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Court won't reconsider judicial elections ruling
Headline Court News |
2013/08/19 13:40
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An appellate court panel's decision to allow political parties to endorse candidates and make expenditures in Montana's nonpartisan judicial elections will stand, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday.
None of the 9th Circuit judges voted to rehear the three-judge panel's June decision, so the appellate court denied the state attorney general's petition.
The panel said in June the state's ban on party endorsements and expenditures in judicial races is unconstitutional, but ruled that candidates can't receive direct contributions from parties.
The state filed a petition for rehearing, calling it a matter of exceptional importance in Montana's authority to determine how to maintain an impartial and nonpartisan judiciary.
Montana's system of judicial elections reflects a deeply ingrained and repeatedly confirmed sovereign decision by the state and its voters, Assistant Attorney General Michael Black wrote in the petition.
A decision has not been made whether to take the appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, attorney general spokesman John Barnes said.
"We're looking at our options and will be making a decision on how to proceed from here," Barnes said in an emailed response to an Associated Press query. |
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Ore. appeals court reverses sex abuse conviction
Headline Topics |
2013/08/15 09:55
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The Oregon Court of Appeals has overturned the conviction of a man found guilty of sodomy and sex abuse after it ruled a lower court erroneously allowed a previous victim of his to testify.
Prosecutors said the previous conviction was necessary to show Javier Roquez knew what he was doing was a crime. Roquez's defense team said the conviction, from 2006, should have been inadmissible because it wasn't related to the new rape case.
Roquez was accused of raping a woman with whom he was having an affair in May 2010 in the Oregon city of Irrigon. According to the original police report, Roquez and the woman were each married to other people, and their families were friends.
The woman, who lived in Kennewick, Wash., decided to call off the affair, but said Roquez threatened to tell their spouses unless she would have sex with him a last time. During intercourse, the woman said she tried to leave but Roquez refused to let her go, despite her pleas, and said the sex turned violent.
A doctor later examined her and found evidence of sexual assault. Roquez was charged with one count of first-degree rape, one count of first-degree sodomy and two counts of second-degree sexual abuse.
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Court hearing expected in RI slayings, abduction
Court Watch News |
2013/08/12 14:05
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One of two suspects in a weekend double homicide and child abduction was expected to be arraigned Monday in Massachusetts.
Malcolm Crowell, 22, was to appear on a fugitive-from-justice warrant, according to the clerk's office at Fall River District Court.
Crowell and Daniel Rodriguez, 27 or 28, were arrested Sunday in the two slayings and the abduction of 2-year-old Isaiah Perez, who was later found unharmed after a nationwide Amber Alert was issued.
The bodies were discovered about 5:20 a.m. Sunday at a home in suburban Johnston, a town of 30,000 residents less than 10 miles from Providence. The names of the dead were not immediately released, but Johnston Police Chief Richard S. Tamburini said one of the victims was the child's mother.
The boy was found around 8:15 p.m. in Providence after a police officer there spotted him walking around a housing project by himself.
Deputy Police Chief Daniel Parrillo said it was unclear whether the boy's abductor was living in the home, was a guest or was uninvited. |
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Arizona high court to hear school funding case
Lawyer News |
2013/07/26 10:16
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The Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday hears arguments in an appeal of a lower court's ruling that requires the state Legislature to give schools an annual funding increase even in lean years to account for inflation.
The high court is reviewing a Court of Appeals decision. It said a voter-approved law requires the Legislature to provide an annual inflation adjustment for state funding to public schools.
School districts and education groups sued after the Legislature in 2010 instead only increased schools' transportation funding, eliminating a $61 million increase in general school spending.
The Supreme Court says it is considering is whether the Voter Protection Act allows voters to require the legislature to increase funding for schools.
The Voter Protection Act severely restricts the Legislature's to change voter-approved laws. |
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