First Read : Pete Williams

The fight over Ft. Hood hearings

Domenico Montanaro — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:54:00 GMT

From NBC's Pete WilliamsA group of House Republicans today called for a more aggressive schedule of congressional hearings into the Ft. Hood shootings, instead of waiting until the Army's investigation has run its course. The Republicans say they want to know what the military has done to find out if other troubled service members like Maj. Hasan are still out there. But congressional Democrats and the Obama administration would prefer to hold off on hearings to let the military do its investigation...(read more)

SCOTUS clears way for Tues. execution

Mark Murray — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:44:00 GMT

From NBC's Pete WilliamsThe U.S. Supreme Court has turned down an emergency application from lawyers for John Allen Muhammad, the DC-area sniper, clearing the way for his scheduled execution Tuesday. *** UPDATE *** Justices John Paul Stevens and Sonia Sotomayor say states like Virginia should not be allow to rush the Supreme Court into deciding death penalty cases hours or days before scheduled executions. Muhammad's lawyers asked the court to put his execution on hold so that it could consider...(read more)

Italian Job: Italy convicts 22 CIA agents

Domenico Montanaro — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:12:00 GMT

From NBC’s Pete Williams
In the world's first criminal trial of CIA officials over the practice known as "rendition," an Italian judge today found nearly two-dozen American citizens guilty of kidnapping. The U.S. has used renditions to take suspected terrorists from one foreign country to another for questioning or to the U.S. None of the U.S. defendants were ever in the courtroom: they were tried in absentia.

The case involved a radical Egyptian cleric, Abu Omar, who was picked up on a street in Milan in February 2003 and taken to Egypt. When he was released four years later, he claimed he was brutally tortured by the Egyptian intelligence service. Italian authorities then prosecuted the Americans and members of Italy's military intelligence service.

Today, the judge sentenced 22 of the Americans to five years in prison. The other, a former CIA station chief in Milan, was sentenced to eight years. Three other Americans were originally charged, but the judge ruled today that they had diplomatic immunity. Because they were not in Italy during the trial, they remain free.

The trial has been a sore point in relations between the U.S. and Italy. Despite calls from international human rights groups, the Italians have not sought the extradition of the Americans. Prosecutors there say they will try again, but that will be up to Italy's justice ministry.

...(read more)

Court declines to hear 60s cold case

Domenico Montanaro — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:02:00 GMT

From NBC's Pete WilliamsThe U.S. Supreme Court today declined to take up the case of James Ford Seale, a central figure in an infamous racially motivated crime in 1964. Today's action leaves his conviction standing. But two justices said the court should have taken the case, because the issue will come up again in other cold cases from the 1960s. The FBI accused Seale and other Ku Klux Klansmen of kidnapping two black college students in 1964, beating them in a forest, and dumping them, still...(read more)

Detainee photo battle likely over

Domenico Montanaro — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:50:00 GMT

From NBC's Pete WilliamsA bill signed into law by President Obama today gives the federal government new authority to withhold photos of detainees who may have been subjected to abuse by their U.S. captors. After first agreeing to release them, Obama reversed himself earlier this year and directed the Justice Department to seek court rulings that would allow the government to withhold them. They were sought in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. The pictures, several dozen, were...(read more)

Remembering Cliff Hansen

Domenico Montanaro — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:04:00 GMT

From NBC's Pete Williams
Cliff Hansen, the oldest living former U.S. senator, who died today at age 97, served his last of two terms in a suite of rooms in Washington's Dirksen Senate Office building. His desk was at one end, and his most junior staff member worked at the other.

Every evening when he was in town, Hansen would turn out his own light and walk through the string of offices, saying goodnight to members of his staff. When he got to the desk of that junior staffer, he'd ask, "May I borrow your phone?"

"Senator," the staffer would say, "this is your phone. Of course you can use it."

Hansen would pick up the receiver, dial a number and say, "Honey, I'm on my way home." And with that, he would be off to his apartment and his devoted wife, Martha.

I know these details, because I was that junior staffer.

...(read more)

Court to hear Gitmo detainee case

Domenico Montanaro — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:16:00 GMT

From NBC's Pete Williams
Despite a plea from the Obama administration to stay on the sidelines, the U.S. Supreme Court today agreed to jump squarely into the legal battle over bringing Guantanamo detainees into the United States.

It's the first time the court has agreed to review an Obama policy in the war on terror.

The court said it will hear a constitutional challenge brought by 13 Chinese Muslims now held at Guantanamo Bay but no longer considered enemy combatants. They've asked, and the U.S. has agreed, that they not be sent back to China out of fear that they'd be tortured. But, so far, no other country has agreed to take them. Given all that, a federal judge ruled a year ago that because the government had no basis on which to detain them, and with no other country willing to take them, they should be released into the United States.

...(read more)

Justice Dept announces pot guidelines

Domenico Montanaro — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:44:00 GMT

From NBC's Pete WilliamsFormally announcing its new guidelines to prosecutors on medical marijuana, the Justice Department says "the focus of federal resources should not be on individuals whose actions are in compliance with existing state laws." In a written statement, Attorney General Eric Holder said, "It will not be a priority to use federal resources to prosecute patients with serious illnesses or their caregivers who are complying with state laws on medical marijuana, but we will not tolerate...(read more)

Ginsburg hospitalized, released

firstread — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:57:00 GMT

from NBC's Pete Williams The Supreme Court says Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was taken to the Washington Hospital Center at about 11:15 p.m. Wednesday evening after an apparent adverse reaction to a sleeping aid combined with cold medication she took immediately after boarding an overnight flight bound for London. Before the plane took off, the court says, she "experienced extreme drowsiness causing her to fall from her seat. Paramedics were called and she was taken to the Washington Hospital Center...(read more)

Supreme court takes Skilling case

firstread — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:17:00 GMT

from NBC's Pete WilliamsThe US Supreme Court agreed today to take up the case of former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling, who's appealing his conviction on charges of misleading investors about the shaky health of the company. He claims his trial was tainted by extensively negative news coverage, and he says the government misused a fraud law against him. The court will hear the case early next year. The other major Enron figure, company founder Ken Lay, died in 2006 -- after a jury convicted...(read more)