A Maryland Judge recently denied the request made by Atty. Marilyn Mosby to prohibit the defense attorneys of the Freddie Gray Case from leaking evidence to the public.
Mosby made the request for a court hearing to argue for a protective order preventing the opposition from releasing confidential evidence.
The Baltimore state attorney feared that the defense would only publicize evidence favoring the six police officers accused of second-degree murder amongst other charges— risking the chance of a fair trial.
However, Judge Barry Williams acted against the imposition of a protective order. Williams rejected the prosecutor’s request without arguments in a court hearing, believing that the state “does not suggest there is anything in discovery that warrants restricting disclosure.”
The judge added that the defense has yet to publicize their evidence since the June 26 deadline and even if they did so, “there simply is no basis in the assertions presented to the court for the broad and extraordinary relief sought in the motion.”
“The only discovery item that has become public as of this date has been information from the autopsy report, and at the time of the alleged disclosure, the report had not been turned over to Defendants,” wrote Williams.
Mosby is in charge of the prosecution of the six Baltimore officers she believed to have caused Freddie Gray’s death. Gray,25, is a black man that died because of spinal injuries sustained while in police custody.
The death caused another public outrage that heated up the issue of police maltreatment against minorities. The trial is set for October with the officers pleading not guilty.
Judge William’s ruling was not met with comments from the defense attorneys but Marilyn Mosby’s camp took the time to respond.
“We will litigate this case in the courtroom, not the media,” said Mosby spokeswoman Rochelle Ritchie vie electronic mail.
Shrien Dewani was recently cleared by a South African court of any involvement in the murder of his wife, Anni Dewani. The 34-year-old millionaire was accused of hiring hitmen to murder his wife during their honeymoon in South Africa. Shortly after the ruling, Mr. Dewani flew back to the UK. It’s been reported that Mr. Dewani received VIP treatment during the nine-hour flight as well as upon arrival in Gatwick early this morning. A passenger in the flight claimed, “He looked quite at ease. He had a quick chat with the pilot when he passed through the cabin.”
Anni’s family are still in shock following the verdict. Nilam Hindocha, Anni’s mother, spoke to the press for the first time since the trial. “He didn’t have the guts to face us. He was a coward in the court, always a coward,” Mrs. Hindocha told the press after seeing footage of Dewani’s arrival back in Gatwick. “I don’t think any other men would leave their wives like that. If he really loved her he would have fought for her,” Mrs. Hindocha added. “I didn’t see any marks on him, there was no sign that he had put up any fight for her. He had thought only about himself.”
And while the murder case is now out of the South African court’s hands, Anni’s family vows that it’s not over yet. “We are looking at all the options that are presented to us, we need to get our family together back home and think over this during the forthcoming holidays and consult with our lawyers how to go on with this matter,” Anni’s uncle, Ashok Hindocha, told The Independent.
The prosecutors for the case argued that Shrien, who admitted to being bi-sexual during the trial, felt that he was trapped in the marriage. However, the case was thrown out by presiding judge Jeanette Traverso because she claims that the evidence presented against Mr. Dewani was filled with contradictions.
At a brief court hearing on Tuesday, November 4, it was decided that soccer star Hope Solo’s trial for domestic abuse will be moved to January 6. The trial, which was supposed to begin on November 17, was postponed after Judge Michael Lambo granted a motion for depositions of the two alleged victims: Solo’s sister and 17-year-old nephew. According to Solo’s attorney Todd Maybrown, the two refused to be interviewed with a stenographer present.
Solo appeared in court with her husband, Seahawks tight end Jerramy Stevens. She was charged back in June with two counts of fourth-degree domestic violence and assault, after allegedly attacking the victims. However, according to Solo’s lawyer, she acted on self-defense on the night of the incident.
According to police reports, Solo was at a gathering at her sister’s Kirkland home on the night of June 20. The report also says that Solo had been drinking and was in a bad mood after her husband refused to take her to the airport to catch a flight. She then allegedly began verbally abusing her teenage nephew, saying he was “too fat and overweight and crazy to ever be an athlete.”
After the verbal altercation, the nephew went to another part of the house where Solo followed him and allegedly attacked him. Solo’s sister tried to stop the fight, but Solo reportedly attacked her as well. According to the report, the teen grabbed a hold of “an old gun that did not work” and pointed it at Solo to make her back off. The weapon turned out to be a broken BB gun.
