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Legal News Archive For
December, 2009

Police Officers, Teens Indicted in Fatal Beating Classified As Hate Crime

Added: 2009-12-31 10:22:10

Washington, DC—Three Shenandoah, Pennsylvania police officers are among five people have been indicted on charges related to a hate crime homicide which took place over a year ago in a rural region of the state. Luis Ramirez, an undocumented Mexican immigrant, was beaten into a coma after bein...

Sports Doc Charged with Giving Performance-Enhancing Drugs

Added: 2009-12-30 09:51:20

Toronto—The Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced on Wednesday that a renowned sports doctor has been charged with selling a potentially performance-enhancing drug. Anthony Michael Galea, 51, has treated a number of Olympic athletes and professional baseball, hockey, football and golf player...

Patterson to Extend Protection to Transgender Employees in New York

Added: 2009-12-29 10:00:20

New York—Just two weeks after the New York State Senate voted down a bill that would have made it legal for same-sex couples to marry, Governor Patterson will sign an executive order extending protection from discrimination on the basis of gender identity or gender expression. This measure, wh...

Supreme Court To Rule on Privacy, Free Speech in Police Texting Case

Added: 2009-12-28 10:19:06

Washington, DC—The United States Supreme Court has announced that it will hear a case which concerns a worker's expectation of privacy when using a government-issued communications device. It will also decide whether the service provider for that device can be held liable if it releases the commu...

New Hampshire Lawmakers Consider Decriminalizing Adultery

Added: 2009-12-25 10:29:54

Concord, NH—State representatives are teaming up to pass legislation that will take off the books a 200-year-old law which makes it illegal to commit adulterous acts. The push to repeal the outdated law comes in the wake of New Hampshire's marriage equality initiative that legalized gay marria...

Ghost Town in the Sky Haunted by Lack of Cash Flow

Added: 2009-12-24 09:51:01

Maggie Valley, North Carolina—Despite having warned its employees that it might not be able to issue checks for the full amount of the pay in the final two weeks of its operation, an amusement park company could still be in violation of state labor laws. Ghost Town in the Sky is currently ope...

Ohio Inmate Executed With New, Single-Drug Lethal Injection Method

Added: 2009-12-23 10:17:01

Lucasville, OH—A new method of lethal injection was used in the execution of an Ohio inmate on Tuesday, marking the first time this single-drug method has been employed in the United States. Kenneth Biros, 51, had been convicted of killing and dismembering a 22-year-old woman in 1991 in what w...

U.S. Citizen Charged With Involvement in Mumbai Attacks

Added: 2009-12-22 10:31:49

Washington—A Chicago resident and United States citizen has been charged in the terrorist attacks that took place in Mumbai, India last November. According to the Justice Department, David Headley, 49, helped to plan the attacks which resulted in the deaths of 160 people, including six America...

Woman Charged With Attempted Abortion of Rival's Baby

Added: 2009-12-21 10:25:01

New York—Brooklyn prosecutors have filed a complaint against a suspect who is charged with tricking a pregnant woman into taking an abortion-inducing drug. Kisha Jones, 38, who suspected that her husband had fathered a child with 25-year-old Monique Hunter, allegedly concocted an elaborate rus...

Businessman Guilty of Nation's Second-Largest Ponzi Scheme

Added: 2009-12-18 10:24:21

Minneapolis—Business mogul Tom Petters has been convicted of fraud, mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy, to the tune of $3.5 billion. The Minnesota businessman was found guilty on 20 counts in a multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme, despite having pled not guilty and maintained his innocenc...

Wheelchair-Bound Prisoner Overtakes Guards, Flees on Foot

Added: 2009-12-17 16:42:19

A major security breach occurred earlier this week as a Texas prisoner who was being transferred between facilities managed to overtake two armed guards in order to escape. Arcade Comeaux Jr., 49, had been serving a life sentence for aggravated sexual assault and two counts of aggravated assault w...

Twenty-Six Indicted in Scheme to Defraud the Deaf

Added: 2009-12-16 10:00:35

Washington, DC—Twenty-six suspects in New York, New Jersey, Texas, Florida, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Maryland have been indicted on charges of defrauding the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. In a unique investigation that required the help of 20 sign-language interpreters, ...

