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Texas man charged in killing of 8 set for court appearance
Law News |
2015/08/10 23:31
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A man charged with capital murder in the fatal shooting of a family of six children and two parents at their Houston home is set to make his first court appearance.
David Conley, who authorities say was previously in a contentious relationship with the mother, is due in Harris County court Monday. The 48-year-old Conley, who has a violent criminal history, is being held in jail without bond. He doesn't yet have an attorney.
The dead were identified as 40-year-old Valerie Jackson and her husband, 50-year-old Dewayne Jackson. The children killed include a 13-year-old believed to be Conley's son from his relationship with Valerie Jackson.
Authorities responded to the home Saturday after relatives requested a welfare check. They say after an hours-long standoff with Conley ended, they found all eight victims shot in the head.
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Federal report finds bias in St. Louis County family court
Law News |
2015/08/01 13:30
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The U.S. Department of Justice released a report critical of the St. Louis County Family Court on Friday, finding that black youths are treated more harshly than whites, and juveniles are often deprived of constitutional rights. Though unrelated to the department's investigation in Ferguson, the new report again raises concern about racial discrimination and profiling in the St. Louis region.
The investigation from the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division was initiated in 2013 amid complaints that black youths were treated unfairly in the family court, which handles about 6,000 youth cases each year. Treatment of African-Americans in the region drew increased scrutiny last year after the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was black, by a white police officer in Ferguson. The 60-page report arrived just over a week before the anniversary of Brown's death, Aug. 9.
"In short, black children are subjected to harsher treatment because of their race," Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta wrote in a letter to Gov. Jay Nixon, St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger and Family Court Administrative Judge Thea Sherry. She called the findings "serious and compelling."
Nixon called the report "deeply concerning." Though in St. Louis County, the court is supervised by the Missouri Supreme Court. "All Missourians have a right to a fair and equitable justice system, and our young people are no exception," Nixon said in a statement.
Stenger said he will urge the court "to work with the state of Missouri to fix the glaring problems identified by the Department of Justice."
The report said the Justice Department will seek to resolve complaints through negotiations, though litigation remains possible. Gupta said at a news conference that an initial meeting with family court officials was "cordial and cooperative."
The department is taking a similar tack as after a report released in March alleging racial bias and profiling by police and the municipal court in Ferguson. That report was begun following Brown's death, and negotiations between the DOJ and Ferguson officials are still going on.
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Zimbabweans linked to illegal lion hunt appear in court
Law News |
2015/07/27 13:10
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Two Zimbabweans arrested for illegally hunting a protected lion named Cecil were in court on Wednesday as anger at the kill by an American dentist escalated.
"If, as has been reported, this dentist and his guides lured Cecil out of the park with food so as to shoot him on private property ... he needs to be extradited, charged, and, preferably, hanged," People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said in a statement Wednesday. The statement, emailed to The Associated Press, came from Ingrid Newkirk, president of the animal rights organization.
Social media on the internet — for example on Twitter under #cecilthelion — were also filled with condemnation of the killing of the black-maned lion just outside Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwean men — a professional hunter and a farm owner — are accused of helping Walter James Palmer hunt the lion. Zimbabwean police said they are looking for Palmer, who reportedly paid $50,000 to track and kill the animal.
During a nighttime hunt, the men tied a dead animal to their car to lure the lion out of a national park, said Johnny Rodrigues, chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force. The American is believed to have shot it with a crossbow, injuring the animal. The wounded lion was found 40 hours later, and Palmer shot it dead with a gun, Rodrigues said.
Palmer, a dentist living in the Minneapolis suburb of Eden Prairie, said in a statement that he was unaware the lion was protected, relying on local guides to ensure a legal hunt.
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Court agrees with tossing strict North Dakota abortion law
Law News |
2015/07/22 21:17
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A federal appeals court agreed Wednesday that one of the nation's most restrictive abortion laws is unconstitutional — a North Dakota statute banning abortions when a fetal heartbeat is detected as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a decision last year from U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland, who ruled the law unconstitutional. The law was approved by the Republican-dominated Legislature in 2013, though it was quickly put on hold after the state's lone abortion clinic filed a la
Several conservative states have passed restrictive abortion laws in recent years, but abortion rights supporters say North Dakota's 2013 fetal heartbeat law was the strictest in the country.
Supporters said the law was meant to challenge the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 ruling that legalized abortion until a fetus is considered viable, usually at 22 to 24 weeks. It wasn't immediately clear whether the state would appeal the case, though lawmakers have set aside $800,000 to defend the state's abortion laws.
"Because there is no genuine dispute that (North Dakota's law) generally prohibits abortions before viability — as the Supreme Court has defined that concept — and because we are bound by Supreme Court precedent holding that states may not prohibit pre-viability abortions, we must affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment to the plaintiffs," the appeals court ruling said.
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Penn State ex-officials' case heads to appeals court hearing
Law News |
2015/07/14 22:55
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A long delayed criminal case against three former Penn State administrators accused of covering up complaints about Jerry Sandusky is heading to a Pennsylvania courtroom next month, but not for trial.
Superior Court — a state appeals court — last week scheduled oral argument before a three-judge panel in Harrisburg for Aug. 11 to consider the claims by Graham Spanier, Tim Curley and Gary Schultz regarding a county judge's decision earlier this year.
If upheld, the judge's order could clear the way for trial in the matter that has gone on for nearly four years without a trial date being set.
The appeals court file has been sealed, but the online docket indicates the men are appealing a January order by Dauphin County Judge Todd Hoover that rejected arguments they had made about the fairness and legality of the grand jury investigation that resulted in charges.
All three defendants held high-ranking positions at the university in 2011, when Sandusky, the former assistant football coach, was charged with sexual abuse of children; Spanier was president, Schultz was vice president for business and finance and Curley was athletic director. |
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