“The court’s decision reveals the reach of the Guatemala’s impunity for all the world to see,” said Kate Doyle, Senior Analyst at George Washington University’s National Security Archive, which obtained some of the U.S. and Guatemala intelligence documents used as evidence in the case. “The victims and their advocates,” she added, “will fight the ruling and the genocide verdict will ultimately be confirmed.”

The decision by the constitutional court does not annul all the evidence or trial proceedings, only those that were heard after April 19 when Ríos Montt’s attorney, Francisco Garcia, was expelled from the courtroom after a number his legal challenges had been rebuffed by the judges hearing the case, whom he also said should be dismissed “ for bias.”

The court then ordered that a public defender represent Ríos Montt, but he rejected the judge’s order. In its decision Monday, the constitutional court ruled that the lower court should have heard Garcia’s legal challenges before going on with the trial.

Ríos Montt was given a 50-year sentence for genocide, and a 30-year sentence for various crimes against humanity. Over the 17 months that Ríos Montt led the military and nation in the early 1980s, 5.5% of the Ixil-speaking people were killed in their native region. Advocates are already preparing to return to the original court to retry the final stages of the trial.

The DOJ disclosed last week that it had secretly acquired two months’ worth of AP phone records as part of an investigation into unauthorized leaks to the press. Thousands of news gathering calls were made during the two months. The secret subpoena included more than 20 phone toll records of reporters’ and editors’ cell, home, and office numbers.

“I think that it will hurt journalism,” Gary Pruitt told Bob Schieffer on CBS’ Face the Nation. “Already, officials that would normally talk to us and people we talk to in the normal course of news gathering are already saying to us that they’re a little reluctant to talk to us. They fear that they will be monitored by the government.”

Last year the AP learned that the government had thwarted an al-Qaida plot to place a bomb on a plane headed to the United States on the first anniversary of Osama bin Laden’s death, Pruitt said. When the AP asked the government about the information, officials told the news service to hold the story because of a national security risk. After five days of not releasing the article, high officials told the AP the national security issues had passed.

The AP released the story, but the White House wanted it held another day to announce the successful foiling of the plot, which wasn’t a “legitimate” reason to halt publication, Pruitt said.

“If they restrict that news gathering apparatus, you’re right, the people of the United States will only know what the government wants them to know. And that’s not what the framers of the Constitution had in mind when they wrote the First Amendment.”

AP journalists don’t question the right to conduct similar investigations, but the DOJ handled it poorly, he said.

“The actions are unconstitutional,” Pruitt said.

When the DOJ in 2009 began investigating possible leaks of classified information about North Korea, officials used security badge access records to track a reporter’s actions within the State Department. Investigators traced the timing of calls made by the journalist who was suspected of receiving the secret material. They also obtained a search warrant for the individual’s personal emails.

Last week more than 50 media companies signed a letter of protest to the attorney general requesting a strong federal shield law to protect reporters and their news-gathering materials in a court of law.

Between 2001 and 2010, 4,519 people were killed by guns [in Louisiana], more than a thousand more losses than U.S. combat troops suffered during the Iraq War.

“What the hell is going on?” Harris-Perry asked about her home state, which has the worst gun murder rate in the nation and just experienced a tragic shooting in New Orleans at a Mother’s Day second line parade. Nineteen people were wounded in the shooting, including 10-year-old Ka’Nard Allen, who suffered his second gunshot wound in less than a year.

Find out what Lee and the rest of the “MHP” panel had to say about how states like Louisiana are handling the gun violence epidemic (or not handling it) by watching the videos above and below.

Harris-Perry will also discuss the progress made this week by Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Barbara Boxer to reform the process of reporting sexual assault crimes and bringing perpetrators to justice. Gillibrand and Boxer proposed new legislation on Thursday that calls for taking sexual assault cases out of the military chain of command entirely. Their announcement comes on the heels of yet another military arrest made this week of an Army sergeant charged with abusive sexual contact and allegedly forcing a subordinate female soldier into prostitution. Harris-Perry will be joined by someone who helped draft the new legislation: Anu Bhagwati, a retired Marine captain and co-founder and executive director of the Service Women’s Action Network.

