Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera, leader of the Sinaloa cartel, has been captured in Mazatlan, Mexico.

Guzman, accompanied by a female, was captured in a joint operation with Mexican marines and Drug Enforcement Administration authorities overnight at a hotel in the beach resort of Mazatlán. The operation had been in the works for four or five weeks, the official said.

Will he stay in custody long enough to be extradited to the U.S.? He's facing multiple Indictments in the U.S. Which District will they take him to first? Perhaps San Diego?

This is a huge coup for law enforcement, but it won't make a bit of difference as to the availability of drugs in the U.S. Like any major corporation, the cartel will have plenty of people ready to take his place. No one is indispensable. [More...]

Ex-Congressman Mel Reynolds, age 62, has been arrested in Zimbabwe on charges of possessing p*rn and an immigration offense. According to the state newspaper, he had taken several women to his hotel room where he took photos and videos. He also has $24,500 in unpaid hotel bills.

Reynolds had gained prominence in Zimbabwe for being involved in attracting investment for the $145 million construction of a Hilton Hotel and office complex in Harare, reported The Herald. Construction is expected to begin in April and be finished in last 2016, said the newspaper.

He faces up to two years in jail on p*rn charge. In 1995, he went to prison in the U.S. after being convicted of having sex with a 16 year old campaign worker. While imprisoned, he was convicted of bank fraud. President Clinton commuted his bank fraud sentence and he was released in 2001.

The Zimbabwe news article is here. [More...]

Update: Mistrial declared on count 1 (murder.) Jury convicts on 3 counts attempted murder and missile firing charge. (no link because I can't find one yet without automatic video playing.)

Jurors in the trial of Florida trial of Michael Dunn have reached a verdict on four of five counts. They are deadlocked on Count 1, premeditated murder, and the lesser offenses of Second Degree Murder, and Manslaughter by Act. Around 5pm today, the Judge read them an Allen charge, instructing them to keep trying. If they can't reach a verdict on Count 1, the judge will declare a mistrial as to that count only, which would allow prosecutors to retry him.

The case is in the national news because of comparisons to the George Zimmerman case. I don't see the connection. Zimmerman was reacting to being punched in the nose, and thought Martin might have been reaching for his (Zimmerman's) gun. Dunn wasn't physically attacked, he thought someone in the car had a gun. (There were four young men in the car.) Dunn didn't have his gun on his person, he had to get it from the glove compartment. Dunn shot at the vehicle several times, including as it was driving away from the scene. [More...]

After 9 long years in Bali's notorious Kerobokan Prison, Australian Schapelle Corby is likely to be released on parole on Friday.

She will have to remain in Indonesia while on parole for 3 years. She'll live with her sister.
Her case was heard last week, and Prison Minister Akbar Hadi Prabowo is said to have approved. The final decision belongs to Justice Minister Amir Syamsuddin, who has previously said he does not object.

“Some 1,700 inmates will be paroled, and Corby is indeed one of them,” Justice Minister Amir Syamsuddin said in Jakarta. He added that the letter authorizing Corby’s release would be signed within the next three days, after which she could leave Kerobokan Penitentiary in Bali.

Schapelle was approved for parole by the Bali Parole board last August. She became eligible for parole in 2012. The delays and bureaucratic wrangling are finally ending. All of our coverage of her case since 2005 is available here.

Schapelle was convicted of bringing 4 kilos of marijuana into Indonesia. She has always maintained her innocence.

Last week, Justin Bieber was charged in Miami with driving under the influence, resisting arrest without force, and driving with an expired license. His toxicology report showed virtually no alcohol (.014). According to the results of his urine test, he had no amphetamines, opiates, oxycodone or Ambien (Zolpiderm)in his system. He tested positive for pot and Xanax, a prescription anxiety medication. These are not the results of someone with a drug problem. As to the drag racing allegation by police, that didn't happen either, according to the GPS data of the vehicle Justin was driving. The cops estimation of his speed in the police report was way off.

After a sojourn in Panama, he flew to Toronto where he had a pending misdemeanor-type charge for allegedly hitting a limo driver who was driving him and some friends around. He is represented in that case by the excellent Los Angeles attorney Howard Weitzman, and it sounds like that case will be tough to prove as well. [More...]

Justin Bieber was released on bond in Miami yesterday, following his arrest for drunk driving, resisting arrest without force and driving on a an expired license. His manager retained Miami uber-defender Roy Black to represent him. Roy complained to the judge that his partner hadn't been allowed into the jail to see Justin before the hearing. After being released, Justin flew back to California. The Miami Police Chief said:

Bieber "made some statements that he had consumed some alcohol, and that he had been smoking marijuana and consumed some prescription medication," Martinez said.

I think predictions this may lead to his deportation are overblown, if not just false. The D.U.I carries a maximum penalty of 6 months. By itself, it's not a crime of moral turpitude, a crime of violence or an aggravated felony. [More...]

Target has revised the numbers of customers whose credit card data may have been breached from Nov. 27 to Dec. 15 from 40 million to 70 million and now to 110 million.

Target has said it will provide one year of free credit monitoring and identity theft protection to all customers who shopped at its stores, not just those who have been affected. Customers have three months to enroll in the program by going to Target’s Web site.

Target's q and a page on the breach is here.

The Obama Administration has issued a set of guidelines for schools. They urge an end to "zero tolerance" policies. Minor infractions should lead to a visit to the principal's office, not the police station.

The Administration says the policies have had a racially discriminatory effect on minorities.

The recommendations are nonbinding, but, in essence, the federal government is telling the school districts around the country that they should adhere to the principles of fairness and equity in student discipline or face strong action if they don't.

The CT state police yesterday released 7,000 pages of reports and exhibits in its investigation of Adam Lanza and the Sandy Hook shootings. His medical reports are not included (as opposed to a description of his treatment and recollections of some of his treatment providers made after the shootings). A lot of other material pertaining to the victims and interviews of witnesses is redacted. The reports don't reveal what caused him to go on the killing rampage, and unlike the media, the police don't speculate.

You can download the documents here.

The Department of Justice, at the direction of the Judge presiding over the MegaUpload/Kim Dotcom criminal case in Virginia, has published a 191 page report outlining the evidence it claims supports the charges. The DOJ webpage with documents is here.

Kim Dotcom's reaction:

The 191 page report is available here. The Superseding Indictment is here. [More...]

President commuted the sentences of 8 crack cocaine defendants today and granted 11 pardons. Here is the list. Obama issued this statement about the crack commutations:

Three years ago, I signed the bipartisan Fair Sentencing Act, which dramatically narrowed the disparity between penalties for crack and powder cocaine offenses. This law began to right a decades-old injustice, but for thousands of inmates, it came too late. If they had been sentenced under the current law, many of them would have already served their time and paid their debt to society. Instead, because of a disparity in the law that is now recognized as unjust, they remain in prison, separated from their families and their communities, at a cost of millions of taxpayer dollars each year.

Today, I am commuting the prison terms of eight men and women who were sentenced under an unfair system. Each of them has served more than 15 years in prison. In several cases, the sentencing judges expressed frustration that the law at the time did not allow them to issue punishments that more appropriately fit the crime.

[More...]

The Hartford Courant is excerpting the just-released 911 tapes from the Sandy Hook school shooting. You can listen to them here.

Also at the Courant: A Chilling Window into Adam Lanza's World. Photos from his bedroom and computer room are here. An analysis of Adam's "chilling" book he called The Big Book of Granny, is here.

The summary report released by police last week is here. No motive has been found. While Lanza had mental health issues, those who knew and/or evaluated him saw no indications of violence.