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Pivotal CA gay marriage ban decision due Thursday
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/11/17 13:55
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The California Supreme Court is poised to release a decision that could prove pivotal to the future of the state's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage.
The court says it will file a written opinion Thursday morning clarifying whether the sponsors of ballot initiatives can defend their measures from legal challenges without the cooperation of the governor and attorney general.
A federal appeals court considering the constitutionality of the 2008 ban, known as Proposition 8, asked the state high court to weigh in on that question before it gets to the merits of the case.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has expressed doubts about the ability of Proposition 8's sponsors alone to challenge a lower court ruling that overturned the initiative. California's previous governor and attorney general both refused to appeal the decision. |
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Missouri Supreme Court upholds strip club restrictions
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/11/16 12:34
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The Missouri Supreme Court has upheld a 2010 state law imposing restrictions on strip clubs and other sexually oriented businesses.
In a unanimous decision Tuesday, the court rejected claims from the adult entertainment industry that the law infringed on free expression rights and was passed in violation of legislative procedures.
The court said there was enough evidence to support the Legislature's belief that the restrictions served a government interest in minimizing negative effects from sexually oriented businesses.
The law requires sexually themed businesses to close by midnight. It also bans full nudity, alcohol, minors and touching between semi-nude employees and customers.
The Supreme Court's ruling affirms a prior decision by a Cole County judge. |
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Supreme Court refuses to hear Brooks appeal
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/11/15 15:51
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The Supreme Court has denied a last minute appeal from an Ohio man scheduled to be executed Tuesday morning.
The court on Tuesday denied appeals from Reginald Brooks, who is scheduled to be executed for fatally shooting his three sons while they slept.
State and U.S. courts have rejected attorneys' arguments that the 66-year-old Brooks is not mentally competent and that the government withheld relevant evidence that could have affected Brooks' case.
The appeals first went to Justice Elena Kagan and then to the rest of the court, where it was rejected without comment. |
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Fifth guilty plea entered in Philly abortion case
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/11/13 18:38
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A woman initially hired to clean instruments at a Philadelphia abortion clinic has pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree murder in the deaths of a newborn baby and a woman who died after an anesthesia overdose.
As part of her plea agreement with prosecutors, Lynda Williams also agreed on Wednesday to testify against the operator of the clinic, Dr. Kermit Gosnell.
Williams was one of 10 people charged in a shocking grand jury report that alleged viable, live-born babies were routinely killed at Gosnell's clinic by having their spinal cords severed with scissors.
At the end of the hearing, a prosecutor told the teary-eyed Williams she "did the right thing" by pleading guilty, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
The grand jury report described filthy, inhumane conditions at the clinic, which served many poor and immigrant women.
According to the grand jury report, Gosnell hired Williams, 43, in 2008 to clean instruments at his Women's Medical Center in West Philadelphia. But her duties soon increased to include performing ultrasounds and administering anesthesia. Authorities said it was Williams who administered a lethal mix of drugs that killed Karnamaya Mongar in November 2009. |
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Court upholds conviction in Pa. murder case
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/11/08 17:02
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The Supreme Court used its first opinion of the new term on Tuesday to uphold the murder conviction of a man in a Pennsylvania grocery store shooting.
The high court on Tuesday upheld Eric Greene's conviction in the 1993 shooting death of the owner of a grocery store in North Philadelphia.
Greene had complained that the confessions of some of the men who were with him at the time of the shooting should not have been introduced at his trial since they were not testifying. The introduction of those redacted confessions violated his right to confront his accusers, Greene said.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld his conviction, despite the fact that the Supreme Court had decided a similar case in 1998 that would have supported Greene's claim.
The Supreme Court, which heard arguments on this case in October, unanimously agreed with the lower court. The 1998 decision in Gray v. Maryland came after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled on Greene's case, noted Justice Antonin Scalia, who wrote the term's first opinion of an argued case. |
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Police: Judge won't be charged over video beating
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/11/04 13:54
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A Texas family law judge whose daughter secretly videotaped him savagely beating her seven years ago won't face criminal charges because too much time has elapsed, police said.
Aransas County Court-at-Law Judge William Adams likely would have been charged with causing injury to a child or other assault-related offenses for the 2004 beating of his then-16-year-old daughter, but the five-year statutes of limitations expired, Rockport Police Chief Tim Jayroe said Thursday.
"We believe that there was a criminal offense involved and that there was substantial evidence to indicate that and under normal circumstances ... a charge could have been made," Jayroe said. He said the district attorney determined he couldn't bring charges, and that police would discuss the case with federal prosecutors even though he doesn't believe federal charges would apply. |
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