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Montana Supreme Court hires new administrator
Legal Career News |
2011/07/13 17:44
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The Montana Supreme Court has a hired a new court administrator for the state's judicial branch.
The court named Beth McLaughlin, who had been the director of court services, as the replacement for Lois Menzies, who retired last month.
In her new position, McLaughlin will be the top administrator for courts throughout the state.
She was selected from a field of five finalists.
Chief Justice Mike McGrath said Tuesday that McLaughlin has worked with district courts and courts of limited jurisdiction across Montana, making her well qualified for the position. |
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Feds eye CIA officer in prisoner death
Legal Career News |
2011/07/13 17:19
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A CIA officer who oversaw the agency's interrogation program at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and pushed for approval to use increasingly harsh tactics has come under scrutiny in a federal war crimes investigation involving the death of a prisoner, witnesses told The Associated Press.
Steve Stormoen, who is now retired from the CIA, supervised an unofficial program in which the CIA imprisoned and interrogated men without entering their names in the Army's books.
The so-called "ghosting" program was unsanctioned by CIA headquarters. In fact, in early 2003, CIA lawyers expressly prohibited the agency from running its own interrogations, current and former intelligence officials said. The lawyers said agency officers could be present during military interrogations and add their expertise but, under the laws of war, the military must always have the lead.
Yet, in November 2003, CIA officers brought a prisoner, Manadel al-Jamadi, to Abu Ghraib and, instead of turning him over to the Army, took him to a shower stall. They put a sandbag over his head, handcuffed him behind his back and chained his arms to a barred window. When he leaned forward, his arms stretched painfully behind and above his back. |
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Law Firm To Collect $35M In Forfeited Bonds
Legal Career News |
2011/07/11 10:46
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A law firm will be appointed to collect about $35 million in forfeited bonds owed to Dallas County.
District Attorney Craig Watkins said Wednesday that a law firm, to be selected later, will get to keep 25 percent of the amount collected.
A recent local newspaper review found that many of the uncollected defaulted judgments date back decades. The newspaper reports that Dallas County has been hampered by outdated computers, poor oversight and lack of coordination among departments.
Defendants post bond to get out of jail, paying bondsmen usually 10 percent of the amount set by a judge. If the person doesn’t show up for court, a warrant is issued and the bond is forfeited.
The review found many companies failed to pay Dallas County the full amount. |
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Pa. family's fight for rare coins reaches court
Legal Career News |
2011/07/08 15:33
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A federal jury in Pennsylvania began hearing a tale Thursday that has long fascinated coin collectors: how a Philadelphia family ended up with a stash of exquisitely rare $20 gold coins from 1933 that the U.S. Mint never circulated. The 10 coins could bring $80 million or more at auction. But it's not clear that day will ever come. Federal attorneys told the jury in opening statements that the coins belong to the United States because they were never legally released by the U.S. Mint in the 1930s. But descendants of the late Philadelphia jeweler Israel Switt say the government can't prove they were stolen. Switt, who dealt in scrap gold, might have legally traded for them in his regular dealings with the Mint, their lawyers said. U.S. District Judge Legrome Davis promised jurors selected for the trial that the case would be more fascinating than anything they see on TV, a case replete with history about the gold standard, the Depression, and decades of sleuthing over the rare 1933 Saint-Gaudens "double eagles." The trial is expected to last two to three weeks. "The government must prove that these coins were stolen three-quarters of a century ago," lawyer Barry Berke, who represents Switt's daughter and grandsons, told the jury. |
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Feds urge court to let prison medicate Loughner
Legal Career News |
2011/07/07 11:53
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Federal prosecutors say an appeals court should let prison officials forcibly give anti-psychotic medication to the suspect in the Tucson shooting rampage.
The prosecutors say in court documents filed late Tuesday that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal should lift its order that temporarily bars prison officials from involuntarily medicating Jared Lee Loughner.
Loughner had been forcibly medicated between June 21 and July 1 at a federal facility in Missouri after prison officials determined his outbursts there posed a danger. His lawyers have objected.
Loughner pleaded not guilty to 49 charges in the Jan. 8 shooting that killed six people and wounded 13 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
Loughner has been at the facility since late May after a judge ruled him mentally unfit to stand trial. |
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Ga. court says store can be liable for beer sale
Legal Career News |
2011/07/05 11:12
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The Georgia Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling and found a convenience store can be held liable for a fatal highway accident that took place after a driver purchased a 12-pack of beer.
The court ruled 6-1 Tuesday that Exprezit! Stores 98-Georgia can be held liable for selling beer to a man named Billy Grundell, who was noticeably intoxicated when he made the purchase. His vehicle later struck a van, killing him and five other people.
The families of those injured sued, but the trial court and Georgia Court of Appeals awarded summary judgment to the store on grounds the beer was not sold for consumption on premises. The Supreme Court disagreed.
Attorneys for the store argued that clerks couldn't know Grundell would soon be driving. |
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