorist.

Prosecutors say Hassoun has no apparent links to extremists and that he appeared motivated in part by thinking he could profit from bombings.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.