Welcome to Court Watch #194. It’s always the seemingly open-and-shut criminal cases that bring about the most interesting cases in the courts. Take for example, the prosecution of BASE jumper Jack Propeck who earlier this year was accused of illegally cliff jumping in Yosemite. There’s a license plate reader that tracked his vehicle coming in and out of the national park during a government shutdown and of course, video evidence of the illegal jumping (the video he allegedly posted to his followers on Instagram). In theory, it should be a relatively easy case for prosecutors to argue for conviction.
But in an interesting twist, Propeck’s federal defenders are arguing that the U.S. Attorney’s Office fully ceded its prosecutorial decision-making (and plea negotiations) to the National Park Service lawyers. It’s a bit of a fascinating debate on who is in charge when it comes to charges in the parks. For the Justice Department’s part, they found the defense’s argument meritless and the exhibits “laughable.”
Maybe that’s too wonky for you all for a Friday morning. If that’s the case, maybe read about the three men (charging docs here and here) in Alabama who are accused of having a lot of guns, an anarchist cookbook, antifa flyers, and a strong hatred of ICE.
The Docket Roundup
A humble pitch to CBS programming gods. Drop the FBI series. Read footnote one of this complaint and then immediately greenlight a U.S. Postal Inspection Service show. They're the Sherlock Holmes of federal law enforcement.
Lots of government press releases and media stories about illegal voting this week. But here’s one you may have missed. Prosecutors quietly dropped the federal charges against a man they had secured an indictment against for illegally voting in the 2024 presidential elections. In their motion, DOJ notes that, “that a portion of the grand jury presentation was not recorded as required in Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e)(1), at no fault of the court reporter. Out of an abundance of caution, the United States seeks to dismiss the pending Indictment, without prejudice to preserve the possibility of presenting this matter to a different grand jury panel at a later date.”
The Justice Department is now using President Trump’s preferred “Super Intelligence” term for AI in press releases. Unfortunately barring a forthcoming treason charge, we will continue to call it AI under Court Watch’s very real and totally not made up style guide.
A Chicago woman who was shot five times by a CBP agent during an immigration crackdown last year sued the government.
In Minnesota, the eighth person was charged in federal court this week for supporting ISIS. It had all the markings of similar ISIS cases we’ve seen this year, allegedly including a gun buy, a plot for a mass terrorist attack when facing hurdles to travel overseas, Discord, and youth. According to NCITE, it’s the 282nd person charged in the U.S. for ISIS-related activities.
A judge rejected a motion to acquit Salman Rushdie’s attacker on terrorism charges. The defense had challenged the conviction based on the Second Circuit’s holding in U.S. v. Ullah.
The FBI arrested an alleged accomplice of the Tumbler Ridge school shooter, who killed six people in Canada. The arrest is part of a growing number of “true crime community” related cases.
Even if the case is no longer active, the Seventh Circuit will never miss an opportunity to opine at length (while saying they’re not) about federalism.
This opinion from the Tenth Circuit is a wild ride, featuring a cult, a compound, pro se defendants, and a kidnapping conviction being vacated.
Federal defenders are trying to disqualify the leader of another U.S. Attorney’s office. This time it’s in the Central District of California.
Universal was sued over the log “Dudley Do-Right’s Rip Saw Falls” ride at its Florida theme park. The plaintiffs say an unoccupied log behind them crashed into them.
All of the judges in the Middle District of Tennessee recused themselves from Senator Marsha Blackburn’s lawsuit against former Special Counsel Jack Smith.
An assistant religion professor at Haverford College allegedly used far-right X/Twitter accounts to post antisemitic threats against a colleague.
There was a major gun bust in the Southern District of New York.
A Texas man allegedly led law enforcement on a chase after threatening to attack the U.S. Capitol and AIPAC.
Sean Spicer, Anti-SLAPP suit, 45 million dollar scooter scam, and Cameo. You honestly don’t need much more from a lawsuit.
X is not an investment app.
A bar fight involving a threat and gunfire on Saipan reportedly led to a meth bust. Also, the courthouse for the U.S. District of the Northern Mariana Islands might win best (or at least most tropical) view.
ICE is in hot water with a Trump appointee in the Eastern District of New York, who said agents may have perjured testimony and fabricated evidence.
One guy in Alabama (allegedly) really doesn’t want to have to do any more cleaning at work.
Our music tastes are as varied as this week’s issue. Ergo, our song of the week.
An alleged darkweb coke dealer registered his burner Proton email address to his real Apple account, making it easy for law enforcement to identify him.
There’s (rightfully) been lots of talk about student journalism in the past few weeks. On that note, here’s a case about editorial discretion at the University of Texas at Austin’s student newspaper.
Tennessee federal defenders in a death penalty case want a judge to order the Justice Department to turn over records about a 2008 mass shooting.
A Wisconsin judge ordered ICE to immediately release a detainee after the bond hearing the judge had ordered was in front of a rookie immigration judge and lacked basic due process.
The FBI pulled down two websites that reportedly hosted child abuse and other nonconsensual images under a new law. There appear to be hundreds of victims, and the FBI stated it has identified at least 163 people who live in the U.S. and bought images from the sites.
One case out of Nebraska seeks to answer the age-old question of whether trolling a police department’s Facebook page is protected speech.
A judge dismissed a charge in a terrorism case after the Justice Department didn’t feel up to the fight.
The Justice Department secured another indictment against ex-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife.
Your pro se of the week is from a man who says he’s a “NATO asset” and has records from Jeffrey Epstein implicating all of the federal judges in Ohio.
A Pennsylvania grand jury indicted a 21-year-old suspected extremist for receiving a firearm in order to use in a terror attack on behalf of ISIS.
The Justice Department’s antisemitism task force is going on tour with its first stop in Southfield, Michigan.
For folks who liked our Rabbit Hole last weekend about the first Oct. 7th case in the U.S., prosecutors filed a response to another attempt by federal defenders to block it from going to trial.
TikTok is becoming the testing lab for what constitutes a true threat. Law enforcement says a woman commented “We only got one chance let’s take it” with a gun GIF, seemingly referring to President Trump’s upcoming visit to an Alabama college campus. Court records indicate they identified her, at least in part, through a babysitting app.
It’s not exactly the Prince of Tides, but a bomb threat at a Georgia nuclear power plant, apparently over a 300-year-old oak tree being cut down, led to federal charges this week.
There’s drama brewing in the IRS criminal division over an whistleblower agent’s disciplinary record—or perhaps lack thereof.
You would think a holding company named “Canary” would heed the warnings about crypto.
The feds used Flock on Tuesday to track a man in Georgia who allegedly said he was on his way to shoot someone in the face. Local law enforcement reportedly found a loaded gun on him after pulling the man over in the alleged victim’s town.
Thanks for reading. A programming tease, in Sunday’s The Rabbit Hole, we look at the ever-present corruption in one federal agency.
