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FBI chief describes GPS problem from court ruling
Court Feed News |
2012/03/08 17:14
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A recent Supreme Court ruling is forcing the FBI to deactivate its GPS tracking devices in some investigations, agency director Robert Mueller said Wednesday.
Mueller told a congressional panel that the bureau has turned off a substantial number of GPS units and is using surveillance by agents instead.
"Putting a physical surveillance team out with six, eight, 12 persons is tremendously time intensive," Mueller told a House Appropriations subcommittee. The court ruling "will inhibit our ability to use this in a number of surveillances where it has been tremendously beneficial."
Mueller declined to say how many devices were deactivated. The FBI's general counsel said at a law school conference two weeks ago that the FBI has 3,000 GPS devices.
In January, the Supreme Court unanimously agreed to bar police from installing GPS technology to track suspects without first getting a judge's approval. On Wednesday night, the FBI said many of the GPS trackers were placed with court authorization and so were not deactivated.
"We have a number of people in the United States who we could not indict, there's not probable cause to indict them or to arrest them who present a threat of terrorism, articulated maybe up on the Internet, may have purchased a gun, but taken no particular steps to take a terrorist act," Mueller said. "And we are stuck in the position of surveilling that person for a substantial period of time." |
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Iowa man pleads not guilty to bestiality charge
Criminal Law Updates |
2012/03/08 11:16
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A northern Iowa man who allegedly performed a sex act on a dog has pleaded not guilty to a bestiality charge.
The Globe Gazette says 50-year-old Steven Schindler, of LuVerne, waived his right to a preliminary hearing set for March 15 in Hancock County District Court. He entered a written plea of not guilty. No new court date is set.
The sheriff's department says Schindler, an employee of a farm cooperative in Ottosen, was delivering LP gas to a resident in rural Britt on Feb. 20 when the alleged incident occurred.
If convicted of the aggravated misdemeanor, Schindler faces up to two years in prison, fines and a mandatory mental health evaluation. |
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Attorney: Accused NYC madam unfair target of case
Legal Career News |
2012/03/07 17:18
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Prosecutors and defense attorneys have presented contrasting views of a New York woman jailed on a seven-figure bail on a single charge of promoting prostitution.
Anna Gristina's lawyers have portrayed her as a dedicated suburban mom, animal rescuer and former real estate broker who was working on building an online dating service. They said she's a target of an unfairly sensationalized case.
But prosecutors contend she's an arrogant, multimillion-dollar madam who boasted of ties to law enforcement and stashed cash to flee if authorities tried to close in on her.
"A caring mother of four has been slapped with a $2 million bond," one of her lawyers, Peter J. Gleason, said after a judge refused Tuesday to lower the bail.
In an interview Wednesday on "Good Day New York," Gleason said the prosecution has not shared with the defense team information about its allegations that the Monroe, N.Y., woman peddled underage girls and had police protection.
He said the underage allegation was "a ploy that the police will sometimes use if they have a hostile client that they want to break," he said.
He also said he never asked his client about reports of a "black book" containing names of influential clients. |
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Court Overturns $10M Tyson Verdict
Business Law Info |
2012/03/07 17:09
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The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday tossed a $10 million jury verdict against Tyson Foods Inc., granting the company's request for a new trial based on allegations of juror misconduct and a mistake on interpreting the law.
Springdale, Ark.-based Tyson Foods claimed on appeal that some prospective jurors in the trial in McCurtain County, Okla., didn't answer questions fully or truthfully on juror questionnaires and the trial judge didn't allow oral questions on items covered in the forms filled out by the panelists.
The high court also agreed with Tyson that the growers weren't covered by the Oklahoma Consumer Protection Act. Growers had argued that since Tyson provided them with feed and chicks, that gave them standing as consumers.
Tyson has a large operation in the region, with more than 180 poultry producers in southwest Arkansas and southeast Oklahoma that raise broilers for Tyson's plant in Broken Bow, Okla. That plant and its related operations, including a feed mill, employ more than 1,700 people.
In 2008, 54 growers, with Rusty Armstrong as lead plaintiff, sued Tyson, claiming that farmers who didn't want to modernize their equipment were given inferior feed and chicks. They claimed that Tyson had favored growers who got better feed and livestock. |
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Ohio school shooting case may go to adult court
Court Feed News |
2012/03/07 14:05
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A 17-year-old boy charged in a school shooting rampage that left three students dead was told by a judge on Tuesday that the case could be sent to adult court for trial.
Authorities will decide later whether T.J. Lane will be tried as an adult and face a possible life sentence if convicted.
Lane, who is charged with three counts of aggravated murder, two counts of attempted aggravated murder and one count of felonious assault, did not enter a plea Tuesday when he appeared before Juvenile Judge Tim Grendell.
The judge postponed a hearing on the adult-court matter from March 19 until April 3 because two new attorneys have joined the defense team.
Lane watched the judge without visible emotion, blinking occasionally. He was taken into court under heavy security, a deputy's hand on his arm. He was dressed in an outfit similar to what he wore last week in court — a tan, open-collared dress shirt and dark slacks.
Relatives of the victims faced Lane from the jury box. Some wore memorial ribbons of red and black, the colors of Chardon High School.
Lane spoke in response to routine questions from the judge about his understanding of the case and his rights. |
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'Holland's Next Top Model' wins agency lawsuit
Legal World News |
2012/03/07 10:09
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A former winner of the television show "Holland's Next Top Model" has won a lawsuit against Elite Model Management after she was dropped for having hips the agency considered too large.
The Amsterdam District Court ruled Wednesday that Ananda Marchildon, now 25, was entitled to the main prize she won in the 2008 production of the show, a three-year contract worth $98,500.
Marchildon argued she was dismissed after only $13,000 worth of work because she didn't lose enough weight to please the agency.
According to the written ruling, though Marchildon had gained weight since getting the contract, she had a hip measurement of 92 centimeters (about 36.2 inches) when she won, and Elite could not demand that she go down to 90 centimeters — about 35.4 inches. That is far smaller than the average woman's hips but not unusual in the modeling world. |
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