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CA Supreme Court justice to retire
Press Release |
2014/02/13 22:34
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The longest-serving current justice of the California Supreme Court announced Tuesday that she is retiring.
Justice Joyce Kennard notified Gov. Jerry Brown that she intends to step down on April 5, ending her 24-year tenure as a member of the state's highest court.
"The state and its people have been very well served by Justice Kennard," Brown said in a statement on Tuesday. "Her independence and intellectual fortitude have left a lasting mark on the Court."
Former Gov. George Deukmejian appointed Kennard to the Supreme Court in 1989, The San Jose Mercury News reported. She previously was a Los Angeles trial judge and an appeals court justice for a brief time before being elevated to the State Supreme Court.
Kennard, 72, has a unique personal history, according to the Mercury News, because she is a native of Indonesia, moved to the Netherlands as a teenager and lost part of her right leg to a tumor, forcing her to walk with a prosthetic the rest of her life.
Kennard moved to the United States in 1961, settling in Southern California. She earned her law degree from the University of Southern California.
In her tenure on the court, she became famous for interjecting questions during oral arguments, often turning them into lengthy speeches before pointing her finger at a lawyer and demanding an answer. Despite being an appointee of the conservative Deukmejian, she was often unpredictable in her rulings and would come down on the more liberal side of social issues before the court.
Kennard was in the 4-3 majority that in 2008 struck down California's long-standing ban on gay marriage, a ruling that preceded voter approval of Proposition 8 — which restored the same-sex marriage ban until the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated it last year. |
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California teen pleads not guilty in newborn death
Press Release |
2014/02/10 22:06
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A teenager in Central California pleaded not guilty Thursday to killing her newborn baby, who was found wrapped in plastic bag last week under a bathroom sink.
Gloria Santos Mendoza, 17, was charged as an adult on a single count of first-degree murder, said Madera County Deputy District Attorney Rachel Cartier. If convicted, Mendoza could spend 25 years to life in state prison.
The teenager went to a hospital Friday suffering from postpartum bleeding, but she denied giving birth, Madera County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Erica Stuart said. It took investigators hours to learn where she lived because of a language barrier. The girl speaks a dialect from Oaxaca, Mexico.
Authorities found the dead baby under the sink at the girl's Madera home. Stuart said that when the girl was confronted, she changed her story and said the child was born dead. But Stuart said an autopsy determined the baby was born alive.
Mendoza's attorney, Michael Fitzgerald, said that his first impression was that the prosecution's decision to charge her as an adult with first-degree murder seemed excessive.
The teenager came to Madera from her village in Mexico three days before giving birth, Stuart said. Mendoza remains jailed on $1 million bail. |
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SC lawyer pleads guilty to defrauding clients
Press Release |
2014/02/10 22:05
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A Florence attorney has pleaded guilty to defrauding his clients. U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles said Friday that 48-year-old William J. Rivers pleaded guilty to mail fraud.
Authorities began investigating after some of Rivers' clients complained to the South Carolina Bar Association. Between 2006 and 2012, prosecutors say more than 100 of his firms' clients were defrauded of more than $3.3 million.
Authorities say Rivers settled personal injury cases but didn't tell his clients or medical providers about the settlement money, which he kept. Prosecutors say that action left Rivers' clients still owing money for treatments they had received.
Prosecutors say Rivers' law partner committed suicide during the investigation. Rivers faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 when he's sentenced. |
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Teens charged in death of Australian due in court
Court Watch |
2014/02/06 23:34
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Three teenagers accused of fatally shooting an Australian baseball player as he jogged down an Oklahoma street, allegedly because they were bored, are expected in court Tuesday for a hearing that could reveal details about the case.
Police allege that Chancey Allen Luna and James Francis Edwards Jr., who are both 16, and Michael Dewayne Jones, 18, randomly targeted and shot Chris Lane last summer. Each teenager is charged with first-degree murder.
Lane's death garnered heavy media coverage in both the U.S. and Australia, prompting the judge to issue a gag order barring anyone involved from talking about the case outside court. That means little information has been released since the 22-year-old Melbourne native was shot in the back and died in August.
But investigators have said Lane was shot while jogging down a tree-lined street near the home of his girlfriend's parents in Duncan, about 80 miles south of Oklahoma City. He and his girlfriend had just returned to Oklahoma after visiting Australia, and he was preparing for his senior season playing catcher at East Central University in Ada, about 90 miles east of Duncan. |
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