The Georgia Supreme Court ruled Monday that two men will be eligible for the death penalty if they are found guilty of killing a Bibb County sheriff's deputy even if they didn't know he was a law enforcement officer.

The state is seeking the death penalty against Antron Dawayne Fair and Damon Antwon Jolly for the 2006 killing of deputy Joseph Whitehead. In a 5-2 decision, the Supreme Court said the death penalty should not be barred.

Whitehead was a member of a team of officers attempting to serve a "no-knock" warrant on a house in Macon that was suspected of drug trafficking. He was killed moments after entering the home.

Fair and Jolly were charged with murder, and prosecutors cited the killing of a police officer as an aggravating circumstance.

It was the second time the case has been appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court in an attempt to block the state from seeking the death penalty. Trials have not been scheduled for either defendant.

Defense attorneys contended in the latest appeal that the statute that lists aggravating circumstances permitting the death penalty violates constitutional rights to equal protection. They said a person who kills an undercover officer without knowing it should not be treated the same as one who knowingly kills an officer.

The state’s highest court on Thursday overturned the conviction of a Brockton woman who was convicted five years ago of second-degree murder in the 1985 death of her toddler daughter.

Margaret Earle was convicted in 2005 — 20 years after her daughter died. Her boyfriend was convicted of first-degree murder for stomping on the girl’s stomach.
Medical testimony established that Rachelle Pelletier’s small bowel was severed, which caused bacteria to build up and led to organ failure and death.

Prosecutors had argued that Earle failed to seek appropriate medical attention for the 21-month-old. But the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the evidence of malice was “legally insufficient” to support Earle’s second-degree murder conviction.

Earle’s lawyer, Michael Schneider, said his client still feels “horrible” about the loss of her child but was “thrilled” with the court’s ruling.

“Peggy has known in her heart that she had no involvement in this thing whatsoever,” he said. “Twenty-five years later she’s glad to put it behind her.”
Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz, whose office prosecuted the case, said he was “gravely disturbed” by the reversal.

Foreclosure law attorney David J. Stern has stepped away from all operations in a Plantation, Fla., company he founded. He will now concentrate on his law firm, a company statement said.

DJSP Enterprises Inc., which did work for Stern's law firm, announced Stern resigned as president and CEO and that it appointed Stephen J. Bernstein as chairman of the board, president and CEO. Bernstein served as interim chairman after Stern stepped down from that position earlier this year.

Stern's law firm and other foreclosure companies are under investigation by the Florida Attorney General's Office, which accuses them of submitting misleading or fabricated documents in foreclosure cases.

The state’s highest court is releasing the findings of a probe into allegations of widespread patronage in the Massachusetts Probation Department.

The justices have been reviewing the report since last week and announced they will release it Thursday afternoon.

Independent counsel Paul Ware submitted the report to the Supreme Judicial Court on Nov. 10.

Probation Commissioner John O’Brien was suspended in May after a series of Boston Globe articles alleging that the department has become a patronage haven for lawmakers.

Among the witnesses subpoenaed to appear before Ware was state Rep. Thomas Petrolati of Ludlow, a top deputy to House Speaker Robert DeLeo. The Globe reported that Petrolati’s wife, a former aide and financial supporters had received jobs in the department.

The California Supreme  Court upheld a state law on Monday allowing illegal immigrants who attend high school in California for three years and graduate to pay lower in-state tuition rates at state colleges and universities.

The unanimous ruling reverses a lower-court decision siding with opponents of the law who said it unfairly favors illegal immigrants over U.S. citizens who live outside California and are charged much higher out-of-state tuition rates.

The measure, passed by the state legislature in 2001, was challenged in court on behalf of students who are U.S. citizens and claimed they were illegally denied the in-state tuition break carved out for undocumented students.

Nine other states have adopted similar tuition laws, and legal challenges are pending in two of them -- Nebraska and Texas, lawyers for both sides in the California case said.

Kris Kobach, attorney for the Immigration Reform Law Institute, which brought the California suit, said Monday's decision was "flawed in numerous ways" and vowed to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Kobach, whose group estimates more than 25,000 illegal immigrants pay in-state tuition each year under California's statute, said there was a good chance his side would prevail if the nation's high court agreed to hear the case.

The Supreme Court will not stop subpoenas issued to an advocate for chronic pain patients who is under investigation for obstruction of justice.

Siobhan Reynolds and her organization, the Pain Relief Network, are being investigated because of her involvement with a doctor and wife who illegally prescribed painkillers to dozens of patients who later died.

The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from Reynolds.

Reynolds wanted justices to quash grand jury subpoenas and her contempt citation for not turning over subpoenaed e-mails and documents.

The court filings in Reynolds' case have been sealed.