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9 Year Old Pleads Guilty In Father's Shooting Death
Headline Legal News |
2009/02/20 09:27
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Now that the charges against a 9-year-old boy accused in a double homicide have been resolved, attorneys in the case say they are hopeful he will receive the treatment he needs to move past the incident and have a chance at a normal life.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys say treatment options were a vital part of a plea agreement the boy signed Thursday. He had faced two counts of premeditated murder in the deaths of his father and his father's roommate. He pleaded guilty to negligent homicide in the death of 39-year-old Timothy Romans, and the murder charge stemming from the death of his father, 29-year-old Vincent Romero, was dropped.
"I think this experience probably can change an individual, and I'm hoping this doesn't tremendously change him," said defense attorney Benjamin Brewer. "To be as normal a kid as possible, it would be something we'd like to strive for."
Apache County Attorney Michael Whiting said prosecutors had two options in the case: proceed and risk that the boy be found incompetent and receive no treatment or have him enter a plea agreement.
"We discussed that and felt better that he be under the state's care, that he get treatment," he said.
The boy has not been sentenced. Apache County Superior Court Judge Michael Roca will decide whether the boy will serve time in a county juvenile facility, be institutionalized for treatment or live with relatives.
The boy's plea spares the rural community of about 4,000 from what would have been an emotional trial and prevents the boy from serving time in the state juvenile corrections system or being tried as an adult.
He was polite in court and was never asked to explain any motive for the killings.
Defense attorney Ron Wood said the plea deal was a compromise that wouldn't please everyone.
"I don't know it was the best thing. That remains to be seen," he said. "This resolution of the case causes more potential for working out in (the boy's) favor."
The boy's mother cried throughout the hearing and, through her lawyer, objected to the plea deal. But Superior Court Judge Michael Roca accepted it.
In court Thursday, the boy was more talkative and relaxed than in previous hearings, laughing and chatting with his lawyer and mother.
But his demeanor became more serious as the hearing got under way. The judge questioned him for nearly half an hour, about whether he understood his rights, the terms of the plea agreement and the consequences.
The boy answered respectfully and politely, using "yes, sir" or "no, sir" in most cases. |
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Pro Life Lawsuit - "Infanticide" Claims
Headline Legal News |
2009/02/11 10:11
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A Chicago-based pro-life law center has launched a law suit against staff of a clinic involved in a botched late-term abortion in hopes it will result in charges of "infanticide" and "change public opinion" about this controversial procedure.
The Thomas More Society said the law suit was filed last month on behalf of a young woman, Sycloria Williams, whose baby was allegedly killed by staff members of Hialeah clinic, Worthy News learned Tuesday, February 11.
The Florida Board of Medicine already revoked the license of Dr. Pierre Jean-Jacque Renelique on charges of medical malpractice, delegation of responsibility to unlicensed personnel and failing to keep an accurate medical record.
Renelique arrived too late at a Hialeah clinic to perform an abortion on eighteen year-old Williams back on July 20, 2006, who instead managed to deliver her live baby.
The civil lawsuit claims that that while the baby, Shanice Osbourne, was still trying to breathe, Belkis Gonzalez – a staff member who had no medical license – came into the room and cut the umbilical cord. Gonzalez then allegedly "scooped up the baby” and the afterbirth, placed everything in a red biohazard bag, sealed it and tossed the bag into the trash.
A series of anonymous calls led police to discover the baby's body in a cardboard box in a clinic closet one week later, according to investigators. An autopsy apparently revealed that Williams' baby had air in her lungs and was trying to breath; the cause of death was said to be extreme prematurity.
"Its infanticide," said Tom Brejcha, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Society, which investigated the case. "We're trying to make sure we don't tolerate infanticide here," Brejcha told the Baptist Press news agency. "The baby was gasping for air. They used a pair of shears and didn't tie (the cord) up so the baby was going to bleed to death. They treated the baby like a piece of garbage."
The suit against Renelique, Gonzalez and other clinic staff claims wrongful death, medical negligence and personal injury; it was filed by a local counsel hired by the Thomas More Society.
Brejcha said the suit is intended to "pressure prosecutors to file murder charges," but to date, no criminal charges have been filed in the case. However, the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office is reportedly investigating the matter.
"Whether you are pro-life or pro-choice, we can all agree that this is tragic and morally reprehensible," Florida State House Majority Leader Adam Hasner said in a statement, monitored by Worthy News Tuesday, February 11. "Administrative action against the physician by the Department of Health is not enough, anything less than murder charges being filed is unacceptable."
