Monday, June 4, 2012

Trayvon Martin's killer to ask for new release from jail

Trayvon Martin's killer to ask for new release from jail


Trayvon Martin's killer to ask for new release from jail

Posted: 04 Jun 2012 03:44 PM PDT

George Zimmerman arrives at jail after having his bond revokedORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Lawyers for George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer charged in the killing of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, said on Monday they would ask a judge to release him from jail again after his bail was revoked last week. The announcement came a day after Zimmerman, 28, returned to a cell in the Seminole County jail in central Florida, after a circuit court judge revoked his bond at a hearing on Friday and ordered him back into custody. Judge Kenneth Lester Jr. ...


US: Restitution impractical for Stanford victims

Posted: 04 Jun 2012 02:33 PM PDT

Allen Stanford leaves the Federal Courthouse where the jury found him guilty, in Houston(Reuters) - The U.S. government said it would be "impracticable" to enforce an order of restitution against financier Allen Stanford to victims of his estimated $7 billion Ponzi scheme and that it should be permitted to compensate fraud victims with forfeited assets. In a Monday filing with the federal court in Houston, the Department of Justice said the large number of victims, the difficulty of calculating their losses and the freezing of Stanford's assets in various jurisdictions would make restitution difficult. ...


Same-sex marriage cases loom for Supreme Court

Posted: 04 Jun 2012 02:41 PM PDT

(Reuters) - For advocates and foes of same-sex marriage, two names have suddenly taken center stage in the legal universe: Kennedy and Romer. Kennedy - that would be associate U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy - is the court's perennial swing vote. Romer - as in Romer v. Evans - is the 1996 decision penned by Kennedy that struck down a Colorado amendment barring the state from passing laws to protect homosexuals and bisexuals. ...

Supreme Court rules for Secret Service in Cheney case

Posted: 04 Jun 2012 08:58 AM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that Secret Service agents have immunity from a lawsuit by a Colorado man arrested after he confronted then-Vice President Dick Cheney and criticized his Iraq war policies. The high court unanimously handed a victory to the Obama administration and the two agents, ruling they could not be held personally liable for damages in the suit alleging they arrested the man in retaliation for his political speech. The agents had sufficient cause to arrest him, the court said. ...

Deadly crash of air tanker fighting Utah fire probed

Posted: 04 Jun 2012 07:12 PM PDT

(Reuters) - Officials opened an investigation on Monday of an airplane tanker crash in Utah that caused the year's first two deaths among crews fighting U.S. wildfires, while hundreds of evacuees from a New Mexico blaze that is the nation's biggest this season returned home. The firefighting plane went down on Sunday afternoon on a forested mountainside in the Hamlin Valley area of southwestern Utah while on a mission to drop chemical fire retardant on an 8,000-acre (3,237-hectare) blaze along the Nevada-Utah border. ...

"Birther" lawsuit against Esquire Magazine dismissed

Posted: 04 Jun 2012 06:44 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A District Court dismissed a lawsuit on Monday against Esquire Magazine over a satirical blog post that said Joseph Farah, a prominent proponent of the "birther" movement, had denounced a book alleging that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Farah, CEO and editor-in-chief of the conservative-leaning website WorldNetDaily.com, had sued Esquire Magazine, its parent company Hearst Communications Inc., and writer Mark Warren for defamation, invasion of privacy, interference with business relations and violations under a federal trademark law. ...

Bankruptcy lawyers resist scrutiny over fees

Posted: 04 Jun 2012 04:40 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The bankruptcy lawyers who handle the biggest U.S. corporate restructurings responded with hostility on Monday to new scrutiny of their fees, which can reach hundreds of millions of dollars at the expense of creditors. The lawyers told officials of the U.S. Justice Department they do not want to keep a budget, they do not want to disclose details of their billing practices and they do not want to justify expenses under $500. ...

