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Court asks judges to respond to Louisiana sheriff's claims
Court Watch |
2016/09/26 22:24
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A federal appeals court on Monday asked two judges to respond to a petition by a Louisiana sheriff who claims another judge was improperly removed from his criminal case without explanation.
A letter from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says Chief Judge Dee Drell of the Western District of Louisiana and U.S. District Judge Donald Walter in Shreveport are "invited" to file written responses by Oct. 6. The appeals court also asked two federal prosecutors to respond to Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal's arguments.
Ackal's attorney, John McLindon, argued in a court filing Friday that U.S. District Judge Patricia Minaldi's mysterious removal from the sheriff's case violated court rules and apparently was done without her consent earlier this year.
McLindon also is challenging Walter's decision to hold the trial in Shreveport instead of Lafayette, where the case originated.
The letter from the 5th Circuit doesn't specify what issues the judges and prosecutors should address in their responses to Ackal's petition. The letter indicated that they discussed the matter by telephone on Monday morning.
Ackal awaits trial next month on charges over the alleged beatings of jail inmates. Nine former employees of the sheriff's office already have pleaded guilty and are cooperating with the Justice Department's civil rights investigation.
Minaldi originally was assigned to preside over the high-profile cases against the sheriff and 11 of his subordinates. But Drell abruptly reassigned the cases to Walter in March, two days after Ackal's indictment. Drell didn't give a reason for the switch in his one-sentence orders.
Four days before Minaldi's removal from the cases, she was in the middle of accepting guilty pleas by two former sheriff's deputies when a prosecutor cut her off mid-sentence and asked to speak to a defense attorney. Then, after a short break and private discussion with the attorneys, Minaldi adjourned the March 7 hearing in Lake Charles without giving a reason on the record. |
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Judge in Stanford swimmer case switching to civil court
Court Watch |
2016/08/26 21:33
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A judge whose six-month sentence in the sexual assault case of a former Stanford swimmer has removed himself from handling criminal matters, but efforts to recall him remain.
Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky requested that he be assigned to civil court and that request was approved, the county's Presiding Judge Rise Pinchon said in a statement Thursday.
"While I firmly believe in Judge Persky's ability to serve in his current assignment, he has requested to be assigned to the civil division, in which he previously served," Pichon said. "Judge Persky believes the change will aid the public and the court by reducing the distractions that threaten to interfere with his ability to effectively discharge the duties of his current criminal assignment."
The move is not necessarily permanent. The assignment is subject to an annual review and takes effect Sept. 6.
Pichon said that another judge's desire to transfer to Palo Alto has made a quick swap with Persky possible. Normally such changes don't happen until a new year.
Persky ordered the six-month sentence for Brock Turner, a Dayton, Ohio, resident who had been attending Stanford on a swimming scholarship. The judge cited a probation department recommendation and the effect the conviction will have on Turner's life.
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California court decision keeps teacher tenure protections
Court Watch |
2016/08/25 15:30
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In a victory for teacher unions, a divided California Supreme Court decided Monday to let the state's teacher tenure law stand. The high court decided 4-3 not to review a lower court ruling that upheld tenure and other job protections for teachers. That ruling came in a lawsuit by a group of students who claimed that incompetent teachers were almost impossible to fire because of tenure laws and that schools in poor neighborhoods were dumping grounds for bad teachers. The case was closely watched around the country and highlighted tensions between teacher unions, school leaders, lawmakers and well-funded education reform groups over whether policies like tenure and firing teachers with the least seniority keep ineffective instructors in the classroom. Dozens of states have moved in recent years to get rid of such protections or raise the standards for obtaining them. Associate Justice Goodwin Liu voted for the California Supreme Court to take up the case, saying it affected millions of students statewide and presented a significant legal issue that the lower court likely got wrong. |
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2 teens killed in Atlanta suburb: Man accused due in court
Court Watch |
2016/08/17 16:56
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A man accused of killing two teenagers near Atlanta is set to appear in court for a preliminary hearing.
Jeffrey Hazelwood is scheduled to appear Friday morning in Fulton County Magistrate Court.
The 20-year-old is charged with murder and theft in the killings of Carter Davis and Natalie Henderson in Roswell. The 17-year-olds were shot in the head. An autopsy report says their bodies were found behind a grocery store and had been placed in distinct poses.
Police have declined to discuss a possible motive for the slayings, or whether Hazelwood knew the teens.
Hazelwood's attorney, Lawrence Zimmerman, has said he'll provide a vigorous defense.
Henderson and Davis, who used to live in Rapid City, South Dakota, would have been seniors this year at their Georgia high schools. |
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'Whitey' Bulger asks US Supreme Court to hear his appeal
Court Watch |
2016/08/16 16:56
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James "Whitey" Bulger has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his appeal of his racketeering convictions for playing a role in 11 murders and committing a litany of other crimes.
It is unclear if the high court will take up the Boston gangster's case. The court generally agrees to hear only a small percentage of the thousands of cases it's asked to review each year. The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Bulger's 2013 convictions in March.
A three-judge panel of the court found that Bulger had not shown that his right to a fair trial was violated when a judge barred him from testifying about his claim that a now-deceased federal prosecutor granted him immunity. The trial judge said Bulger had not offered any hard evidence that such an agreement existed.
Bulger, now 86, led a notoriously violent gang from the 1970s through the early 1990s. He fled Boston in 1994 after an FBI agent tipped him that he was about to be indicted. Bulger remained a fugitive until 2011, when he was captured in Santa Monica, California. He is now serving a life sentence.
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Williams court cases decline, but caseload remains high
Court Watch |
2016/08/09 20:35
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Court cases in Williams County have declined as energy activity has slowed, but caseloads in the oil patch county remain heavy.
The Williston Herald reports that about 2,100 criminal cases are expected to be filed this year in the county that's home to Williston, down from a peak of more than 2,750 filings in 2012.
State's Attorney Marlyce Wilder says theft cases remain steady, however, as people who have lost their jobs in the oil field struggle.
The clerk of court's office also is short-staffed. By fall, the office will have three open positions that can't be filled without state Supreme Court approval due to state budget cuts prompted by the oil slowdown.
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Swedish court hands life sentences to 2 for gang shooting
Court Watch |
2016/08/07 20:35
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A Swedish court has handed life sentences to two men and prison sentences to six others in a high-profile gang-related shooting that left two dead and eight wounded in the city of Goteborg last year.
The Goteborg District Court said Monday the two key suspects were found guilty of murder for opening fire with automatic weapons in a crowded Goteborg restaurant in March, 2015 as people were watching a Champions League soccer match.
The court said six other defendants were charged with murder, attempted murder, planning and assisting the crime, and were given prison sentences between 7 and 14 years. Disputes between criminal gangs are believed to have motivated the shooting.
All eight men have denied the charges but it wasn't immediately clear whether they would appeal the verdict.
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