With the news that the Associated Press’ phone records are subject to scrutiny by the Department of Justice, we’ll examine the delicate balance between protecting national security and upholding our right to privacy. Just what can the government know about you? “MHP” will explore a new report that indicates the administration may back the FBI’s initiative to expand wiretapping privileges to the Internet.

Lastly, the Mother’s Day Parade shooting in New Orleans that left at least 19 people wounded was just eight blocks from Harris-Perry’s home. She will share the incredible story of one victim, 10-year-old Ka’Nard Allen, who now counts Sunday’s injuries as his second gunshot wound in his young life. Also, we will compare the vastly different gun control law different states are taking. MSNBC reporter Trymaine Lee will join us to discuss his new report on Harris-Perry’s home state of Louisiana, focusing on their extreme political resistance to sensible reform. Read it now on MHPshow.com.

Be sure to read what we’ve linked above, and watch Melissa Harris-Perry Saturday at 10 AM EST on MSNBC! Also, don’t forget to join us on Facebook, and on Twitter using the hashtag #nerdland!

Mourners carry the casket of Dinerral Shavers, 25, who died from a gunshot to the back of his head in New Orleans, Sat., Jan. 6, 2007. (Photo by Cheryl Gerber–AP)

BATON ROUGE, La. — On a recent afternoon, a wave of laughter filled the House chamber here as several lawmakers marched down to the floor and stood back-to-back to see who was the tallest among them. A pudgy, balding man, standing about 5-feet-5-inches, puffed out his chest and sized up his taller peers. “I think I’M the tallest!” he boasted, as the gallery erupted in cheers.

It could have been a scene from an old-South narrative on the casual, sometimes absurd goings on in statehouses if not for the two important gun bills that were up for votes that day.

For Louisiana, the stakes could not be higher: it has the worst gun murder rate in the nation, and the highest rate of children killed with guns. Overall, guns have been used to kill more people in Louisiana in recent years than in any other state, according to a new analysis.

Between 2001 and 2010, 4,519 people were killed by guns here, more than a thousand more losses than U.S. combat troops suffered during the Iraq War. More than 75% of those victims were African-American. Haunted by the losses, members of the Black Caucus try again and again to introduce some measure of gun control legislation.

But their efforts are always thwarted while a far more powerful group of Republicans and white Democrats stokes Louisiana’s love affair with guns.

As federal gun control efforts have largely failed in Washington, DC., states have stepped in. Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland and New York, all with relatively low levels of gun violence, have recently passed some of the strictest new gun laws in the country.

But in Louisiana, where gun laws are weak and gun violence severe, the Republican-led Legislature can’t loosen firearms restrictions fast enough.

Of the 15 gun bills introduced in the state House this year, 12 would expand gun rights or block federal gun control efforts. Only two bills were aimed at curtailing Louisiana’s extremely lax gun laws. Neither made it out of committee.

Instead, legislators are poised to bolster the state’s standing as the most gun-friendly state in the country. In late April, pro-gun lawmakers in the House rather easily passed a block of controversial gun bills—including one which would usurp the United States Constitution.

“It’s disheartening,” state Rep. Wesley Bishop, a Democrat who represents New Orleans’ 9^th Ward, told MSNBC. “They see gun violence as something that happens in the larger cities, the black cities, and it doesn’t really concern many of them. Sadly, it’s going to take an incident when gun violence hits their neighbor or their front door for them to really understand.”

They Love Their Guns

On key measures Louisiana is hit harder by gun violence than nearly every other state. It ranks No. 1 in gun deaths of women and of children. In 2010, according to a recent report by the Center for American Progress, 67 Louisiana children were killed with guns.

On average, someone is killed in Louisiana every 10 hours by a gun. As of 2010, the state had a gun-murder rate of 9.5 murders per 100,000 people, more than two and a half times higher than the national average.

