Bulger is accused of using force–sometimes deadly–to get what he wanted from some of Boston’s undesirables. The Irish mob made their ill-gotten funds disappear by buying up property in their neighborhood, but in 1994, Bulger was tipped off by an FBI informant that he was on the verge of being busted on federal racketeering charges. He went into hiding, and that’s where he stayed for 16 years. Two years ago, he was captured in Santa Monica with his girlfriend, who received eight years for aiding and abetting a known criminal.

Now, the stories of Bulger’s misdeeds are about to come to light, in grisly and fascinating detail.

“The guy is a sociopathic killer,” Tom Foley, an organized crime investigator who spent most of his career with the Massachusetts State Police trying to bust Bulger, told CNN. “He loved that type of life. He’s one of the hardest and cruelest individuals that operated in the Boston area. He’s a bad, bad, bad guy.”

Bulger’s tactics for avoiding detection reportedly included cutting off the fingers and pulling the teeth of the people he killed so they couldn’t be identified. It also helped that he had a friend working within the FBI who tipped him off to anything he wanted to know; disgraced agent John Connolly is now serving 50 years for second-degree murder in the death of a businessman who was about to testify against Bulger and other Mob members in 1982.

The trial is just getting started, but it’s sure to be a doozy. And as more details of Bulger’s deeds come to light, it’s doubtful any more jurors will decide to take a nap. It may also make Johnny Depp rethink his position on salary.

The judge presiding over the case allowed the photos to be used, if they showed Martin showed a history of violence.

Here are a few of the photos released by the defense.

The defense also released text messages from Martin’s phone.

I’m not sure what the defense hopes to gain by showing Martin on a horse, but I didn’t go to law school, so what do I know?

[Source: CBS Miami]

Arias was found guilty last week for the brutal murder of her former boyfriend, Travis Alexander. Alexander’s body was found in a shower at his home with a slit throat, nearly 30 stab wounds, and a bullet wound to the head. Now, the jury in Arias’ trial will decide whether she will receive the death penalty for her crime.

According to an Associated Press report, the testimony at today’s hearing has been very emotional. Alexander’s family members told jurors the various ways in which the murder affected their lives, including health problems and nightmares. Some members of the jury were reportedly brought to tears by the family’s testimony.

The sentencing will continue on Monday, with witnesses formerly close to Arias expected to provide testimony. The jury will decide, based on Arias’ crime, her past, and their own feelings about the case, whether Arias is to die or spend the rest of her life in prison. The prosecution is reportedly arguing that the nature of her crime makes the death penalty the appropriate sentence, while Arias’ defense is arguing that she does not deserve to die. Arias stated in an interview shortly after her guilty verdict that she would rather die than serve a life sentence.

This week, a pre-trial hearing for Zimmerman’s trial turned to the topic of the shouts heard on a 911 call recorded at the time of the incident. Zimmerman had called a non-emergency police number at the time of the incident. Martin was also on the phone, with a female friend who has stated she heard Martin say, “Why are you following me?” shortly before his death.

According to an Associated Press report on the trial, the prosecution has hired audio experts to determine whether the shouts heard on the call recording were those of Zimmerman or Martin. Of the two experts cited in the story, one found that the shouts were Martins and the other found they were a mix of both Zimmerman and Martin. In a court filing, Zimmerman’s lawyer has stated that he believes the audio analysis could prejudice jurors, and should not be allowed at the trial.

Since he was charged with Martin’s murder, Zimmerman has been in hiding and using various schemes to pay for his legal representation.

According to an Associated Press report on today’s hearing, Simpson was allowed to have his right hand free during the hearing, to take notes and drink water.

Witnesses were called to testify about the legal advice given by Simpson’s former trial lawyer, Yale Galanter. Simpson’s co-counsel during the trial, Gabriel Grasso, today testified against Galanter’s trial strategy of focusing on Simpson’s claimed ignorance of the guns that were used in the robbery. Galanter is expected to testify on Friday.

Simpson was convicted in 2008 for leading a 2007 armed robbery at the Palace Station hotel and casino in Las Vegas. Simpson and his associates stole memorabilia at gunpoint from a sports memorabilia dealer, claiming that the items had been previously stolen from him. Following the conviction, Simpson appealed, but the conviction was upheld by the Nevada Supreme Court in 2010. Without a new trial, Simpson may only have to serve nine years of his sentence, as he is up for parole in 2017.

This week, Valle was convicted on one count of kidnapping. The New York Times is reporting that a jury found Valle’s detailed plans to kidnap women proof enough of his intentions.

The case has shined a llght on some of the internet’s more deviant niches. In addition, it has raised questions about the line between online fantasy and reality, especially in regards to people with positions of authority in society.

One of Valle’s lawyers told the Times that Valle was prosecuted for thought crime, saying, “These are thoughts, very ugly thoughts, but we don’t prosecute people for their thoughts.” Valle’s lawyers have vowed to appeal the verdict.

The prosecution in the case, however, was able to demonstrate that Valle had used his access to police databases and resources as a police officer to track and research the women in his fantasies. Regardless of Valle’s real-life intentions toward the women, his misuse of police resources was a factor in the case, and the Times states that he has also been convicted of illegal access to a law enforcement database.

Facebook’s Annual Report filing with the SEC revealed that the case, Timelines, Inc. v. Facebook, Inc., will go to trial on April 22nd of this year. In 2011, Timelines Inc., owners of Timelines.com, sued Facebook over the “Timeline” name. At that point, Facebook was just coming off of the f8 conference and beginning to roll out the new profile to more and more users.

A couple of months after Timelines, Inc filed suit, Facebook countersued. Facebook’s argument all along is that the term “timeline” is generic. In their filing, Facebook listed dozens of instances of “timeline” being used in a generic capacity in the past, and made the point that a Google search of “timeline” yields over 196 million results.

