Edward Lodge

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Edward Lodge is an US District Judge centred in Boise, Idaho.

[edit] Lon Horiuchi

In 1998 Lodge acted as the presiding Judge in the case of Idaho vs Lon T. Horiuchi, which involved the indictment of the FBI sniper who shot three people during the Ruby Ridge Standoff. Lodge cited the Supremacy Clause and dismissed the charges against Horiuchi, which angered many who felt the leniency was unmerited.

[edit] Investigation into Banking Practices

Lodge was investigated by the 9th Circuit Court over his relationship to the US Bank (Then WestOne Bank) during the 1980s, which drew criticism when he presided over his inlaws' bankruptcy proceedings, while the bank overlooked the non-disclosure of over $1 million in assets which then became the property of the judge's wife, Patty Lodge. On June 28, 1995, he was subsequently forbidden from presiding over any cases that involved the bank, though he continued to preside over such cases when the bank was officially renamed.

The Oregon Observer would later lay out what it claimed were 16 examples of bankruptcy fraud that Lodge had knowingly been involved in, and Republican Representative Helen Chenoweth-Hage drew flak for receiving earlier reports of Lodge's dealings and failing to act on them.

[edit] Sami Al-Hussayen

In 2004, Lodge presided over the trial of Sami Omar Al-Hussayen - accused of recruiting Islamic fanaticals into participating in Jihad against the United States. On May 13th he ruled to disallow a defence witness to refer to a blood drive that Hussayen had run after September 11th to help the victims, nor that he had widely condemned the attacks.