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Calif. gay marriage ban faces next legal hurdle
Headline News |
2011/09/06 16:17
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California's same-sex marriage ban faces its next legal test Tuesday when the state's highest court attempts to shed light on whether the voter-approved measure's backers have legal authority to appeal the federal ruling that overturned Proposition 8.
The California Supreme Court is scheduled to hear an hour of arguments on that question, which could prove crucial to the future of the voter-approved ban. The federal appeals court that is considering the initiative's constitutionality wants the state court to weigh in on the matter before it issues its decision.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has expressed doubts about the ability of Proposition 8's sponsors to challenge the lower court ruling absent the involvement of California's governor or attorney general, both of whom refused to appeal a federal judge's August 2010 decision striking down the ban as a violation of gay Californians' civil rights.
The court punted the question to the California Supreme Court earlier this year, saying it was a matter of state law.
Lawyers for the coalition of religious and conservative groups that qualified Proposition 8 for the November 2008 ballot maintain they are legally eligible to represent the majority of California voters who approved the same-sex marriage ban. They argue that because California has such a vigorous citizen's initiative process, it would not make sense for elected officials to effectively veto measures by not defending them in court. |
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Ga. high court ousts pot-smoking judge from bench
Legal Career News |
2011/09/06 16:17
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A Georgia judge who pointed a gun at himself in the courtroom, berated his boss in a bizarre televised rant and admitted to regularly smoking marijuana was ousted from the bench for life by the state's top court Tuesday.
The Georgia Supreme Court's unanimous opinion also barred Catoosa County Magistrate Anthony Peters from ever holding another judicial office in Georgia, concluding he has done "nothing to show that he has any ability to live up to the high standard of conduct expected of members of the judiciary in Georgia."
Peters' home phone number was disconnected, and his attorney Chris Townley did not return calls and emails Tuesday seeking comment. But Peters said during an April hearing that the violations took place during a "rough patch" in his life, and his attorney blamed his behavior on prescription drug abuse after his client was involved in a devastating 2005 ATV accident.
Peters, who is not an attorney, was a detective for the county sheriff's office for 10 years before he was appointed as a magistrate judge in 1997. But his demeanor started changing after a difficult 2005, which began when his father committed suicide and grew worse after the ATV accident. The magistrate was taking heavy doses of pain medications by 2009 after surgeries didn't ease the pain, his lawyer said. |
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Fed appeals panel upholds bar of videotape
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/09/06 16:16
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A federal appeals court says a Mississippi court did not err in barring jurors from seeing a videotape made by a former butcher who had claimed it might have prevented him getting a death sentence.
Gary Carl Simmons Jr. was convicted of capital murder in 1997 in Jackson County and sentenced to death for chopping up the body of a Texas drug dealer and raping the victim's girlfriend.
According to court documents, Simmons made the videotape shortly before his arrest. Simmons claimed in his motion for a new trial that he expressed remorse for his actions. Such a display could have resulted in a different sentence, Simmons contended. |
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Texas voting district maps argued in court
Court Feed News |
2011/09/06 16:16
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Attorneys for minority groups in Texas are criticizing the makeup of four new congressional seats.
The state is getting the new seats because of mostly Hispanic population growth. But in opening statements Tuesday, attorneys argued that the new map illegally dilutes minority voting strength and that the new districts do not fairly reflect the demographics of the new population.
The GOP-drawn congressional and legislative maps are the subject of a trial before a three-judge panel in San Antonio.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, whose office serves as the state's attorney, contends the map maintains or increases the ability of minority voters to elect their candidate of choice in each district. |
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Ex-Va attorney convicted in law firm embezzlement
Legal Career News |
2011/09/06 10:17
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A former attorney has been convicted of embezzling at least $450,000 from the law firm where she worked.
Henrico County Circuit Judge L.A. Harris Jr. on Friday found Kyle C. Leftwich guilty of eight counts of embezzlement in a scheme to divert funds from Marks & Harrison's accounts between 2004 and 2008. She could face up to 160 years in prison when she's sentenced in November.
Evidence showed that Leftwich endorsed Social Security checks made out to her for representing disabled clients. But she deposited the money elsewhere than into the firm's account and rigged firm ledgers to cover her actions.
Leftwich was fired in June 2010 and lost her law license a short time later. She repaid $450,000 to Marks & Harrison as part of a civil settlement. |
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Court convicts Serb general for Balkan atrocities
Court Feed News |
2011/09/05 16:04
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The Yugoslav war crimes tribunal sentenced the former chief of the Yugoslav army to 27 years imprisonment Tuesday for providing crucial military aid to Bosnian Serb forces responsible for the Srebrenica massacre and for a deadly four-year campaign of shelling and sniping in Sarajevo.
The case against Gen. Momcilo Perisic was the first time the U.N. court convicted a civilian or military officer from Yugoslavia of war crimes in Bosnia, and underscored the Yugoslav army's far-reaching support for Serb rebels in both Bosnia and Croatia who committed the worst atrocities of the Balkan conflicts in the early 1990s.
The link between the disintegrating Yugoslav federation and Serb forces in the breakaway republics has been a matter of dispute and was the keystone of the trial in The Hague of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. But that trial ended without a conclusion when Milosevic died in his cell in 2006 of a heart attack.
The former Yugoslavia is now divided up into independent states that include Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia. |
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