WEEKEND STORIES OF INTEREST

Judge Jack Camp/daily report

Ex-Atlanta U.S. District Judge Jack Camp, who embarrassed the judiciary and created a scandal by buying drugs for a stripper he was having an affair with, was sentenced Friday to 30 days in prison and 400 hours of community service, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

The paper reported that Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan from Washington, who sentenced Camp in the Atlanta courtroom, said probation only was out of the question because Camp had breached his oath.

“He has disgraced his office,” Hogan said, according to the paper. “He has denigrated the federal judiciary. He has encouraged disrespect for the rule of law.”

Camp apologized in court, saying:

“I have embarrassed and humiliated my family as well as myself,” Camp said. “I have embarrassed the court I have served on and I am deeply sorry for that. When I look back at the circumstances which brought me here and look at what I did, it makes me sick.”

Camp said “the only thing I can say is that I’m so very sorry,” the paper reported.

On Nov. 19, Camp, who was on senior status, pleaded guilty to aiding a felon in possessing illegal drugs, possessing illegal drugs and giving his government issued lap top to the stripper he was having an affair with. He has resigned as a federal judge, which is lifetime presidential appointment. Camp bought drugs for the stripper, who was cooperating with authorities.

In a pre-sentence memo filed with the court, Camp’s attorney William Taylor of Washington wrote that Camp has suffered from acute depression, brain-damaging from a bicycle accident and personal family tragedy that may have contributed to him getting busted for buying cocaine for a stripper he was having an affair with.

Paul Pierce/espn

A man once accused of stabbing Boston Celtics star Paul Pierce was sentenced Thursday in Boston federal court to 30 years in prison for attempting to kill a DEA informant, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Trevor A. Watson, 44, of Boston, was found guilty in December in U.S. District Court in Boston of stabbing the informant 10 times outside of Ann’s Unisex Barbershop on Tremont Street on the south end of Boston on Feb. 27,  2010, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Evidence in court showed Watson stabbed the informant, who survived the attack after emergency surgery to repair his damaged colon and intestine.

Authorities said while stabbing the informant, Watson said: “You talking, huh? you telling.”

During trial, evidence surfaced that WATSON was charged with the attempted murder of Boston Celtic Paul Pierce in 2002. However, the jury acquitted him after multiple eyewitnesses changed their testimony, authorities said.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Watson tried to get witnesses in the DEA case, including the informant, to change their statement to authorities.

He wrote letters and made phone calls from prison in which he wrote: “I had introduced my lawyer to the fact that if the victim in my case was to sign an affidavit saying I’m not the guy who stabbed him, it was some Spanish guy about 30, which I am not either, I’ll be alright …” and “The Paul Pierce case was the same way, but at trial he changed his statements and I got found not guilty of att. mur. (attempted murder).”

Read Government’s Sentencing Memorandum

The feds have indicted 13 Somalis and one Yemeni pirate in Norfolk, Va., in the tragic hijacking of a 54-foot yacht off the Somali coast that resulted in the death of four U.S. citizens last month following a five-day standoff with American authorities, the FBI said.

“This is a horrific crime, involving the armed hijacking of an American ship and the slaughter of American citizens,” said U.S. Neil H. MacBridge. “The alleged pirates will now face justice in an American courtroom.”

“These 14 men are alleged to have been willing to do anything, including killing their hostages, in a vain attempt to obtain ransom,” added FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Janice Fedarcyk of the New York office, which investigated the case. “Modern day piracy has real and serious consequences, disrupting commerce and threatening Americans’ lives. It is a crime against the international community, a form of terrorism on the high seas.”

American authorities tried to negotiate the release of the hostages, but the pirates allegedly killed all of them before authorities made the arrests.

Felicia "Snoop" Pearson

WASHINGTON — One of the reasons David Simons’ critically acclaimed HBO show “The Wire” was so realistic was because it had folks like Felicia “Snoop” Pearson —  who murdered someone in real life– playing the role of a tom-boy, drug assassin.

On Thursday, Pearson –who according to the Washington Post’s Reliable Source — had gotten involved in drug trafficking years ago, and killed another girl at age 14, was before cameras again, but this time it was real.

Baltimore television news stations showed video of two DEA agents  escorting the handcuffed Pearson, 30,  from her downtown Baltimore apartment into a Baltimore City police van.

Pearson, who was a crack-addicted infant, according to media reports,  was listed as one of 64 defendants in the Baltimore area charged in  federal and local indictments for allegedly dealing heroin and other drugs in east Baltimore.

David Simon, the Baltimore writer who created “The Wire,” said in a statement published in the Baltimore Sun:

“First of all, Felicia’s entitled to the presumption of innocence. And I would note that a previous, but recent drug arrest that targeted her was later found to be unwarranted and the charges were dropped. Nonetheless, I’m certainly sad at the news today. This young lady has, from her earliest moments, had one of the hardest lives imaginable.”

Ava Cooper, special agent in charge of the DEA for Washington and Baltimore, issued a statement on the investigation, saying: “DEA and the Baltimore Police dismantled an entire Drug Trafficking Organization today. We got the top, we got the bottom and we got everybody in between.

“We arrested the leaders, mid- and lower-level members, street lieutenants, runners and street corners sellers of the organization.”

OTHER STORIES OF INTEREST

• New Mexico Mayor and Police Chief Charged in Gun Smuggling Case (AP)
• Mexico Lawmakers Demand Answers in Gun Smuggling Under ATF Watch (La Times)
• 9 Reprimanded in Ft. Hood Shooting (AP)
• Ex- Prosecutor Questions Wisdom of Barry Bonds Prosecution (Hardball Talk)
• U.S. Warns of Imminent Terror Attack in Mali (AP)
• Holder Trying to Avoid Furloughs at Justice Dept. (Main Justice)
• Kissinger Pushes for Release of Israeli Spy Pollard (Spy Talk)