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Court Upholds Elvis Memorabilia Ruling
Court Feed News |
2007/11/08 15:20
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A legal battle over an odd collection of Elvis Presley memorabilia — including a glass device reportedly used to irrigate the King's sinuses before the took the stage — could be nearing an end. The Delaware Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a ruling granting California businessman Richard Long ownership of the collection of items once owned by Presley's personal physician, Dr. George Nichopolous. The collection includes a black doctor's bag used by Nichopolous containing prescription bottles bearing Presley's name, as well as jewelry, guns, and a laryngeal scope used to examine Presley's throat. According to the lawsuit, Nichopolous agreed last year to sell it for $1 million to Long and his business partners, Robert Gallagher and Betty Franklin of Nevada. Long put up the money, and Gallagher and Franklin, who claimed to have a "half interest" in the collection, agreed to assign all their rights to a company Long controlled. Long alleged in his lawsuit that Gallagher and Franklin refused to surrender access to the memorabilia and would not provide the paperwork needed to obtain insurance. A judge entered a default judgment against Gallagher and Franklin in July after they repeatedly failed to appear for court hearings and ignored court orders. The judgment held Gallagher and Franklin in contempt and gave Long authority to dissolve the partnership and sell the collection. The Supreme Court turned down Gallagher's appeal Tuesday. David Finger, an attorney for Long, said his client is determined to make Gallagher give up the collection. "If he does not turn it over, we will seek to have him incarcerated," Finger said. Michael Matuska, an attorney for Gallagher and Franklin, did not immediately return a telephone message Wednesday. |
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Man pleads guilty to threatening Riverside DA
Court Feed News |
2007/11/08 13:38
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A man who was part of a newspaper's advertising staff could face as much as three years in prison after pleading guilty to making a threat against county District Attorney Rod Pacheco. Chandler William Cardwell, 33, entered his plea Wednesday. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop another threat charge and a forgery charge, as well as a special allegation. Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 10. Cardwell was arrested in September after authorities executed search warrants at The Press-Enterprise where he worked in the classified advertising department. Investigators said Cardwell placed an ad for a "Big Blowout, Going Out of Business" yard sale with proceeds to benefit the "Rod Pacheco memorial fund." It listed the district attorney's home address and phone number. The ad appeared to be a response to Pacheco's announcement that he was seeking an injunction to restrict members of a gang from gathering and to force them to adhere to a curfew. Cardwell's brother-in-law is a member of the gang, authorities said. Deputy Attorney General Michael Murphy said Cardwell's ties to the gang remain unclear, but "he clearly associates with them." Cardwell's attorney, Richard Carnero, refuted that claim, saying his client is not a gang member. The ad was not placed "in connection with any gang," he said. |
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Rappers on Quadruple-Bill at NYC Court
Court Feed News |
2007/11/07 16:22
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With four hip-hop heavies in the house, any enterprising promoter could have staged a rap concert. But the house was Manhattan Criminal Court, and the rappers — Busta Rhymes, Ja Rule, Lil Wayne and Remy Ma — were there Wednesday on separate cases ranging from assault to weapons possession. In each case, the rappers were simply given a new court date. Busta Rhymes, whose real name is Trevor Smith, was ordered to return Jan. 23 when jury selection will begin for his trial on assault and drunken driving charges. Rhymes, 35, is accused of kicking a fan, punching a former employee, driving drunk and driving with a suspended license. Ja Rule, born Jeffrey Atkins, was told to come back Dec. 5. The 31-year-old rapper was arrested on weapons charges last July after police stopped his 2004 Maybach — a car that sells for up to $400,000 — and found a loaded .40-caliber handgun. Lil Wayne, 24, was ordered to reappear in court Feb. 25. The performer, whose real name is Dwayne Carter, was arrested for illegal gun possession after he performed at the same concert in Manhattan as Ja Rule. Prosecutors say police officers smelled marijuana coming from Lil Wayne's tour bus, and as they approached, he tossed aside a bag with a loaded .40-caliber handgun. Grammy-nominated Remy Ma, 26, whose real name is Remy Smith, is charged with assault and witness tampering. She is accused of shooting an acquaintance over money and then trying to intimidate her. She was told to return Dec. 5. Remy Ma, who has recorded songs with Busta Rhymes and Lil Wayne, said she knew all the other rappers who were in court and considered them friends. |
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House Burglar Nabbed After Trip to Court
Court Feed News |
2007/11/07 12:25
