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Court: Silence can be used against suspects
Court News |
2014/08/18 14:50
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The California Supreme Court has ruled that the silence of suspects can be used against them.
Wading into a legally tangled vehicular manslaughter case, a sharply divided high court on Thursday effectively reinstated the felony conviction of a man accused in a 2007 San Francisco Bay Area crash that left an 8-year-old girl dead and her sister and mother injured.
Richard Tom was sentenced to seven years in prison for manslaughter after authorities said he was speeding and slammed into another vehicle at a Redwood City intersection.
Prosecutors repeatedly told jurors during the trial that Tom's failure to ask about the victims immediately after the crash but before police read him his so-called Miranda rights showed his guilt.
Legal analysts said the ruling could affect future cases, allowing prosecutors to exploit a suspect's refusal to talk before invoking 5th Amendment rights against self-incrimination. |
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Egypt court dissolves Muslim Brotherhood party
Court News |
2014/08/13 14:47
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Egypt's highest administrative court dissolved Saturday the political party of the banned Muslim Brotherhood and ordered its assets liquidated, in the latest move against the 86-year old Islamist group.
The decision against the Freedom and Justice Party comes ahead of parliamentary elections expected this year and prevents the group from trying to rejoin politics a year after leading member, President Mohammed Morsi, was overthrown by the military.
The party was founded in 2011 by the Brotherhood, Egypt's historic Islamist movement created in 1928, after President Hosni Mubarak was deposed in a popular uprising and it went on to dominate subsequent legislative elections.
The Middle East News Agency said the decision by the Supreme Administrative Court is final and can't be appealed.
In a statement, the Freedom and Justice Party said the dissolution won't succeed in uprooting the group's ideals.
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Tennessee man pleads guilty to forgery
Law Firm News |
2014/08/13 14:43
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A Tennessee man has pleaded guilty to two counts of forgery of the signatures of a district court judge and an officer of the U.S. District Court.
U.S. District Judge Pamela L. Reeves set sentencing for 49-year-old Scott Thibault of Maryville for Dec. 1 in Knoxville. Thibault entered the plea Wednesday.
Prosecutors say Thibault has also agreed to plead guilty to one-count information of use of the mail to defraud.
Prosecutors say Thibault falsely represented himself as an attorney in an adoption case and forging the name of U.S. District Judge Thomas Varlan on the documents.
Thibault told the court he obtained at least $400,000 from the victims to further his scheme to defraud and obtain money.
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Court schedules night deer hunting arguments
Legal Line News |
2014/08/05 16:07
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Wisconsin's Chippewa tribes will get a chance next month to tell a federal appeals court why members should be allowed to hunt deer at night.State officials have long banned night hunts out of safety concerns.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb ruled in the early 1990s that the ban applies to Chippewa hunters.The tribes asked Crabb in 2012 to reconsider her decision but she refused.
The Chippewa have since asked the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago to allow tribal night hunts, arguing night hunting has become more common and the state can't argue it's unsafe.
The court has set oral arguments for Sept. 16. The tribes and state attorneys will each get 20 minutes to speak. It's not clear when the court might rule. |
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