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Lawyer seeks dismissal in Ohio HS player rape case
State Law Issues |
2013/03/10 16:00
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On the eve of their trial, the attorney for one of two Ohio high school football players charged with raping a girl after an alcohol-fueled party said Tuesday that moving forward with the case is patently unfair and un-American because important witnesses haven't been compelled to testify.
The attorney for Ma'Lik Richmond filed a motion Monday saying that further prosecution of Richmond violates his due process and equal protection rights and asks the judge or state to dismiss the case.
You have case where it's clear — clear — that basic, fundamental, constitutional guarantees are not available to this child, my client, to put on a defense, Walter Madison told The Associated Press. As such, it is patently unfair and un-American to continue knowing that that is not available.
Richmond, 16, and Trent Mays, 17, are scheduled to go on trial Wednesday in Jefferson County juvenile court in Steubenville on charges they attacked a 16-year-old West Virginia girl last August. Their attorneys have denied the charges.
But the attorneys for both teens said their clients will be denied a fair trial because of the availability of crucial witnesses. A West Virginia judge's ruled last week that three juvenile witnesses there could not be compelled to testify in the Ohio case. |
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Court upholds sentence of ex-CIA station chief
State Law Issues |
2012/12/03 19:07
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An appeals court has unanimously upheld the nearly 5 ½-year sentence of a former CIA station chief for sexually abusing an unconscious woman at the mansion the U.S. government provided for him in Algeria.
The three-judge panel ruled Friday that U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle had adequately explained why she sentenced Andrew Warren to roughly double what was called for in sentencing guidelines.
Warren argued that his Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, depression and substance abuse made it unreasonable to give him more than a brief sentence, followed by treatment at a private facility. The appeals court disagreed.
After Warren was fired, federal agents found him high on crack in a Virginia motel room with a semi-automatic pistol in his shorts. He pleaded guilty to abusive sexual contact and a gun charge. |
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Minn. Supreme Court to hear suicides case appeal
State Law Issues |
2012/10/22 14:57
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The Minnesota Supreme Court has agreed to hear the appeal of a former
nurse convicted of searching out suicidal people in online chat rooms
and encouraging them to commit suicide.
William Melchert-Dinkel of Faribault was convicted in 2011 on two
counts of aiding suicide. The Minnesota Court of Appeals in July
rejected his argument that he was merely practicing free speech.
In an order Tuesday, the state Supreme Court agreed to review the
case. A date for oral arguments has not been set.
Melchert-Dinkel was convicted in the deaths of 32-year-old Mark
Drybrough, of Coventry, England, and 18-year-old Nadia Kajouji, of
Brampton, Ontario, in 2008.
Melchert-Dinkel faces about a year in jail unless his conviction is
overturned. He remains free pending appeal. |
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Illegal immigrant in Fla. fights for law license
State Law Issues |
2012/10/05 15:00
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A Florida man's bid to become the first illegal immigrant to obtain a law license in the United States met skepticism Tuesday from most of the state's Supreme Court justices.
Jose Godinez-Samperio came to the U.S. with his parents on visitors' visas when he was 9 years old, but the family never returned to Mexico. He graduated from New College in Florida, earned a law degree from Florida State University and passed the state bar exam last year.
He's somebody who has done everything he's supposed to do. He complied with every rule, Godinez-Samperio's attorney and former American Bar Association president Talbot Sandy D'Alemberte, said after the hearing.
Godinez-Samperio's case is one of a few across the country. Illegal immigrants in New York and California also want to practice law there.
The Board of Bar Examiners in Florida found no reason to deny the 25-year-old Godinez-Samperio a license but asked the state's high court for guidance, said the board's lawyer, Robert Blythe. |
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