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Texas appeals court upholds DeLay reversal
Legal Blog News |
2014/10/03 09:38
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The highest criminal court in Texas has refused to reinstate two money-laundering convictions of former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday upheld a ruling last year from the 3rd Court of Appeals that tossed DeLay's 2010 convictions for money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Prosecutors argued in June before the Austin-based Court of Criminal Appeals that the convictions be reinstated.
But the appeals court said in its 8-1 ruling it agrees with the lower court findings, which said as a matter of law, what prosecutors proved in DeLay's case did not constitute either offense.
The charges were related to corporate donations to DeLay's political action committee that prosecutors say were illegally funneled to some Texas House candidates in 2002.
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32 states ask Supreme Court to settle gay marriage
Legal Blog News |
2014/09/04 16:15
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Thirty-two states that either allow gay marriage or have banned it asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to settle the issue once and for all.
Fifteen states that allow gay marriage, led by Massachusetts, filed a brief asking the justices to take up three cases from Virginia, Utah and Oklahoma and overturn bans. And 17 other states, led by Colorado, that have banned the practice asked the court to hear cases from Utah and Oklahoma to clear up a "morass" of lawsuits, but didn't urge the court to rule one way or another.
The filing came as a three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled that same-sex marriage bans in Wisconsin and Indiana are unconstitutional. The unanimous decision Thursday criticized the justifications both states gave, several times singling out the argument that marriage between a man and a woman is tradition. There are, the court noted, good and bad traditions.
The experience of Massachusetts — the first state to legalize gay marriage — shows that allowing same-sex couples to wed has only benefited families and strengthened the institution of marriage, said Attorney General Martha Coakley.
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Court upholds most counts against ex-financier
Legal Blog News |
2014/09/02 16:15
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A U.S. appeals court on Thursday upheld 10 convictions against an Indianapolis financier but overturned two wire fraud counts, saying the government failed to enter into the record key documentary evidence.
Timothy Durham and co-defendants Jim Cochran and Rick Snow were convicted in 2012 of swindling thousands of investors out of $200 million. Durham was convicted on 12 counts and sentenced to 50 years; Cochran was convicted on eight counts and sentenced to 25 years; Snow was convicted on five counts and sentenced to 10 years.
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago rejected most of the appeals but overturned two involving the transfer of $250,000 and $50,000.
The appeals court said the government's failure to enter the documentary evidence "was clearly an oversight, but the mistakes leaves a crucial gap in the evidence in those counts." It said the government used single-page printouts to establish the wire transfers were made in furtherance of the fraudulent scheme. |
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Montana court sends wind farm clash to California
Legal Blog News |
2014/07/22 14:04
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A dispute over a Montana wind farm's potential to harm nearby nesting eagles and other birds should be heard in California, the Montana Supreme Court said Friday, in an opinion that deals a legal setback to the project's developers.
The legal row over the Rim Rock wind farm near Cut Bank began last year, when San Diego Gas & Electric accused developer NaturEner of concealing the possibility that eagles and other birds could be harmed by the 126-turbine project.
NaturEner, whose parent company is based in Spain, filed a competing lawsuit in Montana. Its attorneys alleged SDG&E was trying to get out of an unfavorable contract and using the eagle issue as an excuse.
The Rim Rock wind farm is near an area with seven golden eagle nests and Montana's densest concentration of ferruginous hawks. Under federal law, a take permit is required for activities that could injure, kill or otherwise harm protected birds such as eagles.
SDG&E alleges federal officials recommended to NaturEner that the wind farm needed such a permit. NaturEner has denied the claim.
Montana District Judge Brenda Gilbert ruled in May that the case should be heard in Montana because of Rim Rock's importance to the economies of Glacier and Toole counties. She also issued an injunction requiring the utility to pay NaturEner nearly $2 million a month. |
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US Supreme Court lets Equifax tax ruling stand
Legal Blog News |
2014/07/01 12:14
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The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that it won't hear an appeal from credit bureau Equifax Inc. involving what it considered an adverse tax ruling in Mississippi.
The appeal was a reaction to a 2013 Mississippi Supreme Court decision that Equifax had to prove that it didn't earn any taxable income in the state. The state Department of Revenue examined Equifax's income and allocated some to Mississippi, ruling it owed taxes and penalties.
The Mississippi court upheld the Revenue Department's calculation of the company's taxes based on revenue earned in Mississippi, thus increasing its tax liability from zero to over $700,000, according to court documents.
The Council on State Taxation, Georgia Chamber of Commerce and The Institute for Professionals had filed "friend of the court" briefs in the case.
Lawmakers responded during the 2014 session by passing a law to change how the state collects taxes.
A key part of the law could make it harder for the state to rule that multistate corporations are paying too little in taxes to Mississippi. It says the Department of Revenue would have to present clear and convincing proof before it could reallocate how a company splits its income among states, and only do so in "limited and unique, nonrecurring circumstances."
The Department of Revenue estimates all changes in the law, including a phase-in of lower interest rates for overdue taxes, will cost Mississippi $100 million a year. |
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