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Senate confirms Obama lawyer as solicitor general
Legal Topics |
2011/06/07 16:16
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The Senate has confirmed White House lawyer Donald Verrilli Jr. to succeed Justice Elena Kagan as U.S. solicitor general.
With the 72-16 vote, Verrilli will fill a post that has been vacant since the Senate voted Kagan to her Supreme Court seat last August. The solicitor general represents the executive branch of government before the Supreme Court.
President Barack Obama named Verrilli as Kagan's successor last January. A month ago, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nominee by a 17-1 vote.
Verilli has most recently served as a deputy counsel to Obama. He previously worked at the Justice Department as an associate deputy attorney general. |
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Ex-IMF leader pleads not guilty to sex assault
Areas of Focus |
2011/06/06 16:17
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The former International Monetary Fund head charged with trying to rape a Manhattan hotel maid formally said he was innocent of the charges Monday in his first court appearance in the case in two weeks.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn pleaded not guilty in a strong voice at the brief proceeding, standing between his defense team as his wife, journalist Anne Sinclair, watched.
State Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus went through the formality of telling Strauss-Kahn he needed to appear in court and had a right to be present at his trial, to which the economist said "yes."
The French diplomat appeared in court for the first time since he was released on $6 million in cash bail and bond last month. He has been under house arrest that includes 24-hour monitors and armed guards, first in a downtown Manhattan apartment and now in a deluxe, $50,000-a-month Tribeca town house.
About 50 hotel workers bused in by their union gathered outside the courthouse to jeer Strauss-Kahn, many wearing their work uniforms. They shouted "shame on you" as he arrived, and again as he left in a black sport-utility vehicle. |
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Loughner lawyer says she can't provide discovery
Areas of Focus |
2011/06/06 16:16
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The Tucson shooting rampage suspect's lawyer says she's unable to provide discovery requested by prosecutors until her client is declared competent to stand trial.
In a Monday filing, defense attorney Judy Clark says the court's finding that Jared Lee Loughner is incompetent to stand trial makes it clear that she "cannot have rational or meaningful communication" with him.
She says she also cannot consult with him about any possible defenses or evidence that may be presented at trial until he is declared competent.
Judge Larry Burns ruled last month that Loughner is mentally unfit to assist his lawyers or understand the charges he faces.
Loughner has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the Jan. 8 Tucson mass shooting that killed six and injured 13, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. |
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Goldman Receives Subpoena Over Financial Crisis
Areas of Focus |
2011/06/02 15:54
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Goldman Sachs has received a subpoena from the office of the Manhattan District Attorney, which is investigating the investment bank's role in the financial crisis.
The inquiry stems from a 650-page Senate report from the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that found Goldman had "misled" its clients about mortgage-linked securities. Senator Carl Levin, the Democrat of Michigan, who headed up the Congressional inquiry, had sent his findings to the Justice Department to figure out whether executives broke the law.
The subpoena come two weeks after lawyers for Goldman met with the Manhattan District Attorney's office for an "exploratory" meeting about the Senate, the people said.
"We don't comment on specific regulatory or legal issues, but subpoenas are a normal part of the information request process and, of course, when we receive them we cooperate fully," said a Goldman spokesperson.
Shares of Goldman Sachs were down more than 2 percent on Thursday. |
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Ark. court upholds conviction in TV anchor slaying
Areas of Focus |
2011/06/02 15:53
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The Arkansas Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by a man convicted of killing a Little Rock television anchorwoman.
Justices said Thursday that Curtis Vance's objections are without merit.
Vance had appealed his capital murder and rape convictions in the October 2008 death of KATV anchor Anne Pressly in her Little Rock home. Last month, the state's highest court granted Vance's request not to hold oral arguments in his appeal and instead relied on briefs that had already been filed.
Vance was sentenced to life in prison in 2009 for the rape, robbery and slaying of Pressly.
Pressly was a 26-year-old anchor on KATV's "Daybreak" program. She appeared briefly in "W," Oliver Stone's biopic on President George W. Bush. |
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NJ mom accused of starving child pleads not guilty
Legal Topics |
2011/06/02 15:53
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Two women pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of child endangerment a week after an 8-year-old was found dead in their apartment from severe malnutrition and an untreated broken leg and her injured and emaciated siblings were removed alive.
The children's 30-year-old mother, Venette Ovilde, stared blankly and answered a judge's questions in a barely audible whisper as she entered her plea through a court-appointed attorney. She remains held on $500,000 bail on aggravated manslaughter and child endangerment charges.
Her 23-year-old roommate, Myriam Janvier, also pleaded not guilty through a court-appointed attorney to child endangerment charges. Her bail was continued at $100,000.
Christiana Glenn died May 22 from severe malnutrition and a fractured femur that authorities said had never been treated. Her 7-year-old sister and 6-year-old brother remained hospitalized for treatment of malnutrition and other injuries after being removed from Ovilde's Irvington apartment.
The children were discovered after the police were called to the home on a report of a child not breathing.
The women, who were both born in Haiti but came to the U.S. at a young age, radically altered their lifestyles about two years ago when they came under the sway of a man they described as their religious leader, according to friends and acquaintances. |
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US investigating Google claim of China hacking
Areas of Focus |
2011/06/02 09:54
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Authorities in the United States are investigating a Google claim that hackers in China stole email details of senior U.S. government officials -- an issue that illustrates the problem of attribution in cyberspace, the coordinator for cyber issues at the U.S. State Department said Thursday.
Google disclosed Wednesday that personal Gmail accounts of several hundred people, including senior U.S. government officials, military personnel and political activists, had been breached. The company said it traced the origin of the attacks to Jinan, China, the home city of a military vocational school whose computers were linked to an assault 17 months ago on Google's systems. China has said it does not support hacking.
"The issue of attribution and knowing whether a state or non-state actors are involved is a huge problem in cybersecurity," Christopher Painter, coordinator for cyber issues for the State Department, told The Associated Press on the sidelines of a cybersecurity conference in London. He declined further comment on the Google claim.
Yuan Xu of the Internet Society of China, an industry group, defended her country's actions against phishing -- the type of attack that Google says was used against its users. Phishing fools users into giving their personal details to rogue websites.
She declined to comment on the specifics of the Google case, saying she didn't know enough about it, but noted that the CNCERT -- one of China's Internet watchdogs -- regularly shares the addresses of suspected phishing websites with its international partners. |
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