Supreme Court To Hear Florida Beach Dispute Case

Added: 2009-12-15 10:05:26

A property rights case goes before the justices of the United States Supreme Court this week. On one side, the state of Florida; on the other, property owners who object to the state's plan to preserve the beach by importing sand and making the newly created dry beach public property. For years,...

Suspect in Slaying of Tacoma Police Holed Up in Home

Added: 2009-12-14 14:21:34

Lakewood, Washington—A man who has recently been named a suspect in the fatal shooting of four police offers on Sunday morning is hiding out in an East Seattle home. Police have blocked off several streets in the neighborhood and cautioned area residents to remain indoors. Maurice Clemmons, a ...

Incarcerated “Pulp Fiction” Screenwriter Tweeting from Behind Bars

Added: 2009-12-11 10:13:31

Los Angeles, CA—An Oscar-winning screenwriter who is currently serving time in jail for vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated appears to be sending “tweets,” or messages on the popular social networking platform Twitter, from behind bars. The inmate whose tweets are gaining a following ...

Horrified Passengers Watch as Man is Stabbed, Killed on NY Subway

Added: 2009-12-10 10:20:00

NEW YORK CITY – A late night train ride turned into a murder scene as passengers witnessed a passenger stab another passenger over a seat on the subway train. Witnesses told police that the victim, later identified as Dwight Johnson, was sitting down with his belongings beside him. The accused...

Wal-Mart Scuffle Leads to Arrest for Missouri Woman

Added: 2009-12-09 14:38:54

Kennett, Missouri – A heated, racially charged argument at a Missouri Wal-Mart in January 2007 turned into a legal nightmare for Heather Ellis, now 24, who pled guilty to resisting arrest and disturbing the peace – both misdemeanors – at a court date earlier this week. Witnesses say that E...

American Student Amanda Knox Found Guilty of Murder in Italy

Added: 2009-12-08 16:46:44

Perugia, Italy—After a sensationalistic, nearly year-long trial that made headlines around the world, University of Washington student Amanda Knox, 22, has been found guilty by two judges and eight jurors. Knox was accused of being the mastermind behind the brutal murder of her British roommat...

Federal Lawsuit Filed By Nineteen Patrons of Gay Club in Atlanta

Added: 2009-12-07 10:14:56

Atlanta, GA—Nineteen patrons of a gay club who claim that they were forcibly searched, detained, and forced to lie down in spilled beer and broken glass, have filed a federal lawsuit against Atlanta police. The allegations stem from a September 10 raid at the Atlanta Eagle, in which the Atlanta ...

Sport Reporter Stalked, Videotaped in More than One Location

Added: 2009-12-04 10:00:25

Los Angeles, CA—According to recently filed court documents, a man who is accused of stalking a sports reporter may have made more nude videotapes of her than previously known. Michael David Barrett allegedly videotaped ESPN reporter Erin Andrews through peepholes in hotel room doors. Barrett,...

Suspect Arrested in Grisly Murder of Gay Teen

Added: 2009-12-03 10:01:37

A suspect has been arrested in the Puerto Rico murder of a gay teenager, which activists are asking authorities to classify as a hate crime. Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado, 19, was a well-known figure in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community of Puerto Rico. His body was found on Frida...

Kuwaiti Food Supplier to the Military Indicted on Six Counts of Fraud

Added: 2009-12-02 10:36:44

Atlanta, GA—A supplier to the United States military troops stationed in the Middle East has been indicted on federal charges of fraud. The company, Public Warehousing Company KSC, aka Agility, is a Kuwaiti firm. They have been charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, committing m...

Manager of Kosher Slaughterhouse Found Guilty on 86 Charges of Fraud

Added: 2009-12-01 10:05:50

Sioux Falls, SD—A former kosher slaughterhouse manager has been convicted on all but five of nearly 100 felony fraud charges, including bank fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, making false statements to a bank and money laundering. The charges stemmed from a bank fraud scheme at a meat plant, Agri...

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