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Court-martial for Missouri drill sergeant resumes
Court Line News |
2014/09/29 15:40
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The military court-martial of a Missouri sergeant accused of sexually assaulting eight female soldiers has resumed.
A verdict is expected Wednesday after a three-day trial for 30-year-old Army Staff Sgt. Angel M. Sanchez, who is accused of using his supervisory position with the 14th Military Police Brigade to threaten some of the women he was tasked with training.
Sanchez pleaded guilty to three charges at the outset of the military judicial hearing. His accusers said the incidents took place in the bathroom of the female barracks as well as in an office shared by drill sergeants.
Most of the allegations involved women at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, but some involved women in Afghanistan and Fort Richardson, Alaska. |
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German court: church facilities can ban headscarf
Court Line News |
2014/09/29 15:39
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A German federal court has ruled that church-run institutions are within their rights to refuse to allow Muslim employees to wear headscarves at work.
The Federal Labor Court ruled Wednesday on a case brought by a former nurse at a Protestant church-linked hospital.
In 2010, the woman offered to return to work after maternity and sickness leave totaling four years and said she wanted to wear her headscarf at work. The hospital said no, and the woman went to court to seek compensation.
The federal court ruled that wearing a headscarf as a religious symbol isn't compatible with a contractual obligation to "neutral behavior" in a church-run facility. But it sent the woman's case back to a lower court, citing doubts over whether the hospital was technically a church institution. |
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Miley Cyrus date barely makes court appearance
Topics in Legal News |
2014/09/22 16:15
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A massively famous celebrity meets a young homeless man in Hollywood and introduces him to an audience of millions. Then, just when it looks like the man is going to triumph, his dark past comes back to haunt him.
As in any Hollywood script, there are two possible endings: The young man can overcome his past, or he can never escape it.
For 45 minutes Tuesday, it appeared Jesse Helt was choosing an unhappy ending.
The young homeless man who accompanied Miley Cyrus to the MTV Video Music Awards arrived 45 minutes late for his arraignment Tuesday on a charge that he violated his probation in Oregon.
Polk County Judge Monte Campbell was ready to wrap up his court hearings for the day, and likely issue an arrest warrant for Helt, when Helt's lawyer announced that he received a text message: His client had arrived.
Helt, 22, gained worldwide attention last month when Cyrus let him accept her award for video of the year, to help raise awareness for youth homelessness. Reporters eager to learn the story behind the sudden celebrity discovered that Helt was wanted in his home state for a probation violation stemming from a 2010 arrest. |
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Court reverses woman's conviction in child's death
Court Line News |
2014/09/22 16:14
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A state appeals court Wednesday overturned the conviction of a South Texas woman imprisoned for capital murder in the 2006 salt poisoning death of her 4-year-old foster son.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted a new trial for Hannah Overton of Corpus Christi. She was sentenced to life in prison without parole in the death of Andrew Burd.
Overton has argued she had ineffective counsel during her 2007 trial, and the state's highest appeals court agreed.
The court in its ruling noted Overton's defense attorneys opted not to present the testimony of an expert medical witness. The court said it "was not a reasonable decision" to withhold testimony by the physician that could have benefited Overton.
She also argued that prosecutors had withheld evidence in her trial, but the appeals court did not address that claim.
Overton contended Andrew had emotional and medical problems, including an eating disorder in which he'd consume odd food items. The boy had elevated sodium levels when he died at a Corpus Christi hospital. Tests also showed he had bleeding on the brain and swelling. A doctor who examined the child testified at Overton's trial that he could have survived if taken to the hospital earlier. |
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Judge accused of hitting wife enters court program
Headline Legal News |
2014/09/06 14:02
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A federal judge from Alabama accused of hitting his wife in an Atlanta hotel room can have a misdemeanor battery charge dismissed if he completes a court program that includes domestic violence intervention.
U.S. District Court Judge Mark Fuller will spend up to 24 weeks in the pre-trial diversion program, which also includes an alcohol and substance abuse assessment. Fulton County State Court Chief Magistrate Judge Stephanie Davis on Friday allowed Fuller to enter the program and ordered him to report back to the court on Oct. 14.
Officers were called to the Fullers' room in August at the Ritz Carlton in Atlanta, where a police report said Kelli Fuller answered the door in tears and had cuts on her mouth and forehead. She was treated by paramedics but refused to be taken to the hospital. The room smelled of alcohol, according to the report.
Kelli Fuller told police her husband became violent when she accused him of cheating, pulling her hair, throwing her to the ground, and kicking her. Mark Fuller told officers he threw her to the ground to defend himself after she threw a drink glass at him while he watched television.
During the brief court hearing Friday, Mark Fuller spoke only to answer a question on whether he had agreed to enter the program. He left without speaking with reporters but, in a statement later issued through his attorney, Fuller said he looks forward to addressing the concerns of the court and "hopefully" returning to the bench. |
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32 states ask Supreme Court to settle gay marriage
Topics in Legal News |
2014/09/05 14:02
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Thirty-two states that either allow gay marriage or have banned it asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to settle the issue once and for all.
Fifteen states that allow gay marriage, led by Massachusetts, filed a brief asking the justices to take up three cases from Virginia, Utah and Oklahoma and overturn bans. And 17 other states, led by Colorado, that have banned the practice asked the court to hear cases from Utah and Oklahoma to clear up a "morass" of lawsuits, but didn't urge the court to rule one way or another.
The filing came as a three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled that same-sex marriage bans in Wisconsin and Indiana are unconstitutional. The unanimous decision Thursday criticized the justifications both states gave, several times singling out the argument that marriage between a man and a woman is tradition. There are, the court noted, good and bad traditions.
The experience of Massachusetts — the first state to legalize gay marriage — shows that allowing same-sex couples to wed has only benefited families and strengthened the institution of marriage, said Attorney General Martha Coakley. |
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