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A house burglar was arrested at a court on Wednesday when he showed up for another case, police said. The man kicked in the back door of a home on Aug. 8 and entered but ran off when a teenage girl who was lying on a couch saw him and started screaming, Nassau County police said. The girl identified the 49-year-old man, who had multiple prior arrests for burglary, in a photo lineup, they said. The man, from Bayville, was arrested by an officer when he went to First District Court for an unrelated issue, police said. He was charged with second-degree burglary. |
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Former Mexican drug lord gets life in U.S. prison
Court Feed News |
2007/11/06 03:02
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Francisco Javier Arellano-Felix, the youngest of four brothers who ran one of the most powerful Mexican drug cartels, was sentenced to life in prison on Monday, the U.S. Department of Justice said. Arellano-Felix, who pleaded guilty in September to operating a criminal enterprise and conspiring to launder money, was also ordered by a U.S. judge to forfeit $50 million and his interest in a yacht, the department said in a statement. "I would like to ask forgiveness from my mother, my wife and my children for having to leave them alone as I serve a life sentence," Arellano-Felix said at a sentencing hearing in U.S. District Court in San Diego. "Most importantly, I would like to ask forgiveness from all those people, on both sides of the border, who I have affected by my wrongful decisions and criminal conduct," he said. In pleading guilty, Arellano-Felix, 37, admitted directing the Arellano-Felix drug cartel, which controlled much of the narcotics trade across the U.S.-Mexico border over the past decade, acting Deputy Attorney General Craig Morford said. He also admitted committing and ordering murders in connection with the cartel's illicit business, Morford said. "Francisco Javier Arellano-Felix will spend the rest of his life in prison for leading a violent Mexican drug cartel that was responsible for trafficking hundreds of tons of cocaine and marijuana and committing countless acts of violence and corruption," Morford said. Arellano-Felix was arrested along with Manuel Arturo Villarreal-Heredia, 31 in August while deep-sea fishing 15 miles off the coast of La Paz, Mexico, on their yacht, the Dock Holiday. Villarreal-Heredia also pleaded guilty and is scheduled for sentencing in January. |
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Supreme Court to Hear Idaho Death Case
Court Feed News |
2007/11/05 19:08
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The Supreme Court stepped into a death penalty case Monday in which a defendant says his lawyers gave him bad advice by telling him to reject a plea deal that would have spared him a death sentence. Maxwell Alton Hoffman was convicted in connection with a revenge killing in Idaho and sentenced to death in 1989. He appealed, claiming he should be allowed to take the deal prosecutors offered anyway. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed. The San Francisco-based appeals court said the state must either release Hoffman or again offer him a plea deal that he originally turned down — allowing him to plead guilty in exchange for prosecutors no longer seeking the death penalty. The state appealed to the Supreme Court. The justices said they would decide whether Hoffman is entitled to the plea deal, even though he was later convicted and sentenced in a fair trial. Hoffman was one of three men charged with the murder of a woman who served as a police informant in a drug deal. Hoffman slit Denise Williams' throat and another man stabbed her. Both men tried to bury her beneath rocks, eventually killing her with a blow from a rock. The other two defendants avoided the death penalty. Hoffman, however, refused to plead guilty on the advice of his attorneys, even though prosecutors told him that if he refused the plea deal they would seek the death penalty. One of Hoffman's attorneys — William Wellman — told Hoffman he believed that a recent appellate court ruling out of Arizona showed that Idaho's similar death penalty scheme was unconstitutional, and that it was only a matter of time before Idaho's death penalty scheme would be overturned in court. But Idaho's death penalty scheme wasn't immediately overturned, and on June 9, 1989, Hoffman was sentenced to death. The appeals court said Wellman made two mistakes that warranted overturning the death sentence. "We do not expect counsel to be prescient about the direction the law will take," Judge Harry Pregerson wrote for the three-judge panel. "We nonetheless find that Wellman's representation of Hoffman during the plea bargaining stage was deficient for two reasons: first, Wellman based his advice on incomplete research, and second, Wellman recommended that his client risk much in exchange for very little." That error, combined with Hoffman's compliant personality, meant that he was harmed by the attorney's recommendation, the court found. Idaho's lawyers told the Supreme Court that the 9th Circuit made it too easy for defendants to prove that their lawyers were ineffective. The decision shouldn't turn on whether the advice was right or wrong, but on whether a competent lawyer would have made the same recommendation, the state said. |
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