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Cal Supreme Court rules in child death case
Legal Watch | 2012/07/06 23:33
Welfare officials can take children from parents who negligently cause the death of a son or daughter, such as failing to place them in a car seat, even if there was no criminal harm, the California Supreme Court ruled.

The court ruled Thursday that a "breach of ordinary care" with fatal results is enough reason for child welfare agencies to act because it poses an inherent concern for the safety of siblings, the Los Angeles Times reported.

"When a parent's or guardian's negligence has led to the tragedy of a child's death, the dependency court should have the power to intervene," Justice Marvin R. Baxter wrote for the court.

"It's a big case for us, and it is a big case for the child welfare community," said Assistant County Counsel James M. Owens, who represented the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.

The case involved the 2009 death of an 18-month-old girl in South Los Angeles. Her father was driving her to a hospital after she fell off a bed and hurt her arm, according to court documents.

The baby was sitting on her aunt's lap when another car ran a stop sign and hit their vehicle.


La. high court upholds murder conviction
Legal Watch | 2012/07/02 09:20
The Louisiana Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of a woman in the shooting death of her live-in boyfriend in 2009.

The Advocate reports that Mary Henderson Trahan was convicted of second-degree murder in Lafayette Parish in 2010 in the death of George Barbu.

An appeals court ruled the evidence did not support her conviction. Prosecutors appealed.

The Supreme Court this week said a rational juror could find from the evidence that Trahan had "specific intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm" to Barbu.

Trahan had claimed she accidentally shot Barbu after she slipped and fell while holding a gun.

The Supreme Court said jurors heard no evidence to support Trahan's claim.

Trahan faces up to life in prison when she is sentenced.


Del. court hears pedophile ex-pediatrician appeal
Legal Watch | 2012/06/14 17:32
A lawyer for a former pediatrician serving a life sentence for sexually abusing scores of young patients appealed Wednesday to the Delaware Supreme Court, arguing that a search warrant didn't allow police to seize a flash drive containing videotaped sex crimes against children.

Earl Bradley, 59, was sentenced last year to 14 life sentences without parole for 14 counts of first-degree rape. He also was sentenced to more than 160 years in prison for multiple counts of assault and sexual exploitation of a child in a case that shook this small state.

Bradley was convicted by a judge who viewed more than 13 hours of videos showing sex crimes against more than 80 victims, most of them toddlers. The videos were seized by police who executed a search warrant in 2009 at his Lewes office complex, which was decorated with Disney themes and miniature amusement park rides.

Bradley had waived his right to a jury trial after the trial judge denied a defense motion to suppress the video evidence because it had been illegally seized.

Defense attorneys argued Wednesday that Bradley's convictions should be reversed because the warrant did not allow police to search an outbuilding in which a computer flash drive containing the videos was found. They also said the warrant didn't allow authorities to seize the flash drive.


Ariz. gov. orders training ahead of court decision
Legal Watch | 2012/06/13 22:51
Arizona's governor on Tuesday ordered a state board to redistribute a training video on the state's controversial immigration law to all law enforcement agencies.

The move comes ahead of an expected ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court this month on the law, which was signed by Gov. Jan Brewer in 2010.

Brewer said in a statement Tuesday that she wants to make sure officers are prepared if the court upholds the law.

Parts of the law blocked from taking effect include a provision requiring police to question people's immigration status while enforcing other laws if there's a reasonable suspicion they're in the country illegally.

The Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board's video outlines factors that constitute reasonable suspicion that someone is in the country illegally, including language, demeanor and foreign-vehicle registration.


Top Pa. judge charged with campaign corruption
Legal Watch | 2012/05/20 05:26
State Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin was charged Friday with illegally using her taxpayer-funded staff in her campaigns for a seat on the state's highest court in a scheme that ensnared her sister, a senator awaiting sentencing on similar charges.

Orie Melvin said outside court that she will vigorously defend herself against the nine criminal charges, which a grand jury report called a "tale of corruption" that she "actively condoned and even promoted."

"I am a woman of faith," Orie Melvin said. "My faith will see me through this. And I will not resign because of these politically motivated charges."

The high court relieved her of judicial and administrative duties Friday, but she remains a Supreme Court justice, on the payroll with a $195,000 salary and full benefits. The court also ordered Orie Melvin's Pittsburgh office sealed to secure records, files and equipment that are property of the court.

The charges come two months after her sister Republican state Sen. Jane Orie was convicted of 14 counts of theft of services, conflict of interest and forgery charges. Orie is scheduled to be sentenced in June, and her attorney has said in court filings that she will resign before then.

The grand jury report said Orie Melvin and her staff used personal email accounts to shield the actual email addresses that generated the messages, hiding the fact that political activities were being handled by the staffers while they were on the state payroll. Orie Melvin also used her state-paid telephone line to solicit support from hundreds of Republican committee members around the state, the report said.


Afghanistan suspect's base had 2010 killing case
Legal Watch | 2012/03/11 19:09
Joint Base Lewis-McChord is one of the largest military installations in the U.S., and one that has seen its share of controversies and violence in the past few years.

The news that a soldier suspected of killing 16 Afghan villagers Sunday comes from this base about 45 miles south of Seattle hit hard.

"It's another blow to this community," said Spc. Jared Richardson, an engineer, as he stood outside a barbershop near the base. "This is definitely something we don't need."

Home to about 100,000 military and civilian personnel, the base has suffered a spate of suicides among soldiers back from war. The Army is investigating whether doctors at Lewis-McChord's Madigan Army Medical Center were urged to consider the cost of providing benefits when reviewing diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Most famously, four Lewis-McChord soldiers were convicted in the deliberate thrill killings of three Afghan civilians in 2010.

The military newspaper Stars and Stripes called it "the most troubled base in the military" that year.

Catherine Caruso, a spokeswoman for Lewis-McChord, said she could not comment on reports that the soldier involved in Sunday's shooting was based there.


Conn. high court rules prisoners can be force-fed
Legal Watch | 2012/03/05 20:58
Connecticut prison inmates who go on hunger strikes can be restrained and force-fed to protect them from life-threatening dehydration and malnutrition, the state Supreme Court ruled Monday.

The 7-0 decision came in the case of 51-year-old prisoner William Coleman, a Liverpool, England, native who stopped eating in September 2007 to protest his conviction on what he claimed was a fabricated rape charge by his ex-wife. The court rejected Coleman's claims that force-feeding violated his free speech rights and international law.

Coleman's weight dropped from 237 pounds to 129 pounds by October 2008, and a prison doctor who believed Coleman was at risk of dying or developing irreversible health problems determined it was necessary to force-feed him by inserting a feeding tube through his nose and into his stomach.

The first of what Coleman's lawyers say was about a dozen forced feedings was performed on Oct. 23, 2008, after prison officials had obtained permanent authority to force-feed him after a trial in Superior Court. Coleman appealed the Superior Court judge's ruling to the Supreme Court.

Coleman resumed taking liquid nutrition voluntarily in late 2008 and returned to a normal weight, court records say, but the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut says he went back on the hunger strike last week.


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