Solo pleaded not guilty and was released from custody on her own recognizance.
Solo continued to play soccer right after her arrest, and even led the U.S. national team in a championship during a World Cup qualifying tournament. The decision by the league to allow her to play has drawn criticism especially right after Ray Rice was suspended from the NFL after similar charges were filed against him.
Jodi Arias’ penalty retrial will not broadcast live, unlike the first trial which provided endless cable TV and tabloid fodder.
The live broadcast of the first trial was the reason cited by the nearly two dozen potential jurors who were dismissed on Monday. Out of the pool of 300 potential jurors, around 20 said they had followed the media coverage of the case and therefore could not be impartial.
The judge ruled that no video footage can be broadcast until after the jury gives a verdict for the penalty retrial, which is expected to last until mid-December. Arias admitted to killing boyfriend, Travis Alexander, in 2008 in his Phoenix residence, claiming self-defense. He suffered nearly 30 knife wounds, had his throat slit and was shot in the head. Arias, a former waitress, was found guilty last year but the jury deadlocked on whether to condemn her to death. The murder conviction will stand while the prosecution tries to convince a new jury that she should die for the crime.
If the new jury cannot come to a unanimous decision on the death penalty, Arias will automatically be sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
Experts say that if the defense wants to spare Arias’ life, they should probably keep her off the stand in the retrial. William Zervakos, the foreman of the jury that convicted Arias, met with her legal team after the first trial and told them Arias “was her own worst enemy” and was a “terrible defendant.”
Arias and her legal team apparently do not get along well. Kirk Nurmi, the lawyer charged with her defense, has tried to quit the case, but the court has refused to let him off. Arias had also tried to fire Nurmi, complaining that he was “curt, rude and condescending” in a handwritten motion to the court.
She later asked for and was granted permission to represent herself, when the court would not assign her new defense. She later changed her mind as the court date neared and again accepted Nurmi as her lawyer.
The long-running court case that Anna Nicole Smith first filed in 1996 for a portion of the Marshall wealth has finally come to an end in federal court. The final ruling maintained that Smith –more precisely, her estate– is not entitled to the estate of her former husband, Texas billionaire, J. Howard Marshall II.
When 89-year-old Marshall died, he left his entire estate to his son, E. Pierce Marshall. This was in 1995, fourteen months after being married to then 26-year-old, former Playboy model, Smith.
Smith, whose legal name is Vickie Lynn Marshall, claimed that she was promised by her late husband more than $300million in inheritance, and took the matter to court.
Due to Smith’s filing for bankruptcy, among other complications, the case was heard in various local and federal courts. It had gone on to outlive both Smith, who died in 2007 because of a drug overdose, and the Marshall son, E. Pierce, who passed on in 2006.
Smith’s estate pursued the case on behalf of her daughter, eight-year-old Dannielynn Birkhead. Birkhead’s lawyers have attempted to win sanctions from the Marshall family for delays and obfuscation tactics of the deceased heir and his lawyers. As Smith’s only living heir, she would have been about $44 million richer had the courts ruled in her favor.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter dismissed their attempts as moot since Birkhead’s lawyers failed to provide sufficient evidence of actual damages.
“The Court also must consider the very real concerns attendant in sanctioning Pierce Marshall, who is deceased and therefore cannot be present, cannot attend the hearing, and cannot answer for himself the allegations against him.” said Carter.
Carter added that too much time and energy had been spent on the case and ought to be ended. “Time spent litigating the relationship between Vickie Lynn and J. Howard has extended for nearly five times the length of their relationship and nearly twenty times the length of their marriage. It is neither reasonable nor practical to go forward.”
Last year, North Dakota’s Republican-led legislature and governor signed into law what abortion rights advocates called the most restrictive law against abortion in the United States. The law, referred to as the fetal heartbeat law, called for the outlaw of abortions in which the fetus’s heartbeat could be detected, limiting the deadline for abortions to as early as six weeks into the pregnancy. Today, a federal judge in North Dakota overturned the legislation, deeming the law “unconstitutional”.
The law was first brought to court by the Red River Women’s Clinic in Fargo, ND. The group believed that the purpose of the law was to push the abortion clinic out of business considering that nearly all abortions would have been outlawed under the legislation. If the legislation was allowed to stand, the closest abortion clinic to residents of North Dakota would have been some 250 miles away.
