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California teen pleads not guilty in newborn death
Attorneys News |
2014/02/10 23:11
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A teenager in Central California pleaded not guilty Thursday to killing her newborn baby, who was found wrapped in plastic bag last week under a bathroom sink.
Gloria Santos Mendoza, 17, was charged as an adult on a single count of first-degree murder, said Madera County Deputy District Attorney Rachel Cartier. If convicted, Mendoza could spend 25 years to life in state prison.
The teenager went to a hospital Friday suffering from postpartum bleeding, but she denied giving birth, Madera County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Erica Stuart said. It took investigators hours to learn where she lived because of a language barrier. The girl speaks a dialect from Oaxaca, Mexico.
Authorities found the dead baby under the sink at the girl's Madera home. Stuart said that when the girl was confronted, she changed her story and said the child was born dead. But Stuart said an autopsy determined the baby was born alive.
Mendoza's attorney, Michael Fitzgerald, said that his first impression was that the prosecution's decision to charge her as an adult with first-degree murder seemed excessive.
The teenager came to Madera from her village in Mexico three days before giving birth, Stuart said. Mendoza remains jailed on $1 million bail. |
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SC lawyer pleads guilty to defrauding clients
Headline News |
2014/02/10 23:11
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A Florence attorney has pleaded guilty to defrauding his clients. U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles said Friday that 48-year-old William J. Rivers pleaded guilty to mail fraud.
Authorities began investigating after some of Rivers' clients complained to the South Carolina Bar Association. Between 2006 and 2012, prosecutors say more than 100 of his firms' clients were defrauded of more than $3.3 million.
Authorities say Rivers settled personal injury cases but didn't tell his clients or medical providers about the settlement money, which he kept. Prosecutors say that action left Rivers' clients still owing money for treatments they had received.
Prosecutors say Rivers' law partner committed suicide during the investigation. Rivers faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 when he's sentenced. |
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Case challenging gay-marriage ban heard in Va.
Headline News |
2014/02/07 00:35
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In a case that could give gay marriage its first foothold in the old Confederacy, a federal judge will hear arguments Tuesday on whether Virginia's ban on gay marriage should be struck down _ the position the state's newly elected Democratic attorney general has endorsed, angering many Republican lawmakers.
In January, Attorney General Mark Herring's office notified the federal court in Norfolk that it would not defend the 2006 voter-approved constitutional amendment in a lawsuit. Republicans have accused Herring of abandoning his responsibility to defend the state's laws. On Tuesday morning, a handful of protesters gathered at the courthouse. They shouted phrases decrying his position and carried signs: "Herring's herring. AG's must uphold the law."
Across the street, gay-marriage supporters _ in about equal numbers _ shouted their support for the plaintiffs and carried signs saying "Marry who you love."
Newly elected Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe has rebuffed calls to appoint outside counsel to defend the ban. On Monday, Republicans in the House passed a bill that would give lawmakers standing in lawsuits where the attorney general and governor have chosen not to participate. |
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Teens charged in death of Australian due in court
Headline News |
2014/02/07 00:34
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Three teenagers accused of fatally shooting an Australian baseball player as he jogged down an Oklahoma street, allegedly because they were bored, are expected in court Tuesday for a hearing that could reveal details about the case.
Police allege that Chancey Allen Luna and James Francis Edwards Jr., who are both 16, and Michael Dewayne Jones, 18, randomly targeted and shot Chris Lane last summer. Each teenager is charged with first-degree murder.
Lane's death garnered heavy media coverage in both the U.S. and Australia, prompting the judge to issue a gag order barring anyone involved from talking about the case outside court. That means little information has been released since the 22-year-old Melbourne native was shot in the back and died in August.
But investigators have said Lane was shot while jogging down a tree-lined street near the home of his girlfriend's parents in Duncan, about 80 miles south of Oklahoma City. He and his girlfriend had just returned to Oklahoma after visiting Australia, and he was preparing for his senior season playing catcher at East Central University in Ada, about 90 miles east of Duncan. |
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7 now guilty in Pendleton contractor bribery case
Headline News |
2014/02/04 00:14
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Two civilian defense contractors have pleaded guilty in a San Diego federal court, bringing to nine the number of defendants who have admitted guilt in recent days to their involvement in a scheme involving bribes and kickbacks at Camp Pendleton and other federal facilities.
Federal prosecutors say Paul Dana Kay of PK Excavation and Manuel Ramirez of MRN Construction, Inc., entered the pleas to violations of the Anti-Kickback Act on Friday.
Six former contractors and a former Defense Department employee have pleaded guilty in the past two weeks to involvement in the scheme.
They include Natividad Lara Cervantes, who referred to himself as "The Godfather of Camp Pendleton," and admitted accepting bribes.
Sentencing is scheduled for April. The defendants face maximums ranging from three years to 20 years in prison.
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Pakistan court dismisses Musharraf medical request
U.S. Legal News |
2014/02/04 00:12
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A Pakistani court hearing the case against former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on charges of high treason rejected Friday a request that he be allowed to go abroad for treatment, his lawyer and a court official said.
Instead, they said, it issued an arrest warrant for the retired general. But the warrant is "bailable" — meaning he can avoid jail by applying for bail and depositing a bond of 2.5 million rupees (about $20,000). The court said it didn't have the authority to remove his name from the exit control list which restricts him from going abroad.
While Musharraf can't leave the country, it's unlikely he would actually end up in handcuffs immediately and still unclear whether he will ever appear in court — a scene that could be humiliating not just to Musharraf, but to the country's politically powerful military.
The judges' decision is the latest in the legal battles that Musharraf has faced ever since returning to his homeland in March 2013 to take part in the country's elections. Instead of returning to a hero's welcome, he was almost immediately hit with a barrage of cases, threats from the Pakistani Taliban and was disbarred from running in the election.
A lawyer for Musharraf, Mohammed Ali Saif, said the judges ruled that Musharraf must appear in court on Feb. 7.
"We are of the view that no reasonable excuse has been offered to justify the failure of the accused to appear before the court, there is no alternate except to issue a bailable warrant of arrest for the accused," said the court registrar Abdul Ghani Soomro, reading from the court's decision.
Musharraf seized power in a 1999 coup, but became deeply unpopular and was forced to step down in 2008. He later left the country. The high treason case stems from his 2007 decision to impose a state of emergency and detain judges. |
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