netlaw

WILLIAM KATES Associated Press Writer NORWICH, N.Y. (AP) — A New Jersey man who ran over and killed a 12-year-old baby sitter with his truck was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison Thursday after a GPS system secretly installed by his suspicious wife helped convict him. Prosecutors said George Ford Jr. intentionally ran over Shyanne Somers with his pickup truck to keep her from talking about the hours they spent alone behind an abandoned upstate New York farmhouse in July 2007. Ford... Read Full Story

GREG RISLING Associated Press Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California medical marijuana dispensary owner was sentenced Thursday to a reduced term of a year and a day in prison in a closely watched case that could have implications in states where federal and local laws clash. U.S. District Judge George Wu found that the case of Charles Lynch, 47, merited an exception to a mandatory minimum five-year sentence that guidelines called for. Lynch’s conviction on five marijuana-related... Read Full Story

by: KATIE MARASCO, ESQ As a follow up to the ridiculous Cap’n Crunch case [summary: woman sued for being fraudulently mislead into believing her Cap'n Crunch with Crunch Berries contained real berries] another case has come up. This one maybe has a little more substance. A New York man is suing Match.com (the popular match making site) claiming that Match.com’s practices lead to “humiliation and disapointment” for people who are rejected. The man claims that many of the profiles on match... Read Full Story

LINDA DEUTSCH AP Special Correspondent LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former mortuary worker convicted of carving up and selling cadavers donated to the University of California at Los Angeles’ medical school was sentenced to 10 years in prison Thursday and ordered to pay more than $1.7 million. Jurors had found Ernest Nelson, 51, guilty of eight counts, including grand theft and tax evasion after a trial that detailed how he and Henry Reid, the former director of UCLA’s Willed Body Program... Read Full Story

By:  LINDSEY O’NEILL, ESQ. As reported in the media, James W. Von Brunn wanted the world to know the depth of his hate by opening fire with a shotgun at the patrons of the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C.  Unfortunately, hate-driven crimes such as this are not uncommon.  According to the FBI, law enforcement agencies reported 7,624 hate crime incidents involving 9,006 offenses in 2007 alone (more recent data not yet available).  A “hate crime” can be any crime (like murder... Read Full Story

NEDRA PICKLER Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge ordered a former State Department employee and his wife held without bond, saying there appeared to be insurmountable evidence that they spied for Cuba. At the request of federal prosecutors, U.S. Magistrate Judge John Facciola agreed Wednesday to hold 72-year-old Walter Kendall Myers and his wife, 71-year-old Gwendolyn, in jail pending a trial. Facciola said there was a risk the pair might try to flee the United... Read Full Story

DANIEL WAGNER AP Business Writers WASHINGTON (AP) — Ten of the nation’s biggest financial companies got a green light Tuesday to return $68 billion in federal bailout money — freeing the banks from limits on executive pay and leaving the government with a small gain on the rescue cash. While the paybacks could be a signal that the banking industry is stabilizing, analysts say it is far from a clean bill of health, and some said it was too soon to let the banks give back the money... Read Full Story

by: KATIE MARASCO, ESQ. The term “frivolous lawsuit” is not a unique one, we hear people complaining about these things all of the time. Sidebar: The term itself doesn’t quite seem to do some of these lawsuits justice; I would prefer ridiculous, preposterous, or outrageous to frivolous but a common phrase is something we become familiar with and settle on. One of these preposterous suits caught my attention and got me thinking about fraud. A woman in San Diego attempted to sue the... Read Full Story

BREE FOWLER AP Auto Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Chrysler headed back to bankruptcy court Tuesday to get a judge to approve the termination of 789 dealer franchises, while Chrysler’s plan to become a stronger automaker partnered with Italy’s Fiat awaits action by the nation’s highest court. The sale of Chrysler’s assets to Fiat Group SpA had been expected to close more than a week ago, but Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s decision to delay the sale now threatens to derail Chrysler’s... Read Full Story

SUZANNE GAMBOA Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — A House panel has voted 10-0 to recommend impeachment of a federal judge from Texas who has been convicted of lying about sexual assaults of two female employees. The House task force, led by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., took just 20 minutes to agree to four articles of impeachment — essentially charges — against U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent of Galveston, Texas. The recommendation goes to the full House Judiciary Committee... Read Full Story