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Ga. banker accused of losing millions due in court
Headline Topics |
2014/01/02 13:41
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A south Georgia bank director accused of losing millions of investor dollars before vanishing is set to appear in court.
The U.S. attorney's office in Savannah says 47-year-old Aubrey Lee Price is due to appear before a federal judge in Brunswick on Thursday. Price was arrested Tuesday during a traffic stop on Interstate 95 in Brunswick.
Price had disappeared in June 2012 after sending a rambling letter to his family and acquaintances saying he had lost millions of investment dollars and planned to kill himself.
A Florida judge declared him dead about a year ago. But the FBI had said it didn't believe Price was dead and continued to search for him.
Prosecutors say Price raised $40 million from his bank and 115 investors, and lost much of the money. |
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Sotomayor delays health law's birth control mandate
Press Release |
2014/01/02 13:40
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Only hours before the law was to take effect, a Supreme Court justice on Tuesday blocked implementation of part of President Obama's health care law that would have forced some religion-affiliated organizations to provide health insurance for employees that includes birth control coverage.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor's decision came after a different effort by Catholic-affiliated groups from around the U.S. Those groups had rushed to the federal courts to stop Wednesday's start of portions of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
Sotomayor acted on a request from an organization of Catholic nuns in Denver, the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged. Its request for an emergency stay had been denied earlier in the day by a federal appeals court.
The government is "temporarily enjoined from enforcing against applicants the contraceptive coverage requirements imposed by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act," Sotomayor said in the order. She gave government officials until 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT) Friday to respond to her order.
The law requires employers to provide insurance that covers a range of preventive care, free of charge, including contraception. The Catholic Church prohibits the use of contraceptives. That was not acceptable, said the nuns' lawyer, Mark L. Rienzi. |
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Man pleads not guilty in rape, death of Ohio girl
Headline Topics |
2013/12/30 13:24
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An Ohio man pleaded not guilty Thursday in the rape and strangulation of a 9-year-old girl whose body was found in a trash bin at the trailer park where they were neighbors.
One of Jerrod Metsker's court-appointed attorneys entered the pleas for him in Wayne County court. Metsker, wearing a red jail outfit with his wrists handcuffed, appeared via video and did not speak during the brief hearing.
A grand jury had indicted the 24-year-old Metsker on charges of aggravated murder, kidnapping and rape. He is being held on $1 million bond. Authorities previously said the death penalty would be available as punishment if Metsker is convicted of murder.
Metsker was the last person seen with 9-year-old Reann Murphy at their trailer park in Smithville, southwest of Akron, authorities said. A caller identifying himself as Metsker reported Reann missing in a 911 call.
Her body was found Dec. 15 after a frantic search by neighbors and law enforcement. Metsker was arrested later that day. The prosecutor said she was likely killed at Metsker's mobile home between 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 14.
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Supreme Court denies appeal in arson case
Press Release |
2013/12/30 13:23
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The Montana Supreme Court has denied a petition for post-conviction relief filed by a Billings man who argued that a District Court judge misinterpreted the state's arson law and that he had ineffective attorneys.
The Dec. 20 Supreme Court ruling left in place a five-year suspended sentence given to Lionel Scott Ellison in 2009 for an October 2007 fire that damaged a woman's car.
Ellison in 2008 entered a no-contest plea to arson on the advice of his attorney, Jeffrey Michael. Pleading no contest means a person admits no guilt for the crime, but the court can determine the punishment.
Ellison then changed his mind and his attorney, having Herbert "Chuck" Watson file a motion to withdraw the no-contest plea, contending Ellison didn't enter it knowingly or voluntarily. But a District Court judge rejected the request, and in May 2009 Ellison received a five-year suspended sentence.
He appealed the District Court's decision, and the Montana Supreme Court in November 2009 sided with the lower court.
In February 2011, Ellison filed for post-conviction relief, arguing the arson statute only applied to property valued at over $1,000. He said that because the damaged vehicle was worth less, there was no factual basis for his no-contest plea. He also argued that Michael and Watson provided ineffective counsel for allowing him to enter a plea for a charge that had an insufficient factual basis and that Watson didn't use those grounds on appeal. |
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