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Cops Bust Wrong Pot Party, End Up in Supreme Court
Headline Court News |
2011/01/12 02:59
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| pHollis King and his two friends might be the unluckiest pot smokers in Kentucky./ppThe three men were sitting around King's apartment in Lexington, Ky., on a Thursday night in October 2005, when police officers knocked on the front door, then kicked it in. They did not have a search warrant./ppThe police were looking for a man who fled into an apartment building after selling cocaine to an informant. They heard a door slam in a hallway, but by the time they were able to look down it, they saw only two closed doors./ppThey didn't know which one the suspect had gone through, but, smelling the aroma of burnt pot, chose the apartment on the left./ppTheir quarry had gone into the apartment on the right. But in King's place, they found one person smoking pot and a small amount of cocaine and money, and arrested King and his friends./ppKing pleaded guilty to drug charges, but the Kentucky Supreme Court threw out the evidence against him and the conviction, ruling that the police did not have cause to burst into his home without a warrant./ppThe U.S. Supreme Court is hearing the state's appeal of that ruling Wednesday, in a case that could clarify rules for when police can conduct searches without a warrant./ppThe police contend they entered the apartment because they heard noises they thought might indicate that evidence was being destroyed. King says the noises they heard were people moving around in response to the commotion in the hallway./ppAnd what of the original suspect? The police eventually found him in the apartment on the right. But prosecutors later dropped charges against him for reasons that are not explained in court papers./p |
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Navajo high court halts discretionary spending
Headline Court News |
2011/01/07 07:03
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pThe Navajo Nation’s high court has banned elected tribal officials from doling out public money until the tribe establishes rules on their financial aid program./ppThe court made the decision this week in a case that challenged the reduction of the Tribal Council from 88 members to 24./ppTribal lawmakers set aside $150,000 in public money to mount the challenge. The Supreme Court justices said the appropriation was unlawful and that tribal officials failed to adequately review it./ppSome lawmakers have been criticized for discretionary spending. All but 11 of the 88 lawmakers and the incoming tribal president were charged in a probe of the spending./ppOne of the cases has been dismissed, but a judge hasn’t ruled on whether it can be refiled.
/p
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Court won't speed challenge to MN disclosure law
Headline Court News |
2010/10/04 09:20
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| pA federal appeals court has declined to fast-track a challenge against a Minnesota law requiring disclosure of corporate political spending./ppIn an order Monday, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals denied a motion to expedite the case, and it scheduled oral arguments for Jan. 11 in St. Louis, well after the election./ppMinnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, the Taxpayers League of Minnesota and a travel company are trying to overturn the law on free-speech grounds./ppU.S. District Judge Donovan Frank last month refused to block the state law./ppThe groups have also asked the 8th Circuit for an injunction to suspend enforcement of the disclosure law while their appeal is considered. The appeals court took that request under advisement./p |
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Ex-health care exec. to plead guilty to wire fraud
Headline Court News |
2010/09/08 09:39
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| A former executive of the bankrupt health care company Canopy Financial Inc. has agreed to plead guilty in an alleged multimillion-dollar fraud.pCourt documents released Wednesday say former chief technology officer Anthony Banas will plead guilty to wire fraud./ppChicago-based Canopy was known as one of the nation's fastest growing businesses before its 2009 bankruptcy. Many clients relied on it to pay medical bills./ppBanas and former chief operating officer, Jeremy Blackburn, have been charged with wire fraud, which carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence./ppBanas' agreement says he participated in transferring $60 million of investor funds and misappropriating $18 million in health care savings accounts./ppMessages left for defense attorneys weren't immediately returned./p |
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'Grim Sleeper' arraignment set for Monday
Headline Court News |
2010/08/23 08:54
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pLonnie Franklin Jr., the suspect in the Grim Sleeper serial killings, is scheduled to be arraigned Monday morning in a Los Angeles, California, courtroom on 10 counts of murder./ppFranklin is accused of killing 10 women in the south Los Angeles area between 1985 and 2007./ppNicknamed for taking long breaks between attacks, the Grim Sleeper is believed responsible for at least 10 deaths between 1985 and 2007 in south Los Angeles. The killer targeted black women, some working as prostitutes, using the same small caliber weapon./ppLos Angeles police arrested Franklin on July 8 by comparing DNA found at some of the crime scenes with the DNA of the suspect's son, who was in a California lockup./ppFive days after his arrest, Franklin was attacked in jail. Inmate Antonio Rodriguez and Franklin were in an attorney waiting room when the assault happened, said Steve Whitmore, a sheriff's department spokesman./ppRodriguez was not in handcuffs at the time and apparently recognized Franklin. Without being provoked, Rodriguez hit Franklin in the head twice, and he suffered minor injuries, Whitmore said.
/p |
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Court says California mall's chat policy illegal
Headline Court News |
2010/08/16 09:20
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A Northern California appeals court has struck down a shopping mall's policy barring people from approaching strangers to chitchat.pThe 3rd District Court of Appeal this week said the rules at Roseville's Westfield Galleria violate the California Constitution's free speech guarantee./ppThe mall prohibited people in its common areas from approaching people they didn't know to talk unless the conversation was about business involving the mall or its tenants. The case arose after mall officials issued a citizen's arrest of a 27-year-old pastor who tried to talk about his faith./ppThe appeals court says the policy effectively bars shoppers from chatting about the weather or offering directions./ppA spokeswoman for Westfield says the mall is considering appealing to the California Supreme Court.
/p |
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Jury finds south Texas man guilty of beheadings
Headline Court News |
2010/07/27 09:06
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| A South Texas man accused of beheading his common-law wife's three children was found guilty of capital murder Monday at his second trial. A state appeals court had overturned John Allen Rubio's previous conviction and death sentence in 2007, saying the children's mother had wrongly been allowed to testify. A second jury deliberated for about three hours before convicting him again.pRubio, 29, of Brownsville, had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, and his defense attorneys had argued that the sheer brutality of the crime showed he was not in his right mind. Defense attorney Nat Perez described it during his closing argument as overkill./ppEvidence showed Rubio made increasingly ferocious attempts to kill the children, strangling and stabbing them, then finally cutting off their heads. Rubio initially said he killed the children, all under age 4, because they were possessed./ppPolice discovered the bodies of 3-year-old Julissa Quesada, 14-month-old John E. Rubio and 2-month-old Mary Jane Rubio on March 11, 2003, in a squalid Brownsville apartment./ppRubio was convicted on four counts of capital murder. Each death was covered by one count, and the fourth count included all of them./ppThe trial will now move to a punishment phase, in which prosecutors plan to again seek the death penalty./ppDuring closing arguments given before a packed courtroom earlier Monday, both sides showed enlarged photographs of the children from happier times. Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos got the last word and accentuated it by showing a photograph of a headless child and making a chopping motion on the floor with a cleaver./p |
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