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High court struggles over government freeze on assets
Legal Line News |
2015/11/09 22:21
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The Supreme Court is struggling over whether the government can freeze the financial assets of people accused of crimes even if the money is not directly tied to criminal activity and is needed for defense.
Several justices on Tuesday appeared sympathetic to arguments that federal prosecutors violated the constitutional rights of a Miami woman accused of Medicare fraud when they put a hold on $45 million in assets that included money unrelated to the charges.
A lawyer representing Sila Luis says the forfeiture deprives her of the right to hire a defense attorney of her choice.
But the court also seemed troubled that a defendant could simply spend the money tied to a crime and leave the government with nothing to recover if there is a conviction. |
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German court: former SS Auschwitz guard fit for trial
Legal Line News |
2015/11/02 09:39
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A German court says a 93-year-old former SS sergeant charged with 170,000 counts of accessory to murder on allegations he served as an Auschwitz death camp guard has been declared fit for trial.
The Detmold state court said Monday a doctor determined that Reinhold H., whose last name wasn't given for privacy reasons, is fit to stand trial so long as sessions are limited to two hours per day.
Defense attorneys and prosecutors now have two weeks to submit responses to the expert opinion. The court will then decide whether to open a trial.
H. is accused of being an accessory to murders at Auschwitz from January 1943 to June 1944. The suspect says he was assigned to a part of the camp not involved in the mass murders.
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High court rejects ex-stockbroker's appeal in fraud case
Legal Line News |
2015/11/02 09:39
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The Supreme Court turned away an appeal from a former Toronto stockbroker convicted in a multimillion-dollar securities fraud who says federal prosecutors should have turned over documents that might have helped his defense.
The justices Monday let stand an appeals court ruling that said prosecutors didn't have to share information about the drug use of a key witness against George Georgiou. The lower court sided with prosecutors who said defense lawyers could have discovered the publicly available records on their own.
Georgiou's lawyers said prosecutors had a duty to disclose the information if they were aware of it. Several former Justice Department officials backed his claim and urged the court to take the case.
Georgiou was convicted on charges of manipulating markets of four stocks, causing $55 million in losses.
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Supreme Court won't reinstate $250K award in police shooting
Legal Line News |
2015/10/20 15:31
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The Supreme Court will not reinstate a $250,000 award to the father of a suspected marijuana user in Maryland who was killed by police in a middle-of the-night raid.
The justices on Monday left in place a court ruling that overturned the jury award in the death of Andrew Cornish in 2005. A SWAT team entered Cornish's apartment in Cambridge,
Maryland, at 4:30 a.m. with a search warrant to look for marijuana.
The jury found that police violated Cornish's constitutional rights by failing to "knock and announce" their presence before going inside.
A lawsuit filed by Andrew Kane over his son's death argued that Cornish was awakened by the intrusion, grabbed a knife for protection and was shot in the head seconds later.
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