|
|
|
Sexual offences Sydney
Lawyer Blog News |
2012/05/19 05:48
|
Anyone charged with a sexual assault or indecent assault will not have settling thoughts at the end of the night. If you are not guilty of such sexual offences, it can be overwhelming and stressful. However, knowing who can help represent your case to get your favorable outcomes will reduce the stress a sexual offence can bring. The Crimes Act now inclues many more sexual assault offences from previous years and like any criminal offence, the penalties for sexual offences have been raised significantly. Areas of sexual assault law in Sydney have changed in the recent years. These inclue laws dealing with consent, prior sexual conduct, cross examination of complainants, and accessing information about complainants. Dealing with a sexual assault case towards a District Court or Supreme Court Criminal Trial can have greater penalties than in the local courts.
It is crucial to get lawyers who specialise in sexual assault cases so they understand the laws and have the experience to get the right results. At Sydney Criminal Lawyers, our experienced sexual assault lawyers will fight for your rights every step of the way. Our attorneys treat every case as if it is their most important case because we know how much is at stake for our clients. Our attorneys have legal costs awarded in favour of our clients and we have been successful in winning complaints made against unfair investigating police. Please call us at (02) 9261 8881 or send us an email at http://www.criminallaw.com.au/sexual-offences |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Okla. court halts 'personhood' rights for embryos
Lawyer Blog News |
2012/05/01 17:10
|
The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Monday halted an effort to grant "personhood" rights to human embryos, saying the measure is unconstitutional.
The state's highest court ruled unanimously that a proposed amendment to the Oklahoma Constitution that would define a fertilized human egg as a person violates a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court decision involving a Pennsylvania case and "is clearly unconstitutional." Supporters of the personhood amendment are trying to gather enough signatures to put it before Oklahoma voters on the November ballot.
Opponents contend the measure would ban abortions without exception and interfere with a woman's right to use certain forms of contraception and medical procedures, such as in vitro fertilization.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights filed a protest with the state Supreme Court on behalf of several Oklahoma doctors and residents. They asked the court to stop the group Personhood Oklahoma from gathering signatures.
The nine-member court determined the initiative petition "is void on its face" and struck it down.
"The only course available to this court is to follow what the United States Supreme Court, the final arbiter of the United States Constitution, has decreed," the court said. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Supreme Court considers Fighting Sioux case
Lawyer Blog News |
2012/03/16 10:00
|
North Dakota's Supreme Court grilled the state Board of Higher Education's lawyer Thursday about the board's tardiness in challenging a law that requires the University of North Dakota's sports teams to carry the Fighting Sioux nickname.
State lawmakers first approved the pro-nickname law in March 2011. Yet it wasn't until last month, after the law was repealed and then revived in a referendum campaign, that the higher education board sued to block the law, Justice Daniel Crothers said.
"That harm has been there since the statute was passed almost a year ago ... Why now? Why in the face of a referral?" Crothers asked Douglas Bahr, an assistant attorney general who is representing the board, during Supreme Court oral arguments Thursday.
Secretary of State Al Jaeger scheduled a June 12 referendum on the law after nickname backers turned in more than 16,000 petition signatures demanding a ballot.
The law says UND's sports teams must be known as the Fighting Sioux and keep a separate logo that depicts the profile of an American Indian warrior.
NCAA officials have told UND that as long as the nickname and logo are kept, the Grand Forks school may not host NCAA post-season tournaments. Its teams, cheerleaders and band members may not wear them on uniforms during post-season play. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
House acts against high court on eminent domain
Lawyer Blog News |
2012/02/29 17:33
|
The House sought Tuesday to undercut a 2005 Supreme Court ruling that gives state and local governments eminent domain authority to seize private property for economic development projects.
Sponsors of the bill, which passed by a voice vote, said it was needed because the 5-4 high court ruling skewed constitutional intentions that eminent domain apply only to land for public use projects.
That ruling, said bill cosponsor Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., justified "the government's taking of private property and giving it to a private business for use in the interest of creating a more lucrative tax base." As a result, he said, the "government's power of eminent domain has become almost limitless, providing citizens with few means to protect their property."
His legislation would withhold for two years all federal development aid to states or locales that take private property for economic development. It also bars the federal government from using eminent domain for economic development purposes and gives private property owners the right to take legal action if provisions of the legislation are violated. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
British arms-to-Iran suspect faces Texas court
Lawyer Blog News |
2012/02/27 16:44
|
A retired British businessman is to appear in a federal court in El Paso after being extradited last week on charges that he tried to sell missile batteries to Iran in 2006.
Christopher Tappin turned himself in Friday after fighting extradition from the United Kingdom for two years. Two other men were sentenced in 2007 to 20 and 24 months in federal prison for their roles in the scheme.
The 65-year-old Tappin was denied a final appeal of his extradition last month and delivered to El Paso by federal marshals. His deportation sparked a debate in the U.K. over whether British and American citizens are treated equally under the two countries' extradition treaty.
Don Cogdell, Tappin's attorney in Texas, said he plans to aggressively push to have Tappin granted bail. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Appeals court tosses Armenian payments law
Lawyer Blog News |
2012/02/24 17:28
|
A federal appeals court on Thursday struck down a novel and controversial California law that allowed descendants of 1.5 million Armenians who perished in Turkey nearly a century ago to file claims against life insurance companies accused of reneging on policies.
The move came when a specially convened 11-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously tossed out a class action lawsuit filed against Munich Re after two of its subsidiaries refused to pay claims.
The ruling, written by Judge Susan Graber, said the California law trampled on U.S. foreign policy — the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government.
The California Legislature labeled the Armenian deaths as genocide, a term the Turkish government vehemently argued was wrongly applied during a time of civil unrest in the country.
The court noted the issue is so fraught with politics that President Obama studiously avoided using the word genocide during a commemorative speech in April 2010 noting the Armenian deaths.
The tortured legal saga began in 2000 when the California Legislature passed a law enabling Armenian heirs to file claims with insurance companies for policies sold around the turn of the 20th century. It gave the heirs until 2010 to file lawsuits over unpaid insurance benefits. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Recent Lawyer News Updates |
|
|
Lawyer News RSS
