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Court: AG must go to court to probe nat'l banks
Breaking Legal News | 2009/06/29 03:34
The Supreme Court says state attorneys general can't issue their own subpoenas in investigations against national banks. However, the high court in a decision on Monday said that an attorney general can get a court to issue subpoenas in an investigation into those financial institutions.

The state of New York wanted the Supreme Court to overturn a federal appeals court decision that blocks states from investigating the lending practices of national banks with branches within its borders. It was supported by the other 49 states.



Ex-Surgeon General Novello pleads guilty in NY
Court Watch | 2009/06/29 03:31
Former Surgeon General Antonia Novello pleaded guilty Friday to a felony in a deal with prosecutors to avoid prison time for forcing state employees to handle personal chores when she was New York's health commissioner.

The plea deal calls for 250 hours of community service at an Albany health clinic, $22,500 in restitution and a $5,000 fine. Novello faced up to 12 years in prison if convicted on all charges. She was accused of costing taxpayers $48,000 by misusing the workers.

She pleaded guilty to filing a false document involving a worker's duties.

Investigators said Novello, originally from Puerto Rico, used state workers to chauffeur her on shopping trips and rearrange heavy furniture at her apartment while she was New York's top health official. She now lives in Florida.

In court Friday, Albany County Judge Stephen Herrick asked Novello if she had intended to defraud the state.



Justices Rule Lab Analysts Must Testify on Results
Court Watch | 2009/06/26 08:28

Crime laboratory reports may not be used against criminal defendants at trial unless the analysts responsible for creating them give testimony and subject themselves to cross-examination, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday in a 5-to-4 decision.

The ruling was an extension of a 2004 decision that breathed new life into the Sixth Amendment’s confrontation clause, which gives a criminal defendant the right “to be confronted with the witnesses against him.”

Four dissenting justices said that scientific evidence should be treated differently than, say, statements from witnesses to a crime. They warned that the decision would subject the nation’s criminal justice system to “a crushing burden” and that it means “guilty defendants will go free, on the most technical grounds.”

The two sides differed sharply about the practical consequences of requiring testimony from crime laboratory analysts. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, writing for the four dissenters, said Philadelphia’s 18 drug analysts will now each be required to testify in more than 69 trials next year, and Cleveland’s six drug analysts in 117 trials each.



Court says strip search of Ariz. teenager illegal
Law Center | 2009/06/26 08:28
The Supreme Court ruled Thursday school officials violated an Arizona teenage girl rights by strip-searching her for prescription-strength ibuprofen, saying U.S. educators should not force children to remove their clothing unless student safety is at risk.

In an 8-1 ruling, the justices said that Safford Middle School officials violated the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches with their treatment of Savana Redding. However, the court also ruled that the Arizona school officials cannot be held financially liable for their search.

Redding was 13 when the educators in rural eastern Arizona conducted the search. They were looking for pills — the equivalent of two Advils. The district bans prescription and over-the-counter drugs and the school was acting on a tip from another student.

The school's search of Redding's backpack and outer clothes was permissible, the court said. But the justices said that officials went too far when they asked to search her underwear.



Legal, insurance fees mounting for Metro
Breaking Legal News | 2009/06/26 08:23

The deadly Metro crash that killed nine people and injured more than 70 is already having a financial effect on the transit system, with legal fees and insurance premiums mounting.

The first of what is expected to be many lawsuits was filed two days after Monday’s crash, with the parents of 15-year-old Davonne Flanagan, who broke a leg, seeking $950,000 from the transit system because of what the suit called its negligence in maintenance and personnel training.

Washington-area lawyers say they have been contacted about representing other victims, and warn there’s no ceiling for the coming onslaught of claims.

“At a minimum, for each of the decedents there will be a nexus of $1 million a piece on them - and that’s conservative,” said lawyer Manuel R. Geraldo, who has been practicing law locally for 30 years.

The District, where the crash occurred, has no cap on damages for personal injury cases, making the cases potentially costly, said Frank Kearney, a D.C. lawyer. Had the crash occurred just a short distance away in Maryland, he said, Metro’s liability in the personal injury cases would be capped at $200,000.

Once the Metro cases go to court, District judges must decide whether Metro is liable and how much money plaintiffs deserve.

“It clearly looks like liability will not be in dispute,” Geraldo said. “The argument is going to be over the nature and extent of the injuries.”

But Robert Enderle, a lawyer with Aschcraft & Gerel, said that if it turned out that faulty equipment was to blame for the crash, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority could try to blame its manufacturers.

Such lawsuits are typically covered by insurance coverage. But Metro’s board learned Thursday the transit system’s insurance policy was set to expire at midnight Tuesday. Normally the agency would have been able to renew the policy with set costs, but Chief Financial Officer Carol Kissal said the crash would end those rates and bring on higher but yet to be determined insurance premiums.



Accused Holocaust museum shooter not in court
Court Watch | 2009/06/26 02:29
Prosecutors said Tuesday that a white supremacist accused of opening fire in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum still hasn't recovered enough to appear in court but has been turned over to the District of Columbia's Corrections Department.

Prosecutor Nicole Waid told U.S. Magistrate Judge John Facciola at a hearing that 88-year-old James von Brunn's doctors say he won't be ready for his first court appearance in the shooting until early next week.

Von Brunn faces a first-degree murder charge in the death of museum guard Stephen T. Johns, who had come to open the door for him. Von Brunn was hospitalized after being shot in the face by other guards. The FBI has said he is likely to survive.

Ward gave no specifics about von Brunn's condition, except to say that he can hear and understand information about his case.

Attorneys said he was moved Friday from George Washington University Hospital, where he was taken after the shooting, to the Greater Southeast Community Hospital, where he can be overseen by corrections officials.

Facciola scheduled a hearing with von Brunn for June 30. Von Brunn's court-appointed attorney, A.J. Kramer, said he has been in touch with his client and will let him know about the hearing.



Supremacist blogger accused of threatening judges
Breaking Legal News | 2009/06/25 08:20
A white supremacist blogger was arrested at his New Jersey home Wednesday and charged with threatening to assault or murder three Chicago-based judges who refused to overturn local ordinances banning handguns.

Hal Turner, 47, a former Internet radio talk show host, was taken into custody by FBI agents who went to his North Bergen home with a search warrant, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

Prosecutors quoted a Turner Internet posting as saying: "Let me be the first to say this plainly: These judges deserve to be killed."

The posting included a map showing the Everett Dirksen Federal Courthouse, where the three judges are based. It said a map showing the judges' homes would later be added.

The posting also referred to the murder of the mother and husband of Chicago-based federal Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow in February 2005 — a crime that sent shock waves across the nation.

"Apparently, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court didn't get the hint after those killings," the posting said. "It appears another lesson is needed."

U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald announced the arrest, stressing the importance federal officials placed on the case.



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