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 Legal news from Tuesday, August 10, 2004 |
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Tuesday, August 10, 2004 |
Federal appeals court upholds former Providence, RI mayor's corruption charge
Tom at 3:29 PM ET
The First US Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld the conviction of Vincent "Buddy" Cianci, the popular former mayor of Providence, Rhode Island. The decision comes 20 months into the 5 year, 4 month prison sentence Cianci received for a single count of racketeering conspiracy. Cianci had faced over a dozen corruption charges including bribery and extortion, but was acquitted of all save the conspiracy charge. AP has more. The full appellate opinion begins here [PDF] and concludes here [PDF].
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Congressman pleads guilty to gun charge
Tom at 3:08 PM ET
US Representative John Hostettler (R-IN) pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed weapon on Tuesday. A loaded Glock pistol was found in the congressman's carry-on bag as he was checking in to catch a flight to Washington DC at the Louisville, KY airport on April 20, 2004. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Hostettler received a 60 day suspended sentence, his pistol was confiscated, he is not permitted to purchase a gun outside his home state of Indiana or Washington DC, and his permit to carry a gun will not apply in Kentucky for the two year suspension period. Reuters has more.
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ABA approves two new law schools
Tom at 2:43 PM ET
The American Bar Association has approved provisional accreditation for the law schools of Florida International University in Miami and Florida A&M University in Orlando. ABA accreditation allows graduates of the schools to sit for the bar exam to become lawyers in any state. Full accreditation can be approved after the schools graduate their first class and undergo additional review. There are now 188 law schools in the US approved to confer the first degree in law (J.D.), of which 7 have provisional status. A list of the ABA approved law schools is here. The Miami Herald has more.
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Arafat avoiding legislature's reform demands
Jeannie Shawl at 1:51 PM ET
Palestinian lawmakers said Tuesday that Yasser Arafat has largely been evasive in responding to legislative pressure to put promised reforms in writing. Palestinian lawmakers want Arafat to comply the separation of powers scheme in the Basic Law, sign anti-corruption legislation and reform Palestine's security services. Arafat has been inconsistent in his compliance with the Basic Law, Palestine's constitutive document, refusing to give up control of certain government institutions. AP has more. The Palestine Center has background on the Basic Law.
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Indian cabinet says it will scrap anti-terrorism law
Jeannie Shawl at 1:09 PM ET
Following up on a story first noted this morning in Paper Chase's foreign press report, India's cabinet has agreed to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), saying the law has been grossly misused since it was enacted two years ago, especially against Muslims. The Indian Parliament must now agree to repeal POTA, which broadened the scope of the death penalty and gave prosecutors more scope to detain and interrogate suspects. BBC News has more.
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Judge refuses to dismiss charges against former Tyco executives
Jeannie Shawl at 12:08 PM ET
New York State Supreme Court Judge Michael Obus has rejected requests by former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski and former CFO Mark Swartz to drop conspiracy and corruption charges before their second criminal trial begins. Kozlowski and Swartz will thus face essentially the same charges as in their first trial on allegations they looted Tyco of $600 million, which resulted in a mistrial. Judge Obus also rejected Swartz's request and said Tuesday that the two defendants will stand trial together. Reuters has the full story. Read the amended indictment [PDF] against Kozlowski and Swartz.
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Sudanese civilians detained for talking to foreigners
Jeannie Shawl at 11:24 AM ET
Darfuri civilians are regularly being imprisoned or harassed by Sudanese authorities for talking to foreigners about the Darfur conflict, according to a Tuesday statement from Amnesty International. According to Amnesty: Scores of people have been arrested since the end of June 2004 in various parts of Darfur for talking to foreign government leaders, including US Secretary of State Colin Powell and French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier, members of the African Union (AU) Ceasefire Commission and independent journalists or for speaking out on the crisis in Darfur. Read the full press release. Security officials have said that people were being questioned after meeting with foreigners and that some had been detained, but said that any questioning and detentions were a matter of security, not a reprisal for speaking to foreigners. Read the full story from Reuters.
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BREAKING NEWS ~ Libya to pay compensation to victims of 1986 disco bombing
Jeannie Shawl at 10:27 AM ET
AP is reporting that Libya has agreed to pay $35 million in compensation to victims of a 1986 disco bombing in Berlin.
UPDATE: Compensation will be paid to the family of a Turkish woman killed in the 1986 Berlin bombing and to Germans who were wounded. Families of two US servicemen killed are not included in the deal. The deal, negotiated between Libyan officials and lawyers for the German victims, follows a 2001 Berlin court ruling that the bombing was organized by the Libyan secret service and aided by the Libyan Embassy in East Berlin. In June, a German federal court upheld the sentences of four people convicted of carrying out the bombing. JURIST's Paper Chase has background on that decision.
