The man accused of strangling his ex-girlfriend - defense attorney Margaret Allen - and killing a witness in the case will make his first court appearance at 2 p.m. today in Butler County Common Pleas Court.

Calvin McKelton, 32, will be arraigned on an 11-count indictment charging him with aggravated murder, murder, two counts of felonious assault, abuse of a corpse, intimidation of a witness, tampering with evidence, aggravated robbery, aggravated arson and two charges of domestic violence.
Allen’s body was found at Schmidt Field in Cincinnati’s East End in July 2008.

Prosecutors are expected to release more details about the case today, including information about the dead witness.

McKelton was arrested Friday afternoon near Lexington Avenue and Reading Road in Avondale by the U.S. Marshals’ Southern Ohio Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team. He faces the death penalty if convicted.

At the law firm of Adorno & Yoss, diversity is not an afterthought, nor is it a marketing ploy to gain new business.

No, diversity -- doing business with and hiring minorities -- is front and center at Adorno & Yoss, the largest minority-owned law firm in the nation. With about 300 lawyers in 20 offices around the country, and a Fortune 200 client list, the Florida-based law firm has emerged as one of the premier law offices in the nation. The company, which has two offices in Latin America, is also a member of the National Minority Supplier Development Council.

"We are seeing what is happening with the population in this country," said Florida-based Henry Adorno, CEO and co-founder of Adorno & Yoss. "Being able to understand that and being able to communicate with our clients gives us the competitive advantage."

Lawyers in the Proposition 8 trial are keeping an eye on Washington as they draft papers for the federal judge in San Francisco.

The two sides in the legal battle over California's ban on same sex marriage have two more weeks to tell Judge Vaughn Walker exactly how they'd like him to rule and why. As it is expected the federal lawsuit challenging the 2008 ballot initiative to ultimately be decided by the US Supreme court, attorneys are trying to ensure that they've built a case that will satisfy the nation's highest legal authority two years down the line.

The way to get those judges' support, said Boies, is to build as strong a case as possible at the lower level. That's why one of his clients, plaintiff Jeff Zarrillo, feels it's so important to win this trial.

Gov. Bob Riley's gambling task force won another victory Thursday when the Alabama Supreme Court tossed out a court order blocking a raid on the state's largest casino.

In a 7-2 decision, the court said a Macon County judge lacked jurisdiction to halt the pre-dawn raid Jan. 29.

"This is another victory for the rule of law," Gov. Bob Riley said Thursday night.

VictoryLand, 15 miles east of Montgomery, closed its casino Monday night. Shortly before the Supreme Court's ruling came out Thursday, the company closed all other facilities, including its dog track, restaurants and new luxury hotel. The closure was designed to keep the Governor's Task Force on Illegal Gambling from returning without getting a judge to approve a search warrant.

Task force commander John Tyson said last week a search warrant was not needed for the thwarted raid because the casino was open and undercover officers were inside observing the gambling machines. He declined to reveal his next step Thursday night, but said he was reviewing the complete closure of VictoryLand.

Questioning the Supreme Court and other government branches needs to stay within the range of fair criticism or "run the risk in our society of undermining institutions that we need to preserve our liberties," Justice Clarence Thomas said Thursday.

Thomas also told an audience at the University of Florida law school that some comments he hears about the court "border on being irresponsible."

He didn't speak specifically about the court's recent decision on campaign financing or mention President Barack Obama. But Thomas' comments come a week after Obama took the rare step of openly criticizing the decision during his State of the Union speech.

Thomas supported the 5-4 ruling that allows companies and unions to spend freely on ads that promote or target candidates by name.