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Ex-Mass. House speaker DiMasi pleads not guilty
Court News |
2009/11/15 09:48
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| Former Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi has again pleaded not guilty to federal corruption charges. DiMasi and three co-defendants entered the pleas Thursday during their arraignment on an expanded indictment adding extortion to earlier public corruption charges. The original indictment alleged DiMasi and three associates rigged two lucrative state contracts for the software company Cognos in exchange for payments, with the former speaker pocketing $57,000. A superseding indictment handed up last month added the extortion charge. It says DiMasi accepted payments from Cognos and a second member of the scheme, Joseph Lally, knowing the money was in exchange for helping the Burlington, Mass.-based firm win the contracts. |
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Calif. fire suspect pleads not guilty to murder
Court News |
2009/11/14 09:50
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A prison inmate has pleaded not guilty to arson and murder charges for a 2003 wildfire that destroyed nearly 1,000 homes and was linked to five heart attack deaths in Southern California. San Bernardino County prosecutors say 28-year-old Rickie Lee Fowler entered his plea Thursday in Superior Court. Fowler is already serving time in state prison for burglary. He faces five counts of murder, one count of aggravated arson and one count of arson of an inhabited structure. The so-called Old Fire erupted in the San Bernardino Mountains above the city of San Bernardino in October 2003 and eventually swept across 140 square miles. A pretrial hearing is set for Nov. 30. Fowler's bail has been set at $1 million. |
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Lawsuit: former officer involved in sex crime
Court News |
2009/10/26 09:34
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WATERBURY, Conn. - A lawyer for a 17-year-old boy has fileda lawsuit against the city of Waterbury, claiming a now-retiredcity police officer handcuffed the teen during an attempted sexualassault in 2006.
The lawsuit was filed earlier this month and seeks unspecifieddamages. It accuses the city of negligent hiring and supervision offormer Officer Stephen Flanigan.
Flanigan could not be reached Monday. His home phone number isnot listed.
The boy told police that Flanigan handcuffed him during anattempted assault by Charles Fullenwiley at Fullenwiley'snow-defunct electronics store in Waterbury. Fullenwiley wassentenced last week to 40 years in prison for assaulting boys hetied up in his shop.
Flanigan has not been arrested, and an internal affairsinvestigation found the allegations unsubstantiated. |
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ND Supreme Court upholds Internet provider probe
Court News |
2009/05/07 10:28
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North Dakota's Supreme Court says the attorney general may continue a probe into the marketing practices of an Internet service provider.
Simple.net Inc. of Mesa, Ariz., has tried to block investigations by North Dakota and other states. It contends the investigations are barred because of a settlement between the company and the Federal Trade Commission.
In a unanimous ruling, the North Dakota Supreme Court says the FTC agreement does not prevent the North Dakota attorney general from looking into Simple.net's business practices. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem got complaints about Simple.net because the company was sending out incentive checks. When customers cashed the checks, they started getting billed almost $20 a month for Internet services. Stenehjem says the sales pitch was misleading. |
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Court Debates Convict's Rights to DNA Re-Testing
Court News |
2009/03/04 09:33
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Justice David Souter led the charge for the ability of convicts like William Osborne of Alaska to have the right to re-test DNA evidence. "His strongest argument or his -- his basic argument is this evidence is potentially so important that the State has no valid interest in keeping [Osborne] at least from seeing it; i.e., testing it."
But other justices weren't as comfortable with that idea. Justice Antonin Scalia was the most vocal in his opposition. He suggested such a right would allow the accused to "game the system."
A concern also shared by Justice Anthony Kennedy who told Osborne's lawyer "what you are doing is setting up a game in which it would be really unwise to have the DNA test. Take your chances. You have a -- you have a built-in -- you have a -- a built-in second chance. And that's just -- that's just not sound trial strategy, counsel, and you know that."
Chief Justice John Roberts repeatedly returned to the idea that if the court were to grant the right for post-conviction DNA testing that it would then open for debate a slew of other problems.
"I'm trying to figure out what the limit of the constitutional right you're asserting is," Roberts asked. He went on to wonder if there would be re-testing rights at other stages in the trial process or even for fingerprint analysis and he questioned how long states would have to preserve DNA evidence in the name of this right.
Osborne was convicted of raping and nearing killing an Anchorage prostitute in 1993. At trial, his lawyers made the strategic decision not to seek more stringent DNA testing for fear that it would more strongly inculpate their client. Osborne is now seeking to re-test that DNA on the hope that it will lead to his freedom.
Osborne's attempts however have not also included a claim of innocence drawing the ire of a number of justices who wondered why they should confer a constitutional right on someone who doesn't even claim he is an innocent man. Today's oral arguments also drew out the fact that under Alaska law, Osborne could petition for the retesting of the DNA evidence if he does so while also claiming innocence. Something he has yet to do.
This development opens the door for the court to send the case back for further proceedings without answering the constitutional question. That potential ruling would be supported by the federal government which joined the case on behalf of Alaska.
"[T]he unusual facts of this case, which include failure to attest to actual innocence under threat of perjury, two recent confessions to the crime, and a tactical decision at trial to forego a highly discriminating....DNA test, all together make this a particularly poor candidate for recognizing a new constitutional entitlement," said Neal Katyal arguing his first case before the court as deputy solicitor general.
If the court does issue a ruling declaring a federally protected constitutional right to post-conviction DNA testing it isn't clear that it would have that much of an impact because most states already have statutes in place for such testing. Alaska is one of six states that does not guarantee that right. |
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