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Lawyers for Mexican say execution violates treaty
U.S. Legal News |
2008/08/05 13:26
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Condemned prisoner Jose Medellin looked to the federal courts to keep him from the death chamber Tuesday for his part in the gang rape, beating and strangling of two teenage girls 15 years ago. The Mexican-born Medellin, 33, faced lethal injection in a case that has drawn international attention after he raised arguments he wasn't allowed to consult the Mexican consulate for legal help after he was arrested in the girls' murders. Late Monday, Medellin was moved from death row at a prison outside Livingston to Huntsville, where he would be the fifth Texas inmate executed this year. His transfer came after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected requests for clemency and a reprieve. "The board's action is against the interests of the nation and risks the safety of thousands of American traveling and living abroad," said Donald Donovan, one of Medellin's lawyers, referring to the warning by the U.S. Embassy in Mexico of possible protests there Tuesday. "We must now rely on the U.S. Supreme Court to prevent Texas from breaking a commitment made by the president and Senate on behalf of the country as a whole." The International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, has said Medellin and some 50 other Mexicans on death row around the nation should have new hearings in U.S. courts to determine whether a 1963 treaty was violated during their arrests. Medellin is the first among them who is set to die. His attorneys contend he was denied the protections of the Vienna Convention, which calls for people arrested to have access to their home country's consular officials. President Bush has asked states to review the cases, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that neither the president nor the international court can force Texas' hand. Medellin's supporters say Congress or the Texas Legislature should be given a chance to pass a law setting up procedures for new hearings before he is executed. |
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Co-defendant in OJ Simpson case pleads guilty
Court Feed News |
2008/08/05 12:27
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A fourth co-defendant pleaded guilty Monday in the O.J. Simpson armed robbery and kidnapping case, agreeing to testify against the Hall of Fame football player and one remaining co-defendant. Charles Ehrlich entered his plea to reduced charges of attempted accessory to robbery and attempted burglary. Ehrlich is one of five men who accompanied Simpson during a confrontation in September with two sports memorabilia dealers at a casino hotel room. He's now the fourth to take a plea deal, leaving one co-defendant, Clarence "C.J." Stewart, facing trial with Simpson beginning Sept. 8. Simpson and Stewart have pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon that could put them in prison for life if convicted. Simpson has maintained that he was trying to retrieve personal belongings and family heirlooms, and that no guns were involved. Simpson's lawyer, Yale Galanter, said he couldn't immediately assess the effect of Monday's plea. |
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Federal court green-lights remote storage DVR
Lawyer Blog News |
2008/08/05 11:26
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In a decision sure to affect millions of cable television subscribers, a federal appeals court Monday gave a green light to Cablevision Systems Corp.'s rollout of a remote-storage digital video recorder system. In overturning a lower court ruling that had blocked the service, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said the judge wrongly concluded that Cablevision, rather than its customers, would be making copies of programs, thereby violating copyright laws. The next-generation technology would let any cable subscriber with a digital cable box store TV shows on computer servers rather than on a hard drive in their home. Cablevision's system was challenged by a group of Hollywood studios that claimed the remote-storage DVR service would have amounted to an unauthorized re-broadcast of their programs. A lawyer for the studios did not immediately return a call for comment. Cablevision, in arguing that control of the recording and playback was in the hands of the consumer, had relied on a landmark 1984 Supreme Court case which found Sony Corp. did not break copyright laws by letting viewers use videotape recorders to record shows for personal use. Craig Moffett, a senior cable analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, said the ruling "sent shock waves to every corner of the media landscape" by taking the availability of DVR-like function from 25 percent ot U.S. homes to nearly 50 percent. That means many more viewers would be taping shows and watching them at their leisure, likely skipping many commercials. The ad-zapping ability of DVR devices has broadcasters and advertisers worried that fewer people will watch commercials. The case has been closely watched in the industry as cable companies increasingly offer digital video recording services to their customers, and Moffett said it was likely to end up at the U.S. Supreme Court. |
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German court orders treatment over pope incident
Legal World News |
2008/08/05 10:25
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A court ordered a German who jumped a security barrier and grabbed hold of Pope Benedict XVI's popemobile last year in the Vatican to undergo treatment but stopped short of sending him to a psychiatric hospital. Security guards swiftly tackled and pinned the man to the ground following the incident in St. Peter's Square in June 2007. The 28-year-old, who suffers from a bipolar disorder, was put Monday on four years' probation, the Waldshut-Tiengen state court in southwestern Germany said in a statement. To avoid being sent to a psychiatric hospital during that period, he must begin psychotherapy and continue with medication he is already taking and undergo regular checkups, the court said. He also was banned "categorically" from consuming alcohol and drugs, and must undergo regular urine tests, the court said. The man was not identified in the statement, in keeping with German court practice. It said the man's health has "stabilized significantly" over the year since the incident, and that the conditions attached to Monday's verdict should encourage a further improvement. The German-born pontiff was not harmed in last year's incident and appeared not to have even noticed. He did not look back and kept on waving and blessing the crowd. |
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Man accused of Wis. river killings in court soon
Court Feed News |
2008/08/04 15:22
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Wisconsin authorities say a man accused of killing three teens swimming in a river and wounding a fourth person is expected in court Monday or Tuesday. Marinette County Chief deputy Jerry Sauve (SOH'-vee) says it's unclear whether charges will be filed against 38-year-old Scott J. Johnson before that court appearance. Johnson is accused of shooting the four as they swam in the Menominee River on Thursday. Authorities don't know why the four were shot. A 24-year-old woman has alleged that Johnson sexually assaulted her at the same site one day earlier. Johnson hasn't been charged in that case and authorities aren't sure whether it's related to the shootings. |
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Texas defies World Court, Bush on execution
Lawyer Blog News |
2008/08/04 15:21
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The planned execution this week of a man convicted in one of Houston's most brutal murder cases in a generation has become among the most contentious in the state that has the nation's busiest capital punishment system. International attention has been focused on the execution of convicted killer Jose Medellin scheduled for Tuesday. The International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, said the Mexican-born Medellin and some 50 other Mexicans on death row around the nation should have new hearings in U.S. courts to determine whether a 1963 treaty was violated during their arrests. Medellin, now 33, is the first among the 50 who is set to die. His attorneys contend Medellin was denied the protections of the Vienna Convention, which calls for people arrested to have access to their home country's consular officials. He has been in the United States since the age of 3. "The United States' word should not be so carelessly broken, nor its standing in the international community so needlessly compromised," Medellin's attorneys said, seeking a reprieve in a filing late last week with the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court had not issued any ruling as of Sunday.
President Bush has asked states to review the cases. Texas has refused to budge. The U.S. Embassy in Mexico warned of possible protests there Tuesday. Medellin's lawyers went to the Supreme Court after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest criminal court, refused to stop the lethal injection. The justices ruled in March that neither the President nor the international court can force Texas' hand. |
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