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Court to look at life in prison for juveniles
Political View |
2011/11/08 12:29
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The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether juveniles convicted of killing someone may be locked up for life with no chance of parole, a follow-up to last year's ruling barring such sentences for teenagers whose crimes do not include killing.
The justices will examine a pair of cases from the South involving young killers who are serving life sentences for crimes they committed when they were 14.
Both cases were brought by the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Ala. The institute said that life without parole for children so young is cruel and unusual and violates the Constitution.
The group says roughly six dozen people in 18 states are under life sentences and ineligible for parole for crimes they committed at 13 or 14.
Kuntrell Jackson was sentenced to life in prison in Arkansas after the shooting death of a store clerk during an attempted robbery in 1999. Another boy shot the clerk, but because Jackson was present he was convicted of capital murder and aggravated robbery.
Evan Miller was convicted of capital murder during the course of arson. A neighbor, while doing drugs and drinking with Miller and a 16-year-old boy, attacked Miller. Intoxicated, Miller and his friend beat the man and set fire to his home, killing the 52-year-old man. Miller's friend testified against him, and got life in prison with the possibility of parole. |
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Possible plea deal in Ohio abortion gunpoint case
Political View |
2011/05/01 09:13
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A prosecutor says discussions about a possible plea bargain are under way in the case of an Ohio man accused of trying to force his pregnant girlfriend at gunpoint to get an abortion.
Police say 28-year-old Dominic Holt-Reid pulled a gun Oct. 6 on his girlfriend, Yolanda Burgess, and forced her to drive to an abortion clinic.
Authorities say the procedure never happened because Burgess managed to slip a note to a clinic employee, who called police.
Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien told The Associated Press in a statement Wednesday that his office and lawyers for Holt-Reid have been discussing a potential plea.
A message left with Holt-Reid's lawyer seeking comment wasn't immediately returned.
O'Brien approved charging Hold-Reid under a 1996 fetal homicide law. Holt-Reid has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, kidnapping and other charges. |
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Candidates spar over Sheheen's legal cases
Political View |
2010/09/04 23:19
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pDemocratic gubernatorial nominee Vincent Sheheen has handled 90 workers' compensation cases since 2006, according to state records, earning more than $38,000 from his law firm's clients in 2008 and 2009 combined. /ppSheheen, a Camden state senator and attorney, last handled a case before the state Workers' Compensation Commission -- whose members Sheheen votes to appoint -- in October, according to agency records. /ppHow the state's gubernatorial candidates earn their living has become an issue in the race, with both Sheheen and Republican nominee Nikki Haley seeking to restore trust in the governor's office and in elected officials. /ppHaley, a Lexington state representative, has made transparency and requiring lawmakers to disclose their income a foundation of her campaign. /ppShe has characterized Sheheen as a rich trial lawyer and pressed him to release his firm's clients so voters know about any potential conflicts of interests. Haley has also criticized Sheheen for known possible conflicts, such as Sheheen's workers' compensation work and his role in a $2.5 million class-action lawsuit settlement against payday lenders that could pay attorneys up to $1 million in fees. /ppBut Haley has also said -- inaccurately -- in an interview with Fox News that Sheheen is a trial lawyer that makes $400,000 a year off the state. Haley, who was paid $42,500 from 2007 to 2009 by an engineering firm for consulting work while a lawmaker, declined to answer questions about her income. /ppSheheen said he follows Senate ethics laws, including disclosing his firm's publicly funded clients and recusing himself during budget votes, and there is no conflict of interest for votes on workers' compensation or payday lending legislation.
/p |
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Bush's Latest Targets Farmworkers
Political View |
2009/01/13 08:59
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The Labor and Homeland Security Departments will render meaningless many of the basic workplace safety regulations for farm workers by revised regulations to the H-2A visa program scheduled to take effect on Jan. 17, the United Farm Workers claim in Federal Court. The extensive changes published in the Federal Register on Dec. 18 undo worker protections, cripple the Department of Labor's oversight and enforcement powers, and unequivocally conflict with the plain language of the H-2A enabling statues, the complaint states.
