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Teen charged with killing principal in court
Law Firm News |
2013/09/04 02:37
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A Memphis teen charged with fatally stabbing his high school principal two years ago is scheduled to make a court appearance.
The lawyer for 18-year-old Eduardo Marmolejo said last month that he's optimistic the case against his client will be resolved at a hearing Tuesday.
Marmolejo was 16 when he was charged with first degree murder in the August 2011 stabbing of 49-year-old Suzette York, his principal at Memphis Junior Academy. A juvenile court judge decided in September 2011 that Marmolejo's case should be moved to adult court. The teen has pleaded not guilty.
Investigators say Marmolejo planned the killing for months. York's body was found in a pool of blood in a classroom.
Defense lawyer Leslie Ballin and prosecutors have been discussing a plea deal. |
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Minn. Supreme Court sides with HIV-positive man
Court Watch |
2013/08/27 06:49
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The Minnesota Supreme Court rejected a prosecutor's effort to reinstate the conviction of an HIV-positive man accused of passing the virus to another man, ruling Wednesday that the statute under which he was convicted was ambiguous.
Groups supporting gay rights said the ruling affirms the need for government to respect the personal and private decisions of consenting adults regarding sexual intimacy. The prosecutor contended the case was never a civil rights issue, but rather about protecting the public from people who know they're infected but practice unprotected sex anyway.
The high court affirmed a Court of Appeals decision that reversed the attempted first-degree assault conviction of Daniel James Rick, 32, of Minneapolis, who learned he was HIV positive in 2006. He had consensual sex several times starting in early 2009 with a man identified in court papers as D.B., who tested positive that October.
A jury acquitted Rick in 2011 under the first part of a Minnesota statute that applies to cases involving sex without first informing the other person that the defendant has a communicable disease. But it convicted him under another section that the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday applies only "to the donation or exchange for value of blood, sperm, organs, or tissue and therefore does not apply to acts of sexual conduct." |
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Court rejects changes to state workers' pensions
Court Issues |
2013/08/19 20:51
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The Michigan appeals court has struck down a 2011 law that required state workers choosing to stay in a pension plan to contribute 4 percent of their compensation toward the system.
In a 3-0 ruling released Wednesday, judges said that change and others are unconstitutional because only the state Civil Service Commission can change state employees' compensation — not lawmakers.
The decision affirms an Ingham County judge's ruling from 2012.
State workers hired before April 1997 qualify for a defined benefit pension plan. Those hired since then are in a 401(k)-style plan.
In 2011, Republican Gov. Rick Snyder and GOP lawmakers changed the law to make pension-eligible employees contribute 4 percent or switch to the 401(k) system.
State employee unions representing roughly 34,000 employees sued. |
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Court challenge fails to stop Calif. gay marriages
Court Issues |
2013/08/15 16:30
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The California Supreme Court refused Wednesday to halt gay marriages in the state, leaving opponents of same-sex weddings few if any legal options to stop the unions.
The brief, unanimous ruling tossed out a legal challenge by ban supporters without addressing their legal arguments in support of Proposition 8, a ballot measure passed by voter in 2008 that banned gay marriage.
Austin R. Nimocks, an attorney for Alliance Defending Freedom, a group that wants to end gay marriage, said the ruling does not end the debate in California. He called on lawmakers to ban gay marriage but declined to say whether a legal challenge will be filed.
"Though the current California officials are unwilling to enforce the state constitution, we remain hopeful that one day Californians will elect officials who will" he said.
Supporters of gay marriage were girding for a continued fight.
"By now, I suppose we know better than to predict that Prop 8 proponents will actually give up their fight," San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera said. "But it's certainly fair to say that their remaining legal options are increasingly absurd."
The state high court ruling came about two months after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider the issue, leaving in place a lower-court ruling that struck down the ballot measure as unconstitutional. |
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