Guns are everywhere. On Mother’s Day, a shooting broke out at a New Orleans parade and two children were among 20 people wounded by gunfire. People were injured during a shooting after the Martin Luther King Day parade, and at another just before Mardi Gras festivities.

Yet the pro-gun beat is only getting louder.

“In Louisiana, as we’ve seen for a few years now, they are introducing legislation to allow more people to carry more guns in more places,” said Brian Malte, director of policy and advocacy for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

“If more guns mean a safer society, Louisiana would be the state with the lowest rates of gun violence. In fact, it has one of the highest because of a lack of gun violence prevention laws.”

Democratic Rep. Barbara Norton, who is African-American, introduced a bill this session that would require all firearms to be secured in a locked container or rendered inoperable by a trigger lock. The bill, which would penalize law-breakers with a $500 fine and up to six months in prison, was defeated in committee.

She and other members of the Black Caucus then argued against House Bill 5, which would prohibit enforcing any federal law restricting semiautomatic weapons.

Supporters argued the bill was needed to counter political overreaction to the Sandy Hook killings, in which 20 children and six teachers were killed with a high-powered assault rifle.

Democratic Rep. Barbara Norton addresses Louisiana’s House chamber in Baton Rouge, Monday May 6, 2013. (Photo by Cheryl Gerber for MSNBC)

“I have $100,000 in student loans that says this is probably unconstitutional,” said Rep. Joseph Lopinto, a Republican supporter of the bill. “But I like the bill.”

Lopinto and 66 others voted in favor of House Bill 5. Only 25 voted against it.

“They say you’ve got to love something,” said Norton, a gun-owner who represents Shreveport. “Some people here love their guns more than they love anything else.”

DEFEND LOUISIANA

In the House chamber one afternoon in late April, legislators seemed preoccupied with more than just the myriad bills before them.

They sung Happy Birthday to one member. They wished another colleague a sweet farewell into retirement.  There was a heavy dose of guffawing and wise cracking.

But between the chatter and collegial banter, a familiar trench had been drawn dividing those who support the expansion of gun rights and the minority who oppose it.

Of the many firearms bills introduced this session, only two would have provided some measure of gun control.

The remaining bills greatly expand gun rights. Among them are efforts to criminalize the enforcement of federal weapons bans; exempt firearms and ammunition manufactured in Louisiana from federal firearms regulation; allow a lifetime concealed weapons permit; and make it illegal to publish the names of people with concealed carry permits.

The Associated Press reported Thursday night that Lt. Col. Darin Haas, the manager of the prevention program at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, turned himself into police on charges of stalking his ex-wife and violating a restraining order she had against him. According to a military source, Haas and his ex-wife had orders of protection against each other, and a police sergeant in Clarksville, Tennessee, reports that Haas contacted her repeatedly on Wednesday night, constituting a violation. Haas, who police say is engaged in a child custody battle with his ex-wife, reportedly spent 12 hours in jail and was released.

An Army statement indicated that Haas has been removed from his position in the sexual assault prevention office, and that he was due to retire soon.

News of Haas’ arrest comes as the military sexual assault issue is becoming a top priority for President Obama, the Pentagon, and the U.S. Congress. The president on Thursday met with the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the heels of a startling Pentagon report released on May 7 detailing the uptick of 2012 military sexual assaults to 26,000, an increase of more than 34% from the previous year. Army general Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called the matter “a crisis” because the military is losing the confidence of women who serve that an effective remedy will be found and enforced. The president said about those present at the meeting:

“They care about this, and they’re angry about it, and I heard directly from all of them that they’re ashamed by some of what’s happened. They understand this is a priority and we will not stop until we see this scourge from what is the greatest military in the world eliminated.”

A day prior to the release of the Pentagon report, the head of the Air Force’s efforts to combat such assaults was arrested for sexual battery. An unnamed Army sergeant assigned to an assault prevention office at Fort Hood, Texas, was accused on Tuesday of multiple sexual offenses, including “abusive sexual contact” and forcing at least one female officer into prostitution. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York led the announcement Thursday morning of a new bill aimed at taking major criminal cases involving rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment out of the military chain of command. “We believe enough is enough,” said the senator, adding later that “when any single victim of sexual assault is forced to salute her attacker, clearly our system is broken.”

