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State argues high court AZ ruling supports GA law
State Law Issues |
2012/07/06 15:42
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The state of Georgia said Friday in a court filing that its law targeting illegal immigration should be upheld in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling last month on a similar law enacted by Arizona.
The high court upheld a section of Arizona's law that requires police to check the immigration status of those they stop for other reasons. It also struck down three key sections that would: require all immigrants to obtain or carry immigration registration papers; make it a state criminal offense for an illegal immigrant to seek work or hold a job; and allow police to arrest suspected illegal immigrants without warrants.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in March heard arguments in challenges to both Georgia and Alabama's illegal immigration crackdowns, but the three-judge panel said at the time that it would wait to rule until after the Supreme Court had ruled in the Arizona case. Friday is the deadline for lawyers in those cases to submit new briefs based on the Supreme Court ruling. By early afternoon, only Georgia's filing was available in an online court system. |
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Use new drug sentencing law in crack cases
State Law Issues |
2012/06/21 12:12
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The Supreme Court says criminals who were arrested but not yet sentenced for crack cocaine offenses should be able to take advantage of newly reduced sentences.
Corey A. Hill and Edward Dorsey were arrested in 2007 and 2008 for selling crack cocaine and faced mandatory 10-year sentences in Illinois. But they weren't sentenced until after the Fair Sentencing Act went into effect in August 2010. That law reduces the difference between sentences for crimes committed by crack cocaine and powder cocaine users.
Justice Stephen Breyer said in a 5-4 decision Thursday that the courts should have used the new law to sentence the two men.
Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented. |
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Del. court hears pedophile ex-pediatrician appeal
State Law Issues |
2012/06/14 10:23
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A lawyer for a former pediatrician serving a life sentence for sexually abusing scores of young patients appealed Wednesday to the Delaware Supreme Court, arguing that a search warrant didn't allow police to seize a flash drive containing videotaped sex crimes against children.
Earl Bradley, 59, was sentenced last year to 14 life sentences without parole for 14 counts of first-degree rape. He also was sentenced to more than 160 years in prison for multiple counts of assault and sexual exploitation of a child in a case that shook this small state.
Bradley was convicted by a judge who viewed more than 13 hours of videos showing sex crimes against more than 80 victims, most of them toddlers. The videos were seized by police who executed a search warrant in 2009 at his Lewes office complex, which was decorated with Disney themes and miniature amusement park rides.
Bradley had waived his right to a jury trial after the trial judge denied a defense motion to suppress the video evidence because it had been illegally seized.
Defense attorneys argued Wednesday that Bradley's convictions should be reversed because the warrant did not allow police to search an outbuilding in which a computer flash drive containing the videos was found. They also said the warrant didn't allow authorities to seize the flash drive. |
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2 men sentenced in Palin lawyer harassment case
State Law Issues |
2012/06/09 10:59
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Two Pennsylvania men convicted of harassing Sarah Palin's Alaska lawyers were sentenced Friday to time served and five years' probation, with the proceedings briefly halted after a short outburst in court by one of the defendants.
During his sentencing in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, 20-year-old Shawn Christy said the judge's order that he live up to six months in a Pennsylvania community re-entry program was ridiculous.
His father, Craig Christy, 48, was ordered to perform community service.
The Christys, of McAdoo, Pa., pleaded guilty in January to making harassing phone calls to Palin's attorneys. Attorney John Tiemessen testified that the men's calls threatened Palin and attorneys. Both Christys apologized Friday for their actions.
Shawn Christy was released and sent back to Pennsylvania last month after an evaluation report said he wasn't a danger to the public. |
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