Recent Updates
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Mexican citizen asks high court to block execution
Lawyer Blogs 08/01/2008Four months after losing his case at the Supreme Court, a Mexican citizen facing execution next week in Texas asked the justices Friday for a last-minute reprieve.Jose Medellin, set to die Tuesday for his participation in the gang rape and beating de...
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Judge removed from cases against 'Jena Six' teens
Lawyer Blogs 08/01/2008The judge overseeing the criminal cases for the remaining Jena Six defendants was removed against his will Friday for making questionable remarks about the teenagers.Judge J.P. Mauffray Jr. had acknowledged calling the teens "trouble makers" and "a v...
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Alabama Supreme Court stays execution
Lawyer Blogs 07/31/2008The Alabama Supreme Court postponed executing a man after an inmate claimed in an sworn statement to defense attorneys that he committed the murder that sent the condemned man to death row.The justices in a 5-4 vote late Wednesday stopped the executi...
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Court overturns convictions of NYSE specialists
Lawyer Blogs 07/31/2008A federal appeals court dealt what was likely to be the final blow to the ill-fated prosecution of 15 New York Stock Exchange specialists Wednesday by overturning the securities fraud convictions of two of the floor supervisors.The 2nd U.S. Circuit C...
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Court overturns conviction of NYSE specialists
Lawyer Blogs 07/30/2008A federal appeals court has overturned the securities fraud convictions of two New York Stock Exchange specialists.Michael Hayward and Michael Stern were convicted in July 2006 after they were accused of stealing $1 million apiece. Prosecutors said t...
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US club gets heave-ho in America's Cup court fight
Lawyer Blogs 07/30/2008Hold those giant catamarans just a minute, you bickering billionaires.The America's Cup appears to be headed away from a rare one-on-one showdown between American and Swiss crews and back to its traditional multichallenger format following a ruling b...
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After court ruling, towns rush to repeal gun bans
Lawyer Blogs 07/30/2008In 1981, this quiet northern Chicago suburb made history by becoming the first municipality in the nation to ban the possession of handguns.Twenty-seven years later, Morton Grove has repealed its law, bowing to a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June t...
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Mass. House votes to let out-of-state gays marry
Lawyer Blogs 07/30/2008The Massachusetts House has voted to allow gay marriages involving out-of-state couples. The lawmakers voted 118-35 Tuesday to repeal a 1913 law that bans couples from marrying in Massachusetts if their own states would not allow the unions.The state...
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Truckers sue over access to Los Angeles-area ports
Lawyer Blogs 07/29/2008A trade group representing truckers filed a lawsuit claiming plans to clean up the air around the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach place unfair restrictions on their members.In the lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court, the American Tru...
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Ex-AC mayor gets probation in war lies case
Lawyer Blogs 07/25/2008A judge Friday ordered former Atlantic City mayor Robert Levy to serve three years probation and pay a $5,000 fine for lying about his Vietnam War service to pad his benefits check.During a sentencing hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Jerome Simandl...
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Va. executes killer who challenged injections
Lawyer Blogs 07/25/2008A killer who argued Virginia's procedures for lethal injection were unconstitutional was executed Thursday after a federal appeals court upheld the primary method of capital punishment in the nation's second-busiest death chamber.Christopher Scott Em...
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In Portland, Ore., parking laws include police
Lawyer Blogs 07/24/2008Portland police are not above the parking laws, even if they're hungry.Officer Chadd Stensgaard, who parked his patrol car illegally while making a dinner-break stop at a Japanese restaurant, must pay a $35 fine, Traffic Court Judge Terry Hannon rule...