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LA sheriff under fire after report slams jails
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/09/29 17:35
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Los Angeles County's longtime sheriff is facing one of the toughest attacks of his 13-year term, after a civil rights group demanded his resignation and claimed he looked the other way while his sprawling jail network became co-opted by violent and corrupt deputies who routinely abuse inmates.
Sheriff Lee Baca, whose deputies oversee about 15,000 inmates in the nation's busiest jail system, said he welcomed the criticism but disputed the claims made Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union. He said he had no intention of stepping down.
The ACLU demanded the four-term sheriff's resignation, saying he and his top commanders are willfully indifferent to claims made by inmates and civilian jail visitors that deputies routinely viciously assault inmates.
In one case, an inmate at the downtown Men's Central Jail said deputies accused him of stealing mail then punched him, breaking an eye socket, and marched him naked to a cell occupied by two gang members.
Deputies repeatedly ignored the man's cries for help as the gang members raped him while another inmate flushed his head down a toilet to muffle his screams, the man, who had been jailed for making criminal threats, said in a sworn declaration. |
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Wis. Supreme Court takes payday loan case
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/09/26 16:21
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The state Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether Wisconsin law permits judges to determine when payday loan interest rates are too high.
The court will consider whether state statutes block judges from determining if a particular interest rate is unconscionable and, if they don't, what evidence would prove rates are too high.
The case stems from loans Jesica Mount of Onalaska secured from Payday Loan Stores of Wisconsin Inc. in 2008. According to court documents, annual interest rates on the loans varied from 446 percent to 1,338 percent.
The loan company filed a lawsuit against Mount after she failed to make her payments. Mount filed a counterclaim alleging the loans violated the Wisconsin Consumer Act because the rates were unconscionable. |
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Ill. court rules against releasing Drew Peterson
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/09/20 14:46
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The Illinois Supreme Court says Drew Peterson must stay in jail while the former police officer fights charges that he murdered his third wife. Peterson has been jailed for more than two years. His trial has been on hold while prosecutors appeal a ruling that bars them from introducing statements allegedly made by his wife, Kathleen Savio. Peterson says the long wait violates his right to a speedy trial. The state Supreme Court rejected his petition Monday without explanation. Peterson attorney Joel Brodsky says it's very uncommon for someone to be held so long without a trial. He says he's disappointed by the court's decision. The retired Bolingbrook police sergeant has also been named a suspect in his fourth wife's disappearance but has not been charged. |
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Fugitive siblings from Fla. in Colorado court
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/09/20 11:46
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Three siblings accused in a cross-country crime spree that began in Florida and ended with a police chase in southern Colorado could soon learn whether they'll stand trial. Lee Grace Dougherty and her brothers Dylan Stanley-Dougherty and Ryan Edward Dougherty were in court in Walsenburg, Colo., on Tuesday for a preliminary hearing. Such hearings in Colorado typically involve judges hearing from arresting officers to determine if there's enough evidence to hold a trial. However, defendants can waive their right to have the evidence presented in court. The siblings are accused of robbing a bank in Georgia and shooting at police officers in Florida and Colorado. They're also suspected in two car thefts in Utah. |
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Court reinstates $675,000 damages for downloading
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/09/19 14:51
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A federal appeals court has reinstated a $675,000 judgment against a Boston University student who illegally downloaded and shared songs on the Internet.
In 2009, a jury in Boston awarded $675,000 to the Recording Industry Association of America, representing four record labels, in a lawsuit filed against Joel Tenenbaum.
A judge later reduced the award to $67,500, finding the original penalty "unconstitutionally excessive."
In his appeal, Tenenbaum sought to overturn the penalty. But the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the full award in a ruling Friday.
Tenenbaum's lawyers argue that federal copyright laws and the Digital Theft Deterrence Act were not meant to target consumers. Lawyers representing the recording industry argue that the economic impact of illegal downloading is much greater than the sharing of one song. |
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Appeals court to weigh Ark. desegregation case
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/09/19 12:54
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A federal appeals court is set to hear arguments over whether Arkansas can stop making desegregation payments to Little Rock-area schools more than 50 years after troops escorted nine black students into an all-white school. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis will begin hearing arguments Monday about whether a judge erred in May by cutting most of the $70 million that the Little Rock, North Little Rock and Pulaski County districts receive to help them racially balance their schools. The payments are part of a 1989 settlement after the Little Rock schools accused the other districts and the state of not doing enough to help them desegregate. The state argues that the payments are no longer necessary. |
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