A Florida bill designed to protect those who fire warning shots is making the rounds in the state legislature. A similar bill failed to survive last year, but recent events – particularly the case of Marissa Alexander, who fired a warning shot during a dispute with her estranged husband – spurred the measure to move ahead this time around. The proposed legislation would expand gun rights and seeks to broaden the state’s “Stand Your Ground” law....
The couple formerly known as Speidi is seeking to get their separate names back as Heidi Montag files for divorce from Spencer Pratt. The duo made famous from the MTV reality show, The Hills, were married last year (televised, of course) in Pasadena, California. The shocking part of this announcement is the fact that the fame-obsessed couple is actually seeking to legally end their marriage, rather than simply fake a separation, as many people in the press originally speculated....
Convicted murderer Jodi Arias is getting another chance to tell her story during her upcoming sentencing retrial, and this time she’ll be representing herself. An Arizona judge agreed on Monday to allow Arias to represent herself in a retrial that could end with Arias facing the death penalty. Reuters reports that Judge Sherry Stephens advised Arias against taking over for her current attorneys, who will now “act as advisory counsels.”...
There is a nationwide shortage of the drug used by states to carry out executions and it is causing a wide range of questions and problems. Thiopental sodium, lethal injection drug used as an anesthetic, is now becoming hard for states to come by. Several alternatives have been proposed, most with legal problems attached. In Oklahoma, for instance, state authorities propose substituting pentobarbital, a drug used to euthanize animals as its lethal injection drug, The Wall Street Journal reports....
NYC librarians can quietly rejoice as Occupy Wall Street’s “People’s Library” settled a federal lawsuit with the city over the destruction of 2,800 books during a police raid on Zuccotti Park in late 2011. The $232,000 Occupy settlement has raised a few eyebrows because of where the bulk of the money is going. On Tuesday, the city agreed to pay $232,000 to settle the lawsuit brought by Occupy Wall Street’s “People’s Library” for the destruction of the thousands of books during a police raid in lower Manhattan, the New York Daily News reports....
The Ninth Circuit has upheld an Alameda County gun show ban this week. The county ordinance in question outlaws the use and display of firearms on all county property. The county passed the ordinance in 1999 after shots were fired at a fair, injuring 16 people. The Nordykes have been pursuing their litigation against the county since 1999. They challenged the ordinance as violating their 2nd Amendment rights. The Nordykes asked the court to analyze the impact of the ordinance on their 2nd Amendment rights using the strict scrutiny standard....
In CDC news announced today, vaccine maker Sanofi-Aventis has voluntarily recalled some of its H1N1 vaccines, not due to safety problems, but due to a lack of potency. The affected vaccines are found in pre-filled syringes prepared for children under age 3. In the on-going fight against the swine flu epidemic, about 800,000 doses of vaccine from the lots had been distributed to providers. The four affected lots of the vaccine were found by the company during a quality assurance test....
Is statutory rape unconstitutional when it occurs between two minors? Apparently so under Ohio’s statutory rape law. The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that the law, as applied between two children under the age of 13, was unconstitutional. The case was brought to the Ohio Supreme Court after a conviction in juvenile court of five counts of statutory rape against a boy, identified as D.B. The boy, 12, had engaged in anal sex with another boy, M....
Product liability law exists to protect people who are hurt by defective products. It allows them to recover for injury by seeking damages from the product manufacturer or other parties in the chain of distribution. More than just the manufacturer is responsible for the safety of a product and sometimes a seller can be held liable for putting a defective product in a customer’s hands. But of course there are also important time limits and other considerations that restrict a case....
Shell Oil Co. will have to clean up its act. The company has agreed to pay $19.5 million to settle claims by California Attorney General Jerry Brown that the it violated state environmental laws. The settlement requires Shell to improve its storage and monitoring of possible fuel leaks and employee training. The company denied wrongdoing and said it has been working to resolve the issue since 2006, when Brown’s office began its investigation, the San Francisco Chronicle reports....
