New Orleans police chief says National Guard may be needed through March News
New Orleans police chief says National Guard may be needed through March

[JURIST] Although the New Orleans Police Department may be fully operational again as early as next month, acting Police Superintendent Warren Riley said Thursday that National Guard troops may be needed in the city through March. Riley wants the Guard to patrol three large areas of the city still uninhabitable after Hurricane Katrina [JURIST news archive] while the police help settle the rest of the city. National Guard troops engaged in law enforcement will remain under the control of the Louisiana state governor in order to avoid infringmenet of the federal Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 [text; NORTHCOM factsheet]. New Orleans police still face such obstacles as determining if their headquarters building can be reclaimed, and investigations into looting by police officers [JURIST report] and desertion of posts [JURIST report] during the storm are continuing. USA Today has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Tojo and other Japanese WWII leaders executed for war crimes

On December 23, 1948, former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and six other Japanese war leaders were executed for war crimes in Tokyo.

Learn more about the Tokyo War Crimes Trials.

Terry Nichols convicted for Oklahoma City bombing

On December 23, 1997, Terry Nichols was found guilty of conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter for assisting Timothy McVeigh in bombing the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. He was later sentenced to life in prison. On April 19, 1995, McVeigh detonated a truck bomb that gutted the building and killed 168 people, making it the deadliest terrorist attack on US. soil until the attacks of September 11, 2001. McVeigh was convicted for his role before Nichols on June 2, 1997. Learn more about the trials of Terry Nichols and Timothy McVeigh.