Another Arizona immigration law dismantled by the courts

Legal Insight 2015/06/04 00:41   Bookmark and Share
The U.S. Supreme Court landed the final blow against an Arizona law that denied bail to immigrants who are in the country illegally and are charged with certain felonies, marking the latest in a series of state immigration policies that have since been thrown out by the courts.

The nation's highest court on Monday rejected a bid from metro Phoenix's top prosecutor and sheriff to reinstate the 2006 law after a lower appeals court concluded late last year that it violated civil rights by imposing punishment before trial.

While a small number of Arizona's immigration laws have been upheld, the courts have slowly dismantled most of the other statutes that sought to draw local police into immigration enforcement.

"At this point, we can say that was a failed experiment," said Cecillia Wang, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union who led the challenge of the law. "Like the rest of the country, Arizona should move on from that failed experiment."

Voters overwhelmingly approved the no-bail law as the state's politicians were feeling pressure to take action on illegal immigration. It automatically denied bail to immigrants charged with a range of felonies that included shoplifting, aggravated identity theft, sexual assault and murder.
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Court debates law, grammar in ruling on weapons on campus

Legal Insight 2015/04/23 15:06   Bookmark and Share
It's a court decision that required knowledge of both law and grammar.

In a decision Tuesday, a divided state Appeals Court ordered a new trial for a former High Point University student who had a Ruger pistol and three knives in a car she parked on campus.

Judges said the trial court should have told the jury to consider whether prosecutors proved Anna Laura Huckelba was knowingly on educational property at the time.

The judges said they were ruling for the first time on whether the word "knowingly" in the law modifies both possessing weapons and being on educational property. In a 2-1 decision, the majority said it does.

Huckelba received suspended sentences when she was found guilty of three misdemeanors and one felony in October 2013.
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Man kills his lawyer, judge, co-defendant in Milan court

Legal Insight 2015/04/15 11:57   Bookmark and Share
A real estate developer on trial for fraudulent bankruptcy fired 13 shots inside the Milan Tribunal on Thursday, killing his lawyer, a co-defendant and a judge, eluding court security before being captured 25 kilometers away.

The shooting raised concerns about security at Italy's courthouses, where much of the surveillance has been outsourced to private contractors, and about Italy's ability to protect visitors during the Milan Expo 2015 world's fair, which opens May 1 and is expected to attract 20 million visitors over six months.

Premier Matteo Renzi pledged a robust investigation into how the gunman, identified as Claudio Giardiello, managed to bring a pistol into the monumental Fascist-era tribunal, where defendants and other visitors are required to pass through metal detectors, but accredited court officials, including lawyers, are not.

"Our commitment is that this never happens again, and that those responsible pay," Renzi said.

The chief federal prosecutor in Milan, Edmondo Bruti Liberati, told reporters it appeared Giardiello may have used a fake document to enter through the only pedestrian entrance not equipped with a metal detector and intended only for use by accredited court officials. He said the metal detectors at the other entrances were in good working order.

Bruti Liberati praised law enforcement, who apprehended Giardiello at a shopping center more than an hour after the shooting. They had identified the license plate on his motor bike with video surveillance cameras and tracked his arrival in Vimercate, some 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the scene in the heart of Milan.

Prosecutors said Giardiello, 57, was still armed with a loaded pistol and intended to kill another business partner whom he blamed for a failed real estate venture.
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Robin Williams' wife, children head to court in estate fight

Legal Insight 2015/03/31 13:17   Bookmark and Share
Attorneys for Robin Williams' wife and children are headed to court in their battle over the late comedian's estate.

The attorneys are scheduled to appear before a San Francisco probate judge on Monday, as they argue over who should get clothes and other personal items the actor kept at one his Northern California homes.

In papers filed in December, Williams' wife, Susan, says some of the late actor's personal items were taken without her permission.

She has asked the court to exclude the contents of the San Francisco Bay Area home she shared with Williams from the jewelry, memorabilia and other items Williams said the children should have.

Williams' children, Zachary, Zelda and Cody, said in response that Susan Williams is "adding insult to a terrible injury" by trying to change the trust agreement and rob them of the late actor's belongings.

Susan Williams' attorney said she was only seeking guidance from the court about the meaning of certain terms in the trust.
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Robert Durst back in court for 2nd straight day

Legal Insight 2015/03/20 13:35   Bookmark and Share
Authorities found nearly 150 grams of marijuana and a revolver in millionaire Robert Durst's hotel room when he was arrested over the weekend, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

Durst appeared before a judge for a second straight day to face the drug and weapons charges. He also is charged with murder in a Los Angeles killing 15 years ago.

He has been suspected in the disappearance of his first wife and he won an acquittal on a murder charge in Texas.

In a documentary about Durst's troubled life, he mumbled about how he "killed them all," providing a dramatic kick to the end of the series. But a law enforcement official said his arrest on the murder charge was based on words he wrote.

Analysis linking a letter Durst wrote to his friend Susan Berman a year before her killing with one he said "only the killer could have written" to point police to her body was the key new evidence in the long-dormant investigation into the 2000 killing, the official not authorized to speak publicly told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.

Durst, 71, was charged Monday in Los Angeles with first-degree murder in the shooting of Berman, the daughter of a prominent Las Vegas mobster. He could face the death penalty under special circumstances that allege he ambushed her and murdered a witness to a crime.

He waived extradition in New Orleans, but authorities there charged him late Monday with being a felon in possession of a gun because he had a revolver when he was arrested there Saturday. Assistant District Mark Burton said they found the pot and gun in his hotel room.
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Fate of thousands at stake in Massachusetts court arguments

Legal Insight 2015/01/08 13:37   Bookmark and Share
The highest court in Massachusetts is hearing arguments in a case that could determine the fate of thousands of people convicted of drug crimes based on tainted evidence.

The American Civil Liberties Union says many of those affected are afraid to vacate their guilty plea and seek a new trial because they can be prosecuted for crimes dropped when they entered their plea deal.

The ACLU will argue Thursday morning that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court should declare that any defendant who seeks a new trial cannot be convicted of a more serious offense or given a longer sentence.

The case comes after former state drug lab chemist Annie Dookhan admitted she faked test results and tampered with evidence.

Dookhan was sentenced to at least three years in prison in 2013.
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