Timelines.com allows users to record and share historical events.

“Given the generic or at least merely descriptive nature of the term ‘timeline’ when used to identify chronologies of events and related information (or tools for their creation), as well as the prior and widespread use of the term by third parties, Counterdefendant does not own exclusive rights in the term ‘timelines’ as used in connection with timeline creation and collection services,” claims Facebook.

In their Annual Report, Facebook tells investors that they don’t see defeat as very probable in this case:

In the Timelines case, the plaintiffs allege that Facebook infringes a trademark held by the plaintiffs…We believe the claims made by the Timelines plaintiffs are without merit, and we intend to continue to defend ourselves vigorously. Although the outcome of litigation is inherently uncertain, we do not believe the possibility of loss…is probable. We are unable to estimate a range of loss, if any, that could result were there to be an adverse final decision, and we have not accrued a liability for either matter.

“If an unfavorable outcome were to occur in the…Timelines case, it is possible that the impact could be material to our results of operations in the period(s) in which any such outcome becomes probable and estimable,” says the company.

[via Chicago Tribune]

Clemens was charged with two counts of perjury, three counts of making false statements, and one count of obstructing Congress. Clemens was one of several players called to testify during Congress’s investigations into the use of performance enhancing drugs by Major League Baseball players four years ago. He emphatically denied doing so.

Clemens spent 23 years as a starting pitcher for four teams. He began his career in 1984 with the Boston Red Sox. In 1997 he left to play for the Toronto Blue Jays despite Boston management’s efforts to keep him. From 1999-2003 he played for the New York Yankees. He then spent two seasons with the Houston Astros before coming back to New York for his final season in 2007. His career win-loss record is 354-184. He is a seven-time Cy Young award winner, appeared in eleven All Star games, and won two World Series with the Yankees.

This trial was his second on these charges. The first ended abruptly in a mistrial when prosecutors showed evidence to the jury that had been excluded by the judge as prejudicial. This second trial lasted ten weeks. Jurors deliberated for 10 hours before reaching their verdict.

Follow @TylerKepner

Tyler Kepner
@TylerKepner

Guess that’s career win #355 for William Roger Clemens.

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35 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

Follow @NotBillWalton

Not Bill Walton
@NotBillWalton

Pete Rose bet for 2 months on games. Roger Clemens took steroids for years while playing IN games. Yet only 1 of them will get in the Hall.

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Follow @joerogan

Joe Rogan
@joerogan

Roger Clemens found not guilty. 2012 financial meltdown, 2 wars and they’re going after people for cheating at throwing a ball.

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Follow @SBerthiaumeESPN

Steve Berthiaume
@SBerthiaumeESPN

Barry Bonds & Roger Clemens will both be on the 2013 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot.

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Follow @MlTTR0MNEY

Willard Mitt Romney
@MlTTR0MNEY

Roger Clemens is my all-time favorite Red Sock. I remember the time he threw a no-hitter against the Bulls in the Super Bowl.

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“I would assume this is a several million dollar trial,” Wagner told Ars Technica, adding, “Six weeks is a long trial, plus the case was fairly complex. I would not be surprised if (Oracle’s costs were) more than $10 million once you include the enormous amount of prep work.” Technology attorney Denise Howell points out that though Google too ran up a large tab for its defense, this is obviously easier to handle when one wins, and adds that Oracle might’ve actually spent tens of millions of dollars on the case. And even with the jury’s latest verdict, the trial isn’t over. Patent cases are typically ran by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, so the latest ruling isn’t yet set in stone.

Still, the presiding Judge William Alsup has already dismissed the jury, and the damages phase of the trial has been cancelled. Oracle released a statement on the present state of the proceedings – “Oracle presented overwhelming evidence at trial that Google knew it would fragment and damage Java. We plan to continue to defend and uphold Java’s core write once run anywhere principle and ensure it is protected for the nine million Java developers and the community that depend on Java compatibility.”

Oracle brought famous attorney David Boies on board, who had previously represented the Justice Department in the United States v. Microsoft and Al Gore in Bush v. Gore – and Boies will likely be running a tab for the next long while. Howell adds, “Oracle could definitely still get something out of this,” regarding the appeals process, though it’s evident that Oracle plainly wasted a lot of effort and money on little, if nothing.

For a bit of backstory, Google’s trial against Oracle, who had sued over infringement regarding the use of Java in building the Android OS, finally commenced just weeks ago – 18 months after Oracle’s initial complaint. While the main point of contention is whether or not Google violated any copyrights, the trial was to be more about whether or not Oracle can to get a jury to agree that some portions of its Java APIs (application programming interfaces) can be classified as protected. The outcome of the trial might’ve set a precedent regarding software developers’ use of open-source content.

Again, Oracle had tried to convince the court that the Java APIs were so complex that they could be classified as a protected creative work. Still, Thompson pointed out, even after a prompt from presiding Judge William Alsup to consider the Java APIs as being copyrighted, that the jury still sided with Google’s take on fair use of Oracles’ code – “A lot of the jurors were focused on functionality versus creativity,” Thompson stated, adding that the majority was “putting greater weight on functionality.”

Still, the jurors weren’t always very pleased with Google’s defense, and thought that they were relying too heavily on ex-Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz’s blog comments, which congratulated the search giant on Android’s launch. Thompson stated, “We felt like it wasn’t a good business practice to rely on a blog – Some of us had an underlying feeling that Google had done something that wasn’t right.”

When it came down to it, the jury couldn’t see the Java APIs as being protected art. Thompson added, “The more tech savvy a person is, the more difficult it might be to convince them of something that would limit [technology]… and future expansion of the common good,” commenting on the jury’s perception of fair use.