OK, so this is more of the funnier variety, but, add this to the stories of the day:

Prosecutors in the trial of former State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo abruptly abandoned plans to call a key witness yesterday after learning that he had sent thousands of e-mails to Fumo and others.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert A. Zauzmer said the witness, Leonard P. Luchko, who had been a top computer technician for Fumo, also posted comments via the Web site philly.com on Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News stories about the trial.

The surprising development caused a temporarily halt in the trial, which is set to resume this afternoon with testimony from a computer technician from Fumo's Harrisburg office.

Hmm, if I knew this was going to be such a big news story, I would have spoken up about it months ago... because the same guy has been on YPP, defending himself. (He also wrote a piece attacking Anne Dicker.) And, when he wrote, it was one of those comments that seemed pretty strange, so I googled him. And when I did, I found this, which sort of clues you in to who he is:

I am currently under indictment by the FBI because of my use of PGP software at our company. PGP encrypts email and also provides a Wipe utility for free space. I can tell you first hand that the FBI is completely out of control! They answer to no one and they use ever resource they have regardless of the law. With the Patriot Act, they were able to tap my phone, intercept my email and bully my internet provider without leaving any paper trail. Because there was nothing to find they were not able to use any of the information against me but when my lawyer asked for copies of all electronic surveillance he ran into a brick wall. The FBI denied there was any electronic surveillance and because there was no paper trail of warrants for my lawyer to follow because of the Patriot Act he was unable to get copies!

Now it turns out the guy has actually been emailing Fumo, too, when he is the government's star witness. (The same star witness who was found to have emailed "The boss wants us delete these emails!", or something to that effect.)

It probably isn't good for the government to have your star witness trashing the FBI for their tactics. Only in Philadelphia.