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Driver pleads guilty in deadly bus stop crash
Court News |
2014/03/10 14:06
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A driver who plowed into a Riverside bus stop, killing a woman and a 7-year-old girl, has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
The Press-Enterprise reports 46-year-old Joe Williams was ordered Thursday to serve six months in custody of the Sheriff's Department, but his sentence could include a work-release program in lieu of jail time.
Williams was indicted after prosecutors told a grand jury that he had a history of blackouts seizures and should not have been driving.
Authorities say Williams, a parking enforcement agent, blacked out at a red light on Dec. 28.
When motorists behind him honked their horns, Williams accelerated, veered up onto the shoulder of the road and crashed into a bus bench.
Twenty-eight-year-old Melissa Bernal and 7-year-old Aniya Mitchell were killed. |
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Court upholds $185 million award against Argentina
Court News |
2014/03/07 15:18
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The Supreme Court has upheld a British natural gas company's multimillion dollar award against the government of Argentina.
BG Group won $185 million through arbitration of a dispute with Argentina over investment in natural gas development. An arbitration tribunal said the company did not have to first submit the dispute to Argentine courts before arbitration could begin.
Argentina asked a U.S. court to throw out the award. The federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., sided with Argentina because it found that judges, not arbitrators, should decide where attempts to resolve the dispute should begin.
But the Supreme Court said Wednesday the arbitrators get to make that call and that they were correct to rule in favor of BG Group in this case. |
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CA man sentenced on drug charge in fed court in SD
Court News |
2014/02/28 15:19
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A California man has been sentenced in federal court in South Dakota for his role in a conspiracy to distribute marijuana.
U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson says 29-year-old Brett McFarland, of Korbel, Calif., was sentenced to five years in prison to be followed by four years of supervised release.
McFarland pleaded guilty last November to a drug distribution conspiracy charge. A money laundering conspiracy charge was dropped.
Johnson says McFarland has agreed to forfeit to the government his interest in proceeds from the sale of property in Petrolia, Calif., that was bought with drug proceeds. |
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Lawyers for Boston Marathon suspect due in court
Court News |
2014/02/10 14:40
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Federal prosecutors and lawyers for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will be in court this week for the first time since U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder authorized prosecutors to seek the death penalty against Tsarnaev.
A status conference is scheduled Wednesday in U.S. District Court.
The 20-year-old Tsarnaev is charged with carrying out a terrorist attack that killed three people and injured more than 260. Prosecutors say he and his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, built pressure cooker bombs, then placed them near the finish line of the marathon last April 15.
Prosecutors announced Jan. 30 that they will seek the death penalty against Tsarnaev. He has pleaded not guilty to a 30-count federal indictment.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev died following a shootout with police. |
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Supreme Court orders stay of execution
Court News |
2014/01/30 15:09
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The U.S. Supreme Court granted a temporary stay of execution for Missouri death row inmate Herbert Smulls on Tuesday night.
Justice Samuel Alito signed the order that was sent out after President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech, about two-and-a-half hours before Smulls was scheduled to die at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.
Smulls' lawyer, Cheryl Pilate, had made last-minute pleas Tuesday to spare his life, focusing on the state's refusal to disclose from which compounding pharmacy they obtain the lethal-injection drug, pentobarbital. Missouri has argued the compounding pharmacy is part of the execution team _ and therefore its name cannot be released to the public.
Smulls, 56, was convicted and sentenced to death for killing a St. Louis County jeweler and badly injuring his wife during a 1991 robbery.
Pilate says the stay is temporary while the high court reviews the case, but she is hopeful the stay will become permanent. |
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