In legal news, Shepard Fairey, who faced up to six months in prison after pleading guilty in February to a criminal contempt charge,  was sentenced in federal court in Manhattan on Friday to two years of probation, a $25,000 fine, and 300 hours of community service. In February he admitted that he had destroyed documents and made up others in an attempt to hide the fact that he had used a particular Associated Press photograph of Mr. Obama as the source of his well-known “Hope” campaign poster.

The New York  Times reports:

After he was sentenced by Judge Frank Maas, a United States magistrate, Mr. Fairey, 42, said in a statement issued on his Web site, “My wrong-headed actions, born out of a moment of fear and embarrassment, have not only been financially  and psychologically costly to myself and my family, but also helped to obscure what I was fighting for in the first place — the ability of artists everywhere to be inspired and freely create art without reprisal.”

Mr. Fairey sued The Associated Press in 2009 after it contended that he had infringed on the copyright of one of its photographs in creating the poster. In his suit Mr. Fairey claimed he had used a different photograph, but later admitted that he had been mistaken and had tried to cover up his mistake. At the time he pleaded guilty he said he was “ashamed” of his actions.

You can read more from The New York Times here.