Recent Updates
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Court won't hear 'Ghost Hunters' appeal
Court Alerts 11/07/2011The Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from some television networks being sued by a paranormal investigator who claims his idea was stolen and turned into the television show "Ghost Hunters." Without comment, the court turned away an appeal from NBC...
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Court tosses $43M award against Ford in crash case
Court Alerts 11/04/2011The Illinois Supreme Court has thrown out an Illlinois jury's $43 million award against Ford Motor Co. in a product-liability lawsuit linked to a fiery 2003 crash that killed a Missouri man and disfigured his wife. The high court, in a Sept. 22 rulin...
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Court takes up case on eyewitness identification
Court Alerts 11/03/2011The Supreme Court appeared resistant Wednesday to increasing constitutional safeguards against the use of some eyewitness testimony at criminal trials, despite mounting evidence that eyewitness identification plays a crucial role in cases in which pe...
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High court considers Ga. suit over false testimony
Court Alerts 11/02/2011The Supreme Court wrestled Tuesday with whether government officials are protected from civil lawsuits, even if they tell lies that lead a grand jury to vote for an indictment. The justices heard arguments in an appeal from Charles Rehberg, an accoun...
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Scandal-plagued former Bell official sues city
Court Alerts 11/01/2011Public outrage — and changed locks — forced Robert Rizzo out of a job last year, but the former city manager says he's still owed his $1.5 million salary and benefits. In a lawsuit against the city of Bell filed Monday, Rizzo claims he's owed his wag...
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Court sidesteps Connecticut student speech case
Court Alerts 10/30/2011The Supreme Court is refusing to disturb a court ruling that Connecticut school officials acted reasonably in disciplining a student for an Internet posting she wrote outside of school. The justices on Monday turned down an appeal from Avery Doninger...
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Man pleads guilty to Picasso theft at SF gallery
Court Alerts 10/28/2011A New Jersey man who walked out of a San Francisco gallery with a pencil sketch by Pablo Picasso worth $275,000 pleaded guilty to grand theft Thursday. Workers at the Weinstein Gallery said Mark Lugo brazenly snatched the drawing, called "Tete de Fem...
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US defends gun sale reporting requirement in court
Court Alerts 10/26/2011Gun store owners in southwestern border states argued in federal court Tuesday that the Obama administration cannot require them to report when customers buy multiple high-powered rifles.The Justice Department responded to a lawsuit seeking to block ...
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Names of Casey Anthony jurors released in Fla.
Court Alerts 10/25/2011A court released the names of the jurors in the Casey Anthony trial for the first time Tuesday since they acquitted the Florida woman of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.The "cooling off" period a judge cited in delaying the release for thre...
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Judge deciding if convicted killer gets DNA tests
Court Alerts 10/24/2011A Texas death row inmate is trying to convince the courts to force prosecutors to turn over knives, clothing and other evidence for DNA testing that his attorneys say could prove his innocence. But prosecutors say the request from 49-year-old Henry W...
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Mom pleads guilty to forcing beer on children
Court Alerts 10/21/2011A Connecticut mother has pleaded guilty to charges that she forced her 4-year-old son to drink beer and gave her 10-month-old daughter beer and cocaine. The Connecticut Post reports Juliette Dunn, of Bridgeport, pleaded guilty Wednesday to risk of in...
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Lawyer: Student wrote rap lyrics not terror threat
Court Alerts 10/20/2011An aspiring rapper on trial over what authorities say was a note threatening a Virginia Tech-like killing spree set off "alarm bells" days before the writings surfaced on his college campus by pressing to get firepower he ordered from a gun dealer, a...