State Representative Rachel Burgin added that Florida's safe-haven law would have allowed the baby to be dropped off anonymously at any hospital and eventually adopted if she survived.
Williams was originally scheduled to receive a dilation and evacuation, which involves dismembering the baby while still in the womb, Worthy News learned.
"The degree of barbaric medical malpractice in this case is absolutely astonishing," explained Brejcha. "And that's something that pro-life people should not be hesitant to let the world know about, because the abortion industry is keeping that quiet and talking about safe, legal abortion. It's never safe for the baby." |
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Court rules for worker over retaliation
Headline Legal News |
2009/01/27 14:23
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| Workers who cooperate with their employers' internal investigations of discrimination may not be fired in retaliation for implicating colleagues or superiors, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled Monday. The justices held that a longtime school system employee in Tennessee can pursue a civil rights lawsuit over her firing. The court voted to reverse the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling that the anti-retaliation provision of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act does not apply to employees who merely cooperate with an internal probe rather than complain on their own or take part in a formal investigation. The Cincinnati-based court was alone among federal appeals courts in its narrow view of the civil rights law, which was already understood to bar retaliation against people who complained about harassment and other discrimination. "The question here is whether this protection extends to an employee who speaks out about discrimination not on her own initiative, but in answering questions during an employer's internal investigation. We hold that it does," Justice David Souter said for the court. Vicky Crawford was fired in 2003 after more than 30 years as an employee of the school system for Nashville, Tenn., and Davidson County. |
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Man charged in knifings at moonshine victim's wake
Headline Legal News |
2009/01/25 14:26
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| A parolee has been ordered to stand trial on charges of stabbing two men at a funeral wake for a man poisoned by moonshine. Dennis Jerome Foust of Montague faces trial in Oceana County Circuit Court on two counts of felonious assault and a misdemeanor count of domestic violence. The 33-year-old also is charged as a habitual offender, which could result in a longer prison sentence if he is convicted. Police say Foust and his wife fought Jan. 9 during the wake for Shawn Davila, who died on New Year's Day from methanol alcohol poisoning. Two men were stabbed after intervening in the fight. They were treated and released. |
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John Q. Kelly on Natalee Holloway Case - Fox News
Headline Legal News |
2009/01/05 14:18
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Natalie Holloway Attorney John Q. Kelly
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: And, finally, the Aruban prosecutor Hans Mos, responds. John Q. Kelly, the Holloway family attorney, has been trying to get Aruban prosecutor Hans Mos on the phone. Mos did leave him a rather nasty voicemail the other day. But now Hans Mos has responded to a letter from Kelly.
So what did Mos say in this response? John Q. Kelly joins us. John, what did he say?
JOHN Q. KELLY, HOLLOWAY FAMILY ATTORNEY: It's basically two-fold. One is that Joran [van der Sloot] has given different versions of the same event, so they can't be bothered with it.
And, two, they have no interest in any evidence or information that might assist him at this point.
VAN SUSTEREN: That is cute. The key is if you want to commit a crime, go to Aruba and tell three stories, because they will not investigate you and they won't look to corroborate. That's lesson number one. That's good advice.
You ask to have him arrested. What happens about that?
KELLY: He said we have no basis for it. This is the first time we have had any information that has been corroborated. He says he father was engaged in a cover-up, and it turns out that the chief of police and Paulus [van der Sloot], it has been confirmed that they hindered the prosecution. We have taped conversations that confirmed the boys talking about hoping that Natalee, or fearing that she may be alive. There are cell phone pings as to locations of Joran down by the fisherman's hut. There are all kinds of things independently that confirm what Joran is saying now, and they just won't listen.
VAN SUSTEREN: I know that he doesn't like us here at "On the Record." And I will make this promise tonight-we will stop being the monkey on his back if he does any investigation at all.
But I can tell you one thing. We have learned new information that a member of the Dutch parliament, Hero Brinkman, he is about to raise holy hell on Hans Mos. He is going down to Aruba in early January.
And if Hans Mos does not like us, wait until he gets a hold of this member of parliament, because he says that Aruba is "corrupt as hell" I think were his words, not mine.
KELLY: Greta, can I take you to the woodshed on one thing? I think people have to understand that even thought it was five months before your aired your interview with Joran that Hans Mos was made aware of it and the substance of it in great detail almost immediately, and he had no interest in following.
Read the entire interview at Fox News - Click Here |
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