|
|
|
Court rules on suit against West Memphis officers
Court News |
2012/11/15 12:47
|
A lawsuit brought against West Memphis, Ark., by relatives of two people who were fatally shot by the city's police officers during a two-state chase can continue, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit agreed with a lower court that five West Memphis officers involved in the July 2004 shootings of Donald Rickard and Kelly Allen are not immune from possible liability in the deaths.
Rickard fled a traffic stop for a broken taillight in West Memphis and was chased across a Mississippi River bridge to Memphis. After Rickard and a West Memphis officer crashed with each other on a Memphis street, officers managed to stop the car again and fatally shot both Rickard and Allen, his passenger.
Officer Vance Plumhoff fired three shots into the vehicle. Officer John Bryan Gardner fired 10 times at the vehicle as it was moving away from the officers. Officer John Tony Galtelli also fired two shots at the vehicle.
As the officers were shooting, Rickard lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a building.
Police have said they opened fire on the car after Rickard tried to run over them as he fled down the street after being cornered. Relatives of Rickard and Allen, both 44, have alleged excessive force. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Former Navy lawyer goes before Kan. Supreme Court
Court News |
2012/10/27 13:41
|
A former Navy lawyer who was convicted during a court martial in 2007 for mailing secret information about Guantanamo Bay detainees is seeking to get his law license reinstated in Kansas.
Attorneys for Matthew Diaz will argue on Thursday before the Kansas Supreme Court to accept a recommendation from the Office of Judicial Administration to suspend his law license for three years effective 2008. Because of the timeline, Diaz would be reinstated with the Kansas bar.
The disciplinary hearing panel said Diaz warranted "significant discipline" for his actions, which included the act of printing and sending classified information and sending it to an unauthorized person.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
High court won't block early voting in Ohio
Court News |
2012/10/19 14:50
|
The Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the way for voters in the
battleground state of Ohio to cast ballots on the three days before
Election Day, giving Democrats and President Barack Obama's campaign a
victory three weeks before the election.
The court refused a request by the state's Republican elections chief
and attorney general to get involved in a battle over early voting.
Ohio is among 34 states, plus the District of Columbia, where people
can vote early without giving any reason. About 30 percent of the
swing state's total vote — or roughly 1.7 million ballots — came in
before Election Day in 2008. Crucial to Obama's win that year was
early voting in Ohio, North Carolina and Florida.
Obama won Ohio four years ago, but Republican rival Mitt Romney is
making a strong play for it this year. No GOP candidate has won the
White House without Ohio in his column.
Obama's campaign and Ohio Democrats had sued state officials over
changes in state law that took away the three days of voting for most
people but made exceptions for military personnel and Ohioans living
overseas.
Their lawsuit cited a recent study saying nearly 105,000 people voted
in the three days before the election in 2008, and they argued
everyone should have the chance to vote on those days. They also said
eliminating the opportunity for most Ohio residents to vote in person
on those days, while giving military or overseas voters the chance to
do so, leads to unequal treatment. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Court lets stand telecom immunity in wiretap case
Court News |
2012/10/12 11:01
|
The Supreme Court is leaving in place a federal law that gives telecommunications companies legal immunity for helping the government with its email and telephone eavesdropping program.
The justices said Tuesday they will not review a court ruling that upheld the 2008 law against challenges brought by privacy and civil liberties advocates on behalf of the companies' customers. The companies include AT&T, Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc.
Lawsuits filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and Electronic Frontier Foundation accused the companies of violating the law and customers' privacy through collaboration with the National Security Agency on intelligence gathering.
The case stemmed from surveillance rules passed by Congress that included protection from legal liability for telecommunications companies that allegedly helped the U.S. spy on Americans without warrants. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
High court won't stop Texas voting map
Court News |
2012/09/22 15:59
|
The Supreme Court is allowing Texas to use congressional districts that were drawn by a lower federal court for the November election.
The court declined without comment Wednesday a request from a Latino rights group to block use of those districts. The groups said the districts discriminate against minorities.
The court-drawn map is intended for use only in this year's election.
The League of United Latin American Citizens said the map has the same flaws identified by federal judges in Washington who last month rejected political boundaries drawn by Texas lawmakers as discriminatory.
The interim congressional map was used in Texas' primaries in May and was devised to let the state hold elections while courts considered challenges to redistricting plans adopted by the Legislature following the 2010 census. |
|
|
|
|
|
Legal News RSS Feed
