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Mich. man wins appeal to get name off sex registry
Court Watch |
2009/11/05 02:05
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The Michigan Court of Appeals says a man who had a teenage romance with a girl he later married doesn't deserve to be on the state's sex offender list. Robert Dipiazza had a consensual relationship when he was 18 with a nearly 15-year-old in 2004. A teacher contacted authorities because the age of consent is 16 in Michigan. A third-degree attempted criminal sexual conduct charge was eventually erased from his record, but he still had to register as a sex offender. He says he had trouble finding jobs and became depressed. The state appeals court on ordered a Muskegon County judge to strike his name from the registry, calling it cruel punishment. Dipiazza and his girlfriend were married in April and had a baby during the summer. |
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DC sniper asks Supreme Court to block execution
Court Watch |
2009/11/04 08:46
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Attorneys for John Allen Muhammad, mastermind of the 2002 sniper attacks in the Washington, D.C., area that left 10 dead, asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to stop his execution. The 48-year-old Muhammad is scheduled to die by injection on Nov. 10 at a Virginia prison. In court papers, his attorneys say the execution should be put off while the court considers whether his trial lawyer was ineffective. Muhammad was convicted of killing Dean Harold Meyers at a Manassas, Va., gas station during a three-week spree in October 2002 that spanned Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. Muhammad and his teenage accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, were also suspected of fatal shootings in other states, including Louisiana and Alabama. Malvo is serving a life sentence. Muhammad's lawyers also have asked Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine for clemency, saying Muhammad is mentally ill and should not be executed. |
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Sniper attorneys to appeal execution to high court
Court Watch |
2009/11/03 08:36
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Attorneys for sniper mastermind John Allen Muhammad plan to file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court in an effort to stop next week's execution. Muhammad is scheduled to die by lethal injection Nov. 10 at a Virginia prison. Attorneys for the 48-year-old have said they planned to file the appeal Tuesday. They asked Gov. Timothy M. Kaine for clemency last month. Muhammad is to be executed for the slaying of Dean Harold Meyers at a Manassas, Va., gas station during a three-week killing spree in October 2002 that left 10 dead in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. Muhammad and his teenage accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, were also suspected of fatal shootings in other states, including Louisiana and Alabama. Malvo is serving a life sentence in prison. |
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Court hears appeal on Mass. wine shipment law
Court Watch |
2009/11/02 06:50
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Gerald Leader loves California wines but lives in Massachusetts, where state law sharply limits the ability of out-of-state wineries to ship their products directly to consumers. "I can't go directly to wineries in Napa and Sonoma," said Leader, a retired Boston University professor, who, along with a group of like-minded people, are suing to have the restriction lifted. On Monday, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston is scheduled to hear arguments on the law that for years has been fermenting opposition from out-of-state wine producers, as well as connoisseurs like Leader who would prefer to order their bottles through the Internet or mail order. Despite a 2005 Supreme Court ruling that opened the door wider to interstate wine shipments, restrictions remain in more than a dozen states. Attorneys say the outcome of the case in Massachusetts could influence others. "It's an example of a protectionist law that violates the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution," said Tracy Genesen, who will argue the case on behalf of Sacramento, Calif.-based Family Winemakers of California, which represents about 650 producers that claim they have essentially been frozen out of the Massachusetts market. According to Free the Grapes, a coalition of wine producers, retailers and consumers, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Maryland, Montana, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Utah prohibit wineries from shipping directly to consumers while Arizona, Kentucky, Ohio along with Massachusetts restrict shipments by companies that produce over a certain amount of wine. |
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Jury Awards $16M in Radio Contestant Death
Court Watch |
2009/10/30 14:15
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A Sacramento Superior Court jury Thursday awarded the survivors of Jennifer Lea Strange $16,577,118 as a result of her death nearly three years ago in a water-drinking contest conducted by a local radio station. In making the award, the seven-man, five-woman panel found that Entercom Sacramento LLC, the local subsidiary of Entercom Communications Corp. of Philadelphia was negligent in putting on the contest that ultimately resulted in Strange's death. Plaintiffs lawyers had asked the jury for an award for economic and non-economic damages in a range of $34 million to $44.3 million. Strange, 28, died Jan. 12, 2007, after participating in what KDND promoted as its "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest that promised the popular Nintendo video game to whomever could drink the most water without urinating or vomiting. The Sacramento County Coroner's Office determined that she died of acute water intoxication. The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department investigated the case to see if it was a homicide, but no criminal charges were filed. Plaintiffs attorneys filed the wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of her husband, William Strange, individually and as guardian of their two young children, Ryland, 6, and Jorie, 3; and Ronald Sims, the father and guardian of the woman's oldest son, Keegan, 13. The plaintiffs charged that the defendants were negligent in holding the contest.
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'Big Brother 9' winner due in court in drug case
Court Watch |
2009/10/30 09:55
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The winner of the reality TV show "Big Brother 9" is headed to federal court for a detention hearing on a drug charge. Adam Jasinski (jah-ZIN'-skee), of Delray Beach, Fla., is charged with attempting to sell 2,000 oxycodone pills. He is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Boston Friday. Jasinski was arrested in North Reading on Oct. 17 after he allegedly showed a government witness two plastic bags filled with oxycodone, a prescription painkiller that can cause dependance. Jasinski won $500,000 on "Big Brother 9" in April 2008. In an affidavit, a federal drug agent said the 31-year-old Jasinski told him he had been using his winnings on the CBS reality show to buy thousands of oxycodone pills and resell them along the East Coast. |
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Ga. man who sought out Miley Cyrus gets plea deal
Court Watch |
2009/10/30 04:53
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A 53-year-old Georgia man has pleaded guilty to resisting police outside the set of a Miley Cyrus movie after prosecutors agreed to drop charges that he tried to stalk the teen pop star. A State Court judge sentenced Mark McLeod (MIK-lowd) to 24 months probation Friday. He was also ordered to undergo a mental health assessment and stay away from Cyrus. McLeod had been jailed since Aug. 4 after police said he twice traveled to Tybee Island on the Georgia coast looking for the 16-year-old "Hannah Montana" star as she filmed the movie "The Last Song." Investigators said he resisted officers who tried to remove him. Prosecutors offered McLeod a deal after a grand jury declined to indict him on felony charges. McLeod's attorney says his client never posed a threat. |
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