“Austin Powers” henchman accused of killing cellmate

Joseph Son, the actor who played Dr. Evil’s knuckle-cracking sidekick Random Task in the 1997 comedy “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery,” is suspected of killing his cellmate at Wasco State Prison in California, prison officials announced Tuesday.Son’s 50-year-old cellmate was sent to Wasco in June for failing to register as a sex offender.The victim, whose name is being withheld pending his next of kin’s notification, was serving a two-year sentence. He was found dead in his cell at approximately 5:50 p.m. Monday.Son, 40, has been incarcerated at Wasco since September 16. He’s serving a life sentence on a torture conviction, stemming from a Huntington Beach, Calif. gang rape that Son participated in on Christmas Eve 1990. DNA evidence did not tie Son to the crime until 2008.Officials from Wasco State Prison and the Kern County District Attorney’s Office are currently investigating the death.

@7 months ago with 15 notes
#Austin #Powers #henchman #accused #of #killing #cellmate 

MLB withdraws motion to disqualify Dodgers’ lawyers

Last month, the league had said the team’s lawyers — Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP and Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor LLP — were putting the interest of the owner, Frank McCourt, ahead of the baseball team they represent and should be disqualified.Joseph Farnan, a retired federal judge, was appointed mediator last week to try to settle the battle for control of the league against team owner Frank McCourt.In response to the league withdrawing its motion, Dodgers said the withdrawal was “appropriate” and “ends an unnecessary attempt by MLB to divert the focus in these bankruptcy proceedings from maximizing the value of its estate.”In a separate filing on Tuesday, Fox Sports, a division of News Corp, objected to the proposed auction of the right to broadcast Dodgers’ games, in a bid to bring in billions of dollars.In September, the Dodgers proposed an auction of the rights to broadcast its games. The auction is expected to bring in billions of dollars to stabilize the team’s long-term finances and allow it to emerge from bankruptcy.Last month, Fox had sued the team to stop the proposed sale of television rights and had said any steps taken by the team to sell media rights would be in violation of its current broadcast agreement with Fox.In order to conduct the auction, the team had to break its current broadcast agreement with Fox, which grants Fox exclusive negotiating rights till November 2012.The team filed for bankruptcy in June after Major League Baseball’s commissioner, Bud Selig, rejected a proposed $3 billion, 17-year media rights deal with Fox.The case is In re: Los Angeles Dodgers LLC, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware, No. 11-12010.

@7 months ago with 18 notes
#MLB #withdraws #motion #to #disqualify #Dodgers #lawyers