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Miss. high court takes ex-gov pardons case
Areas of Focus |
2012/02/03 07:06
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The Mississippi Supreme Court said Wednesday it will take up the legal challenge to the pardons ex-Gov. Haley Barbour gave out in his last days in office.
State Attorney General Jim Hood, a Democrat, wants to invalidate dozens of the 198 pardons that Barbour, a Republican, handed out before his second four-year term ended Jan. 10. Ten of the people were still incarcerated when they received reprieves.
Only about two dozen of the people pardoned followed the Mississippi Constitution's requirement to publish a notice about their reprieves in their local newspapers for 30 days, said Hood, who wants the others invalidated. Barbour has said the pardons are valid and that he gave them because he's a Christian and believes in second chances.
Most of the people who could lose their pardons already served their sentences and have been out of prison for years. Some of them were convicted of comparatively minor crimes as far back as the 1960s and 1970s and have never been in trouble again.
Five of the pardoned are being held on a temporary restraining order issued by Hinds County Circuit Judge Tomie Green. The Supreme Court extended that order until it can rule on the matter. It set a hearing for Feb. 9 and said it would try to rule quickly. |
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Conviction and sentence upheld in Palin email case
Areas of Focus |
2012/01/30 21:06
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A federal appeals court panel has upheld the conviction and sentence of a University of Tennessee student in the hacking of Sarah Palin's email in 2008.
The three judge panel in a Monday decision affirmed the conviction of 24-year-old David Kernell. A Knoxville jury last April convicted Kernell of unauthorized access to a protected computer and destroying records to impede a federal investigation.
Kernell's attorney, Wade Davies, contended at trial that Kernell had no criminal intent and that guessing his way into the email account was a prank. Palin was governor of Alaska and John McCain's GOP running mate at the time.
Kernell was released in November after serving less than 11 months.
Davies said he will seek a review by the full U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. |
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More charges filed in Los Angeles arsons case
Areas of Focus |
2012/01/25 17:45
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A German man pleaded not guilty Tuesday to additional charges accusing him of setting nearly 50 fires, mostly to parked cars, which terrorized parts of Los Angeles over the New Year's weekend.
Deputy Public Defender Gustavo Sztraicher entered the plea in Superior Court on behalf of Harry Burkhart, who spoke only to identify himself and acknowledge that he understood the legal process.
Bail was set at $7.5 million, and Burkhart was scheduled to return to court March 1.
Outside court, Sztraicher had no comment.
Earlier in the day, the criminal complaint against Burkhart was amended to include a total of 100 arson-related counts involving 49 fires in Hollywood, West Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley. If convicted, the 24-year-old faces more than 80 years in state prison.
The rash of fires left residents on edge between Dec. 30 and Jan. 2 as parked cars were torched during the night. Some of the fires spread to carports and nearby buildings, including a former home of Doors singer Jim Morrison, and rousted people from their beds. Another one of the blazes was at the Hollywood and Highland entertainment complex, a popular tourist destination bordered by the Walk of Fame. |
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Court upholds murder conviction in toddler's death
Areas of Focus |
2012/01/24 17:17
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Georgia's top court has unanimously upheld the murder convictions and life prison sentences given to a metro Atlanta couple for strangling and beating to death the woman's young daughter.
The Georgia Supreme Court's decision on Monday involved the December 2008 death of Makayla Mack, who was 2 ½ when she was taken to the hospital.
An autopsy revealed she had hair loss, bruises and other signs of abuse, and Coweta County prosecutors charged Thomasina Mack and DeMario Steven Smith with her death.
The two were tried jointly in April 2010 and the jury found them guilty of murder and cruelty to children, sentencing them both to life in prison. Both appealed, but the Georgia Supreme Court's opinion found the evidence was sufficient to find them "guilty beyond a reasonable doubt." |
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Colo. court weighs energy leases near Utah parks
Areas of Focus |
2012/01/20 18:09
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A federal appeals court must decide if the Obama administration gave energy companies sufficient notice that it was scrapping oil and gas leases auctioned off near national parks in Utah in the closing days of the Bush presidency.
The sale near Arches and Canyonlands national parks and Dinosaur National Monument was protested by environmentalists, including Robert Redford, and prompted an act of civil disobedience by a University of Utah student who entered the bidding and drove up prices.
Energy companies are trying to win back the leases and asked the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver on Thursday to reconsider whether a news conference by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar soon after President Barack Obama took office counts as public notice of his final decision.
The government argues that the Feb. 4, 2009, announcement and an internal memo two days later served as notice. The energy companies claim that the new administration didn't follow typical notification procedures and that the decision wasn't final until the Bureau of Land Management carried out Salazar's decision on Feb. 12, 2009. |
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Court lets telemarketers be sued in federal court
Areas of Focus |
2012/01/18 18:06
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The Supreme Court is keeping telemarketers and other businesses on the hook for nuisance phone calls, letting those annoyed by the disruptions sue in federal as well as state courts.
The high court's decision Wednesday involves a lawsuit claiming a debt collector harassed a man with repeated recorded calls.
Marcus Mims of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said he kept getting the calls from Arrow Financial Services LLC, which was trying to collect a student loan debt for Sallie Mae. He sued for violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, passed by Congress to ban invasive telemarketing practices.
Mims' lawsuit was thrown out by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which said that Congress did not explicitly give permission for federal lawsuits in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, although the law does say people can file in state courts. Other federal courts ruled differently and let lawsuits move forward.
The high court said in a unanimous opinion that federal lawsuits are allowed under the law. |
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Court orders new psychiatric review of Breivik
Areas of Focus |
2012/01/13 18:10
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A Norwegian court on Friday ordered a new psychiatric evaluation of confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik, after an earlier report found him legally insane.
Judge Wenche Elizabeth Arntzen said in Oslo the new evaluation is necessary considering widespread criticism of the initial findings, which suggested Breivik should be sent to psychiatric care instead of prison.
The 32-year-old Norwegian has confessed to a bomb and shooting spree July 22 that killed 77 people and traumatized the peaceful Scandinavian country.
Breivik denies criminal guilt, saying he's a commander of a resistance movement aiming to overthrow European governments and replace them with "patriotic" regimes that would deport Muslim immigrants.
Investigators have found no sign of such a movement and say Breivik most likely plotted and carried out the attacks on his own.
Arntzen said two Norwegian psychiatrists — Agnar Aspaas and Terje Toerrisen — had been appointed for the new evaluation.
However, Breivik doesn't want to talk to them because he doesn't believe they will understand him any better than the experts who interviewed him for the first assessment, defense lawyer Geir Lippestad, told reporters after speaking to his client in prison.
Lippestad also said that the defense team is skeptical toward a new evaluation because the first assessment was leaked to Norwegian media. |
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