Judiciary Approves Sonia Sotomayor's Nomination: The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court today with a 13-6 vote. A story by Kristina Peterson of the Wall Street Journal reports that of the committee members only Republican Lindsey Graham joined the Democrats to move the nomination to the Senate floor. A vote by the full Senate to confirm her elevation to the high court is expected next week.
Murder to Avoid Child Support as a Special Circumstance? A Southern California man is on trial on charges that he murdered his 4-year-old daughter to avoid paying $1,000 a month in child support. AP writer Greg Risling reports that the Los Angeles District Attorney is prosecuting Cameron Brown for murder with the special circumstances of murder while lying in wait and murder for financial gain. Brown allegedly threw his little girl off a cliff into the Pacific Ocean in November of 2000. He apparently had not bothered to visit the child until he was forced to pay child support. Brown's defense attorney argues that the child fell from the cliff. According to the child's mother, she did not want to see her father on the day she died, "she was crying and I had trouble getting her out of the car seat," she said. While the District Attorney is not seeking the death penalty, it remains to be determined if a claim of murder to avoid a financial loss is the legal equivalent of murder for financial gain.
Were Dodd and Conrad Bribed? In testimony before two Congressional committees last month Robert Feinberg, an executive with Countrywide Financial Corp., said that Senators Chris Dodd, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and Kent Conrad, Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, knowingly accepted special mortgage deals from the lender. Larry Margasak of the Associated Press reports that both senators were considered "'friends' of Angelo" (Mozilo), who was the Chief Executive of Countrywide, a big player in the subprime loan market and the subsequent foreclosure crisis. Loan records, and Feinberg's testimony, indicate that Dodd was charged no points, and received rate discounts on the mortgages, for his Washington and Connecticut homes based on the false notation that they were both owner-occupied residences. In Conrad's case, Countrywide gave him discounts on points and fees, and waived its residential loan limit to allow him to finance a larger building. While both senators have denied knowledge of the special treatment, internal Countrywide documents appear to contradict those statements. Feinberg could face criminal prosecution if his testimony before the Congressional committees is proven false.
Murder to Avoid Child Support as a Special Circumstance? A Southern California man is on trial on charges that he murdered his 4-year-old daughter to avoid paying $1,000 a month in child support. AP writer Greg Risling reports that the Los Angeles District Attorney is prosecuting Cameron Brown for murder with the special circumstances of murder while lying in wait and murder for financial gain. Brown allegedly threw his little girl off a cliff into the Pacific Ocean in November of 2000. He apparently had not bothered to visit the child until he was forced to pay child support. Brown's defense attorney argues that the child fell from the cliff. According to the child's mother, she did not want to see her father on the day she died, "she was crying and I had trouble getting her out of the car seat," she said. While the District Attorney is not seeking the death penalty, it remains to be determined if a claim of murder to avoid a financial loss is the legal equivalent of murder for financial gain.
Were Dodd and Conrad Bribed? In testimony before two Congressional committees last month Robert Feinberg, an executive with Countrywide Financial Corp., said that Senators Chris Dodd, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and Kent Conrad, Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, knowingly accepted special mortgage deals from the lender. Larry Margasak of the Associated Press reports that both senators were considered "'friends' of Angelo" (Mozilo), who was the Chief Executive of Countrywide, a big player in the subprime loan market and the subsequent foreclosure crisis. Loan records, and Feinberg's testimony, indicate that Dodd was charged no points, and received rate discounts on the mortgages, for his Washington and Connecticut homes based on the false notation that they were both owner-occupied residences. In Conrad's case, Countrywide gave him discounts on points and fees, and waived its residential loan limit to allow him to finance a larger building. While both senators have denied knowledge of the special treatment, internal Countrywide documents appear to contradict those statements. Feinberg could face criminal prosecution if his testimony before the Congressional committees is proven false.
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