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2 men sue priest who pleaded guilty to raping them
Court Feed News |
2009/04/22 15:37
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Two upstate New York men have filed a $10 million lawsuit against a Catholic priest who pleaded guilty to raping them.
The men say in court papers filed Monday in New York City that the Rev. Frank Genevive abused them between 1978 and 1987, when they were teens.
The Associated Press doesn't normally name rape victims. But Mark Lyman of Stillwater and David Landfear of Cohoes asked to be identified. They say the abuse included oral sex and sodomy. The 53-year-old Genevive and his Franciscan supervisors are named as defendants. Genevive and Franciscan Superior Robert Campagna didn't reply Tuesday to messages seeking comment. In July 2008, Genevive pleaded guilty in Boston to raping Lyman, Landfear and others. He received a suspended sentence. |
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Supermarket mogul guilty of bribery, racketeering, soliciting murder
Court Feed News |
2009/04/21 15:48
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George Torres, a feisty entrepreneur who built a multimillion-dollar grocery store chain by catering to some of Los Angeles' poorest communities, was convicted of racketeering, solicitation of murder, bribery and other crimes Monday by a federal court jury.
Torres, who faces potential life imprisonment as a result of the verdict, showed no emotion when it was read. Friends and family, however, burst into tears and embraced one another outside the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson.
The verdict represents a major victory for federal authorities who charged Torres last year with running a criminal enterprise, or so-called shadow organization, to ensure the success of his Numero Uno market chain.
Prosecutors' portrayal of Torres differed starkly from the 52-year-old's public persona as a successful businessman and influential political donor.
According to prosecutors, Torres hired undocumented workers at his stores, bribed a Los Angeles city planning commissioner and sought to have people killed.
In one such instance, jurors concluded that Torres arranged for the murder of a local gang member who tried to shake him down for protection money. Jose "Shorty" Maldonado was fatally shot and his pregnant girlfriend was wounded as they walked across the street from Torres' main market on Jefferson Boulevard in 1994.
A former associate of Torres' testified that he was present when Torres solicited the killing, and another witness admitted driving the car from which the shots were fired.
The jury acquitted Torres of arranging the killing of his onetime confidant Ignacio "Nacho" Meza, who mysteriously disappeared in 1998 after supposedly stealing half a million dollars from Torres. Another slaying charge Torres faced was dropped by the judge during the trial.
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Court turns down challenge to jury's use of Bible
Court Feed News |
2009/04/21 10:48
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The Supreme Court has turned away a challenge from a death row inmate in Texas who claimed his constitutional rights were violated by jurors who consulted a Bible during deliberations.
Jurors reviewed a biblical passage relating that a murderer who used an iron object to kill "shall surely be put to death." They were deciding whether to impose a death sentence on Khristian Oliver for fatally shooting and bludgeoning his victim with the barrel of a gun.
The court previously has said that jurors should base their verdicts only on evidence presented in the courtroom. But state and federal courts upheld Oliver's sentence, despite testimony that some jurors consulted the passage that described a killing similar to the one Oliver committed. |
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Ole Miss coach makes plea deal in Ohio
Court Feed News |
2009/04/20 15:31
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Mississippi basketball coach Andy Kennedy has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct in his cab driver assault case.
Kennedy avoided trial and possible jail time with the plea deal Monday in Hamilton County Municipal Court in Cincinnati. He will be on probation for six months and must perform 40 hours of community service.
He was arrested last December when Mississippi was in Cincinnati for a game against Louisville as part of the SEC/Big East Invitational. The cab driver said Kennedy punched him in the face and called him a terrorist after he told the coach he couldn't legally fit him and four others into his cab. Kennedy is still embroiled in civil lawsuits with the driver and a valet who says he saw the confrontation. |
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Appeals court wants medical records on Demjanjuk
Court Feed News |
2009/04/20 12:32
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A U.S. appeals court has asked the government to provide medical records in the deportation case of John Demjanjuk (dem-YAHN'-yuk), who faces charges in Germany that he was a guard at a Nazi death camp.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says the U.S. Department of Justice must provide a copy of the doctor's report it used to determined Demjanjuk is healthy enough to safely travel. It also asks for the government's plans for the transportation of Demjanjuk to Germany.
Also, it wants Demjanjuk's attorneys to file papers addressing whether the court has jurisdiction. The court's requests were filed Thursday. Lawyers have one week to respond. Family of the retired autoworker have said flying him to Germany would amount to torture and that he might not survive the flight. |
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Appeals Court: Marine can't sue Murtha
Court Feed News |
2009/04/16 14:39
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A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Rep. John Murtha cannot be sued for accusing U.S. Marines of murdering Iraqi civilians "in cold blood," remarks that sparked outrage among conservative commentators.
The appeals court in Washington dismissed a defamation lawsuit brought by a Marine who led the squad in the attack. The judges agreed with Murtha that he was immune from the lawsuit because he was acting in his official role as a lawmaker when he made the comments to reporters.
Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich of Meriden, Conn., claimed Murtha damaged his reputation by saying the squad he was leading engaged in "cold-blooded murder and war crimes" in Haditha, Iraq, on Nov. 19, 2005. At a Capitol Hill news conference in May 2006, Murtha predicted that a Pentagon war crimes investigation would show the Marines killed dozens of innocent Iraqi civilians in Haditha. Military prosecutors have said two dozen Iraqis, including women and children, were killed in Haditha after one Marine died and two others were wounded by a roadside bomb. Wuterich is charged with voluntary manslaughter and other allegations, the only person still facing charges in the attack. He has pleaded not guilty. He is accused of ordering his men to clear several houses with grenades and gunfire, leading to the civilian deaths. |
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