Olbermann casts light, lawyer on Current TV split - The Associated Press

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Olbermann casts light, lawyer on Current TV splitBy LYNN ELBER, AP Television Writer – 2 hours ago?

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Keith Olbermann said he "screwed up" by taking a job with Current TV, but he plans to make the channel pay for firing him.

In Olbermann's first TV interview since he was dismissed last week by Current, he was asked by David Letterman to assess his chances of getting any money due him. After reportedly signing a five-year, $50 million contract with Current, he was there less than a year.

Olbermann referred back to Conan O'Brien's legal battle with NBC over "The Tonight Show," which ended with a reported $45 million exit settlement for O'Brien. "She's my lawyer," Olbermann said, smiling.

Entertainment attorney Patricia Glaser represented O'Brien during his severance fight.

During his appearance Tuesday on CBS' "Late Show," Olbermann compared himself to an expensive chandelier that ended up without a good home because of problems at Current — and his failure to see them.

"I screwed up really big on this. Let's just start there," Olbermann said. But he wasn't the only one, he indicated, offering a home-building analogy.

"It's my fault that it didn't succeed in the sense that I didn't think the whole thing through. I didn't say, 'You know, if you buy a $10 million chandelier, you should have a house to put it in. Just walking around with a $10 million chandelier isn't going to do anybody a lot of good, and it's not going to do any good to the chandelier."

Letterman sought clarification.

"You're the chandelier?" he asked. Yes, his guest replied.

The studio for his show, "Countdown," was inadequate, Olbermann claimed, and he lost access to a car service because of an unpaid bill. He denied that he had skipped taking part in key political coverage earlier this year because he was upset over production problems.

Instead, he said, he was "fighting something in my throat" and had been told by his physician to remain silent for five days to resolve the problem.

Olbermann stopped short of directing criticism at former Vice President Al Gore, Current TV's co-founder.

"He meant well. It didn't go well," Olbermann said. "He just wasn't that involved in it and it was kind of difficult to get to him on these things."

But he took a slap at Current co-founder and CEO Joel Hyatt, saying that "television was something of a challenge for him."

While he quickly realized he'd made a mistake joining Current, Olbermann said, he stayed out of loyalty to viewers and his staff.

Last Friday, Current TV announced it was immediately replacing Olbermann's show with a new program hosted by former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer. In a statement, Gore and Hyatt said their relationship with Olbermann no longer reflected respect and other values.

Olbermann fired back online, saying the claims would be proven untrue in legal action he intended to pursue.

The at-times volatile host came to Current last June after a stormy eight-year stint at MSNBC, his second at that network, and an abrupt departure in January 2011.

Copyright ? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Judge gives Sandusky lawyer accusers' contact info - The Associated Press

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Judge gives Sandusky lawyer accusers' contact infoBy MARK SCOLFORO, Associated Press – 5 hours ago?

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Prosecutors on Tuesday were ordered to give Jerry Sandusky's lawyer the phone numbers and addresses of those who have accused the former Penn State assistant football coach of child sex abuse.

It was a pretrial win for Sandusky's lawyer, Joe Amendola, who argued in a filing late last week that it would be very difficult for defense investigators to locate and try to interview them without first getting contact information from prosecutors. The order also extends to the phone numbers and addresses of the accusers when the crimes are alleged to have occurred.

The order by Judge John Cleland could also lead to the prosecution turning over any psychological evaluations performed on the accusers, but the attorney general's office was given another week to try to persuade him they are protected by legal privilege and not subject to disclosure.

The psychological evaluations would be produced under seal, and Amendola wouldn't be allowed to do more than read them without getting the judge's prior approval.

Amendola is specifically seeking a psychologist's report related to a person described as Victim 6 in a grand jury report, saying he believes it contains a conclusion that Sandusky didn't sexually abuse the boy. The grand jury said Victim 6's mother complained to authorities after he showered with Sandusky in 1998. The subsequent investigation by Penn State police didn't result in any charges.

