|
|
|
Pa. lawmaker faces hearing on gun-related charge
Court Watch |
2011/05/07 09:21
|
A Berks County judge says a Pennsylvania state senator who allegedly displayed a handgun while driving on Interstate 78 is guilty of a summary charge of disorderly conduct.
District Andrea Book convicted Sen. Bob Mensch after a hearing that lasted more than two hours.
Mensch faces a maximum $300 fine and 90 days in jail, but the prosecutor says he will not recommend jail time.
Mensch, a Montgomery County Republican, denied displaying any weapon even though state troopers who stopped him after the March 9 incident found two handguns in his vehicle. Mensch, who has a permit to carry the weapons, said the other motorist was harassing him
The other motorist, Brian Salisbury of Easton, called 911 after he says Mensch displayed the gun in the palm of his hand. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bachmann uses Holocaust to illustrate tax point
Court Watch |
2011/05/02 09:09
|
Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann on Saturday described the loss of "economic liberty" that young Americans face today as a "flash point of history" in which the younger generation will ask what their elders did to stop it.
In a speech to New Hampshire Republicans, Bachmann recounted learning about a horrific time in history as a child — the Holocaust — and wondering if her mother did anything to stop it. She said she was shocked to hear that many Americans weren't aware that millions of Jews had died until after World War II ended.
Bachmann said the next generation will ask similar questions about what their elders did to prevent them from facing a huge tax burden.
"I tell you this story because I think in our day and time, there is no analogy to that horrific action," she said, referring to the Holocaust. "But only to say, we are seeing eclipsed in front of our eyes a similar death and a similar taking away. It is this disenfranchisement that I think we have to answer to." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Court sides with Wyoming in dispute with Montana
Court Watch |
2011/05/02 09:09
|
The Supreme Court says Wyoming is not taking too much water from a river system it shares with Montana.
The high court on Monday turned away Montana's complaint that Wyoming is taking too much water from the Tongue and Powder rivers in violation of a 1950 agreement between the states.
Montana claimed that more efficient irrigation in Wyoming is preventing runoff from rejoining the river and flowing downstream.
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the 7-1 decision, which says more efficient irrigation is permissible to the detriment of downstream users. Justice Antonin Scalia was the only dissenting vote.
Justice Elena Kagan did not participate in the case because she worked on it while in the solicitor general's office.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Murder conviction of mom reversed in California
Court Watch |
2010/08/03 08:58
|
An appeals court panel has reversed the murder conviction of a mother accused of driving her teenage son and his friends to a Southern California park where a 13-year-old rival gang member was stabbed to death. The 2nd District Court of Appeal panel ruled 2-1 on Monday that jurors in the case of 33-year-old Eva Daley were given an "impermissibly ambiguous" jury instruction during the 2008 trial. Associate Justice Laurie D. Zelon wrote that case records don't show the jury based its verdict on a legally valid theory, so the conviction should be reversed. Daley had been convicted of second-degree murder for the 2007 death of Jose Cano. Prosecutors argued that Daley wanted revenge because Cano allegedly stabbed her son six months earlier.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Groups seek judge's removal from drilling case
Court Watch |
2010/08/03 04:57
|
Several environmental groups have asked a federal appeals court to disqualify a judge from a lawsuit over the Obama administration's initial six-month moratorium on deep-water oil drilling. U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman overturned the temporary drilling ban in June and refused last month to withdraw from the case. In a court filing Thursday, environmental groups supporting the moratorium asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to remove Feldman from the case because of his investments in several oil and gas companies. Feldman says he learned he owned Exxon Mobil stock a day before he ruled and sold it several hours before he issued the decision. Last month, a 5th Circuit panel rejected the government's bid to restore its six-month ban on issuing new permits for deep-water drilling and suspension of 33 existing drilling projects in the Gulf of Mexico.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Legal News RSS Feed
