ABC 15 investigators take a fresh look at the Bolles murder

ABC 15 investigator Abbie Boudreau looks at the murder of Don Bolles murder 30 years after his car was bombed. Bolles died 11 days later. With new evidence and questions about the killing of Don Bolles, ABC 15 calls into question whether an innocent man, Max Dunlap, was framed for one of Arizona's most infamous murders. Included online is video of Dunlap explaining how he believes he was set up; his description of life behind bars; a pdf of his letter to investigative reporter Abbie Bourdreau; and several more pieces of supplimentary coverage.

Nate Carlisle and Lisa Rosetta of The Salt Lake Tribune report on sexual misconduct by peace officers in the state of Utah. "It is the most common reason - more than excessive force, falsifying reports or driving under the influence - that Utah officers lose their certifications or are suspended from their jobs, according to a Salt Lake Tribune review of Utah Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) Council records."

Carl Jones of Miami New Times reports on corruption in the justice system in southern Florida. The series [See:Part 1 and Part 2] explores the story behind a now disbarred defense attorney, Isreal Perez, Jr., who promised to get the prison sentences of convicted felons reduced - for a price. "If there's any truth to Perez's claims about working with rogue DEA agents, the case raises serious questions about the propriety of drug investigations and prosecutions in South Florida, and about why Perez was never charged with a crime. It could mean there is again a "For Sale" sign on badges in Miami."

Bob Egelko of The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the paper has agreed to be held in contempt of court for refusing to disclose its reporters' [Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams] sources of grand jury testimony in the BALCO case. This could result in fines of over $500,000. "The Chronicle's editor, Phil Bronstein, said, 'While this latest filing is largely about legal procedure, it again speaks to our unqualified support for these two great journalists, their work and their commitment to standing by the confidentiality of their sources.'"

In a two-part series Emily Ramshaw of The Dallas Morning News reports on the state of Texas' sex offender registry, which is ladden with inaccuracy. Some experts blame an ever-increasing database without the manpower to maintain the information. " The result? Vigilant parents and community groups are relying on faulty or incomplete data to protect themselves. Some homeowners are targeted as sex offenders because their addresses mistakenly appear in the database. And hundreds of the region's sex offenders are avoiding registration or filing false information with law enforcement agencies - some to hide in the crowd, others to re-offend."A graphic of their findings can be found here.

In the second part of her series, Ramshaw looks at the unintended consequences of Texas' zero-tolerance sex offender registration laws. "They're working to design better risk-level assessments to help police departments distinguish between sexual predators and high school boyfriends. And they've passed legislation to allow some young offenders with negligible recidivism rates, particularly those in consensual-sex scenarios, to be removed from the registry."

A.C. Thompson of SF Weekly reports on a scandal within the San Franciso Police Department, "a cloak-and-dagger investigation that may have transgressed the department's own rules - and definitely torched the careers of a pair of ethical police officers who dared to air their criticisms of the SFPD." Following the 2003 leak of an internal memo pertaining to a highly publicized police scandal, officers within the department responded by "covertly opening a vigorous criminal probe dedicated to discovering who leaked the Stansberry memo to the media. And during the course of the probe, a secret team, helmed by Morris Tabak, then head of the Special Investigations Division, gathered up a fat stack of documents: the records of more than 2,400 phone calls to and from journalists working in the Hall of Justice press room. "

A series by William Glaberson of The New York Times exposes the gross abuse of power by "part-times justices" across the state of New York. The New York Times did a one-year investigation of these town and village courts presided over by judges who have no legal pedigree - including some with no more than a high school education. "Officially a part of the state court system, yet financed by the towns and villages, the justice courts are essentially unsupervised by either. State court officials know little about the justices, and cannot reliably say how many cases they handle or how many are appealed. Even the agency charged with disciplining them, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, is not equipped to fully police their vast numbers... people have often been denied fundamental legal rights. Defendants have been jailed illegally. Others have been subjected to racial and sexual bigotry so explicit it seems to come from some other place and time."

Michele Gillen of Miami's CBS4 exposes the inhumane conditions of mentally-ill accused criminals being held in the Miami-Dade pre-trial detention center. The conditions are "morally incomprehensible" - multiple inmates share cells intended for a single prisoner; people sleep on floors covered in urine and feces; inmates are allowed out of their cells for only 30 minutes per week. Prison insiders refer to the 9th floor - which houses the mentally ill accused - as "the forgotten floor."

Sharon Theimer of the Associated Press reports that recently released Secret Service visitor logs reveal extensive "inside access" to presidential aides by Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed, both of whom are linked to Jack Abramoff. The records indicate at least 115 appointments since 2001, some lasting upwards of 12 hours. The release of the records came about in a settlement of an open records lawsuit brought by the Democratic National Committee. "Questions about Norquist's and Reed's access to the Bush White House surfaced after congressional and criminal investigations of Abramoff found evidence suggesting the lobbyist and his team gained White House access through the conservative activists."

Chitra Ragavan, Chief Legal Correspondent for U.S.News & World Report, has written "Capitol Crime," a detailed piece about MZM, a defense contractor implicated in the Rep. "Duke" Cunningham briberies. "Based on a review of hundreds of pages of court documents, private internal MZM records, and detailed interviews with a dozen key officials, shows how [Mitchell] Wade used his connections on Capitol Hill and inside the Pentagon to gather inside information and turn his company into a moneymaking juggernaut." The article focuses on the corporate side of Congressional corruption; the anatomy of bribery; and the rise and fall of a company built on hand shakes and favors.