U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland submitted an injunction against the law after its passage, stating, “The State of North Dakota has presented no evidence to justify the passage of this troubling law. The State has extended an invitation to an expensive court battle over a law restricting abortions that is a blatant violation of the constitutional guarantees afforded to all women.”
With his position stated a year prior to this particular court hearing, the defense knew their lot was already determined: “He fairly telegraphed it when he issued his preliminary injunction,” stated Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem.
Judge Hovland based his decision on the standing precedent established by the 1973 Roe v. Wade case, writing in his 25-page decision that, “The United States Supreme Court has spoken and has unequivocally said no state may deprive a woman of the choice to terminate her pregnancy at a point prior to viability. The controversy over a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion will never end. The issue is undoubtedly one of the most divisive of social issues. The United States Supreme Court will eventually weigh in on this emotionally-fraught issue but, until that occurs, this Court is obligated to uphold existing Supreme Court precedent.”
Under Roe v. Wade, the viability of a fetus during pregnancy comes anywhere from the 22-24 week mark, much later than the six week bright-line established by the North Dakota law.
Nancy Northrup, CEO and president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, championed Hovland’s decision:
“The court was correct to call this law exactly what it is: a blatant violation of the constitutional guarantees afforded to all women. But women should not be forced to go to court, year after year in state after state, to protect their constitutional rights. We hope today’s decision, along with the long line of decisions striking down these attempts to choke off access to safe and legal abortion services in the U.S., sends a strong message to politicians across the country that our rights cannot be legislated away.”
Included in that long line of decisions striking down anti-abortion laws are Arizona’s law seeking a 20-week abortion ban which the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of and Arkansas’s 12-week abortion law.
Despite the overturning of the legislation, the Attorney General of North Dakota may appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of the United States: “There are those who believed that this was a challenge that could go to the Supreme Court. Whether or not that’s likely is something we need to confer about.”
The state of Georgia is currently experiencing one of its more highly contested court cases in quite some time. While the state has hosted important cases which affected the state of tribal sovereignty in the United States and the validity of capital punishment, this particular case may have the most widespread impact of any Georgia court case yet. The subject of contention, you ask? Onions. Vidalia Onions.
Georgia’s largest Vidalia onion farmer, Delbert Bland, who grows 3,000 acres of Vidalia onions, has brought a suit against the state of Georgia’s agriculture commissioner due to unnecessary and detrimental legislation against the packaging and sales of the onions.
Over the past 18 months, Georgia agricultural commissioner Gary Black has worked with Vidalia onion farmers in Georgia to decide when the onions should be allowed to be packed and shipped to market. The reason from the legislation results from a recent plague of farmers shipping the onions too soon, resulting in negative feedback from many customers.
“When somebody purchases our onions in a store, it’s got to be the quality we’re known for. We’ve got a good thing and we don’t want to mess it up,” stated Walt Dasher, a fellow Vidalia onion farmer.
The date Black and other farmers chose for the first allowable day on which to pack and ship the onions was the Monday of the last full week of April, which happens to be April 21 this year.
We couldn't be more excited…less than a week now until the start of Vidalia season on April 21!
Bland, the world’s largest Vidalia onion farmer, feels this rule is too limiting, however. “I’m shipping the onions because they’re mature and they’re excellent quality and they’re ready to be shipped. We don’t feel like it’s fair that the government dictates what day we can ship the onions,” stated Bland.
Last month, Bland took Black to court to overturn the ruling as to when the onions can go to market. Judge Jay Stewart ruled that Commissioner Black had overstepped his legal authority in his attempt to protect the onions from a bad reputation. Unfortunately for Bland, however, Black decided to appeal the decision, keeping the rule effective until the appeal process is over.
If Bland continues with his plan to ship the onions before the April 21 deadline, he could face a $5,000 fine for every box he has packed to ship and potentially lose his license to market his onions as Vidalia onions. With Bland traditionally sending 150,000 boxes out to market in the first week of the season, such a fine could bankrupt the world’s largest Vidalia onion supplier.
“If you went through a lifetime to develop a product that people would want, who would lose the most if you shipped it immature? Onions are the type of commodity that, when they’re mature and ready, you’ve got to harvest them. If you leave them in the field, they’re going go bad,” Bland explained.
