Recent Updates
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Not guilty pleas entered for accused in Canada polygamy case
Criminal Law 04/20/2017The trial of two Canadian men from a fundamentalist sect that allows men to have multiple wives opened Tuesday with not guilty pleas being entered on charges of practicing polygamy. Winston Blackmore and James Oler each face one count of polygamy. Bo...
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Conservatives fault Arkansas court for halting executions
Criminal Law 04/20/2017Arkansas' attempt to carry out its first execution in nearly 12 years wasn't thwarted by the type of liberal activist judge Republicans regularly bemoan here, but instead by a state Supreme Court that's been the focus of expensive campaigns by conser...
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Democrats tighten opposition of high court pick
Criminal Law 04/01/2017Senate Democratic opposition to President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee swelled Friday as Democrats neared the numbers needed for a filibuster, setting up a showdown with Republicans who have the votes to confirm Neil Gorsuch. Sens. Claire McC...
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Court: Wisconsin Bell discriminated against worker
Criminal Law 03/26/2017A Wisconsin appeals court says state labor officials properly determined that Wisconsin Bell's decision to fire a bipolar employee amounted to discrimination. According to court documents, Wisconsin Bell fired Charles Carlson in 2011 for engaging in ...
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Court: Sex offender can challenge internet restrictions
Criminal Law 03/21/2017A convicted sex offender challenging restrictions on internet use will get a new hearing before New Jersey's parole board. The state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in the case of a man identified only by the initials J.I. who had claimed the restriction...
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Immigration courts: record number of cases, many problems
Criminal Law 03/06/2017Everyone was in place for the hearing in Atlanta immigration court: the Guinean man hoping to stay in the U.S., his attorney, a prosecutor, a translator and the judge. But because of some missing paperwork, it was all for nothing. When the government...
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Court officer investigated for photographing lawyer's notes
Criminal Law 03/03/2017A court security officer in Maine has been placed on leave while under investigation for sending a cellphone photo of a defense attorney's notes to a prosecutor. The Kennebec Journal reports that court officials are calling the incident a serious eth...
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Lawmakers want Supreme Court review of voting law continued
Criminal Law 03/01/2017North Carolina Republican legislative leaders want the U.S. Supreme Court to reject the new Democratic state attorney general's bid to dismiss their appeal of a lower court ruling that struck down a voting law based on racial bias. Lawyers the Genera...
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Top court reviews free speech case of man's anti-police rap
Criminal Law 01/29/2017Pennsylvania's highest court is reviewing the conviction of a Pittsburgh man for making threats against police in a rap song after he was charged with drug offenses. The Supreme Court on Monday said it would take up an appeal by Jamal Knox, who argue...
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Supreme Court to hear case about party in vacant DC house
Criminal Law 01/21/2017The Supreme Court will hear a case in which people arrested for having a party in a vacant house sued police for violating their constitutional rights and won. The justices said Thursday they will review lower court rulings in favor of 16 people who ...
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Court ponders mass murderer Breivik's prison conditions
Criminal Law 01/19/2017An appeals court in Norway is considering whether the prison conditions under which mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik is being held amount to a violation of his human rights. The six-day trial ended Wednesday in a makeshift courtroom inside Skien ...
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Supreme Court considers suit over 2001 detention of Muslims
Criminal Law 01/13/2017Ahmer Abbasi speaks softly as he describes the strip searches, the extra shoves, the curses that he endured in a federal jail in Brooklyn following the Sept. 11 attacks. "I don't think I deserved it," Abbasi said during a telephone interview with The...