|
|
|
Affirmative action foe wins California court fight
Law & Politics |
2013/12/20 19:11
|
In a bitter fight over the effects of affirmative action, the California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that law school data on race, attendance and grades should be available to the public.
The unanimous decision represents a legal victory for a law professor seeking to test his notion that minority students are actually harmed by preferential admissions policies.
University of California, Los Angeles law professor Richard Sander created a firestorm when he published his "mismatch theory" in the Stanford Law Review in 2004.
Critics swiftly attacked his conclusions, saying Sander understated the positive effects of affirmative action and based his thinking on inadequate statistics.
To further his research, Sander sought data on ethnicity and scholastic performance compiled by the State Bar of California with a public records request in 2008. The state bar denied the request, prompting the lawsuit.
Information compiled by the bar, a branch of the state judiciary responsible with licensing and disciplining lawyers, is "unparalleled," Sander said after the ruling Thursday. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
International court summit debates Africa issues
Law & Politics |
2013/11/22 18:22
|
The International Criminal Court's vexed relationship with Africa took center stage Wednesday on the opening day of the annual summit of its 122 member states.
The prosecutions of Kenya's president and his deputy have plunged relations between the world's first permanent war crimes court and the African Union to the deepest point in the court's 12-year history.
Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto is on trial for allegedly fomenting violence in the aftermath of his country's 2007 elections, and President Uhuru Kenyatta is due to go on trial in February on similar charges. Both men insist they are innocent.
"The court is facing a test of its veracity and its effectiveness," Kenya's Foreign Affairs Minister Amina Mohamed told delegates. "This meeting must come up with practical solutions to the challenges facing the court and the entire Rome Statute system."
The Rome Statute is the court's founding document, and one of its provisions is that heads of state do not enjoy immunity from prosecution.
But the African Union argues that Ruto and Kenyatta's trials should be delayed because Kenya needs its leaders to help fight al-Shabab terrorists in neighboring Somalia and at home. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 plead not guilty to killing students near USC
Law & Politics |
2013/11/08 23:15
|
Two men have pleaded not guilty to killing two Chinese graduate students who were shot as they sat in a parked car near the University of Southern California last year.
The Los Angeles Times says 20-year-old Javier Bolden and 21-year-old Bryan James entered the pleas Thursday to murder charges.
Prosecutors say the men killed engineering students Ming Qu and Ying Wu a mile from campus in April of last year while stealing their cellphones. Authorities say GPS data was used to track Wu's phone, leading to the arrests.
At a preliminary hearing last month, prosecutors played a recording of a wiretapped phone call between Barnes and Bolden, in which they apparently discussed the attack on the students. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Court-martial date set in Naval Academy case
Law & Politics |
2013/11/04 22:32
|
A court-martial has been scheduled for February for a U.S. Naval Academy student accused of aggravated sexual assault.
Midshipman Josh Tate appeared at an arraignment Monday at the Washington Navy Yard.
The court-martial is scheduled to begin Feb. 10. The case stems from an April 2012 party at an off-campus house in Annapolis. The alleged victim had been drinking heavily and has testified that she cannot remember having sex with Tate.
Another student also faces a separate court-martial in the case. It is scheduled for Jan. 27. Midshipman Eric Graham is charged with abusive sexual contact.
If you are facing trial by court-martial, you also have the right to hire an experienced civilian defense attorney to represent and defend you. It is your career and future that is at stake and it is important that you have an experienced attorney who will advocate aggressively on your behalf. Please contact Las Vegas Military Defense Attorneys. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Military high court to hear Kan. HIV exposure case
Law & Politics |
2013/09/30 22:45
|
The highest court for the U.S. armed forces has agreed to hear the appeal of a Kansas airman convicted of assault for exposing multiple sex partners to HIV at swinger parties in Wichita, his attorney said Friday.
David Gutierrez was a sergeant serving at McConnell Air Force base in Kansas when he was sentenced in 2011 to eight years in prison and stripped of his rank in an aggravated assault case. Prosecutors told the trial judge that a stiff sentence would send a message that the military values the integrity of its service members, saying Gutierrez played Russian roulette with his sexual partners' lives.
The defense on appeal has won a rare opportunity to present before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces an argument that his attorney says could set a far-reaching precedent across the military.
"It will set the table for the entire military services as to what kind of evidence is necessary to find that someone can cause grievous bodily injury after testing positive for HIV," said Kevin McDermott, one of his defense attorneys.
In addition to the HIV issue, the military appeals court agreed Tuesday to decide whether the evidence was sufficient to find Gutierrez committed adultery. The defense contends Gutierrez can't be guilty of adultery because his wife participated with her husband in the "swinger's lifestyle." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Missouri man sentenced for murder of attorney
Law & Politics |
2013/05/21 20:26
|
A St. Louis man has been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to murdering a lawyer who was beaten, stabbed and strangled in a 14-minute struggle.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports 46-year-old Cleophus King entered the plea Wednesday in the March 2008 killing of Luke Meiners, an assistant St. Louis County counselor.
King’s accomplice, Ferguson resident Ronald Johnson, received the same sentence after pleading guilty in 2010.
Prosecutors said Johnson lured Meiners — an acquaintance — to King’s home by saying he needed a ride there to laundry. In fact, prosecutors said, the two had planned in advance to rob Meiners and killed him when he resisted.
Johnson and King used Meiners’ vehicle to dump his body in Venice, then stole electronics from his University City apartment. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Recent Lawyer News Updates |
|
|
Lawyer News RSS
