Crime

Minneapolis police officer Jason Andersen did not use excessive force when he shot Fong Lee eight times on July 22, 2006, a  jury ruled this afternoon. No damages will be awarded to Lee’s family, who filed the wrongful death lawsuit in federal court.
The 12-member, all-white jury deliberated for roughly six hours before determining that Andersen [...]

Fong Lee was shot eight times by Minneapolis police officer Jason Andersen three years ago. The cops say Lee was armed and dangerous on the night in question. Lee’s family insists that he was an unarmed, innocent victim. Now a jury will decide which narrative rings true.

Did Fong Lee have a gun on July 22, 2006, when he was shot eight times by Minneapolis police officer Jason Andersen? That’s the crucial question that jurors should begin deliberating Wednesday.

Day two of the Fong Lee trial apparently started off exactly where it left off — with U.S. District Court Judge Paul Magnuson extremely pissed off. This morning he threatened to declare a mistrial in the civil case  and force the attorneys for Lee’s family to cover all costs of the proceeding, according to Rochelle [...]

Mohamed Warsame has been held in solitary confinement for more than five years while awaiting trial on terrorism charges. Today he pleaded for his release before a federal judge.

“A very specific threat of violence” has led authorities to close three buildings on the University of Minnesota’s West Bank Minneapolis campus. The threat targeted the Carlson School of Management, Hanson Hall and the Hubert H. Humphrey Center, according to University Police Chief Greg Hestness.
Update: The AP reports that there was a “threat of a shooting” [...]

Rep. Keith Ellison was among eight activists arrested Monday morning at a demonstration outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington. The event was held to protest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s decision to expel 16 international aid agencies from the country. Reps. John Lewis (D-GA), Jim McGovern (D-MA), Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) and Donna Edwards (D-MD) were also [...]

Should 13-year-olds be prosecuted as adults in first-degree murder cases? That was the provocative issue raised at the Minnesota House of Representative Friday afternoon.

The Minnesota Independent contacted four outspoken critics of America’s torture policies and practices — Dr. Steven Miles, Douglas Johnson, Coleen Rowley and Kirk Anderson — for reaction to recent revelations about Bush-era treatment of prisoners. None of them said, “I told you so.” But the truth is … they told us so.

A wealth of new details emerged Tuesday about how techniques designed to help captured U.S. troops resist torture formed the basis for the post-9/11 interrogation policies of the Bush-era Pentagon.