The Daily MuckWeeks after FEMA attempted to confiscate the rest of their trailers used by victims of Hurricane Katrina, a CNN investigation found around $85 million in goods meant for those misplaced victims sat in warehouses for two years before being sent to other federal and state agencies. (CNN)
Lawyers for Texas death row inmate Charles Hood are claiming the judge and the prosecutor in Hood’s 1990 double-murder trial were having an affair. The possible relationship was a violation of fair trial rights, and Hood should not be put to death, the legal team states. (New York Times)
Mark Brener, an operator of Emperors Club VIP escort service, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit prostitution crimes and money laundering, but did not agree to fully cooperate with investigators in related cases. It is unclear how Brener’s lack of cooperation will affect the case of one of the club’s customers, former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer. (Reuters)
The damage done by the National Republican Congressional Committee’s former treasurer Christopher Ward, who embezzled money from the organization, stands to the sum of around $725,000. Now the committee will not be able to take out any loans while an internal audit is conducted. (Roll Call sub. req.)
Judge Alex Kozinski of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals called for an investigation into charges that he ran a website that featured pornographic materials. He says he will cooperate fully in any investigation. (LA Times)
Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) will appear in court again today in his ongoing corruption trial. His legal team will attempt to convince a judge for the second time that the trial should be moved from Virginia to Washington D.C. based on the smaller proportion of African-American jurors available in Virginia. (The Times-Picayune)
Sgt. Ryan G. Weemer was jailed Thursday for refusing to testify at his own trial for fear of self-incrimination. Weemer has been charged with the 2004 murder of an unarmed Iraqi detainee in Fallujah.(Associated Press)
A Prince George County, Maryland couple has been indicted for operating a $35 million foreclosure scheme in one of the largest mortgage fraud cases in Maryland history. (Washington Post)
The U.S. and Mexico have agreed to share in a data collection program in an effort to curb money laundering by organized crime outfits through illegal trade transactions. (Associated Press)
Federal investigators now possess documents on Maryland State Sen. Ulysses Currie (D) following a raid of his Maryland home in May and a subpoena for the senator’s materials early this month. The probe stems from suspicions that Currie was not forthright on his financial disclosure forms, though officials have said little about the investigation thus far. (Washington Post)