New York man admits to helping al Qaeda

Posted: 04 Jun 2012 03:38 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York accountant accused by U.S. authorities of helping al Qaeda with computer systems pleaded guilty on Monday in federal court to terrorism-related charges. Sabirhan Hasanoff, 36, a dual U.S. and Australian citizen who owns a home in Brooklyn, New York, was arrested in April 2010 and charged with conspiracy to provide material support to al Qaeda. At a hearing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Hasanoff told Judge Kimba Wood that between 2007 and 2010 he agreed to give support to the militant Islamist network. He faces up to 20 years in prison. ...

Legal challenges to New York soda ban face uphill climb

Posted: 04 Jun 2012 03:17 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposed ban on large-size sugary soft drinks in New York isn't winning him many new friends in the beverage and restaurant industries. Trouble is, they may not be able to stop him, at least in the courts. The mayor's proposal would change the city's administrative code, giving the health department the power to levy fines on most restaurants, movie theaters, food carts and delis that sell sugary soft drinks larger than 16 ounces. The health board is expected to pass the plan later this year, and the law could take effect by next spring. ...

U.S. lawmaker won't have to testify in Clemens trial

Posted: 04 Jun 2012 02:03 PM PDT

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Issa (R-CA) listens to U.S. Attorney General Holder testify during a hearing on Capitol Hill in WashingtonWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The judge in the perjury trial of former baseball pitching ace Roger Clemens on Monday denied a request from Clemens' lawyers to order testimony from a prominent U.S. lawmaker who has questioned the legitimacy of a congressional investigation that led to Clemens trial. Clemens, 49, is on trial for the second time on federal charges of lying in 2008 to the House of Representatives' Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, a panel now chaired by Darrell Issa, a Republican from California. The committee was investigating drug use in Major League Baseball. ...


State court rejects bid to delay Penn State sex abuse case

Posted: 04 Jun 2012 03:11 PM PDT

Jerry Sandusky, former Penn State football defensive coordinator, arrives for a hearing at the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, PennsylvaniaBELLEFONTE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Pennsylvania's Supreme Court rejected a last-ditch attempt to delay former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky's sex abuse trial, meaning the case will go forward with jury selection on Tuesday. Sandusky's attorneys have filed several motions for delays, arguing they needed more time to go over evidence. The high court rejected the request on Monday in a one-paragraph decision posted on its website. ...


Cities have leeway in forgiving tax payments: Supreme Court

Posted: 04 Jun 2012 10:08 AM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that a city did not violate the Constitution when it forgave some future property tax obligations for certain taxpayers, but refused to refund payments made by other taxpayers for the same assessments. In a case that impacts tax policy, taxpayers and local governments, the high court ruled by a 6-3 vote that authorities in Indianapolis had a rational basis for making the distinction and had not violated the Constitution's Equal Protection Clause in their handling of a special sewer tax levied in 2004. ...

New York governor seeks changes in state marijuana law

Posted: 04 Jun 2012 01:55 PM PDT

New York Governor Cuomo announced a legislation during a news conference in AlbanyNEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced new legislation on Monday to decriminalize public possession of small amounts of marijuana, lowering the penalty from a misdemeanor to a non-criminal offense. The measure - which strikes indirectly at the New York Police Department's controversial stop and frisk program - seeks to eliminate a nuance in state law that differentiates between public and private possession of the drug. ...


Michigan court to weigh legality of Detroit pact

Posted: 04 Jun 2012 01:02 PM PDT

(Reuters) - Michigan's Court of Claims is being asked to void an agreement reached in April that gave the state oversight over Detroit's finances, opening a new front in an ongoing battle over the state's controversial emergency manager law. Detroit Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon confirmed on Monday she had filed a complaint against the state and its Treasurer Andy Dillon on Friday. The complaint contends the financial stability agreement the city council approved on April 4 was not valid under Michigan law and the city's charter because the state was in default to the city. ...

Firefighting tanker pilots die in crash in Utah

Posted: 04 Jun 2012 06:16 AM PDT

Ronnie Edwin Chambless of Boise, Idaho and Capt. Todd Neal Tompkins of Boise, Idaho in a combination image.SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) - Two Idaho men were killed when the air tanker they were piloting as part of efforts to contain a 5,000-acre wildfire along the Nevada-Utah border crashed on Sunday, police said. Pilot Todd Neal Tompkins and co-pilot Ronnie Edwin Chambless, both of Boise, died in the crash, the Iron County, Utah, Sheriff's Office said in a statement. The air tanker, a Lockheed Martin P2V, was en route to drop chemical fire retardant on the White Rock Fire that started Friday night about 25 miles northeast of Caliente, Nevada. By Sunday, the fire had crossed into Utah. ...


