Recent Updates
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Detroit mayor offered plea deal in assault case
Lawyer Blogs 08/22/2008A prosecutor made a surprising offer Friday to Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick: resign by Sept. 3 in exchange for the dismissal of one of two assault charges.Doug Baker of the Michigan attorney general's office made the disclosure during a routine arraignment...
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Judge libeled by Boston Herald agrees to step down
Lawyer Blogs 08/21/2008A judge who won a $2 million libel award from the Boston Herald, then sent threatening letters to its publisher, will step down from the bench, a court said Wednesday.Judge Ernest Murphy and the state Commission on Judicial Conduct have agreed Murphy...
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Court says EPA air pollution rule is illegal
Lawyer Blogs 08/21/2008A Bush administration rule barring states and local governments from requiring more air pollution monitoring is illegal, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit threw out...
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Jury finds ranch negligent in 10-death landslide
Lawyer Blogs 08/20/2008A jury has ruled that a ranch company's negligence helped lead to the huge 2005 landslide that crushed part of a seaside community and killed 10 people.After a trial of nearly two months, the jurors in Ventura County Superior Court found on Tuesday t...
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Court protests halt hearing in immigrant killing
Lawyer Blogs 08/19/2008Courthouse protests have caused a brief interruption in the preliminary hearing of three teenagers charged in the beating death of a Mexican immigrant in a small Pennsylvania town.About 40 protesters outside the courthouse in Pottsville have been tol...
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Calif top court: Docs can't withhold care to gays
Lawyer Blogs 08/19/2008California's highest court on Monday barred doctors from invoking their religious beliefs as a reason to deny treatment to gays and lesbians, ruling that state law prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination extends to the medical profession....
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Ohio jury visits apartment in microwave death case
Lawyer Blogs 08/18/2008A jury in Dayton, Ohio, has visited the apartment where prosecutors say a woman killed her month-old baby by burning her in a microwave oven.The visit came ahead of opening statements Monday in the retrial of 28-year-old China Arnold. She's charged w...
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Appeals court: Phil Spector's retrial can proceed
Lawyer Blogs 08/16/2008A California court panel has decided that the retrial of Phil Spector on a murder charge can proceed.A state appeals court on Friday rejected a defense request to halt the trial.The music producer's attorneys had requested a stay of the trial so they...
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Appeals court orders Cuban militant to stand trial
Lawyer Blogs 08/15/2008A federal appeals court on Thursday ordered Cuban militant Luis Posada Carriles to stand trial in El Paso on immigration fraud charges.A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled that Posada, an 80-year-old...
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Judge asked to seize $8B from Calif. treasury
Lawyer Blogs 08/14/2008A federal court overseer asked a judge Wednesday to seize $8 billion from California's cash-strapped treasury to improve medical care at the state's overcrowded prisons.Court-appointed receiver Clark Kelso said he needs the money over the next five y...
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Appeals court reverses Steinbeck copyrights ruling
Lawyer Blogs 08/13/2008A federal appeals court has reversed a ruling that awarded John Steinbeck's son and granddaughter publishing rights to 10 of the author's early works, including "The Grapes of Wrath."The appeals court said Wednesday that a judge made a mistake when h...
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Court blocks MIT students from showing subway hack
Lawyer Blogs 08/11/2008A federal judge has ordered three college students to cancel a presentation at a computer hackers' conference showing security flaws in the automated fare system used by Boston's subway.A U.S. district court judge in Massachusetts issued a temporary ...