See more coverage of this issue on Saturday’s edition of “Melissa Harris-Perry,” when Service Women’s Action Network executive director and co-founder Anu Bhagwati will be our guest.

“Only the scene investigation is complete, but the remainder of the investigation continues,” said Robert Champion, the special agent in charge at the Dallas ATF branch, at a Thursday press conference.

The explosion was triggered when a fire inside the plant detonated between 28 and 34 tons of ammonium nitrate, investigators said. Criminal activity is only one of a few possible explanations for the fire: a problem with the plant’s 120 volt electrical system or a faulty golf cart located on the premises could have also been responsible. Investigators ruled out several other possibilities over the course of their excavation, including ignition of the plant’s anhydrous ammonia and smoking on the premises.

Texas fire marshal Chris Connealy also disclosed more details about the extent of the damage caused by the explosion. The crater from the blast was 29 feet wide and 9 feet deep, he said, and damaged property within a 37-block radius.

“This community has suffered a great tragedy,” he said, “and us, with the state fire marshal’s office, the ATF, and 28-plus other agencies all work in the common goal to understand what happened.”

The ATF invested an unusual amount of time and money in the investigation: while the average call-out time for an ATF field investigation is three to seven days, this time the agency spent 30 days and nearly $1 million.

“This event here is one of our longest call-outs we’ve ever had,” said Champion, who added that it ranks up with the Oklahoma City bombing, the 1993 World Trade Center attack, and the 2001 attack on the Pentagon.

Last week, one of the first responders to the fertilizer plant explosion was arrested and charged under federal law with possession of a pipe bomb. On Thursday, investigators declined to comment on whether that arrest was related to the criminal investigation into the cause of the plant explosion.

As the healing begins for those three women, many Americans have been asking how could they have been held hostage for 10 years just three miles from where they were abducted.

This all happened in a working class, predominantly Hispanic community. One out of every five houses is vacant. Students in the area generally attend Lincoln-West High School, which has a graduation rate of just 46%, which falls below the Cleveland school district`s average of 56%.

Neighbors claim to have called police to report suspicious activity at the home of the women`s accused kidnapper, Ariel Castro; the Cleveland police department denies receiving such calls.

The community is asking questions about the intensity of the search for these women. Exchanges got heated at a town hall in Cleveland on May 9.

“I have a sister that’s missing. And it seems like [Cleveland's] Second District [police zone] doesn’t care,”  said one woman. “I`m not getting any help for our sister that’s been missing. None.”

But police are frustrated as well.

“There’s 2,900 missing persons a year,” said Police Commander Keith Sulzer. “I don’t have that many officers that I can follow-up one person, and I would love to. If I had them, I would gladly do it. But I don’t.”

What this story brought to light is an issue that goes far beyond Seymour Avenue in Cleveland. Across the country, missing people of lower socioeconomic status are less likely to get the resources and attention typically given to victims from better-off communities.

“We used to have many police centers here in the city of Cleveland when I was on the Cleveland city council, but those dollars were cut on the federal level,” Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner (D-Cleveland) told The Ed Show. “We’ve got to bring back the relationship between neighborhoods and police and make sure that we know that there are no throwaway neighborhoods.”

In 2012, it was reported that more than half the cities with the highest violent crime rates cut law enforcement budgets. Cities like Oakland, California, and Camden, New Jersey, where boots on the ground are seriously needed.

“While it may be a good bumper sticker to say, ‘let’s cut taxes,’ that has real life effects,” Virginia Delegate Charniele Herring (D-46th) told The Ed Show. “And it affects families.”

Republicans love to boast about cuts to the public workforce, but police, firefighters and teachers bear the brunt of budget cuts. These are public sector jobs, necessary to prevent crimes and respond to crimes. And they’ve been slashed in neighborhoods that need them the most.