Rhode Island's Olivia Culpo crowned Miss USA

Posted: 03 Jun 2012 09:27 PM PDT

Miss Rhode Island Culpo is congratulated by fellow contestants during the Miss USA pageant in Las Vegas(Reuters) - Olivia Culpo of Rhode Island was named Miss USA on Sunday after saying it would be fair for transgendered contestants to win the pageant, giving her a crown that she will wear when representing the United States at the Miss Universe pageant later this year. Culpo, 20, competed in the traditional swimsuit and evening gown competitions at the Las Vegas pageant, but also answered a question - tweeted in from an audience member - about an issue that earlier this year vexed the organizers of the Miss Universe pageant in Canada when a transgendered woman wanted to compete. ...


Town hopes for quick end to Sandusky sex abuse trial

Posted: 04 Jun 2012 11:36 AM PDT

Jerry Sandusky, former Penn State football defensive coordinator, arrives for a hearing at the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, PennsylvaniaBELLEFONTE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - On the eve of the child sex abuse trial of former Pennsylvania State University coach Jerry Sandusky, the mood in this small town of historic buildings and quiet streets can be succinctly summed up: Let's get this behind us. Area residents said they wanted the 68-year-old retired football coach to get a fair trial on 52 counts of abusing children as a way to close the matter. Sandusky has pleaded not guilty and could face a prison sentence of more than 500 years if convicted on all charges. ...


Supreme Court rejects Blackwater Iraq shooting appeal

Posted: 04 Jun 2012 09:04 AM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by four Blackwater Worldwide security guards who argued prosecutors made improper use of their statements to investigators in charging them with killing 14 Iraqi civilians in 2007. The justices refused to review a ruling by a U.S. appeals court in Washington, D.C., that reinstated the criminal charges against the guards for their roles in the Baghdad shooting that outraged Iraqis and strained ties between the two nations. The shooting occurred as the guards, U.S. ...

Fed "back in play" as Europe crisis intensifies

Posted: 04 Jun 2012 06:55 AM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Europe's escalating debt crisis is emerging as a top concern for Federal Reserve officials and could nudge them closer to more bond buying or extending "Operation Twist," the U.S. central bank's most recent program to lower long-term borrowing costs. The turmoil in the euro zone has risen to near fever pitch with investors withdrawing funds from Spanish banks and political gridlock in Greece raising the prospect it could abandon the common currency. As the crisis has intensified, worries have grown that turbulence in Europe could derail the U.S. ...

Queen's 60-year celebrations wind down, husband ill

Posted: 04 Jun 2012 04:46 PM PDT

Britain's Prince Charles kisses the hand of his mother Queen Elizabeth at the end of her Diamond Jubilee concert in front of Buckingham Palace in LondonLONDON (Reuters) - Four days of nationwide celebrations during which millions of people have turned out to mark the Queen's 60 years on the throne conclude on Tuesday with a church service and carriage procession through central London. The 86-year-old British monarch will cut a lonely figure as the Diamond Jubilee draws to a close, however, after her husband of 64 years, Prince Philip, was taken to hospital on Monday with a bladder infection. ...


Lawyer sentenced to record 12 yrs in insider case

Posted: 04 Jun 2012 06:57 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A lawyer whose inside information the government alleged fueled a 17-year-long insider trading scheme was sentenced on Monday to 12 years in federal prison, the longest term ever meted out in an insider trading case. The sentence of lawyer Matthew Kluger, who worked at some of the most prestigious law firms in the country, is one year longer than the 11-year sentence that Galleon Group hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam received last fall after he was found guilty on insider trading charges. Kluger was sentenced by U.S. ...

