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High Court rules against Northern Ireland's abortion law
Legal Topics |
2015/11/30 06:11
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A Belfast High Court ruling is expected to ease Northern Ireland's strict anti-abortion laws to make it easier for women to terminate pregnancies in some cases.
Abortions are illegal in Northern Ireland except in extreme cases when a woman's life is deemed at risk from her pregnancy. Judge Mark Horner said Monday that certain prohibitions violate the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights — cases where a fetus has fatal abnormalities or when a woman became pregnant as a result of sexual crimes like rape or incest.
John Larkin, attorney general for Northern Ireland, said he was "profoundly disappointed" by the court's ruling and said he is studying grounds for a possible appeal.
Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, but it has much more restrictive abortion laws than the other regions.
Judge Horner said the present law making it illegal for a mother to terminate her pregnancy where her fetus cannot survive independently once it leaves the womb constitutes a "gross interference with her personal autonomy." He said in such cases "there is no life to protect."
Horner also said the existing law is unfair to victims of sexual crimes who become pregnant.
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South African appeals court nears Pistorius ruling
Court Watch |
2015/11/28 06:11
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An official says a top South African appeals court is finalizing a decision on whether to send Oscar Pistorius back to prison by overturning a lower court's manslaughter conviction and finding the double-amputee Olympian guilty of murdering girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Paul Myburgh, registrar of the Supreme Court of Appeal, told The Associated Press on Monday that no date for the ruling has been announced.
Eyewitness News, a South African media outlet, says a ruling is expected this week. It cites unnamed court officials.
Pistorius, 29, was released from jail on Oct. 19 after serving a year in prison and is under house arrest.
Prosecutors say Pistorius shot Steenkamp during an argument on Valentine's Day 2013. The defense says Pistorius killed Steenkamp by mistake, thinking an intruder was in his house.
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Appeals court: EPA chief doesn't have to give deposition
Legal Topics |
2015/11/26 08:41
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A federal appeals court says U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy doesn't have to give a deposition in a coal company's lawsuit over the impact of regulations on jobs.
A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond on Wednesday overturned a decision by U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey in Wheeling, West Virginia.
Bailey had ruled there's no viable alternative to deposing McCarthy in coal producer Murray Energy's lawsuit alleging the EPA has shirked its obligation to conduct job-loss analyses on the Clean Air Act regulations.
The appeals court's one-page order did not explain why it ruled in McCarthy's favor.
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High court directs Andhra Pradesh government to prepare summer plan
Court Watch |
2015/11/25 08:41
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The Hyderabad High Court has directed the Andhra Pradesh government to take steps to protect people from heat waves during summer season.
The bench of acting Chief Justice Dilip B Bhosale and Justice S Ravi Kumar gave AP two weeks to come up with a plan.
They were hearing a public interest petition filed by Pittala Srisailam of Rangareddy district who was questioning the inaction of both AP and Telangana in creating facilities to provide relief to the people in this regard. He wanted authorities to follow the model of Odisha and Gujarat that have successfully brought down the ill-effects of summer by creating a variety of facilities that saved scores of lives.
Even the working hours were changed and people were not allowed to work during peak heat hours in those states, Sravan Kumar, the counsel for the petitioner, said. "We have decided to follow the model of Odisha and Gujarat," A Sanjeev Kumar, the special government pleader of T regime said. Relief shelters, cool water facilities etc will be set up all over the state, he said and added that instructions were already issued to the district collectors. A high-level committee was set up for the purpose which has already commenced its work to prepare a detailed action plan to be followed in the coming summer season, he said. The bench directed AP to set up a high-level committee in the same way as Telangana government has done and posted the case to two weeks. |
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Lawyer: Don't judge Chicago officer based on shooting video
Opinions |
2015/11/24 04:42
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An attorney for a white Chicago police officer who shot a black teenager 16 times says his client acted lawfully and urges the public not to rush to judgment based solely on a video of the shooting that's to be released within days.
Attorney Dan Herbert told reporters Friday that Officer Jason Van Dyke is — in his words — "scared to death." Herbert says the officer is concerned about the safety of his wife and two school-age children in the event the video prompts violence.
A judge on Thursday ordered the city to release squad car dashcam video of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald's 2014 shooting.
Herbert says the video doesn't capture the whole confrontation.
Van Dyke has been stripped of his police powers, but remains at work on desk duty.
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Rancher pleads guilty to falsely claiming cattle losses
Headline Legal News |
2015/11/23 04:42
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A South Dakota rancher has pleaded guilty in federal court to falsely claiming he lost more than a hundred cattle during the autumn blizzard of 2013 that left ranchers in the state reeling with financial losses.
Karl Knutson pleaded guilty Friday as part of a deal with prosecutors, the Rapid City Journal reported. The agreement dismisses a felony count of making a false statement, and prosecutors are recommending Knutson be sentenced to probation and fines.
Knutson's indictment said he submitted a claim in May 2014 to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency for the loss of 129 head of cattle in the October blizzard, even though the Vale rancher actually lost at most 13.
Court documents say the disaster payment for that claim would have paid out nearly $117,000.
The indictment also says Knutson told the agency in "a handwritten invoice" in August 2014 that he paid $135,350 for 103 head of cattle that he didn't actually buy.
Knutson didn't immediately return a telephone message from The Associated Press requesting comment regarding the plea. The maximum sentence the 27-year-old could face would be five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, followed by three years of supervised release.
The 2013 storm is estimated to have killed more than 50,000 livestock, causing financial problems for ranchers in the western part of the state. |
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Detroit-area ex-officer found guilty in videotaped beating
Legal Topics |
2015/11/21 04:41
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A white, former Detroit-area police officer was found guilty Thursday of assault and misconduct in the bloody beating of a black driver during a traffic stop that was captured on video.
Wayne County jurors handed down the verdict in the case against William Melendez, who was charged in the January beating of Floyd Dent. Police stopped Dent, 58, in the Detroit suburb of Inkster for disregarding a stop sign, and dashcam video from a police vehicle shows Melendez punching him 16 times in the head.
It wasn't until after WDIV-TV aired the footage in March that Melendez was fired. Inkster later agreed to pay $1.4 million to Dent, who suffered broken ribs, blood on his brain and other injuries.
The jurors found Melendez guilty of assault with intent to do great bodily harm and of misconduct in office. They cleared him of a charge of assault by strangulation.
The packed courtroom was largely quiet after the verdict was read, following Judge Vonda Evans' orders to neither "cry out" nor "applaud" out of respect for the jury. Melendez's wife rushed out of the courtroom, invoking Evans' ire and a demand that she return and "sit down."
Evans ordered Melendez to jail pending his Dec. 3 sentencing. Beforehand, defense attorney James Thomas argued that Melendez "is not a danger to the community" and posed "no risk of flight."
Thomas told reporters after the verdict that despite his disappointment, Melendez "remains upbeat" and "resolved." Thomas said he plans to appeal the verdict after sentencing.
Melendez did not testify during the eight-day trial, but his attorney said the officer was justified in the assault because Dent was aggressive and resisting police. Other officers and a criminal justice professor testified that the beating was reasonable because Dent was resisting arrest.
But Vicki Yost, who was chief of police at the time of the beating, said Melendez's actions were unnecessary, based on the video.
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