Ben Andreozzi, the lawyer for another accuser, said Amendola was trying to put the victims on trial and create distractions. He said Amendola "knows better than to contact my client."

"Mr. Sandusky knows what he did to these young men, so he would be wise not to challenge the veracity of their allegations at trial," Andreozzi said. "Instead, I anticipate he will continue to raise irrelevant issues while grasping at straws, trying to create reasonable doubt."

Amendola said he was only seeking information he was legally entitled to as he prepares a defense for Sandusky, who has maintained his innocence from the outset. The 68-year-old Sandusky awaits a scheduled mid-May start of trial on 52 criminal counts. Prosecutors say he sexually abused 10 boys over 15 years.

Cleland required prosecutors to disclose juvenile adjudication records that might help Amendola attack the credibility of any witness the state plans to call at trial.

That does not apply to drug or alcohol violations, however, and Amendola had argued that several accusers used drugs and alcohol as juveniles, which he said might affect their ability to testify accurately.

Cleland's order said requests for grand jury information must first be made to the judge who oversees the secret panel. If that judge says grand jury secrecy prevents their release, Cleland said he intends to abide by that decision. Otherwise, Cleland said, he will reconsider Amendola's request.

A spokesman for the attorney general's office declined to comment on the latest filing.

Copyright ? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Lawyer: San Francisco sheriff won't resign - The Associated Press

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Lawyer: San Francisco sheriff won't resignBy PAUL ELIAS, Associated Press – 4 hours ago?

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A lawyer for San Francisco's sheriff said Tuesday he has no plans to resign despite the threat of an ethics probe over a domestic violence case.

Attorney Lidia Stiglich told The Associated Press that Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi was asked by Mayor Ed Lee to step down after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor count of false imprisonment.

"I'm not aware of any plans for the sheriff to resign," Stiglich said. "I'm disappointed it's proceeding in this fashion. I think it should be left to the voters."

The charge stemmed from a New Year's Eve dispute with his wife in which her arm was bruised.

The sheriff met with Lee after his sentencing Monday. During that discussion, Lee gave him 24 hours to resign or face an ethics charge that could result in his removal from office.

Lee has declined to comment on the matter but said he would make an announcement later Tuesday.

A judge sentenced Mirkarimi to three years of probation and ordered him to attend anti-domestic violence counseling for a year.

Mirkarimi entered the plea in exchange for the dropping of three other misdemeanor charges of domestic violence, child endangerment and dissuading a witness.

Lee can start the process of removing Mirkarimi, but it would take the votes of nine of the 11 members of the Board of Supervisors to accomplish that task. The matter would first be referred to the city's Ethics Commission if Lee decides to push for removal.

After the brief meeting at City Hall on Monday, Mirkarimi left the mayor's office via a back door and a rarely used staircase to get to his office. He said he had no comment when tracked down by reporters.

The plea deal was struck as a jury was picked for a trial that promised to embarrass the sheriff with testimony about infidelity, his temper and other intimate details.

San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon said the false imprisonment charge was a domestic violence plea and the conviction was just as serious as the charges that were dropped.

Under the plea agreement, Mirkarimi must pay $590 in fines, serve probation, spend a year in a domestic violence intervention program, take parenting classes and do community service.

The district attorney said Mirkarimi will be barred from carrying a gun until a judge lifts a stay-away order still in place that prevents the sheriff from seeing his wife without court permission. Gascon said that order could stay in place for the entire three years of probation.

Mirkarimi also said he was undergoing counseling to address "my arrogance and anger management issues" and reiterated his advocacy against domestic violence while serving two-terms on the Board of Supervisors.

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Lawyer: Afghan suspect's friend had leg blown off - The Associated Press

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Lawyer: Afghan suspect's friend had leg blown offBy GENE JOHNSON, Associated Press – 2 hours ago?

SEATTLE (AP) — The soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers is expected to be flown to a U.S. military prison as early as Friday, a senior defense official said, as the soldier's attorney spoke of the impact the fighting had on his client.

The defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of security surrounding the move, said the soldier would go the facility at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., the military's only maximum-security prison.

