Government

Trial Looms in Federal Case Over Death of Family Pet Shot by Police in Front of Girl, 12

In a scenario that is increasingly in the news as the subject of internal investigations and legal claims, two police officers in Connecticut are set to go to trial in federal court in Hartford on Monday for killing a family pet after entering the perimeter of a home. The guardian…

May 17, 2012 10:22 PM CDT

Top Ohio Court Suspends Former Chief Public Safety Counsel for 6 Months Over Email Interception

Already fired and prosecuted over his role in illegally intercepting worker emails directed to the state inspector general, the former chief counsel for the Ohio Department of Public Safety was slapped with a heavier-than-expected legal ethics sanction by the state’s top court. The Ohio Supreme Court’s Board of Commissioners on…

May 17, 2012 7:34 PM CDT

Claimed Fla. Sunshine Law Advice re Hospital Merger Talks Costs Law Firm $6M

A public taxing district board for a New Smyrna Beach, Fla., says the advice it got from an Orlando lawyer concerning compliance with the state’s Sunshine Law has proven expensive. After a state court judge nixed a planned 2010 merger with Adventist Health Systems over 21 closed-door meetings over a…

May 16, 2012 5:05 PM CDT

Suit Claims the Senate Filibuster Violates Unstated Constitutional Principle of Majority Rule

A suit filed on Monday by Common Cause claims the Senate filibuster is anti-democratic and unconstitutional. “The principle of majority rule was so basic to the concept of a democratically elected legislative body that it did not need to be expressly stated in the Constitution,” the suit (PDF) says. Other…

May 15, 2012 4:48 PM CDT

Husband-and-Wife Lawyers Settle Suit Claiming Cops Punched Them for Objecting to Suspect’s Beating

A lawyer couple who say police punched and arrested them when they objected to the beating of a drug suspect have settled their civil suit against the city of New York. Michael and Evelyn Warren settled the case for $360,000, report Reuters and the New York Daily News. They say…

May 15, 2012 11:33 AM CDT

Cities Prune Budgets to Monitor Aging Trees as Injury Claims Add Up

Sitting or walking under an aging tree can be dangerous, lawsuits reveal. The case of Alexis Handwerker illustrates the hazards, the New York Times reports. She was seated on a bench beneath an elm in Manhattan’s Stuyvesant Square Park in 2007 when a tree limb 30 feet above broke off…

May 15, 2012 10:30 AM CDT

DOJ Doesn’t Tally Execs Convicted in Financial Crisis Wrongdoing; Is Embarrassment the Reason?

The U.S. Justice Department says it doesn’t keep track of the number of high-level executives convicted as a result of wrongdoing related to the financial crisis. In a letter to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the department disclosed what it did know, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. Since the…

May 14, 2012 4:28 PM CDT

Lawyer Comments at Public Meeting Are Privileged, Top NH Court Says, if No One’s There to Hear Them

Confidential information discussed by a lawyer with his clients, the New Hampshire Local Government Center, at a public meeting of the center are privileged, the state’s top court has ruled, because no member of the public was present to hear them. Ruling Friday on a claim by the Professional Fire…

May 14, 2012 4:05 PM CDT

US ‘Pattern or Practice’ Suit Says Ariz. Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Office Discriminated Against Latinos

An Arizona sheriff who calls himself the country’s toughest is overseeing an office that routinely discriminates against Latino residents and retaliates against critics of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, contends a lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court in Arizona by the United States government. It contends that the Maricopa County, Ariz., sheriff’s…

May 10, 2012 6:16 PM CDT

Texas DA Says He Won’t Step Down Despite His Indictment in Federal Racketeering Case

Urged to resign as a Texas prosecutor following his federal indictment in an unusual criminal racketeering case that accuses him of bartering prosecutorial discretion for cash, Cameron County’s District Attorney is reportedly determined to stay in office. Armando Villalobos, 44, who is also a Democratic candidate for a seat in…

May 9, 2012 3:37 PM CDT

DA Running for Congress Is Indicted; Feds Say He Ran His Office as a Criminal RICO Enterprise

A sitting district attorney in South Texas has been federally indicted, accused of working with his former law partner and others to operate the local justice system as a criminal racketeering enterprise. Cameron County District Attorney Armando R. Villalobos, who is currently running for election to a seat in the…

May 7, 2012 10:15 PM CDT

Ex-Comptroller of Small Illinois Town Pleads Not Guilty in $53M Theft Case

Originally accused of embezzling $30 million from a small Illinois town over the past six years or so, former comptroller Rita Crundwell is now accused of stealing $53 million from Dixon over a period of more than 20 years. The 59-year-old pleaded not guilty in federal court in Rockford on…

May 7, 2012 6:09 PM CDT

Death Sentence for Wolf Hybrid Is Converted to Life Term at Louisiana State Penitentiary

A wolf hybrid that had been given the death penalty by a Louisiana judge over its aggressive behavior got a reprieve Tuesday after a state prison warden suggested an alternative sentence. Chief, who has mixed British Columbia wolf and German shepherd ancestry, will now be sent to patrol the 18,000-acre,…

May 2, 2012 5:30 PM CDT

Cyberattacks: Computer Warfare Looms as Next Big Conflict in International Law

Near the Iranian village of Natanz, lying by the nation’s Karkas mountain range, a compound of tan-colored, block-shaped buildings sprawls with in a 25-acre enclosure. In a complex 25 feet underground, encased by walls 8 feet thick, 5,000 centrifuges churn out enriched uranium as they spin at almost 100,000 revolutions…

May 1, 2012 10:10 AM CDT

What Is the Role of Lawyers in Cyberwarfare?

Washington, D.C., attorney Stewart A. Baker and Charles J. Dunlap Jr., a former deputy judge advocate general of the U.S. Air Force, debate whether the U.S. should learn the practicalities of winning a cyberwar—and then ask lawyers for their input—or, instead, set the legal ground rules before conducting cyberwarfare in…

May 1, 2012 10:00 AM CDT