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Ariz. gov. orders training ahead of court decision
Law Firm News |
2012/06/13 15:39
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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. |
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2 plead not guilty in Mass. extortion attempt case
U.S. Court News |
2012/06/11 11:28
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Howie Winter, the 83-year-old former head of a Boston-area gang that was later run by James "Whitey" Bulger, pleaded not guilty Friday to attempted extortion and conspiracy charges.
Winter and co-defendant James Melvin, 70, were arrested Thursday after authorities said they tried over several months to extort $35,000 from each of two men who had arranged a $100,000 loan for a third man.
Winter, who headed the Winter Hill Gang in the 1960s and '70s, wore large black sunglasses during his arraignment in Somerville District Court. He and Melvin stood silently as a prosecutor described a series of meetings and phone calls in which the two men allegedly threatened the men and repeatedly referred to the North End neighborhood of Boston in an apparent attempt to intimidate the men through a thinly veiled reference to organized crime.
Assistant District Attorney Stephen Gilpatric said some of the meetings were secretly recorded. In the recordings, Winter and Melvin can be heard threatening the men if they don't pay the money, Gilpatric said.
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2 men sentenced in Palin lawyer harassment case
U.S. Court News |
2012/06/09 11:28
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Two Pennsylvania men convicted of harassing Sarah Palin's Alaska lawyers were sentenced Friday to time served and five years' probation, with the proceedings briefly halted after a short outburst in court by one of the defendants.
During his sentencing in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, 20-year-old Shawn Christy said the judge's order that he live up to six months in a Pennsylvania community re-entry program was "ridiculous."
His father, Craig Christy, 48, was ordered to perform community service.
The Christys, of McAdoo, Pa., pleaded guilty in January to making harassing phone calls to Palin's attorneys. Attorney John Tiemessen testified that the men's calls threatened Palin and attorneys. Both Christys apologized Friday for their actions.
Shawn Christy was released and sent back to Pennsylvania last month after an evaluation report said he wasn't a danger to the public.
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Ex-DC Council chairman pleads guilty to 2 charges
U.S. Court News |
2012/06/09 11:28
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The former chairman of the District of Columbia Council pleaded guilty Friday to lying about his income on bank loan applications, the latest blow to a city government rocked by scandal.
Kwame Brown also admitted to a misdemeanor campaign finance violation, capping a tumultuous week in which he forfeited his position as one of the city's most influential powerbrokers. His departure creates more turnover on the city's governing body and follows the resignation of another councilmember who admitted to stealing public funds earmarked for youth sports programs.
Their departures this year — coupled with a federal probe of Mayor Vincent Gray's 2010 campaign that has already produced guilty pleas from two campaign aides — have sent the district government into a tailspin. And the scandals likely aren't helping efforts to gain greater budget autonomy, much less win more voting power for the district's delegate to Congress or to secure the long-sought goal of statehood.
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