|
|
|
Lawsuit Alleges Staples Center Is Unsafe
Court Feed News |
2011/05/25 11:38
|
A lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of the family of Lucas Tang, a 2-year-old who plunged to his death from a skybox after a Lakers game in November. The suit alleges there are unsafe conditions at Staples Center that must be fixed.
The suit claims that Anschutz Entertainment Group and the L.A. Arena Company, which operates the arena, have not warned fans about the luxury boxes’ dangerous design. The filing seeks an injunction that would require taller barriers in front of the boxes. Michael Roth, the vice president for communications for A.E.G., declined to comment because he had not seen the lawsuit. |
|
|
|
|
|
Giffords shooting suspect in court over competency
Criminal Law Updates |
2011/05/25 11:37
|
The suspect in the Tucson shooting rampage that wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords appears in court Wednesday for a hearing to determine whether he is mentally competent to stand trial and assist in his defense.
Jared Lee Loughner spent five weeks in March and April at a federal facility in Springfield, Mo., where two court-appointed mental health professionals examined him to determine whether he understands the consequences of the case against him. The competency reports by psychologist Christina Pietz and psychiatrist Matthew Carroll haven't been publicly released.
It's up to U.S. District Judge Larry Burns, who is holding the hearing in Tucson, to decide whether Loughner is competent to stand trial.
The case will continue to move forward if the judge determines Loughner is mentally competent. If he is found to be mentally incompetent, he would be sent to a federal facility for a maximum of four months to see if he can be restored to competency.
Loughner, 22, has pleaded not guilty to 49 federal charges stemming from the Jan. 8 shooting at a meet-and-greet event that wounded Giffords and 12 others and killed six people, including a 9-year-old girl and a federal judge.
Prosecutors had asked for the mental exam of Loughner, citing a YouTube video in which they believe a hooded Loughner wore garbage bags and burned an American flag. |
|
|
|
|
|
Blagojevich attorneys to mount first defense
Legal Career News |
2011/05/25 10:40
|
Prosecutors in the corruption retrial of ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich are questioning the value of the two witnesses the defense wants to call, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and US. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.
Prosecutor Reid Schar says neither could offer relevant testimony to the case, and that both had only one or two conversations with the defendant.
Defense attorney Aaron Goldstein said Jackson can speak to the allegation that Blagojevich sought to sell or trade the appointment to President Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat. He says Jackson will testify that he never offered or directed anyone to offer campaign contributions for the seat.
The defense was set to call its first witnesses Wednesday. Lawyers in Blagojevich's first trial last year did not call any.
Rod Blagojevich's attorneys will begin mounting their first defense of the former Illinois governor Wednesday in his retrial on corruption charges, and new Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is expected to be one of the opening witnesses.
Emanuel and U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. have been called to testify in the Blagojevich case, according to a person familiar with the defense plans who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly. The two elected officials were expected to appear Wednesday at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.
In the first trial last year, Blagojevich's attorneys rested without calling a single witness. The jury later deadlocked on 23 of the 24 counts against the former governor, including allegations that he tried to sell or trade President Barack Obama's former U.S. Senate seat in exchange for campaign funds or a job for himself. |
|
|
|
|
|
Fifth Somali guilty plea entered in piracy trial
Criminal Law Updates |
2011/05/25 10:39
|
Two more Somali men pleaded guilty on Monday to piracy for their roles in the hijacking of a yacht that left four Americans dead, including one who identified which of the 19 men fired at hostages aboard the boat. Burhan Abdirahman Yusuf and Jilani Abdiali face mandatory life sentences, but as part of a plea agreement they could serve less time than that and eventually be deported to Somalia. The duo are among 14 people from Somalia and one from Yemen facing charges related to the February hijacking of the yacht Quest. Three of those men have already pleaded guilty to piracy in plea deals. The owners of the Quest, Jean and Scott Adam of Marina del Rey, Calif., along with friends Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay of Seattle, were shot to death several days after being taken hostage several hundred miles south of Oman. They were the first U.S. citizens killed in a wave of pirate attacks that have plagued the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean in recent years. Prosecutors said the men intended to bring the Americans to Somalia and hold them for ransom there. Pirates typically seek millions of dollars for hostages. In a statement of facts Yusuf agreed to Monday, Yusuf said the 19 men who had taken control of the yacht would have split 65 percent of the ransom money among themselves and an interpreter. The other 35 percent would be given to a financier. In Abdiali's statement of facts, he said he saw that pirates were making a lot of money and had big houses and cars, so he spoke with a financier about joining a pirate expedition that ultimately led him to board the American yacht. |
|
|
|
|
|
Ex-IMF chief may use tried, tricky consent defense
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/05/25 10:39
|
Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has shed little public light on his account of what happened between him and a hotel housekeeper who accused him of sexually attacking her. But in a potentially revealing hint, one of his lawyers has said he doesn't expect the evidence will show a forcible encounter. If Strauss-Kahn's lawyers are planning to argue there was a consensual liaison, they would be using a common sex-crime defense argument — but one that has both succeeded and failed in other high-profile cases. It sets up a "he-said, she-said" confrontation that can pose challenges for defense lawyers and prosecutors alike, legal experts say. "They're really difficult cases because, by their very nature, nobody else is there," said Brenda Smith, an American University Washington College of Law professor who has studied sexual violence. Even DNA or other forensic evidence might establish sexual contact but still not prove an attack, "so it really is the credibility of the complainant and the defendant, and also the facts and information that each side can marshal to support their version of what occurred." For now, Strauss-Kahn is under house arrest in a Manhattan apartment on a total of $6 million in bond and cash bail, facing attempted rape and other charges. At the time of his May 14 arrest, the 62-year-old economist and diplomat led the powerful, loan-making IMF and was considered a leading contender to challenge French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Prosecutors say he chased down the cleaner in a penthouse suite, groped her, tried to pull down her pantyhose and forced her to perform oral sex. |
|
|
|
|
|
Supreme Court to CA: Cut prison inmates by 33,000
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/05/24 16:09
|
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that California must drastically reduce its prison population to relieve severe overcrowding that has exposed inmates to increased violence, disease and death.
The decision, however, doesn't mean the prison gates will swing open in an uncontrolled release.
The high court's 5-4 decision calls on the state to cut the population to no more than 110,000 inmates. To get there, state officials have two years to either transfer some 33,000 inmates to other jails or release them.
California has already been preparing for the ruling, driven as much by persistent multibillion-dollar budget deficits as by fears for the well-being of prison inmates and employees. The state has sent inmates to other states. It plans to transfer jurisdiction over others to counties, though the state doesn't have the money to do it.
"They've made a lot of plans already,'' said Michael Bien, one of the attorneys who sought the ruling on behalf of mentally and physically ill inmates who suffered in severely crowded conditions. "We're sure it can be done safely and appropriately. |
|
|
|
|
Recent Lawyer News Updates |
|
|