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Report: Syracuse sex-abuse probe prompt but flawed
U.S. Court News |
2012/07/05 14:59
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Syracuse University's prompt response to allegations of sexual abuse against an assistant basketball coach was done in good faith but was flawed because, among other things, there was no direct contact with law enforcement, a special committee of the university's board of trustees said in a report released Thursday.
Although the 52-page document states there was no attempt to "cover up" any conduct, it reiterates a criticism voiced by Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick that police and the district attorney should have been notified immediately so they could conduct the investigation with all the experience and tools available to law enforcement.
The committee assessed the university's response to allegations that Bernie Fine had sexually abused former ball boy Bobby Davis. It said Davis' allegations "should have been viewed from the outset as involving serious alleged crimes."
Davis, now 41, claims Fine molested him for years beginning when he was around 12 years old. He took the claims to university officials in September 2005.
Fine, in his 36th year on the basketball staff, was fired in November 2011 after the allegations were made public.
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Supreme Court says tribes must be fully reimbursed
U.S. Court News |
2012/06/18 13:01
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The Supreme Court says the government must fully reimburse Native American tribes for money they spent on federal programs.
The federal government had agreed to fully reimburse money tribes spent on programs like law enforcement, environmental protection and agricultural assistance, but Congress capped the amount of money earmarked for that reimbursement. The tribes sued, and the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver said the money must be fully reimbursed.
The high court on Monday said the Ramah Navajo Chapter and other Native American tribes must get their money back.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the majority opinion for Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Elena Kagan. Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Samuel Alito dissented. |
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NYC officer pleads not guilty to manslaughter
U.S. Court News |
2012/06/14 10:21
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A police officer was indicted Wednesday in the death of an unarmed drug suspect, the first time a New York City officer has faced criminal charges in a fatal shooting since a groom was killed in a 50-shot police barrage on his wedding day in 2006.
New York Police Department Officer Richard Haste, 31, surrendered Wednesday morning. Haste pleaded not guilty to manslaughter charges in a courtroom filled with other officers, relatives of 18-year-old victim Ramarley Graham and their supporters.
"Ramarley was only 18," his mother, Constance Malcolm, said outside court. "We have too much of this going on and it has to stop. We need it to stop. We can't keep killing our kids. It has to stop. Something has to come out of this."
As Haste left the courtroom after posting $50,000 bail, dozens of officers applauded him. He was on crutches because of an unrelated accident and walked slowly to a car, while a small group of protesters chanted anti-police slogans behind him. |
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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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