U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has announced that the Justice Department will avoid charging certain low-level and nonviolent drug offenders with crimes that carry mandatory minimums. The policy shift will enable certain defendants who do have ties to large scale gangs or cartels, to avoid "draconian mandatory minimum sentences."
A federal judge ruled that the New York City Police Department's controversial stop-and-frisk policy violates individuals' constitutional rights because it intentionally discriminates based on race. This marks a significant rebuke to the New York mayor's defense that it is a crime -fighting tool used by police department.
16-year-old Hannah Anderson was rescued and her 40-year-old abductor James Lee DiMaggio was shot and killed by an FBI agent this weekend in a rescue, which had been triggered by horseback riders who grew suspicious of the two people. DiMaggio and Anderson were found while hiking, and seemed ill-equipped for the Idaho wilderness, according to the riders.
James DiMaggio, the kidnapping and murder suspect sought in a national manhunt, may be armed with improvised or may have rigged his car with them.
