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Mayor of NM town pleads guilty to gun smuggling
Legal Career News |
2011/07/14 12:40
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The former mayor of a small New Mexico border town has pleaded guilty to charges he participated in a gun smuggling ring that federal prosecutors said sent hundreds of guns into Mexico, authorities said Wednesday.
Eddie Espinoza faces 65 years in prison. The 51-year-old was arrested in March along with two other Columbus town officials — police chief Angelo Vega and former trustee Blas Gutierrez. The three were among a dozen people charged in the federal sting.
United States Attorney John E. Murphy of West Texas announced Wednesday afternoon that Espinoza pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy, three counts of making false statements in the acquisition of firearms and three counts of smuggling firearms from the United States during a hearing Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge William P. Lynch in Las Cruces.
"I am glad to hear about it," said Rosemary Zamora, who lost her job as a town police officer earlier this week because of the town's dire financial condition, which current officials blame on the indicted men.
"It's affected the whole community. We can't even get any grants because the government doesn't trust Columbus anymore," she said.
Earlier this week, the town's board of trustees shut down Columbus's three-member police department and reduced other employees' hours in an attempt by new Mayor Nicole Lawson to stabilize the budget. |
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Domino's sued after Texas deliveryman's death
Court Feed News |
2011/07/14 11:40
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Domino's is being sued by the widow of a Texas employee who died a year after being robbed and beaten with a baseball bat by teens who lured the deliveryman to a vacant house.
The lawsuit alleges the company was negligent in failing to follow safety procedures and seeks "all damages" available under state law to Fred Rein's widow, Jackie, plus exemplary and punitive damages. The suit filed Monday in Tarrant County names as defendants the local franchise and national corporation, including Mark of Excellence Pizza Co., Domino's Pizza and Domino's Pizza Franchising, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
"The purpose of this lawsuit is to ensure that nothing this tragic ever happens to anybody else," said attorney Geno Borchardt, who represents Jackie Rein.
Borchardt said the teens used a prepaid cell phone to place a phony order, and that Domino's had never before delivered pizza to the vacant Fort Worth house. When Rein arrived with the pizzas that night in 2009, he was attacked and suffered brain damage. His death 14 months later was ruled a homicide.
Domino's spokesman Tim McIntyre said the company does not comment on lawsuits but is saddened by the loss and sorry for Rein's family.
The three teens were charged as juveniles, but the cases went to court before Rein died. |
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Ex-teacher files insanity plea in Ohio sex case
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/07/14 10:40
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A former high school teacher charged with 16 counts of sexual battery involving male students in southwest Ohio was taken advantage of by the teens because of an impairment that made her unable to protect herself, her defense team said Wednesday.
Attorneys for Stacy Schuler, 33, of Springboro, also this week changed her not-guilty plea to not guilty by reason of insanity.
Schuler resigned as health and gym teacher at Mason High School in February after her arrest earlier this year. She was charged with 16 counts of sexual battery allegedly involving several teenage boys and three counts of providing alcohol to minors. |
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Bernanke: Fed ready to act if economy worsens
Business Law Info |
2011/07/13 18:43
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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told lawmakers Wednesday the Fed is ready to act if the economy gets weaker. He warned them that allowing the nation to default on its debt would send "shock waves through the entire financial system."
Underscoring how fragile the economy remains two years after the Great Recession, Bernanke laid out three new steps the Fed could take, including a fresh round of government bond purchases designed to stimulate economic growth.
"We have to keep all the options on the table. We don't know where the economy is going to go," Bernanke told the House Financial Services Committee.
The Fed chairman stopped short of promising anything, but Wall Street appeared comforted that the central bank was poised to act. The Dow Jones industrial average was up more than 150 points during his testimony to Congress, and closed up 45.
But some of the early stock gains were lost after Richard Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said in a speech that the Fed had already "pressed the limits of monetary policy."
The nation was creating about 200,000 jobs a month this spring. But hiring slowed almost to a standstill in June, with 18,000 new jobs. It takes about 125,000 a month just to keep up with population growth.
While Bernanke made his twice-yearly appearance before Congress, lawmakers and the White House were trying to salvage talks on how to reduce the federal deficit and whether to raise the limit on what the government can borrow. |
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Montana Supreme Court hires new administrator
Legal Career News |
2011/07/13 17:44
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The Montana Supreme Court has a hired a new court administrator for the state's judicial branch.
The court named Beth McLaughlin, who had been the director of court services, as the replacement for Lois Menzies, who retired last month.
In her new position, McLaughlin will be the top administrator for courts throughout the state.
She was selected from a field of five finalists.
Chief Justice Mike McGrath said Tuesday that McLaughlin has worked with district courts and courts of limited jurisdiction across Montana, making her well qualified for the position. |
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Feds eye CIA officer in prisoner death
Legal Career News |
2011/07/13 17:19
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A CIA officer who oversaw the agency's interrogation program at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and pushed for approval to use increasingly harsh tactics has come under scrutiny in a federal war crimes investigation involving the death of a prisoner, witnesses told The Associated Press.
Steve Stormoen, who is now retired from the CIA, supervised an unofficial program in which the CIA imprisoned and interrogated men without entering their names in the Army's books.
The so-called "ghosting" program was unsanctioned by CIA headquarters. In fact, in early 2003, CIA lawyers expressly prohibited the agency from running its own interrogations, current and former intelligence officials said. The lawyers said agency officers could be present during military interrogations and add their expertise but, under the laws of war, the military must always have the lead.
Yet, in November 2003, CIA officers brought a prisoner, Manadel al-Jamadi, to Abu Ghraib and, instead of turning him over to the Army, took him to a shower stall. They put a sandbag over his head, handcuffed him behind his back and chained his arms to a barred window. When he leaned forward, his arms stretched painfully behind and above his back. |
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