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Evidence challenged: Miss. court blocks execution
Headline News |
2013/05/08 23:31
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The Mississippi Supreme Court has indefinitely delayed Tuesday's scheduled execution of Willie Jerome Manning amid questions involving evidence in the case, intervening hours before he was set to die for the slayings of two college students.
Manning, who had challenged errors involving evidence analysis, was originally set to receive a lethal injection at 6 p.m. CDT at the state prison in Parchman. But with mere hours remaining, the high court blocked the execution until it rules further in the case.
Manning was convicted in 1994 in the shooting deaths of two Mississippi State University students, Jon Steckler and Tiffany Miller. Their bodies were found in a rural area in December 1992.
The FBI has said in recent days that there were errors in agents' testimony about ballistics tests and hair analysis in the case.
Manning's lawyers had argued in recent filings before the Mississippi Supreme Court that the execution should be blocked based on the U.S. Justice Department's disclosures about testimony that it says exceeded the limits of science.
The court ruled 8-1 on Tuesday for a stay. The court had previously split 5-4 in decisions in the case. |
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Court: California cities can ban pot shops
Headline News |
2013/05/08 23:30
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Local governments in California's have legal authority to ban storefront pot shops within their borders, California's highest court ruled on Monday in an opinion likely to further diminish the state's once-robust medical marijuana industry.
Nearly 17 years after voters in the state legalized medical marijuana, the court ruled unanimously in a legal challenge to a ban the city of Riverside enacted in 2010.
The advocacy group Americans for Safe Access estimates that another 200 jurisdictions statewide have similar prohibitions on retail pot sales. Many were enacted after the number of retail medical marijuana outlets boomed in Southern California after a 2009 memo from the U.S. Justice Department said prosecuting pot sales would be a low priority.
However, the rush to outlaw pot shops has slowed in the 21 months since the four federal prosecutors in California launched a coordinated crackdown on dispensaries by threatening to seize the property of landlords who lease space to the shops. Hundreds of dispensary operators have since been evicted or closed voluntarily.
Marijuana advocates have argued that allowing local government to bar dispensaries thwarts the intent of the state's medical marijuana law - the nation's first - to make the drug accessible to residents with doctor's recommendations to use it. |
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Justices voice skepticism of voting rights law
Headline News |
2013/03/04 12:57
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The Supreme Court's conservative justices voiced deep skepticism Wednesday about a section of a landmark civil rights law that has helped millions of Americans exercise their right to vote.
In an ominous note for supporters of the key provision of the Voting Rights Act, Justice Anthony Kennedy both acknowledged the measure's vital role in fighting discrimination and suggested that other important laws in U.S. history had run their course. "Times change," Kennedy said during the fast-paced, 70-minute argument.
Kennedy's views are likely to prevail on the closely divided court, and he tends to side with his more conservative colleagues on matters of race.
The court's liberals and conservatives engaged in a sometimes tense back-and-forth over whether there is an ongoing need in 2013 for the part of the voting rights law that requires states with a history of discrimination, mainly in the Deep South, to get approval before making changes in the way elections are held. |
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SC court nixes James Brown estate settlement
Headline News |
2013/02/27 22:18
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The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned a settlement divvying up the multi-million dollar estate of James Brown, saying a former attorney general didn't follow the late soul singer's wishes in putting together the deal.
Attorney General Henry McMaster brokered a settlement in 2009 that split Brown's estate, giving nearly half to a charitable trust, a quarter to his widow Tomi Rae Hynie and leaving the rest to be split among his adult children.
But the justices ruled the deal ignored Brown's wishes for most of his money to go to charity. The court ruled the Godfather of Soul was of sound mind when he made his will before dying of heart failure on Christmas Day 2006 at age 73.
The court sent the estate back to a lower court to be reconsidered.
The justices did agree with the lower court's decision to remove Brown's original trustees. Members of Brown's family said they wanted them gone because the trustees mismanaged the estate until it was almost broke. |
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Not guilty pleas entered for Lohan on misdemeanors
Headline News |
2013/01/22 23:42
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Lindsay Lohan pleaded not guilty Tuesday to three misdemeanor charges related to a car crash and was ordered to appear in court for a hearing later this month.
Her plea was entered by her attorney Shawn Holley, who declined to comment after the hearing. Lohan was not required to attend.
Superior Court Commissioner Jane Godfrey said the actress must appear at a Jan. 30 pretrial hearing.
Lohan is charged with lying to police, reckless driving and obstructing police from performing their duties.
Police suspect Lohan was driving her sports car when it slammed into a dump truck while she was on her way to the set of "Liz and Dick" in early June. Lohan told police she wasn't behind the wheel.
Lohan was on probation for a 2011 necklace theft case at the time and could face up to 245 days in jail if a judge determines she violated her probation.
Godfrey also set a Feb, 27 trial date on the misdemeanor counts.
The accident was not the only problem encountered by Lohan while shooting "Liz and Dick," a film based on the love affair between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. |
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Man pleads not guilty in deadly DUI crash
Headline News |
2013/01/14 22:49
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A California man has pleaded not guilty to charges in a deadly drunken driving crash that killed a man and four dogs.
Prosecutors say 31-year-old Paul William Walden was drunk behind the wheel of car traveling down a Carmichael street at 80 mph with no lights when he blew through a stop sign.
The car struck 21-year-old Harison Long-Randall, his 23-year-old girlfriend Gemily West and her dogs. Long-Randall and the four dogs were killed.
Walden fled the scene and was captured a short time later.
The Sacramento Bee says Walden pleaded not guilty on Thursday to murder, vehicular manslaughter, driving under the influence and other charges in last July's crash.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March.
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