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Conn. high court hears death penalty appeal
Topics in Legal News |
2011/04/29 05:22
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div class=entrydiv class=articleA lawyer told the state Supreme Court yesterday that his client’s death penalty case was the weakest one ever to go before the high court, alleging that the jury was biased and that key evidence was improperly withheld from the trial.
Justices heard the appeal of former Torrington resident Eduardo Santiago, 31, who prosecutors say agreed in 2000 to kill a West Hartford man in exchange for a pink-striped snowmobile with a broken clutch. He was sentenced to death by lethal injection in 2005 after a jury convicted him, despite no clear evidence that he was the one who pulled the rifle trigger.
Two other men are serving life prison sentences for the killing of Joseph Niwinski, 45, who was shot in the head while sleeping in his home.
Santiago’s lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Mark Rademacher, told the Supreme Court that there was no way a reasonable jury could have condemned Santiago. The defense presented 25 mitigating factors, including Santiago’s troubled childhood, for jurors to consider against the death penalty, while the state based its argument for execution on one aggravating factor, that Niwinski was killed in a murder-for-hire plot.
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Kan. House debates forcing lawsuit over casino
Topics in Legal News |
2011/04/28 09:23
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div class=entrydiv class=articleThe Kansas House is debating whether it should force the attorney general to file a lawsuit over a proposed state-owned casino south of Wichita.
A resolution being discussed Thursday would require Attorney General Derek Schmidt to sue the state Racing and Gaming Commission's over its decision to allow a casino near Mulvane.
Iowa-based Peninsula Gaming plans to build a $260 million casino complex 18 miles south of Wichita.
Critics question whether the commission's decision in January was premature.
They cite misdemeanor campaign finance charges pending against the company and two top executives in Iowa. Company officials have said they're confident the case will be resolved in their favor, and they've started work on the casino.
Kansas law allows one legislative chamber to direct the attorney general to file a lawsuit.
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Nebraska court rejects former candidate's lawsuit
Top Court Watch |
2011/04/28 09:21
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The Nebraska Supreme Court has rejected a former legislative candidate's defamation lawsuit against the state Republican Party over campaign flyers.
The Lincoln Journal Star says the court ruled Thursday that tone of the publications constitute opinion and is protected by the First Amendment.
Democrat Rex Moats, of Omaha, sued the GOP after losing in the November 2008 election, saying he was defamed by 11 campaign flyers. The flyers referenced Moats' work with a vehicle-repair insurance company that failed in 2003 and left about 500,000 people without coverage. In the mailings, the Nebraska GOP claimed Moats received a $50,000 trust fund from the insurance company and misled creditors and the public.
Moats' attorney didn't immediately comment on the ruling. Mark Fahleson of the GOP hailed the ruling, calling the lawsuit frivolous. |
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Ex-Bush lawyer facing trial for attempted murder
Attorney Blog News |
2011/04/28 09:20
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| pA former Bush administration official charged with trying to kill his wife at their Connecticut home is headed toward a trial after plea negotiations with prosecutors failed./ppThe Connecticut Post reports the attempted murder case of John Michael Farren was put on the trial list at Stamford Superior Court on Thursday during a brief hearing. A date for jury selection wasn't set./ppThe 58-year-old Farren was deputy White House counsel during President George W. Bush's second term. He also served as undersecretary for international trade under Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush./ppFarren has pleaded not guilty. He is accused of beating his wife with a flashlight and choking her at their New Canaan home after she served him with divorce papers. He's free on bail but under house arrest./p |
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China rights lawyer resurfaces after detention
Law & Court News |
2011/04/27 09:20
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| pChina has released a crusading rights lawyer who was detained more than two months ago in a massive security crackdown aimed at preventing any Middle East-inspired unrest./ppTeng Biao returned home Friday afternoon but it was not convenient for him to speak with the media, his wife Wang Ling said. She declined to comment on his physical or mental well-being./ppOther lawyers and activists released after similar detentions have also declined to speak to the media, perhaps as a condition of their release./ppChina Human Rights Defenders, a Hong Kong rights advocacy group, said earlier that Teng disappeared Feb. 19 and that officers searched his home and seized two computers, a printer, articles, books, DVDs and photos of another rights lawyer, Chen Guangcheng./ppA law professor at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, Teng was among dozens of well-known lawyers and activists across China who have vanished, been interrogated or criminally detained for subversion as China's authoritarian government, apparently unnerved by events in the Middle East and North Africa, has moved to squelch dissent./p |
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