Law

Without commenting on the merits of the case, the Supreme Court this morning let stand a $675,000 jury verdict against a 25-year-old Boston University student who downloaded 30 songs nearly a decade ago and then shared them with others on a peer-to-peer network.

The court denied Joel Tenenbaum's "write of certiorari," which means his appeal of a lower court's ruling and the judgment were turned down.

Bloomberg News reminds us that:

Officials in King County say the adoption of a more advanced Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) a year ago has led to additional crimes being solved.

The regional AFIS is paid for through a property tax levy.  It costs the average homeowner in King County about $20 a year.

The Justice Department has begun looking into JPMorgan Chase's $2 billion-and-counting loss from a hedge account, The Wall Street Journal reports. It cites "a person familiar with the matter" as its source.

The Journal adds that "the probe is at an early stage and it isn't clear what possible legal violation federal investigators may be focusing on."

The Securities and Exchange Commission is already conducting its own probe into the bank's billion dollar blunder.

OLYMPIA - Washington Governor Chris Gregoire is emerging as an unlikely gay rights activist - both at home and on the national stage. Her role in helping pass a same-sex marriage law this year has made Gregoire a sought-after spokesperson for the movement.

OLYMPIA, Wash. — The Washington state Supreme Court has reversed the conviction and death sentence of Darold Stenson and called for a new trial in his double murder case.

On an 8-1 ruling Thursday, the high court ruled that Stenson's rights were violated because the state "wrongfully suppressed" from the defense photographs that raised questions about mishandling of evidence as well as an FBI file.

Stenson was sentenced to death in 1994 for the 1993 slaying of his wife, Denise, and a business partner, Frank Hoerner, at Stenson's Clallam County exotic bird farm.

A proposal to fight gangs in King County is coming under fire from civil liberties groups. Among other things, a proposed county ordinance would make it illegal to coerce someone into joining a gang.

King County Council members says they want to make the county unfriendly to gangs, but there isn't agreement on how to do that.

TACOMA, Wash. — The voyeurism and child pornography trial of missing Utah mother Susan Powell's father-in-law is under way with jury selection in Washington state, and Powell's parents are hoping the case sheds some light on her disappearance.

LONGVIEW, Wash. — A suspected shoplifter pulled a small sword on a security officer who tried to stop him at the same Fred Meyer store in Longview where a guard's ear was cut with a hatchet in December in another shoplifting confrontation.

A fight over unwanted sexual behavior may have led to the apparent murder of a patient at Washington’s Western State Hospital. Prosecutors have not yet filed charges in connection with the death last Friday.

It was around 3 o’clock last Friday afternoon that staff at Western State found the victim, 28-year-old Paul Montefusco in another patient’s room. Lt. Chris Lawler of the Lakewood Police Department describes the scene.

“The victim that was on the floor had a pen shoved into one of his ears and he had like some shaving cream on his head. So it didn’t look like an expected death or a natural death.”

In Washington, it appears crime does pay for some criminals.

The chance of a being arrested for stealing a car or burglarizing a house is pretty low. That’s what nine years of crime statistics from the Office of Financial Management show.

The University of Oregon’s athletics director is responding this morning to a story alleging widespread pot use among Ducks football players.

The article in “ESPN The Magazine” rehashes some familiar incidents – including the legal run-ins of former quarterbacks Jeremiah Masoli and Darron Thomas. It highlights safety Cliff Harris’ infamously saying “we smoked it all” to a police officer, when asked to hand over marijuana.