Turner predicts the issue will be a “big deal” in the 2014 midterm elections.

“We have to decide in the city of Cleveland and in the state of Ohio, do we want to live in a city or a cemetery?” she said. “Do we want to live in a state that is vibrant for all folks or one that only takes care of the ultra-wealthy?

The bill would alter articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice that allow officers who may have little to no training in law or sexual assault to make decisions about the validity of highly sensitive allegations. It would also remove all crimes that would carry a sentence of more than one year in prison–crimes equivalent to civilian felonies–from the military chain of command. Serious crimes specific to the military would still be prosecuted according to the existing UCMJ.

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and other top military officials have staunchly opposed making such changes, claiming they would hurt cohesion and discipline. Hagel did propose revising one of the UCMJ articles addressed by Gillibrand’s bill. The Pentagon recommended last month that officers no longer be able to alter or dismiss sentences after they have been rendered, although there has been no further congressional action on the recommendations Hagel’s office submitted.

Gillibrand and others in attendance cited a need to change the process to encourage the reporting of sexual assault. California’s Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer pointed out that nearly 90% of all incidents of sexual assault in the military went unreported. Out of an estimated 26,000 incidents in 2012, only 3,374 were reported.

In the past two weeks, two service members with leadership roles in sexual harassment and sexual assault prevention have been accused of serious crimes against women, highlighting the long-standing crisis and creating momentum for change that did not exist before.

The bill is set to begin the markup process next week, and Gillibrand said that she wants policy changes to be included in the next National Defense Authorization Act.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a co-sponsor of this bill who is also sponsoring legislation that would remove convicted sex offenders from the military, asked in her remarks, “What does it say about us as a people, as a nation, as the foremost military in the world, when some of our servicemembers, both men and women, have more to fear from their fellow soldiers than from the enemy?”

The bills that have been introduced in recent months do not address all the problems faced by victims of military sexual assault. Many survivors who report their attacks face retaliation, discharge, and difficulty accessing treatment through the VA.

Brian Lewis, a former Navy Petty Officer, was accused of fabricating his rape, diagnosed with a personality disorder, and discharged from the military, leaving him ineligible for G.I. Bill benefits. “We are not unpatriotic for bringing this to light,” Lewis said. “The military betrayed us.”

President Obama will meet Thursday afternoon with Secretary Hagel and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey to discuss the ongoing sexual assault crisis.

“The findings in this report are deeply troubling and shed light on potentially broad labor violations by the fast food industry, which employs thousands of New Yorkers,” said Damien LaVera, a spokesperson for New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, in a statement. He said that fast food workers who had experienced wage theft could contact the office’s Labor Bureau or fill out a complaint form available on the department’s website.

State officials would not say which specific companies were under investigation, but subpoenas had been sent out to several franchisees and one parent company.

The Fast Food Forward report is based on a survey of 500 New York City-based fast food workers which was conducted by the progressive polling firm Anzalon Liszt Research. As many as 84% of the surveyed workers reported that their employers had committed at least one form of wage theft in the past year. Forms of wage theft include unpaid overtime and the withholding of legally required meal breaks.

“I work almost 80 hours a week usually, but KFC doesn’t pay me overtime,” said KFC employee Wilton Major in an interview with the authors of the report. “It’s a lot of hard work, but it’s what I have to do to make ends meet. I make $8.45 an hour, so this adds up to $170 in overtime pay that I don’t get.” Major has reportedly worked for three separate KFCs in Brooklyn and Queens for 22 years.

Other surveys of low-wage industries also report widespread wage theft. In 2008, the National Employment Law Center conducted a survey of 4,387 low-wage workers across the country in which 68% of respondents said they had experienced some form of wage theft over the past week. Relative to the amount of wage theft reported, very few employers in low-wage industries experience serious consequences for such violations.

New York City is where the wave of fast food strikes currently sweeping the nation began. Workers in that city—as well as Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis and Milwaukee—are currently demanding union recognition and a base wage of $15 per hour.