As a teacher, having sex with a student even after you’re no longer teaching them is generally frowned upon. Why? Well if you’re a high school teacher it could be because sex with a minor is illegal. That’s the lesson for 34-year-old Kelly McKenzy Watson who was arrested Thursday for allegedly having sex with a minor. She had previously taught the young man although she was no longer his teacher....
As discussed in a prior post, this past January, Marvel comics sued the estate of the late Jack Kirby to establish its ownership of the copyrights in Kirby’s most famous comic book creations, including Spiderman. Now the representatives of Kirby’s estate are biting back with a suit filed this week in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. The estate hopes to terminate the company’s ownership of the copyrights in the Marvel heroes and receive some of the profits made off of Kirby’s work as damages....
Should legal immigrants be subject to deportation when they are convicted of minor crimes, such as drug possession? The Supreme Court emphatically ruled no on Tuesday, in 9-0 decision. The Court ruled in Carachuri-Rosendo v. Holder that legal immigrants cannot be deported for minor drug possession charges. In order for deportation to be appropriate, a person must be charged with serious or violent crimes. The Court’s ruling was a rebuke of a 1996 federal law that requires automatic deportation of non-citizens found guilty of an aggravated felony....
It is well established, as the Supreme Court noted in an opinion handed down this week, that “any alien convicted of an ‘aggravated felony’ after entering the United States will be deported.” What is less well-known is what qualifies as an aggravated felony. Upon examining this issue, the Court ruled that the federal statute used to determine whether a particular conviction constituted an aggravated felony is unconstitutionally vague. This means the definition of an aggravated felony under federal immigration law will need to be tightened up, and in the meantime, the rules for automatic deportation could be loosened....
Congress has the authority to pass a law allowing sexually dangerous inmates to be held indefinitely, according to a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. The USSC ruled that a federal law allowing officials to hold “sexually dangerous” inmates in civil custody after their prison terms are complete, in order to protect communities from the danger such prisoners may pose, is within the power of Congress to address, the Associated Press reports....
A jury in Camp Verde, Arizona recently heard testimony three deaths during a 2009 sweat lodge ritual orchestrated by James Arthur Ray. James Arthur Ray, a best-selling author and self-help guru, mixes New Age philosophy with Native American ritual. In October of 2009, 55 participants paid $10,000 each to join him near Sedona for a week of meditation, which was to be followed by a “rebirth” during a sweat lodge ritual....
It’s common knowledge that persons under the age of 18 (and sometimes 17) are considered to be juveniles in the eyes of the law. But it’s equally known that sometimes juvenile offenders are tried in adult court and receive adult punishment. So what’s the difference between juvenile and adult crimes? And when are juveniles tried as adults? A transfer of a juvenile to adult court is called a “juvenile waiver,” and it may be accomplished in three different ways:...
This week’s episode of “The Good Wife” took a look at more perfect unions – labor unions, that is. But did the dramatic depiction of unionizing jibe with actual labor union law? Recap: ‘A More Perfect Union’ In “A More Perfect Union,” Alicia’s mother volunteers her daughter’s services in an employee contract dispute. When the employees refuse to sign new employment contracts that don’t pay them overtime, their employer (Blowtorch) tries to terminate them....
A massive tuna recall is underway, and the popular brands of Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea are caught up in it. The recall involves more than 3 million cans of various types of tuna, reports USA Today. The reason for the recall is that the tuna was improperly sealed at a California plant. This can reportedly cause the fish to spoil. There have been no illnesses reported, and the manufacturing problem that caused the mistake is said to have been fixed....
It’s hard to turn around in any city or on any highway without seeing ad space selling us on the fabulousness of all variety of goods and services. What happens if some of that same ad space is purchased to send passers-by the opposite message? In the case of an LA billboard by Consumer Watchdog against Mercury Insurance, it appears that the billboard gets yanked… but that a lawsuit may follow....
