Recent Updates
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Judge: Pa. mass killer too unstable to be executed
Lawyer Blogs 09/08/2008A Pennsylvania judge says mass murderer George Banks is too mentally ill to be executed.Banks killed 13 people in a 1982 shooting rampage in northeastern Pennsylvania. Five of the victims were his own children.Judge Michael Conahan agrees with defens...
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Documents held in Los Angeles priest abuse cases
Lawyer Blogs 09/05/2008The departure of a key figure in a record $660 million clergy sexual abuse settlement has endangered part of the deal that some plaintiffs consider more important than the money: the promise by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles to allow t...
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Detroit mayor expected to make plea in court
Lawyer Blogs 09/04/2008After months of defiantly holding onto his office, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick appeared ready to give it up as part of a plea deal with prosecutors in a sex-and-misconduct scandal that has embarrassed the nation's 11th-largest city for months.The Wayne Co...
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Suit against gay marriage recognition in NY tossed
Lawyer Blogs 09/03/2008A judge has thrown out the first direct legal challenge to the New York governor's move to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states, calling the policy a legally allowable stand for fairness.A decision by gay couples to wed represents "...
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Judge's ruling frees man convicted in 1984 murder
Lawyer Blogs 09/02/2008A man convicted in a 1984 gas-station killing has been freed from prison by a judge who ruled his capital murder trial was unconstitutionally flawed.Darryl Burton, 46, was scheduled to appear Tuesday at a news conference in Kansas City along with the...
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California prisons prepare for gay weddings
Lawyer Blogs 08/29/2008Now that same-sex couples can get married in California, state prison officials are trying to figure out what that means for gay inmates.No prisoners so far have sought to arrange weddings with same-sex partners since the state Supreme Court granted ...
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Judge fears secret hearings over Guantanamo Bay
Lawyer Blogs 08/28/2008A federal judge overseeing cases against dozens of Guantanamo Bay detainees said Wednesday that he fears the public — and the detainees themselves — will be locked out of the courtroom when evidence in the case is scrutinized for the first time.Hundr...
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Man who sparked Obama threat probe due in court
Lawyer Blogs 08/28/2008The Colorado man who authorities say made racist threats against Barack Obama is scheduled to be formally charged on state drug and weapons offenses.Tharin Gartrell is due in Arapaho County Court on Thursday.Authorities say police found scoped rifles...
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Bush steps up fight over congressional authority
Lawyer Blogs 08/27/2008The Bush administration is raising the stakes in a court fight that could change the balance of power between the White House and Congress.Justice Department lawyers said Wednesday that they will soon ask a federal appeals court not to force the pres...
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Ohio man sentenced for writing racial hate letters
Lawyer Blogs 08/26/2008A man who wrote hundreds of hateful letters to black and mixed race men — including Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter — was sentenced Tuesday to three years and 10 months in prison.David Tuason apologize...
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Reputed drug lord pleads not guilty in US court
Lawyer Blogs 08/26/2008A reputed drug lord who was extradited to the United States last week from Brazil has pleaded not guilty in a large cocaine smuggling scheme.Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia entered the plea Monday in federal court in Brooklyn and was ordered held without ...
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Indictments to stand against DeLay associates
Lawyer Blogs 08/25/2008An appeals court has declined to throw out money-laundering indictments against two of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's political operatives, who had claimed that state elections law used to charge them was too confusing to proceed.Attorneys ...