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Massachusetts defendants free due to shortage of court-appointed lawyers
Jeannie Shawl at 10:13 AM ET
In accordance with a recent Supreme Judicial Court ruling in Massachusetts (see this previous report on JURIST's Paper Chase), three men have become the first defendants freed because the courts have been unable to appoint lawyers for them. In its recent decision, the Court ruled that defendants' constitutional rights were being violated and that they must be released if they are held seven or more days without a lawyer. A Massachusetts judge will hold a hearing later this week to consider what to do with 14 additional defendants without lawyers. The Boston Herald has the full story.
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US to provide limited evidence in retrial of German 9/11 suspect
Jeannie Shawl at 9:29 AM ET
A German judge announced Tuesday that the US State Department will provide summaries of its interrogations of two al Qaeda prisoners in order to help retry Mounir el Motassadeq, but will not allow terror suspects in American custody to testify in court. Motassadeq had been convicted on more than 3,000 counts of accessory to murder for helping to carry out the September 11 attacks but a German appeals court overturned the conviction because the US failure to allow the testimony of two of its al Qaeda prisoners interfered with Motassadeq's right to a fair trial. During the retrial, the US will provide the court with unclassified transcripts from interrogations. As previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, Motassadeq's lawyer has said that he will argue that the evidence will be inadmissible because the US likely obtained it by using torture. CBC News has the full story. BBC News has more. Deutsche Welle provides local coverage (in English) of Motassadeq's retrial.
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Bush names new CIA director
Jeannie Shawl at 9:08 AM ET
President Bush nominated Rep. Porter Goss to serve as director of the Central Intelligence Agency Tuesday morning. Goss, a former Army intelligence operative and undercover CIA officer, is the current chair of the House intelligence committee. The Senate will have to confirm Goss' nomination. During Tuesday's announcement, Bush did not discuss the creation of a new intelligence czar to oversee the CIA and other intelligence agencies. AP has the full story. Read Goss' biography.
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Law in the foreign press ~ Tuesday, August 10
Zak at 8:55 AM ET
A few of the legal stories appearing in Tuesday's foreign press.... India's Hindustan Times covers Prime Minister Singh's plan to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act. The act was passed by the prior administration in 2002. However, Singh plans to retain some of the act's key provisions related to tapping phones and making arrests.... China's Xinhua features reaction to the Road Traffic Safety Law. The new law requires drivers to pay compensation to any pedestrians involved in an accident regardless of circumstance. Debate was sparked when a driver was ordered to compensate the family a woman who was illegally crossing a high speed freeway.... In Saudi Arabia, Arab News features a new law regulating end of service benefits. The proposed law limits the benefits to three months after termination and links the amount of benefit to productivity during employment. The government argues that if benefits are not automatic, employees are more likely to be productive.
click for the previous foreign press report
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Law in the major papers ~ Tuesday, August 10
Rebecca at 8:35 AM ET
Tuesday's New York Times notes that Terry Nichols was sentenced to life imprisonment, Time magazine and its reporter were held in contempt for not revealing which government and CIA officials leaked the identity of an undercover CIA agent, a tech company settled a tax case without ever being audited, thanks to special agreement with the IRS, one of the first settlements for improper securities trading in the insurance industry was agreed upon in the amount of $20 million, the San Francisco federal appeals court has denied the author of "The Federal Mafia" the right to sell his book, as it gives fraudulent advice and encourages readers to evade income tax, former chairman and chief executive of Enron filed motions yesterday asking a federal judge to separate his criminal fraud case from those of other charged defendants, Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts has announced plans to file for bankruptcy, Parmalat, the bankrupt Italian dairy giant, sued Deutsche Bank on Monday for 17 million euros, and Google has settled a dispute with Yahoo over web-linked advertising patents.
Today's Washington Post features reports of Peterson trial updates, and a federal bankruptcy judge ruled Monday that Horizon Natural Resources does not have to honor its union contracts.
USA Today includes articles on an indictment of two mosque leaders accused of trying to aid an impending assassination attempt on Pakistan's ambassador to the United Nations, and the freeing of three accused drug dealers because they hadn't seen a lawyer for weeks, and charges against them dropped.
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US law and business press review ~ Tuesday, August 10
Maryam at 7:58 AM ET
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August 10: This day at law ~ President Reagan authorized compensation for Japanese-Americans interned during World War II
Bernard Hibbitts at 12:01 AM ET
On August 10, 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill that provided payments of $20,000 to Japanese-Americans who were sent to internment camps by the US government during World War II. Learn more about the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which also included a formal apology by Congress for what it called a "grave injustice."
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Paper Chase is JURIST's real-time legal news service, powered by a team of 30 law student reporters and editors led by law professor Bernard Hibbitts at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. As an educational service, Paper Chase is dedicated to presenting important legal news and materials rapidly, objectively and intelligibly in an accessible, ad-free format.
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