Sharpton faces disorderly conduct charge at trial
Criminal Law
The Rev. Al Sharpton rejected a plea offer Monday and will go to trial in September on a disorderly conduct charge related to demonstrations over the fatal shooting of an unarmed man on his wedding day.
Sharpton declined to plead guilty in exchange for time served. He was held for 5 1/2 hours on May 7 after he and scores of others were arrested for blocking intersections to protest the acquittals of three officers in the Sean Bell shooting.
He said outside court Monday that the plea offer was unfair and that the charges against him and others should be dropped.
A judge offered to drop charges against Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman, friends of Bell who were wounded in the Nov. 25, 2006, shooting, provided they stay out of trouble for six months. Bell was killed in a hail of 50 police bullets as he left his bachelor party at a Queens topless bar.
Sharpton said his decision to go to trial was "a matter of law, not just a matter of principle."
He said that although all the defendants were arrested for doing the same thing, those who had records of civil rights activism were "singled out" and weren't given the opportunity to have their cases adjourned.
Barbara Thompson, spokeswoman for the Manhattan district attorney, said officials in her office "looked at each case individually."
Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Neil Ross scheduled a trial for Sharpton and about 10 others on Sept. 10.
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Grounds for Divorce in Ohio - Sylkatis Law, LLC
A divorce in Ohio is filed when there is typically “fault” by one of the parties and party not at “fault” seeks to end the marriage. A court in Ohio may grant a divorce for the following reasons:
• Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
• Adultery
• Extreme cruelty
• Fraudulent contract
• Any gross neglect of duty
• Habitual drunkenness
• Imprisonment in a correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint
• Procurement of a divorce outside this state by the other party
Additionally, there are two “no-fault” basis for which a court may grant a divorce:
• When the parties have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
• Incompatibility, unless denied by either party
However, whether or not the the court grants the divorce for “fault” or not, in Ohio the party not at “fault” will not get a bigger slice of the marital property.