NATIONAL Briefs
NATIONAL Briefs
0 Comments | Charleston Gazette, The, Jul 28, 2010
Rangel, ethics lawyers talking settlement
WASHINGTON – New York Democrat Charles Rangel made a last-minute effort Tuesday to settle his ethics case and prevent a House trial that could embarrass him and damage the Democratic Party.
The talks between Rangel’s lawyer and the House ethics committee’s nonpartisan attorneys were confirmed by ethics Chairman Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif. Lofgren said she is not involved in the talks, and added that the committee’s lawmakers have always accepted the professional staff’s recommendations in previous plea bargains.
Rangel, a 40-year House veteran who is 80 years old, would have to admit to multiple, substantial ethics violations for any plea bargain to be accepted. Earlier negotiations broke down when Rangel would only admit to some allegations.
If the talks are not successful, trial proceedings for the Harlem congressman would begin Thursday with a reading of alleged ethics violations that are still confidential.
Jury finds man guilty of starving 3 children
DALLAS – A Texas man accused of starving three children and confining them to a squalid hotel bathroom for as long as nine months was convicted Tuesday of injury to a child and sexual assault.
Alfred Santiago, 38, dropped his head and closed his eyes when the judge read the Dallas jury’s verdict. He faces up to life in prison. The trial moved immediately into a sentencing phase.
The children were gaunt and filthy when they were found by police in July 2009 in a hotel alongside a busy Dallas highway. A doctor who treated them described the children as having sunken cheeks and flaky skin and said they emitted a repugnant odor.
Prosecutors have said Santiago had sexually assaulted one of the children, a girl who is now 12.
Blagojevich a bumbler – or not, lawyers argue
CHICAGO – Rod Blagojevich is insecure, he talks a lot and he’s a bad judge of character – but he is not a criminal, the ousted Illinois governor’s defense attorney told jurors at his corruption trial Tuesday during a theatrical closing argument.
Sam Adam Jr. told jurors that he did not call Blagojevich to testify, as he had promised when the trial started, because the government did not prove its case.
“I had no idea that in two and a half months of trial that they’d prove nothing. … They want you, you and you to convict him” with no evidence, he yelled, pointing to individual jurors.
In its rebuttal, the prosecution said Blagojevich is not the bumbling, naive victim portrayed by defense attorneys. Assistant U.S
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Jul 29, 2010
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