Despite Bland’s opposition to the decision, agricultural commissioner Black believes the ruling will be upheld: “We believe this is going to work. There may be some nuances that could be altered in the rule in the future, but our commitment to the growers was to help them solve this issue. We have a major responsibility to ensure the consumer can trust in that trademark.”
Vidalia onions were first planted in Georgia in the 1930s during the Great Depression. They quickly rose to prominence due to their intensely sweet flavor and low “bite”, perhaps due to the low amounts of sulfur in the soil in which they were grown. Vidalia onions were given a state legal status by Georgia in 1986. The Vidalia Onion Act of 1986 not only gave the state of Georgia a trademark to the Vidalia onion brand, but also limited the growth and production of the onions to a 20-county area in Georgia. The Vidalia onion would become the state vegetable of Georgia in 1990.
As it currently stands, the Vidalia onion market brings in $150 million of revenue to the state of Georgia each year. This fact, coupled with the onion’s rich and vital history to the state of Georgia, makes the protection of such a product integral to many farmers and consumers in Georgia.
A Cobb County court jury has ordered Grammy-nominated rapper Da Brat to pay $6.4 million in damages to the Atlanta cheerleader she assaulted in 2007. The punishment was meted out on Thursday afternoon.
Da Brat, whose real name is Shawntae Harris, served almost three years in prison for brutally attacking former Atlanta Falcons cheerleader Shayla Stevens with a rum bottle during an argument at an Atlanta nightclub owned by Jermaine Dupri . According to Stevens’ lawyer Mark Link, his client sustained grave injuries that affected her brain’s functions. Although Stevens has survived her brain injury, she has suffered from mental anguish as well as a permanent scar on her face, both of which have prevented her from pursuing her cheerleading career.
Stevens filed a civil lawsuit against the Funkdafied hit maker in 2009 to which Harris pleaded guilty. Apart from serving three years at Arrendale State Prison, Harris was also ordered a seven-year probation period, 200 hours worth of community service, anger management classes, mental evaluation, and treatment for substance abuse. Now, Da Brat must pay Stevens $3.7 million and $2.7 million in compensatory and punitive damages, respectively.
Shayla Stevens, Da Brat’s victim, testifies in court
Harris’ lawyer B.J. Bernstein is surprised that his client was still ordered to pay millions despite that fact that she admitted to the charges and served her time. He said that they are still in the process of planning an appeal.
The 39-year-old rapper and actress rose to fame when she released her debut album entitled Funkdafied. Hip hop tycoon Jermaine Dupri signed her to his label So So Def and molded her to be the “female Snoop Dogg”. Harris was previously involved in a misdemeanor reckless conduct charge in 2001 when she beat a woman with a gun at another Atlanta nightclub. Harris pleaded guilty to the charge and paid a $1,000 fine, served a year-long probation period, and put in 80 hours of community service.
Former Friends star Lisa Kudrow lost a legal battle with her former manager, Scott Howard. On Tuesday, a California jury returned its verdict in a civil lawsuit filed by Howard against the actress in 2008.
Howard, who was Kudrow’s manager for 16 years starting in 1991, claimed that the Web Therapy star made a breach of contract when she failed to pay him an agreed percentage of her earnings on the immensely popular NBC sitcom, as well as other projects. During the court hearing, Howard declared that he and Kudrow made an oral agreement when he started managing her acting career, stating that he was entitled to 10% of the entire income she earned during their partnership.
After Howard and Kudrow parted ways in 2007, the actress allegedly stopped paying him residuals from the earnings she has been receiving from Friends reruns and merchandising. Howard’s lawyer Mark Baute said that his client’s cut amounted to more than $500,000.
Kudrow’s lawyer Gerald Sauer spoke on her behalf and said that they are going to appeal the decision to the higher court. In the mean time, the verdict orders Kudrow to pay Howard $16,000 a month in addition to the 10% she owes him while the appeal is pending.
Kudrow’s camp insisted that she was no longer responsible to pay Howard after they decided to end their business relationship because his position was only that of a manager and not an agent.
The 50-year-old actress started off as one of the lowest-paid cast members when she joined Friends in 1994. She initially earned just $13,500 per episode, but her fee skyrocketed to more than $1 million per episode during the final season in 2004. Kudrow has also starred in numerous films such as Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion and The Opposite of Sex. She currently stars in the improv comedy web series Web Therapy, which she also produces.
