Justices: Racially Based Peremptory Challenges Reverse Murder Conviction SNYDER V. LOUISIANA
(U.S. Supreme Ct., March 19, 2008) – A Louisiana conviction for first-degree murder and death sentence is reversed where the trial judge committed clear error in its ruling on an objection to the prosecution’s strike of a black juror during voir dire, in violation of Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U. S. 79.
The New York Law Journal has reported that Melvyn Weiss has agreed to plead guilty to a racketeering charge for participating in a scheme to pay kickbacks to lead plaintiffs in shareholder suits.
Mr. Weiss, a famed securities class action lawyer, was one of the co-founders of the law firm Milberg Weiss.
Letter to New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and State Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Bruno From Gov. Eliot Spitzer (PDF 192.2 KB)
“more than $1 million in alleged prostitution proceeds laundered through two front accounts.
For additional information click on links below to the Press Release and the Complaint
BY TAMAR RAUM*
March is Women’s History Month, and a wealth of historical, social, political, and cultural knowledge is available on the internet. The following internet page of the NWHP (National Women’s History Project) highlights notable achievements of outstanding women.
From Symantec
Summary:
Most IT professionals know or suspect that virtualization of computer systems may have an important role in their organization’s evolving infrastructure – though where and how are likely under investigation. Some organizations will decide that virtualization isn’t necessary. Others will find that they want to implement it in places, but not across the board. Sill others will move to implement it on a large scale. For those who decide to implement virtualization, the question is how to do it. Many people are not aware that a number of conversion tools and techniques are available now in the Microsoft Windows environment.
Argued December 4, 2007 – Decided February 20, 2008
…”Of Wednesday’s pre-emption cases, Riegel v. Medtronic may have the broadest impact. The Court ruled against the estate of Charles Riegel, who died after a catheter made by Medtronic malfunctioned during heart surgery.”
“Riegel sued in federal court, invoking New York state common law to argue for liability and damages. Like lower courts, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal Medical Device Amendments of 1976 specifically preclude states from imposing their own requirements on the makers of federally regulated medical devices.”
“(U.S. 6th Cir., Feb. 5, 2008) – Defendants’ sentences resulting from their clumsy robbery of rare books from a university and attempts to sell them at auction are vacated and remanded for re-sentencing, where the district court erred by excluding books dropped and abandoned in the library stairwell from the valuation of loss and computation of the sentencing range. The court held that the defendant-robbers “took” the books, under USSG, 2B3.1, when they exercised dominion and control over them, such that they completed the acts necessary to seize the books.”
“Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Feb. 11, 2008) – The U.S. Department of Defense announced that six high-value detainees held in Guantanamo Bay were charged, under the Military Commissions Act, with planning and executing the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Specific charges include violations of the laws of war, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, destroying of property in violation of the laws of war, terrorism, and material support to terrorism”
U.S. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed et.al.: Specifications and Charges
Source: Findlaw Featured Documents, February 11, 2008.
Report prepared by U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General
February 2008.
Section 1001 of the USA PATRIOT Act (Patriot Act), Public Law 107-56, directs the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ or Department) to undertake a series of actions related to claims of civil rights or civil liberties violations allegedly committed by DOJ employees. It also requires the OIG to provide semiannual reports to Congress on the implementation of the OIG’s responsibilities under Section 1001. This report – the twelfth since enactment of the legislation in October 2001 – summarizes the OIG’s Section 1001-related activities from July 1, 2007, through December 31, 2007.
Criminal Law Library Blog