Recent Updates
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Lawyer: Blagojevich would take 5th in casino suit
Legal News Center 12/08/2009Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich would claim his 5th Amendment right against self incrimination if asked to testify in a civil lawsuit spurred by his federal corruption indictment, his lawyer says.Attorney Jay Edelson told The Associated Press on...
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Court turns down Calif. death row inmate's appeal
Legal News Center 12/02/2009The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a California death row inmate who was convicted in the gruesome murders of four people in 1983.The justices said Monday they would not review an appeals court ruling that upheld the murder conviction and ...
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Court: Ky. must readopt lethal injection proto
Legal News Center 11/25/2009The Kentucky Supreme Court has ruled that the state improperly adopted its three-drug method of lethally injecting condemned inmates.The court says in a ruling issued Wednesday that the state must go back and readopt the method because officials did ...
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NY's top court rejects prison phone rate refunds
Legal News Center 11/24/2009New York's highest court ruled Monday that families forced to pay high phone rates to talk to relatives in state prison won't receive refunds for the cost.The lawsuit was first brought by the inmates' families in 2004.In a 5-1 decision, the Court of ...
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Atlanta judicial leaders declare court 'emergency'
Legal News Center 11/20/2009Georgia's biggest court system has warned that a 2010 Fulton County proposal that cuts $53 million from the judicial budget could force them to shut down the courthouse, jeopardize death penalty cases and slash as many as 1,000 jobs.Fulton County's j...
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Law Firm Manager Gets 41 Months for Embezzling $1.3M
Legal News Center 11/19/2009Regina Schenck, 46, of Herald, a small community in southern Sacramento County, is headed to prison for three years and five months, the sentenced handed down for her stealing $1.3 million from her employer, Sacramento law firm Diepenbrock Harrison.S...
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US court: CIA didn't violate Plame's speech rights
Legal News Center 11/13/2009A federal appeals court in New York says the CIA did not violate Valerie Plame's free speech rights.The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2007 lower court decision in its ruling Thursday. The decision barred Plame from revealing the length of her...
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U.S. Seeks Forfeiture From Florida Law Firm Founder Rothstein
Legal News Center 11/11/2009Scott Rothstein, the Florida lawyer whose firm asked U.S. prosecutors to investigate the alleged disappearance of $500 million in investor funds, was accused in a government filing of conducting a “Ponzi” scheme. Acting U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Sloman i...
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High court to look at life in prison for juveniles
Legal News Center 11/09/2009The Supreme Court is considering whether sentencing a juvenile to life in prison with no chance of parole is cruel and unusual punishment, particularly if the crime is less serious than homicide.The cases being heard Monday involve two Florida convic...
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Supreme Court wades into mutual fund fee disparity
Legal News Center 11/06/2009The U.S. Supreme Court is taking a close look at a question individual investors have long asked about their mutual funds, but the courts have largely ignored: Why am I getting charged twice as much as big institutional clients?Sure enough, the money...
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Ariz. court rules records law covers 'metadata'
Legal News Center 10/30/2009Hidden data embedded in electronic public records must be disclosed under Arizona's public records law, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday in a case that attracted interest from media and government organizations.The Supreme Court's unanimous dec...
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Conviction of Berlusconi-linked lawyer upheld
Legal News Center 10/27/2009An appeals court has upheld the conviction of British lawyer David Mills for accepting a bribe to lie in court to protect Silvio Berlusconi.The decision Tuesday is a potential embarrassment for the Italian premier, whose trial in the same corruption ...