Canadian at Gitmo pleads guilty to all charges
Court Alerts
A Canadian accused of killing an American soldier as a teenage al-Qaida militant pleaded guilty Monday as part of a deal that avoids a war crimes trial for someone labeled a "child soldier" by his defenders.
Omar Khadr pleaded to five charges including murder for throwing a grenade that mortally wounded the soldier during a fierce raid on an al-Qaida compound in Afghanistan in 2002. The now 24-year-old defendant also admitted to planting improvised explosive devices and receiving weapons training from the terrorist network.
The exact terms of the plea agreement were not immediately disclosed. Khadr will now face a military jury for a sentencing hearing that is expected to last several days. The panel cannot impose a sentence more severe than the plea agreement. His trial had been scheduled to start Monday and he faced a possible life sentence.
Dressed in a dark suit instead of the solid color jumpsuits typically worn by prisoners held at the U.S. base in Cuba, the defendant, who was born in Toronto and speaks fluent English, repeatedly answered "yes" to a series of questions from the military judge making sure he understood the charges against him.
Related listings
-
Mom Not Guilty for Throwing Kids Off Bridge
Court Alerts 10/22/2010A mother who threw her two children from an overpass in Dallas then jumped off the 20-foot-high bridge has been found not guilty of attempted murder and injury to a child.A judge ruled Thursday that Khandi Busby is not guilty by reason of insanity an...
-
3 plead not guilty to Calif. can recycling fraud
Court Alerts 10/21/2010Three people charged with bilking the state's recycling program out of $7 million by importing cans from Arizona pleaded not guilty Wednesday. Howard Leveson, 68, the owner of Perris Valley Recycling, and two of his employees entered their pleas to a...
-
Lawyer: Texas arson case prosecutor shows bias
Court Alerts 10/15/2010An Innocence Project attorney is questioning the impartiality of the prosecutor leading a Texas science panel's probe of an arson investigation that led to the execution of a Texas man.Stephen Saloom of the Innocence Project said Friday at a panel me...

Is Now the Time to Really Call a Special Education Lawyer?
IDEA, FAPE, CHILD FIND and IEPs: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) guarantees all children with disabilities to a free appropriate public education (FAPE). FAPE starts with a school’s responsibility to identify that a child has a disability (Child Find) and create an Individualized Education Program (IEP) to suit the needs of the child.
Forte Law Group is one of only a very few law firms within the state of Connecticut that is dedicated to exclusively representing families and children with special needs.
Parents need to be persistent, dedicated and above all else aware of the many services and accommodations that their child is entitled to under the law. As early as this point within your child’s special education, many parents will often find themselves in the situation asking, “is now the time to really call a special education lawyer?” Here are a few things to consider when asking yourself that question.