Lisa Kudrow testified on Thursday against a former manager who handled her affairs during her days as a Friends star. Scott Howard claims the actress owes him 5 percent of her earnings between 1991 and 2007. Howard filed the suit against Kudrow back in 2008 and the case has been making its way through several courts.
The Friends star–known for her hilarious role as Phoebe Buffay–spent about two hours on the stand in a Santa Monica court room on Thursday. Sources say she had a lighthearted, pleasant demeanor throughout the questioning. She became offended at one point, however, when Marc Baute–Scott Howard’s attorney–claimed “when she was making money she signed written agreements,” but when it was about someone else making money she didn’t. Baute even indicated at one point that she was behaving like Phoebe Buffay–rather air headed.
Per her testimony, Lisa Kudrow told the court she started on Friends making $13,500 per episode. In 2000 her pay had increased to more than a million dollars per episode in addition to $5 million in “back-end compensation.” She still makes money from the show, which ran from 1994-2004.
The lawsuit alleges that Kudrow agreed verbally to pay Howard a commission on all of her earnings she made during their business relationship. She claims that she agreed to pay him commission based solely on one round of residuals.
Howard replied, “I can’t agree. I don’t do that for any of my clients.”
Lisa Kudrow says she kept Howard on as more of a formality, noting that she didn’t really need him any more. She didn’t believe he should make the same kind of money as agents so she reduced his take from 10 percent to 5 percent instead.
“My intention was I didn’t think it was fair that Scott got more than the agents,” said Kudrow. “I felt like the attorneys did so much towards making these deals that it seemed fair that no one got a higher share than the attorney.”
By 2007 she determined she didn’t need Howard’s services at all. She said she was initially pleased with his energy but the relationship had soured.
“I know for sure that once I was on Friends, I didn’t love having him come to every taping,” she said.
It was then that Lisa Kudrow fired Scott Howard.
Approximately $8 million is at stake in this court case, with Howard determined he deserves her post-termination commissions. Kudrow opposes that.
It will certainly be interesting to see how this law suit turns out. Will the Friends star suddenly find herself $8 million poorer? Or will former manager Scott Howard walk away sans what he believes is his fair commission from the TV and film star?
Do you think Lisa Kudrow owes her former manager this money?
Ray Nagin, former mayor of New Orleans, is now a convict. A federal jury found him guilty of corruption charges on Wednesday, February 12. Nagin left office in 2010 after serving two terms as mayor.
In January 2013, Nagin was indicted on charges that he accepted thousands of dollars in bribes and payoffs. He was also charged with accepting truckloads of granite for his personal enterprise in exchange for supporting and promoting businessman Frank Fradella’s projects. The indictment included the services Nagin and his family received in exchange for his nod to businesses pursuing contracts in the city. More than $5 million in city contracts were reported to have been the result of these transactions.
The jury deemed Nagin guilty of 20 of the 21 counts against him. These include six counts of bribery, four counts of filing false tax returns, one count of overarching conspiracy, nine counts of wire fraud, and one money laundering conspiracy count. He was found not guilty of one count of bribery. The trial lasted for two weeks, during which prosecutors brought forth some of the businessmen who stepped forward to plead guilty to bribing the former mayor.
In his testimony, Nagin said that what the prosecution’s key witness said was false, and that the evidence were all misinterpreted by the prosecutors. In addition, Nagin’s lawyer remarked that there is no proof that his client was given money. The granite, though sent to the family business, was actually tied to projects for the city, he said. During the cross-examination, however, Nagin seemed to dig a deeper hole for himself when he said he couldn’t remember who paid for a trip or perk he received.
It was during Nagin’s first term as mayor when Hurricane Katrina hit the city in 2005. During that time, there were doubts as to whether the taxpayer money being sent to the city was being used for the right purposes, considering that the state had a long history of corruption. Nagin, who was elected to mayorship only a few years before the disaster, was ready to reassure the people and put their suspicions of corruption to rest. He reportedly said that anyone was free to do a Google search on him, adding, “You’re not going to find any of that in my record.”
