|
|
|
Etan Patz suspect's court date postponed to Oct. 1
Legal News |
2012/06/21 12:00
|
Prosecutors made it clear Wednesday they are still investigating and assessing a case against a man charged in a notorious 1979 child disappearance, agreeing with his lawyer to postpone a court date for three months for both sides to keep gathering information.
Pedro Hernandez had been due in court Monday as doctors evaluate his mental fitness for trial in the murder case surrounding Etan Patz, one of the first missing children whose picture ever appeared on a milk carton. But the Manhattan district attorney's office said Wednesday that both sides had agreed to put off Hernandez's appearance to Oct. 1 "to allow all parties to proceed with their investigations in a measured and fair manner."
Hernandez's lawyer, Harvey Fishbein, declined to comment.
Postponing court dates is far from unusual. But the three-month timeframe appears to allow plenty of time for both sides to see what information might be available to strengthen — or weaken — a court case that arose from a confession from a man who has struggled with mental illness and hallucinations, according to his lawyer and family. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Penn State: Court should dismiss Spanier's lawsuit
Legal News |
2012/06/15 10:53
|
Penn State is asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed against the university by its former president.
Graham Spanier sued May 25 to obtain old emails that he says are necessary to respond to Penn State's child sex-abuse probe.
Documents filed by Penn State on Thursday in Centre County court also argue that Spanier should have first requested the emails under the state's Right-to-Know law.
Penn State is conducting an internal investigation of how the university handled child molestation allegations against former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. Sandusky is currently on trial and has denied wrongdoing. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ariz. gov. orders training ahead of court decision
Legal News |
2012/06/13 15:21
|
Arizona's governor on Tuesday ordered a state board to redistribute a training video on the state's controversial immigration law to all law enforcement agencies.
The move comes ahead of an expected ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court this month on the law, which was signed by Gov. Jan Brewer in 2010.
Brewer said in a statement Tuesday that she wants to make sure officers are prepared if the court upholds the law.
Parts of the law blocked from taking effect include a provision requiring police to question people's immigration status while enforcing other laws if there's a reasonable suspicion they're in the country illegally.
The Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board's video outlines factors that constitute reasonable suspicion that someone is in the country illegally, including language, demeanor and foreign-vehicle registration. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Court denies Loughner's request for rehearing
Legal News |
2012/06/09 00:08
|
An appeals court rejected a request by lawyers for the man accused of shooting former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords to rehear their arguments over their mentally ill client's forced medication with psychotropic drugs.
Attorneys for Jared Lee Loughner had asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for a rehearing after the court in March denied their request to halt their client's forced medication.
The court on Tuesday denied the request to hear the appeal again.
Loughner has pleaded not guilty to 49 charges stemming from the January 2011 shooting in Tucson that killed six people and wounded former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 12 others.
The trial court judge on the case has set a June 27 hearing in Tucson to consider whether Loughner is mentally fit to stand trial.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Court denies dismissal of 8 WikiLeaks charges
Legal News |
2012/06/07 00:07
|
A military judge is refusing to dismiss eight of the 22 counts against an Army private charged in a massive leak of government secrets.
Col. Denise Lind made the ruling Friday during a pretrial hearing for Pfc. Bradley Manning at Fort Meade, Md.
She rejected defense arguments that the government used unconstitutionally vague language in charging Manning with unauthorized possession and disclosure of classified information.
Lind is considering another defense motion seeking dismissal of two counts alleging Manning exceeded his authority to access a Defense Department computer system.
She said Manning's trial, currently set for September, will likely start in November or January due to procedural issues.
Manning is charged with aiding the enemy and other offenses on accusations he caused thousands of classified documents to be published on the WikiLeaks website. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
NY court limits disclosure in old communist probe
Legal News |
2012/06/06 00:08
|
New York's top court on Tuesday ordered the release of more names and records to a writer whose parents were targeted by anti-communist investigators in the New York City school system 57 years ago.
The Court of Appeals, however, is still excluding informants who were promised confidentiality. The seven judges unanimously said history may at some point overtake those promises and more completely peel back the veil of secrecy from that chapter in America's Red Scare.
"The story of the Anti-Communist Investigations, like any other that is a significant part of our past, should be told as fully and as accurately as possible, and historians are better equipped to do so when they can work from uncensored records," Judge Robert Smith wrote. "Perhaps there will be a time when the promise made ... is so ancient that its enforcement would be pointless, but that time is not yet."
Lisa Harbatkin's parents were among more than 1,100 teachers investigated from the 1930s to the 1960s. She has seen interview transcripts with names and personal information blacked out and is seeking complete documents under New York's Freedom of Information Law.
City officials opposed complete disclosure for privacy reasons, offering redacted documents unless those in question or their legal heirs agreed to disclosure. As an alternative, they offered Harbatkin complete accounts if she agreed not to publish the names, a condition she rejected.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Legal News RSS Feed
