Judge throws out charges in blackmail trial
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A judge threw out all charges Monday against three men accused of blackmailing teenage soccer star Wayne Rooney&#39;s agent. John Highland, Christopher Bacon and Anthony Bacon had been
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(InfoWorld) - A state judge in California on Thursday dismissed charges against the three remaining state criminal defendants in theÂ Hewlett-Packard spying case. Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Ray Cunningham dropped charges against former HP attorney Kevin Hunsaker and private investigators Ron DeLia and Matthew DePante. The charges were dropped for their part in the use of false pretenses to obtain phone records of individuals they were investigating for leaking HP board deliberations to news media. Cunningham agreed to the dismissal after each of the defendants performed at least 96 hours of community service. In fact, each of them did more than required. According to each of their attorneys, the defendants did the following: DeLia, the owner of Security Outsourcing Solutions, a security firm hired by HP, performed 100 hours of community service at a veterans' organization; DePante, of Action Research Group, an investigative firm hired by DeLia, performed 120 hours at a church organization; and Hunsaker performed 165 hours at a nonprofit legal organization "At worst, the conduct in this case amounted to boardroom politics and a betrayal of trust rather than criminal activity," Cunningham said from the bench in his courtroom in San Jose, Calif. None of the defendants were in the courtroom but were represented by their attorneys. Deputy State Attorney General Ralph Sivilla said the state agreed to the dismissal. "I think everybody at Hewlett-Packard thought they were doing the right thing, the legal thing," Tom Nolan, Hunsaker's attorney, said after the hearing. "They had a serious problem and they relied upon counsel.... But as the [judge] said, they really didn't commit any crimes." The serious problem Nolan referred to, of course, was the leaking of board deliberations to the media. To trace the source of leaks, the private investigators obtained calling records of HP directors, some employees, and several reporters covering HP. At a hearing in March, Cunningham dismissed all charges against former HP chairman Patricia Dunn and said he would dismiss the charges against the other three if they performed community service. The scandal "has achieved much public good," Cunningham said, in that it has brought attention to the problem of "pretexting," or using false pretenses to access private records. It has resulted in the passage of state and federal laws specifically banning the practice. Also, HP agreed to a $14.5 million civil case settlement with the State of California in December 2006 that will support a state program focused on privacy protection. Cunningham noted that The Wall Street Journal editorialized that his dismissal decision in March showed "wisdom and compassion." Given that a Journal reporter was one of the victims of the pretexting, that's a notable endorsement, he said. Bryan Wagner still faces sentencing in federal court in San Jose on one count of conspiracy and one count of aggravated identity theft. HeÂ pleaded guilty to those chargesÂ in January. Wagner was hired by Action Research Group to do the actual pretexting to obtain the phone records, according to court testimony.DeLia's attorney, John Williams, said his client hopes "he gets to go back to work and get on with his life." This story was updated on June 28, 2007
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A state judge in California on Thursday dismissed charges against the three remaining state criminal defendants in the Hewlett-Packard Co. spying case.
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A federal judge yesterday tossed out bootlegging charges against a Chelsea record-store owner accused of trafficking in underground recordings of live concerts.
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Acting at the request of prosecutors, a federal judge on Thursday threw out the terrorism charges against two men convicted last year in a case once hailed by the Bush administration as a major victory in the war on terror.
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A judge dropped murder and arson charges against a man accused of setting his house on fire, killing his wife and son, because prosecutors failed to bring him to trial quickly.
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PIETERMARITZBURG, South Africa  - A South African   judge threw out corruption charges against former Deputy   President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday, moving the popular   politician and his left-wing allies one step closer to the   presidency.
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Three men have been cleared of blackmailing football agent Paul Stretford after it emerged he had misled the court. John Hyland, Christopher Bacon and Anthony Bacon were on trial at Warrington Crown Court
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NEW YORK -- A federal judge dismissed charges Monday against 13 former KPMG employees in what the government had described as the largest criminal tax case in U.S. history.
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One juror was dismissed from the perjury trial of former vice presidential aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby on Monday after she told the judge she had been exposed to information about the case outside of court.
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A US judge has dismissed the racketeering case against media tycoon Lord Black brought by Hollinger International.
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A judge throws out  the corruption case of former South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma.
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A federal judge yesterday dismissed a lawsuit filed by former CIA officer Valerie Plame  and her husband against Vice President Cheney and other top  officials over the Bush administration's disclosure of Plame's name and covert status to the media.
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The judge in the Michael Jackson molestation case Thursday rejected a defense bid to throw out the indictment in a ruling that for the first time publicly detailed the conspiracy charge against the pop star.
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A judge has tossed out a lawsuit alleging that about 400 retired federal drug agents were defamed by a false statement on screen at the end of the film "American Gangster."
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A federal judge today dismissed a lawsuit filed by former CIA officer Valerie Plame and her husband against Vice President Cheney and top administration officials over the disclosure of Plame's name and covert status to the media.
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The former suspect in the JonBenet Ramsey killing left jail Thursday after a judge dismissed child pornography charges against him, saying prosecutors didn't have enough evidence to take the case to trial.