nbsp; nbsp; The DOL's extensive changes to the H-2A program do not tinker around the edges; rather, they render meaningless many of the basic health, safety, and wage protections provided to farmworkers under the H-2A statute and current regulations, the complaint states. The new rules accomplish this not only by undoing many of the substantive worker protections found in the current regulations but also by weakening DOL's role in overseeing and enforcing the statutory mandates of the H-2A program. Many of these regulations unequivocally conflict with the plain language of the H-2A enabling statues. Many others are arbitrary and capricious rules that are inconsistent with the purposes of the statute, run contrary to evidence before DOL in the administrative record and elsewhere, and are poorly explained and justified. These new rules go well beyond DOL's discretion to promulgate regulations; rather, they constitute a wholesale attempt to undo decades-old protections of U.S. farmworkers and H-2A agricultural guestworkers, the complaint states. These regulations will cause irreparable harm to U.S. and H-2A workers by reducing wages and labor protections, and by decreasing job opportunities for workers who are already among the most impoverished in the country.
nbsp; nbsp; Plaintiffs claim the changes will essentially let labor contractors and employers certify themselves as complying with a wide range of laws and regulations, and excuse the Department of Labor from bothering to certify or investigate.
nbsp; nbsp; Lead counsel in the 69-page complaint is Wilmer Cutler Pickering. |
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Protesters rally near Texas court in dragging case
Political View |
2008/11/18 18:51
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| Protesters galvanized by a dragging death that has stirred memories of the notorious James Byrd case rallied twice outside an eastern Texas courthouse to speak out against a judicial system they consider racist.pAbout 60 people, led by a contingent from the New Black Panther Party and the Nation of Islam, met at the Lamar County Courthouse on Monday to bring attention to the death of Brandon McClelland. The groups later returned with about 200 protesters. Afterward, dozens of people chanting No justice, no peace! marched to a nearby church for a meeting./ppAuthorities say two white suspects purposely ran over McClelland, who is black, following an argument on the way home from a late-night beer run in September. McClelland's body was torn apart as it was dragged some 70 feet beneath a pickup truck near Paris, a city about 95 miles northeast of Dallas with a history of tense relations between blacks and whites./ppThe death came 10 years after James Byrd was killed in Jasper, another eastern Texas town. Byrd was chained to the back of a pickup by three white men and dragged for three miles./ppHow do we get justice for Brandon McClelland? cried Anthony Bond, founder of the Irving chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People./p |
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McCain, GOP gain ground on Obama ads in key states
Political View |
2008/10/27 19:45
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| After weeks of being out-advertised by Barack Obama, Republican presidential candidate John McCain and the Republican Party are nearly matching the Democratic nominee ad for ad in key battleground markets.pAd spending and ad placement data obtained from Democratic and Republican operatives show that in the closing days of the campaign the Republican voice has grown louder in states such as Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia and Pennsylvania./ppFor instance, Obama had been scheduled to buy about $2.5 million in Florida ads for the last week of the campaign. McCain is now set to spend about $1.6 million and the Republican National Committee added $1.5 million to their buy in the state this week. Obama appears to have added more weight to his ads since./ppThe ad war is especially noticeable in Florida's central corridor, which includes Tampa, Orlando and West Palm Beach./ppThose near-parity levels in crucial states come with a price. McCain has had to trim back his ads in Minnesota, Maine, New Hampshire and Wisconsin, giving Obama even greater edges there./ppA map of the states where McCain and the RNC are spending their money also illustrates the defensive nature of their 11th hour strategy. Except for Pennsylvania, the McCain-GOP focus was on trying to hold states that President Bush won in 2004./p |
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Authors, publishers settle suit against Google
Political View |
2008/10/27 19:44
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| Eager to cool the debate over copyrighted text online and anxious to make some money, Google and the publishing industry announced Tuesday that they have settled their three-year legal battle over the Internet giant's book search program.pUnder an agreement reached by Google, the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers, librarians and the public will have an easier time tracking down millions of out-of-print books. At the same time, Google and the book business will have greater opportunities for online sales./ppWe're trying to create a new structure where there will be more access to out-of-print books, with benefits both to readers and researchers and to the rights holders of those books — authors and publishers, Richard Sarnoff, chairman of the publishers association, said Tuesday in an interview./ppThis is an extraordinary accomplishment, Paul N. Courant, university librarian for the University of Michigan, said in a statement. It will now be possible, even easy, for anyone to access these great collections from anywhere in the United States./p |
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