On Wednesday, judge Jean Boyd ordered Ethan Couch to rehab in addition to his 10-year probation sentence. Couch is the 16-year-old Texan who killed four people and injured two with is father’s Ford F-350 pickup truck on June 15. The teenager had been driving drunk after being video taped stealing 2 cases of beer from a nearby Wal-Mart. At the time of the incident, Couch’s blood alcohol level was revealed to be 0.24, three times the legal limit in Texas. Couch also tested positive for valium. Despite this, he received zero jail time.
As you can image, there has been intense public outrage regarding the outcome of the trial. The public anger intensified when the defense’s expert witness diagnosed Couch as having “affluenza” — a term used to claim that his family’s wealth impaired his ability to take responsibility for his actions.
On Wednesday, prosecutors asked judge Boyd for 20 years in state custody on charges related to the two injured people. They were unsuccessful.
Is Ethan Couch receiving special treatment because he comes from a wealth family?
Fred Couch, Ethan’s father, is a multi millionaire and owner of a very successful metal works company in Fort Worth. His son received what amounts to a slap on the wrist for a crime that many believe would have sent the “average Joe” to prison.
Last year, CNN reported that judge Boyd sentenced an African American teenager to 10 years in juvenile detention after punching a man in the face. The blow inadvertently resulted in the man’s death. This is a stark contrast to sentencing Ethan Couch to probation and rehab for killing 4 people and injuring 2.
Defence attorney Reagan Wynn said the judge did not use “affluenza” to make her decision. “She (Boyd) heard all the evidence and she made what she thought was the appropriate disposition,” he said.
Eric Boyles lost his wife, Hollie Byles, and daughter, Shelby after both were mowed down by Couch’s truck. He remains convinced that money played a role in the outcome.
“Had he (Couch) not had money to have the defense there, to also have the experts testify, and also offer to pay for the treatment, I think the results would have been different,” Boyles said after the trial.
Amanda Knox’s legal troubles have been through a series of unpredictable twist and turns. In 2009, Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito (Knox’s former boyfriend) were convicted of murder. An Italian court found the pair guilty of the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, a British student and Knox’s former roommate.
In a surprising twist of fate, the Italian court changed its mind and acquitted them in 2011 after they had each already served 4 years behind bars. Now, the two have been found guilty yet again…and the saga continues.
Only one day after receiving news of her reinstated guilty verdict, Knox appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America to vent her feelings.
“I’m going to fight this to the very end,” Knox said in an interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts. “This really, it hit me like a train. I didn’t expect this to happen. I really expected so much better from the Italian system. They found me innocent before; how could they say beyond a reasonable doubt?” she continued.
In the interview Knox also revealed that she sent a letter to the parents of Meredith Kercher, to express her sympathy for the loss of their daughter.
“They deserve respect and the consolation of some kind of acknowledgement,” she said. “I really wish them the best.”
The 26-year-old Knox still maintains her innocence and said she will “never go willingly”. She believes the renewed guilty verdict is as a result of “overzealous prosecutor”s and “coercive interrogation”.
At the moment, Knox resides in Seattle, Washington, and would only have to do jail time if she returns to Italy or if she is extradited to Italy–both scenarios seem unlikely. The U.S., does however, have an extradition agreement with the Italian government so it is still very much possible that she could go back to prison.
On Friday, police found Raffael Sollecito at a hotel near Italy’s border with Slovenia and Austria, just hours after he and Knox’s guilty verdicts were announced.
According to Luca Maori, Sollecito’s lawyer, his client was near the Italian border because that’s where his current girlfriend lives. After being apprehended, he voluntarily went with police to the station while his girlfriend drove behind.
Upon arriving at the Udine police station, police confiscated his passport and stamped his identity papers to show that he cannot leave Italy. As per a Florence appeals court, Knox and Sollecito were sentenced to 28 ½ years and 25 years respectively. Neither have been detained pending a final appeal, which could take up to another year.
A jury acquitted two former Fullerton police officers Monday in the death of Kelly Thomas. Charges against a third officer, Joseph Wolfe, who was charged with involuntary manslaughter, were also dropped.
Kelly Thomas was a homeless, schizophrenic man who died after a violent confrontation with law enforcement officers in Fullerton, California in 2011. Manuel Ramosand Jay Cicinelli had been charged with excessive use of force and involuntary manslaughter.
Family, friends and supporters of Thomas have reacted angrily to the verdict and are now hoping that federal authorities will step in. Kelly Thomas’ father Ron Thomas who is a former sheriff’s deputy said he hoped that the U.S. Justice Department would charge the officers as he was dumbfounded that they were able to get away with such a crime.
