Curt Anderson
Ex-Haiti official, 9 years in telecom bribery case
MIAMI (AP) — A former top executive at Haiti’s telecommunications company has been sentenced to nine years in prison in a major bribery case.
A federal judge in Miami imposed the sentence Monday on 45-year-old Jean Rene Duperval, former international relations director at state-owned Haiti Teleco.
Evidence at Duperval’s trial in March showed he took nearly $500,000 in bribes from two Miami businesses in exchange for lower long-distance phone contracts and other advantages with Haiti Teleco from 2003 to 2004. Testimony showed Duperval used the money mainly for personal expenses such as a home mortgage and children’s education costs.
Eight Haitian officials and Miami telecommunications executives have pleaded guilty to or have been convicted of corruption or money laundering in the scheme. The case was brought under the federal Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Bail set at $150,000 in Trayvon Martin shooting
George Zimmerman appears before Circuit Judge Kenneth R. Lester Jr. Friday, April 20, 2012, during a bond hearing in Sanford, Fla. Lester says Zimmerman can be released on $150,000 bail as he awaits trial for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting of Martin. He claims self-defense. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Gary W. Green, Pool)(Credit: AP) SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — Attorneys for Trayvon Martin’s parents say the apology George Zimmerman made on the witness stand during his bail hearing was disingenuous.
Natalie Jackson, one of the attorneys for Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, made the comments Friday after Zimmerman was granted $150,000 bail. In an extraordinary move, Zimmerman took the witness stand, telling Martin’s parents: “I am sorry for the loss of your son.”
Zimmerman could be free in several days. Authorities and attorneys need to work out arrangements to allow Zimmerman to live outside Florida because of threats made against him and his family. He is charged with second-degree murder and claims self-defense.
Zimmerman told police Martin attacked him after he started following the teenager Feb. 26. Zimmerman says he thought the 17-year-old Martin looked suspicious walking around the gated neighborhood.
George Zimmerman’s bail set at $150,000
SANFORD, Florida (AP) — George Zimmerman can be released on $150,000 bail as he awaits trial for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, a judge ruled Friday during a hearing that saw Zimmerman apologize to Martin’s parents for the teenager’s death.
Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester set several conditions Friday for Zimmerman’s release, which he said would not occur Friday, but he did not say when exactly Zimmerman could go free.
Zimmerman’s attorney, Mark O’Mara, also wants his client to be allowed to live in another state because of threats made against him, and wear a GPS monitor to track his whereabouts.
Continue Reading CloseFla. judge to decide if Zimmerman can leave jail
Tracy Martin, left, and Sybrina Fulton, parents of slain teen Trayvon Martin, speak to each other during a public town hall meeting with legal experts and political leaders on Thursday, April 19, 2012, in Tampa, Fla. George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, is charged with second-degree murder in Martin's shooting death in Sanford, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)(Credit: AP) SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — The neighborhood watch volunteer charged with killing Trayvon Martin is asking a Florida judge to let him out of jail while he awaits trial, and legal experts say he stands a good chance of being granted bail at the hearing Friday.
George Zimmerman’s attorney will make the request at the hearing at the Seminole County Criminal Justice Center. Two questions likely to be at the center of the proceeding are whether he would be allowed out of the country and how he would remain safe.
Continue Reading CloseSafety, location at issue if Zimmerman is released
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — After spending a week in a jail cell by himself, the neighborhood watch volunteer charged with murdering Trayvon Martin stands a good chance of being granted bail Friday, despite the severity of the second-degree murder charge he faces.
Whether George Zimmerman is allowed to leave the county as he awaits trial — and how he would remain safe — are two questions likely to be at the center of the hearing at the Seminole County Criminal Justice Center, legal experts say.
“Although it’s not routine for people charged with murder to get bond, they do get bond, and I think there is an excellent argument to be made in his specific case for him to be released on bond,” said defense attorney Randy McClean, who practices in Seminole County, about 15 miles northeast of Orlando.
Continue Reading CloseFla. task force told ‘stand ground’ law confusing
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A task force examining Florida’s “stand your ground” self-defense law was told Thursday that the Trayvon Martin shooting is one example of the law’s ambiguity and the potential unintended consequences it has created.
“What we’ve discovered is, in a drug deal gone bad, people die, and this is the defense,” Buddy Jacobs, general counsel for the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association, told the 18-member panel. “Our conclusion is that this law ought to be repealed. We don’t think it’s a thing we can tweak.”
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