"Birther" lawsuit against Esquire Magazine dismissed

Posted: 04 Jun 2012 06:44 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A District Court dismissed a lawsuit on Monday against Esquire Magazine over a satirical blog post that said Joseph Farah, a prominent proponent of the "birther" movement, had denounced a book alleging that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Farah, CEO and editor-in-chief of the conservative-leaning website WorldNetDaily.com, had sued Esquire Magazine, its parent company Hearst Communications Inc., and writer Mark Warren for defamation, invasion of privacy, interference with business relations and violations under a federal trademark law. ...

Deadly crash of air tanker fighting Utah fire probed

Posted: 04 Jun 2012 07:12 PM PDT

(Reuters) - Officials opened an investigation on Monday of an airplane tanker crash in Utah that caused the year's first two deaths among crews fighting U.S. wildfires, while hundreds of evacuees from a New Mexico blaze that is the nation's biggest this season returned home. The firefighting plane went down on Sunday afternoon on a forested mountainside in the Hamlin Valley area of southwestern Utah while on a mission to drop chemical fire retardant on an 8,000-acre (3,237-hectare) blaze along the Nevada-Utah border. ...

Bankruptcy lawyers resist scrutiny over fees

Posted: 04 Jun 2012 04:40 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The bankruptcy lawyers who handle the biggest U.S. corporate restructurings responded with hostility on Monday to new scrutiny of their fees, which can reach hundreds of millions of dollars at the expense of creditors. The lawyers told officials of the U.S. Justice Department they do not want to keep a budget, they do not want to disclose details of their billing practices and they do not want to justify expenses under $500. ...

Trayvon Martin's killer to ask for new release from jail

Posted: 04 Jun 2012 03:44 PM PDT

George Zimmerman arrives at jail after having his bond revokedORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Lawyers for George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer charged in the killing of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, said on Monday they would ask a judge to release him from jail again after his bail was revoked last week. The announcement came a day after Zimmerman, 28, returned to a cell in the Seminole County jail in central Florida, after a circuit court judge revoked his bond at a hearing on Friday and ordered him back into custody. Judge Kenneth Lester Jr. ...


New York man admits to helping al Qaeda

Posted: 04 Jun 2012 03:38 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York accountant accused by U.S. authorities of helping al Qaeda with computer systems pleaded guilty on Monday in federal court to terrorism-related charges. Sabirhan Hasanoff, 36, a dual U.S. and Australian citizen who owns a home in Brooklyn, New York, was arrested in April 2010 and charged with conspiracy to provide material support to al Qaeda. At a hearing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Hasanoff told Judge Kimba Wood that between 2007 and 2010 he agreed to give support to the militant Islamist network. He faces up to 20 years in prison. ...

Legal challenges to New York soda ban face uphill climb

Posted: 04 Jun 2012 03:17 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposed ban on large-size sugary soft drinks in New York isn't winning him many new friends in the beverage and restaurant industries. Trouble is, they may not be able to stop him, at least in the courts. The mayor's proposal would change the city's administrative code, giving the health department the power to levy fines on most restaurants, movie theaters, food carts and delis that sell sugary soft drinks larger than 16 ounces. The health board is expected to pass the plan later this year, and the law could take effect by next spring. ...

Pennsylvania town wants quick end to Sandusky abuse trial

Posted: 04 Jun 2012 03:13 PM PDT

BELLEFONTE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - On the eve of the child sex abuse trial of former Pennsylvania State University coach Jerry Sandusky, the mood in this small town of historic buildings and quiet streets can be succinctly summed up: Let's get this behind us. Area residents said they wanted the 68-year-old retired football assistant coach to get a fair trial on 52 counts of abusing children as a way to close the matter. Sandusky has pleaded not guilty and could face a prison sentence of more than 500 years if convicted on all charges. ...

Same-sex marriage cases loom for Supreme Court

Posted: 04 Jun 2012 02:41 PM PDT

(Reuters) - For advocates and foes of same-sex marriage, two names have suddenly taken center stage in the legal universe: Kennedy and Romer. Kennedy - that would be associate U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy - is the court's perennial swing vote. Romer - as in Romer v. Evans - is the 1996 decision penned by Kennedy that struck down a Colorado amendment barring the state from passing laws to protect homosexuals and bisexuals. ...

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