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The FBI has said the agency has been investigating the case since 2011. Now that the state trial has ended they will examine the evidence to determine whether further charges can be brought against the trio at the federal level. A total of 25 witnesses testified during the hearing and a 33-minute surveillance video, synced with audio recording was also presented to the court.
Disturbing footage of Kelly Thomas’ beating
http://youtu.be/e6yaeD-E_MY
Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas prosecuted the case himself and has defended the outcome of the trial saying it was a fair trial. He said if given another chance, he “would do the same thing again.”
Outrage and protests have been reported in Fullerton where Kelly Thomas was beaten to death by the police. Curtis Gamble, a homeless friend of Thomas, said there are many other friends who witnessed the beating but they did not get the chance to testify during the trial. More than 100 people gathered at the site (known as Kelly’s corner) with some leaving candles and flowers. Thomas’ mother stood among the crowd, visibly heartbroken.
A federal judge has upheld most of New York’s gun control laws. Judge William M. Skretny said in today’s ruling that the restrictions on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines was in line with the “state’s important interest in public safety,” hence the law is constitutional.
However, Judge Skretny struck down the part of the law that restricted the number of bullets that can be loaded in a gun to 7, terming it “an arbitrary restriction” that was not in line with the Second Amendment. The 7-bullet restriction took effect in April when Governor Andrew Cuomo passed the legislation despite complaints by gun owners that seven round magazines are not readily available for sale. Though the 7-bullet restriction was lifted, the judge determined that gun magazines must now be limited to 10 bullets — which is a standard number of bullets for a magazine to hold — not 7.
Together with lawmakers, Gov. Cuomo passed the legislation that restricted sale of rifles in January. The legislation was passed partly in reaction to the mass shooting that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut last December. The law is one of the most restrictive gun control laws in the United States. Today’s ruling comes in response to a suit filed by New York State Rifle and Pistol Association as well as other groups that oppose Coumo’s law.
Several gun rights groups have sharply criticized the law. Despite many recent mass shootings pro-gun advocates still believe the law violates their constitutional rights and they have vowed to continue their opposition.
Reaction on the streets when the law was first passed.
Former NFL star O.J Simpson has lost his bid for a new trial in his Las Vegas armed robbery and kidnapping sentencing. Clark County District Judge, Linda Marie Bell ruled Tuesday that “all grounds in the petition lack merit and, consequently, are denied”. This means that Simpson could face 4 more years in prison.
Simpson’s lawyer, Patricia Palm, has said she was disappointed about the ruling and has vowed to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court. “We’re confident that when we get to the right court we’ll get relief because he deserves relief, because he didn’t get a fair trial,” Palm told The Associated Press.
Simpson, 66, was sentenced for up to 33 years in Nevada state prison in 2007 after he was found guilty of kidnapping, armed robbery and other charges. In his defense, Simpson said he tried to reclaim collectible and personal items he believed had been stolen from him from two sports memorabilia dealers in a hotel room.
When committing the act, he was accompanied by five other men who helped in seizing the items from the dealers. However, Simpson was granted parole on some of the convictions in July 2013, meaning he must serve four more years in prison if his bid for retrial flops.
Simpson now argues that he received bad legal advice from his lawyers led by Yale Galanter and that he was not effectively represented. Galanter has however come out strongly to refute Simpson’s claims saying he feels vindicated by the judge’s ruling.
“As O.J.’s lawyer and confidante, it was gut-wrenching for me to have to be in a position to defend my strategy and efforts on his behalf as his lawyer and testify against my client,” Galanter said by telephone.
A section of the 101 page ruling reads, “Mr. Simpson’s convictions stem from serious offences,” the judge wrote. “Mr. Simpson specifically asked two of his co-conspirators to bring weapons … to show the sellers he meant business,” she said.
Simpson was well known for his exceptional talent as a pro football player. However, he became infamous in 1995 after being acquitted of murdering his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. In the court of public opinion, his current incarceration is seen by many as retribution for him getting away with murder.
Italian prosecutor, Alessandro Crini, has appealed an appellate court to convict Amanda Knox for the 2007 murder of her British roommate. The prosecutor urged the appeals court Monday not to repeat mistakes made by the high court that freed her.
