[JURIST] A Navy judge in Iraq acquitted US Navy SEAL [official website] Jonathan Keefe Friday of a charge of dereliction of duty in relation to the alleged assault of a high-profile Iraqi detainee implicated in the killing of four American contractors in Fallujah [JURIST new archive] in 2004, citing insufficient evidence [AP report]. Testimony at the hearing included that of recently acquitted fellow Navy SEAL Petty Officer 1st Class Julio Huertas, which directly conflicted with testimony from Iraqi prisoner Ahmed Hashim Abed. Petty Officer 2nd Class Keefe and Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew McCabe had been charged with dereliction for allegedly failing to take action while Huertas beat Abed. McCabe is awaiting his military trial, scheduled for May 3 in Norfolk, Virginia.

A US military panel in Iraq on Thursday acquitted Huertas [JURIST report] of any wrongdoing in connection with the alleged assault of Abed, an Iraqi detainee suspected of organizing an incident that resulted in the deaths of four military contractors in Fallujah. A US military judge ruled [JURIST report] in January that Huertas's court-martial would be held at Camp Victory [GlobalSecurity Backgrounder] in Baghdad, Iraq, so that Abed could testify against him. Detainee abuse has been a major issue during the Iraq war, and the case against the three Navy SEALS has been seen as an attempt to compensate for other abuses like those at Abu Ghraib [JURIST news archive].

[JURIST] An Oregon jury Friday found the Boy Scouts of America [organization website] negligent for failing to take actions that would have prevented further sexual abuse by an assistant scoutmaster during the 1980s and ordered the organization to pay $18.5 million in punitive damages to plaintiff Kerry Lewis. Multnomah County Circuit Court [official website] jurors concluded that awarding punitive damages was appropriate considering that the Boy Scouts acted in a recklessly indifferent manner in failing to protect child scouts from suspected pedophiles, particularly when the alleged molester had already confessed to molesting 17 children. Jurors were allowed access to highly restricted files known as "perversion files" that the Boy Scouts keep on suspected pedophiles after a judge ordered [AP report] their release in March. The Lewis case is only the second instance in which a court has ordered the release of the files. The Boy Scouts say they will appeal [OPB report] the verdict.

Last week, the Oregon jury awarded $1.4 million [WSJ report] to Lewis in damages for pain and suffering, finding that Boy Scouts of America National Council was 60 percent responsible for the abuse and allocating 15 percent of the liability to the local Cascade Pacific Council [organization website] and 25 percent to the local sponsoring congregation Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The Mormon congregation reached a settlement with Lewis prior to the verdict. Most sexual abuse claims against the Boy Scouts of America are settled out of court.

[JURIST] Two Latino advocacy groups say they plan to challenge the constitutionality of Arizona's new immigration law, alleging it permits racial profiling. SB 1070 [text, PDF], signed into law [JURIST report] Friday by Governor Jan Brewer, permits police to question the immigration status of suspected illegal immigrants. Officials from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) [advocacy website; press release] and the National Coalition of Latino Christian Clergy [advocacy website] contend the law will let police single out minorities for immigration inspections. Under the law, it is designated a crime [AP report; JURIST report] to be in the country illegally, and immigrants unable to verify their legal status could be arrested and jailed for six months and fined $2,500. MALDEF said the law creates a separate state scheme to enforce immigration violations:

One significant measure of SB 1070's patent illegality is that it seeks to implement Arizona’s own scheme of immigration regulation – separate and in conflict with federal government policy – when our Constitution envisions a unified nation under one federal set of immigration regulations to be adopted by Congress and implemented by the President. By rejecting that constitutional plan, Arizona’s enactment of SB 1070 is tantamount to a declaration of secession. In response, the federal government must act to preserve our united nation by clearly stating that it will not cooperate in any way with the implementation of SB 1070 – that it will not adjust or alter its immigration enforcement priorities to the detriment of other states simply to accommodate Arizona's most recent exercise in racial demagoguery.

[JURIST] A New York man pleaded guilty [US DOJ press release] Friday for plotting to bomb the New York City subway system in 2009. Zarein Ahmedzay appeared before US magistrate judge Steven Gold [official profile] on charges of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass of destruction (explosive bombs) against persons or property in the US, conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country, and providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization. The plot was never carried out after Ahmedzay and co-conspirator Najibullah Zazi [NYT backgrounder; JURIST news archive] realized that law enforcement was investigating their activities. He faces up to life in prison.

In February, the Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] announced [JURIST report] a five-count superseding indictment against Ahmedzay and another man, Adis Medunjanin. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors dropped two charges against Ahmedzay. Zazi also pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to terrorism charges, and faces up to life in prison in connection with those. Medunjanin has pleaded not guilty [JURIST report]. All three men are alleged to have traveled to Afghanistan [Reuters report] and received training from al Qaeda.