The suspect was moved from Afghanistan to Kuwait on Wednesday. Officials said that transfer was necessary because there was no appropriate detention facility to hold him in Afghanistan.

The official said the shift does not necessarily mean a decision was imminent on announcing formal criminal charges against the suspect.

The soldier's attorney, Seattle attorney John Henry Browne, told reporters Thursday that the day before the rampage, he saw his friend's leg blown off.

Browne told The Associated Press that his client's family provided him with details of the injury to another U.S. soldier. The details have not been independently verified.

"His leg was blown off, and my client was standing next to him," he said Thursday.

It isn't clear whether the incident might have helped prompt the horrific middle-of-the-night attack on civilians in two villages last Sunday. Browne said it affected all of the soldiers at the base.

The suspect had been injured twice during his three previous deployments to Iraq and didn't want to go to Afghanistan to begin with, Browne said.

Browne declined to release his client's name, citing concerns for the man's family, which is under protection on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, near Tacoma. But he said the soldier has two young children, ages 3 and 4.

FBI spokeswoman Ayn Dietrich in Seattle said the agency and the Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin Thursday about the possibility of homegrown extremist retaliation for the shootings, but she said there's no specific target or credible information about an imminent attack.

The soldier, a 38-year-old father of two who is originally from the Midwest, deployed last December with the 3rd Stryker Brigade, and on Feb. 1 was attached to a "village stability operation." Browne described him as highly decorated and said he had once been nominated for a Bronze Star, which he did not receive.

He said the soldier and his family had thought he was done fighting. During tours in Iraq, the soldier suffered a concussive head injury in a car accident caused by a roadside bomb, Browne said, and he suffered a battle-related injury that resulted in surgery to remove part of his foot.

He was screened by health officials after the head injury before he redeployed, Browne said. He did not know if his client had been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, but said it could be an issue at trial if experts believe it's relevant.

He and the rest of his brigade had initially been told they wouldn't have to go to Afghanistan, Browne said.

Browne and his co-counsel, Emma Scanlan, said at a news conference at their Seattle law office that they had met with the soldier's wife and other family members, and Browne said he spoke briefly by phone with the soldier, whom he described as stunned and distant.

His family was "totally shocked," he said. "He's never said anything antagonistic about Muslims. He's in general very mild-mannered."

Browne said he knew little of the facts of the shooting, but disputed reports that a combination of alcohol, stress and domestic issues caused him to snap. He said the family said they were unaware of any drinking problem, and described the couple's marriage as "fabulous."

The soldier is accused of going on a shooting rampage in villages near his base in southern Afghanistan early Sunday, killing nine children and seven other civilians and then burning some of their bodies. The shooting, which followed a controversial Quran-burning incident involving U.S. soldiers, has outraged Afghan officials.

The suspect was flown out of Afghanistan on Wednesday evening to what officials describe as a pretrial confinement facility in Kuwait. Officials have anonymously described him as a father of two who has been in the military for 11 years. He has served three tours in Iraq and began his first deployment to Afghanistan in December.

The soldier asked to be represented by Browne, a well-known Seattle defense attorney, when he was taken into custody, the lawyer said.

Browne said he's spoken with the soldier, but did not discuss the substance of the allegations. He said the soldier had no prior events in his Army dossier indicating misbehavior.

Browne once defended serial killer Ted Bundy and recently represented Colton Harris-Moore, a youthful thief known as the "Barefoot Bandit."

Browne said he has only handled three or four military cases before. The soldier will also have at least one military lawyer.

Military lawyers say once attorneys involved in the initial investigation of an alleged crime involving a service member have what they believe to be a solid understanding of what happened and are satisfied with the evidence collected, they draft charges and present them to a commander.

That person then makes a judgment on whether there is probable cause to believe that an offense was committed and that the accused committed it.

That commander then "prefers" the charges to a convening authority, who typically is the commander of the brigade to which the accused is assigned but could be of higher rank.

___

AP National Security Writer Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report.

Gene Johnson can be reached at https://twitter.com/GeneAPseattle .

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