Amanda had been convicted in 2009 of the murder of Meredith Kercher – a British student, and sentenced to serve 26 years. She only served 4 years of the 26-year sentence before her conviction was overturned on October 3, 2011 by an appellate court. In yet another twist, her acquittal was overturned by the Supreme Court on March 26, 2013 and her case was sent back to the high court for reconsideration.
Kercher’s body was discovered in a pool of blood in her room on Nov. 2, 2007 with her throat slit. There were also signs that she was sexually assaulted. The lower court had argued that the crime was fueled by a sexual game gone wrong, but the prosecutor departed from that line of argument saying that the crime was not so much sexually motivated; instead, it was an act of physical aggression with a sexual expression.
Prosecutor Crini said that the Supreme Court had “razed to the ground” the appellate court’s 2011 decision to nullify the guilty conviction. The high court has ordered a fresh appeals trials saying that the earlier appeal was marred with contradictions.
The prosecutor’s demands came after more than 10 hours of closing arguments spread over two days during which he argued that Knox and her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito (co-defendant) committed the crime in concert of a third man (Rudy Guede ) who was convicted separately. The crime was reportedly committed as a result of disagreement between the roommates over cleanliness. Testimonies indicate that there had been tensions between Kercher and Knox about the level of cleanliness.
Following this development, the Meredith Kercher’s 2007 murder case will be getting its third trial. Knox’s co-accused, Sollecito, has also attended two hearings so far. The third person in the case, Rudy Guede, is already serving 16 years in prison after being found guilty of Kercher’s murder.
NBC News reports that a computer science student pleaded guilty today to three counts of extortion and one count of unauthorized access into Miss Teen USA and other young women’s computers. Charges were brought against the hacker because he allegedly threatened to post nude photographs of the women online.
The 19-year-old Jared James Abrahams of Temecula, California, was released on bond until his sentencing, which is scheduled for March 17th, 2014. At the hearing, Abrahams is expected to enter a guilty plea, defense attorney Alan Eisner said. The teenager faces possible imprisonment of up to 11 years and fines amounting to $1 million.
Abrahams is alleged to have hacked into Cassidy Wolf’s computer as well as that of of seven other women from various states and counties, authorities said. Miss Cassidy Wolf is the current Miss Teen USA. For four years she attended the same school as Abrahams in Temecula, just southeast of Los Angeles, and graduated in 2012.
A plea statement filed last month gives details from last year until June of this year. The computer science student hacked into computers, social media accounts, and emails accounts belonging to the victims. He was then able to control webcams and surreptitiously photograph the unsuspecting women, the FBI reported. Abraham was said to have sent anonymous emails to the victims, informing them that he was in possession of their nude photos and would publish them online if they failed to send him additional pictures or undress for him. He promised to destroy the images only if they complied with his demands.
Wolf did not comply with Abraham’s demands and called the investigators after receiving threatening emails containing her nude photos. However, according to police, at least two of the other victims went along with his demands.
A Florida man accused of employing similar tactics was sentenced to ten years in prison for hacking into Scarlett Johansson and Christina Aguilera’s online accounts, and publicly revealing their nude photos.
The veteran ABC News anchor Sam Donaldson has been acquitted for lack of evidence. On Friday, a judge dismissed the charge facing Donaldson saying that he was arrested and charged without a “probable cause”.
The judge, while dismissing the charge, said that the arresting officer’s report was incomplete and improperly administered. Referring to the records from the traffic stop, the judge noted that the records “give the court pause as to the accuracy of the information the court has received.”
This comes as great relief to the 79- year-old Donaldson who was seen profusely writing notes during the hearing. At the end of the hearing, the jubilant former anchor said that he was “clearly happy it turned out this way.” He said, “I’ve never been a defendant in a case before.” Donaldson was pulled over on December 1, 2012.
During the witness testimony presented by arresting officer Katie Couchman of Lewes Police Department, the court heard that Donaldson was driving on the shoulder of the road, to the right of the westbound lane, and when approached, he smelled of alcohol, his eyes were bloodshot, and glassy. But when Donaldson was asked why he was not driving on the roadway, he said that he thought he was. However, many inconsistencies were noted in the report leading to the dismissal.
Donaldson worked as ABC White House reporter between 1977 and 1989 and then again from 1997 to 1999. Donaldson has had career in broadcasting dating back from 1952.
