In a major ruling, the Supreme Court on Monday ordered an evidentiary hearing on innocence claims of Troy Davis, who is on death row in Georgia for the 1989 murder of police officer Mark MacPhail. Not only did the Supreme Court stop the execution, but it created new law on the right of the defendant to present such evidence — a holding that drew the outrage of the conservative wing of the Court. While only a paragraph long, the unsigned opinion represents the first such order in decades for a new hearing to “receive testimony and make findings of fact”. Justice Scalia called it a “fool’s errand.”
Continue reading “Supreme Court Stays Execution and Says Evidence of Innocence Should Be Given Evidentiary Hearing”
Category: Courts
Texas Judge Tom Head is under fire this week after he posted the pictures of nine people wearing Obama shirts. Seven of the nine men were black and the pictures were accompanied by material critical of Obama supports and suggesting that Republican voters are rarely arrested.
Continue reading “Head Case: Texas Judge Posted Pictures of Criminals with Obama Shirts”
It is not that Pace High School Principal Frank Lay and school athletic director Robert Freeman do not have a prayer, they had too many prayers. The two officials defied a settlement barring prayers on constitutional ground and now face six-month sentences — a matter of widespread protest among parents.
Continue reading “Florida High School Principal and Athletic Director Face Six Months Over Prayers”
Charles Circuit Court Judge Robert C. Nalley has been accused of letting the air out of a car of a part-time cleaning woman who works at the courthouse. Two officers from the county jail insist that they saw the judge let the air out of a 2004 Toyota Corolla that was parked outside of the La Plata courthouse at 3:45 pm in the afternoon. One claims to have a picture of the act.
Continue reading “Driven to Extremes: Maryland Judge Accused of Flattening Tire of Woman in Courthouse Parking Lot”
Amnesty International has confirmed that a Sharia court in Somalia executed a 13-year-old girl for having sex outside of marriage in Kismayo. Aisha Ibrahim Kuhulow was reported to be 23 year old, but her father has confirmed widespread reports that she was only 13.
Continue reading “Sharia Court in Somalia Stones to Death a Thirteen-Year-Old Girl For Premarital Sex”
Circuit Judge Daniel Rozak obviously does not like yawning in the courtroom. He sentenced Clifton Williams to six months in jail after he let out a loud yawn when his cousin was being sentenced on a felony drug charge. The cousin actually received probation.
Continue reading “Illinois Judge Sentences Man to Six Months in Jail for Yawning Loudly in Court”
Bernard Baran was 19 when he was accused of abusing children at a day care center — one of a spasm of such prosecutions in the 1980s. Baran was convicted on the testimony of the children despite the fact that videotapes showed children denying that he touched them and other referring to “prizes” promised for their confirming abuse.
Continue reading “Massachusetts Man Freed After 21 Years With Discovery of Withheld Exculpatory Evidence”
The Washington Post weighed in on the expanding controversy over the alleged misconduct of the Office of D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles and his staff in the litigation over the mass arrests during the World Bank/IMF protests of 2002. The Post is calling for the Court, rather than the City Council, to investigate the case.
Continue reading “Washington Post Raises Need for Judicial Investigation into Destruction of Evidence and Misconduct by District’s Office of the Attorney General”
Former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana was convicted Wednesday on 11 of the 16 corruption charges against him in Alexandria federal court. The conviction follows years of litigation and controversy – including an unconstitutional raid on a congressional office by the Bush Administration.
Continue reading “Former Rep. William Jefferson Convicted on 11 out of 16 Counts”
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ruled in favor of a Santeria priest — Jose Merced, 46 — who sacrificed goats in his Texas home in Euless. The court ruled that the prohibition on the ritual violated the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act (TRFRA).
Continue reading “Federal Appellate Court Rules in Favor of Santeria Priest in Home Sacrifices”
We have been following the lawyers and judges implicated in the corruption scandal surrounding lawyer Richard “Dickie” Scruggs. Now the scandal has claimed another individual: Mississippi judge Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Bobby DeLaughter, 55, has pleaded guilty.
Continue reading “Mississippi Judge Pleads Guilty To Federal Obstruction”
Karl Rove spoke to congressional investigators last week and reportedly admitted that he did play a role in the hiring and firing of federal prosecutors, including at least one of the nine U.S. Attorneys at the heart of the scandal.
The World Bank/IMF protest case had a sanctions hearing yesterday that had found its way into the media. Because I am lead counsel (with Dan Schwartz) in one of the two cases (Chang) against the District of Columbia, Federal government, Fairfax County, and various police officers, I will not comment on the controversy.
Continue reading “Federal Judge Calls for Investigation of “The Civil Equivalent of the Ted Stevens Case””
The debate continues to rage this week over the push by Vice President Dick Cheney and others to have former President George Bush deploy active military units in a suburb of Buffalo to arrest a small group of men who were suspected of supporting terrorism (here). Nor surprising, Bush officials went to Berkeley law professor John Yoo to tell them that (surprise!) the President was not bound by the Fourth Amendment or federal law if he unilaterally declared the operation to be a national security matter. Yoo and his former colleague conclude that “the president has the legal and constitutional authority to use military force within the United States to respond to and combat future acts of terrorism, and that the Posse Comitatus Act does not bar deployment.” I discussed the controversy on this segment of Countdown.
Continue reading “Yoo Must Be Kidding: Professor Argues That Bush Could Negate Both The Fourth Amendment and The Posse Comitatus Act By Simply Declaring Deployment To Be A National Security Matter”
Stephen L. Thompson, 58, a courthouse janitor in Clark County, Indiana had a curious response to a court reporter who rebuffed his expressions of affection. Hell hath no fury like a janitor scorned.
Continue reading “Urine a Lot of Trouble, Mr. Thompson: Janitor Filmed Relieving Himself on Court Reporter’s Chair”