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CA Supreme Court justice to retire
Headline News |
2014/02/13 14:52
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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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Nevada Officials Won't Defend Gay Marriage Ban
Headline News |
2014/02/13 14:52
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In an about-face, Nevada has decided against defending its constitutional ban on same-sex marriages, the latest step in a series of battles being waged across the nation on the volatile issue.
Nevada's attorney general and governor said Monday that they won't defend the state's gay marriage ban pending before a federal appeals court, saying a recent court decision made the state's arguments "no longer defensible."
Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto filed a motion with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that said Nevada's legal arguments supporting the voter-approved prohibition aren't viable in light of the court's recent ruling that said potential jurors cannot be removed from a trial during jury selection solely because of sexual orientation.
"After thoughtful review and analysis, the state has determined that its arguments grounded upon equal protection and due process are no longer sustainable," Masto said in a statement.
Nevada's move comes as courts around the country and the federal government have chipped away at laws that prohibit same-sex marriage and benefits in recent months. Meanwhile, some states and interest groups have rallied to defend limiting marriage to between a man and a woman. |
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Judge finds Citgo guilty of Clean Air Act felonies
Legal Focuses |
2014/02/06 15:41
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A South Texas judge has fined Citgo Petroleum more than $2 million after finding it guilty of felony violations of the U.S. Clean Air Act by its Corpus Christi refinery.
U.S. District Judge John Rainey handed down his verdict and punishment Wednesday in Corpus Christi.
Dozens of residents near Citgo's Corpus Christi refinery testified that they were sickened by pollution from the refinery. The Corpus Christi Caller-Times reports prosecutors accused the Venezuelan-owned company of not installing roofs on two oil-water separator tanks the company operated between 1994 and 2003.
Dick DeGuerin of Houston, who represented Citgo, said the company will appeal the conviction.
Melissa Jarrell, a Texas A&M-Corpus Christi associate criminal justice professor, predicted the verdict could prompt other air pollution victims to seek similar prosecutions elsewhere. |
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Teens charged in death of Australian due in court
Headline News |
2014/02/06 15:40
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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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Not guilty plea in Oakland attack on 'agender' boy
Legal Focuses |
2014/02/03 14:56
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A 16-year-old San Francisco Bay Area boy has pleaded not guilty to charges that he set a male teen's skirt on fire on a public bus.
Richard Thomas is facing aggravated mayhem and assault charges with hate crime allegations in connection with the Nov. 4 attack.
Authorities say Thomas told investigators he attacked 18-year-old on Luke Fleischman on a bus in Oakland because he was homophobic. Relatives and friends have said Fleischman identifies as "agender," a designation sometimes adopted by people who see themselves as neither male nor female.
Fleischman was sleeping when he was attacked and suffered second and third-degree burns.
The Oakland Tribune reports that Thomas, who has been charged as an adult, entered the plea on Thursday.
His attorney, William Du Bois, says Thomas was playing a prank that went wrong.
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7 now guilty in Pendleton contractor bribery case
Headline News |
2014/02/03 14:55
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Two civilian defense contractors have pleaded guilty in a San Diego federal court, bringing to nine the number of defendants who have admitted guilt in recent days to their involvement in a scheme involving bribes and kickbacks at Camp Pendleton and other federal facilities.
Federal prosecutors say Paul Dana Kay of PK Excavation and Manuel Ramirez of MRN Construction, Inc., entered the pleas to violations of the Anti-Kickback Act on Friday.
Six former contractors and a former Defense Department employee have pleaded guilty in the past two weeks to involvement in the scheme.
They include Natividad Lara Cervantes, who referred to himself as "The Godfather of Camp Pendleton," and admitted accepting bribes.
Sentencing is scheduled for April. The defendants face maximums ranging from three years to 20 years in prison. |
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