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Amanda Knox murder conviction overturned by Italy high court
Headline News |
2015/03/27 16:35
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Italy's highest court overturned the murder conviction against Amanda Knox and her ex-boyfriend Friday over the 2007 slaying of Knox's roommate, bringing to a definitive end the high-profile case that captivated trial-watchers on both sides of the Atlantic. "Finished!" Knox's lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova exulted after the decision was read out late Friday. "It couldn't be better than this." In a rare decision, the supreme Court of Cassation overturned last year's convictions by a Florence appeals court and declined to order another trial. The judges declared that the two did not commit the crime, a stronger exoneration than merely finding that there wasn't enough evidence to convict. In a statement issued from her home in Seattle, Knox said she was "relieved and grateful" for the decision. "The knowledge of my innocence has given me strength in the darkest times of this ordeal," she said, thanking her supporters for believing in her. Experts have said such a complete exoneration is unusual for the high court, which could have upheld the conviction or ordered a new trial as it did in 2011 when the case first came up to its review on appeal. The justices' reasoning will be released within 90 days. The decision ends the long legal battle waged by Knox and Italian co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito to clear their names in the death of British student Meredith Kercher, after they spent nearly four years in prison immediately after the murder. |
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Ohio mother accused of decapitating baby due in court
Headline News |
2015/03/20 13:19
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A judge has set bail for an Ohio mother accused of decapitating her 3-month-old baby at $500,000.
Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge Melissa Powers set bail at a brief hearing Friday, where a handcuffed Deasia Watkins didn't speak. She will go before a grand jury March 26.
The 20-year-old Watkins was charged with aggravated murder after her daughter's body was found Monday on a kitchen counter in an aunt's home.
Authorities say 3-month-old Jayniah Watkins had been decapitated and stabbed multiple times with a large chef's knife. Police found Watkins in bed covered with blood.
Watkins was previously forbidden to have contact with her daughter after being hospitalized for psychiatric problems.
Watkins was released from a hospital Thursday where she was under guard and remains in the county jail.
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Mexican Supreme Court orders release of man in 1992 murders
Headline News |
2015/03/20 13:19
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Mexico's Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the release of a Mexican-American jailed on a homicide conviction since 1992, ruling he had been tortured.
The court's ruling applied to the long-disputed conviction of Alfonso Martin del Campo Dodd in the murder of his sister and brother-in-law. It has been one of Mexico's longest and hardest-fought legal cases.
Lawyers for the dead couple's now-grown daughters criticized Wednesday's ruling, saying it was a blow to victims' rights.
"This is an offense to the victims," said Samuel Gonzalez, a former top anti-drug prosecutor who has helped defend victims' rights. "The victims did not get justice."
The court said police tortured Martin Del Campo Dodd into confessing to the killings, citing administrative proceedings filed against one officer two years after Campo Dodd was arrested. The court said he should be freed "in light of the proof that torture was used to obtain his confession in the two crimes, without there being any other incriminatory evidence."
The Mexican government fought for years to keep Martin Del Campo Dodd in prison despite pressure from abroad to release him. He holds U.S. and Mexican citizenship.
The couple were stabbed to death in their Mexico City home. Martin del Campo Dodd was at the home and said two masked assailants kidnapped him and stuffed him into the trunk of a car, which they later abandoned.
He signed a confession to the killings, but later claimed he did it under torture. He was sentenced to 50 years behind bars for the murder. |
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'Suge' Knight taken to hospital after court hearing
Headline News |
2015/03/05 14:10
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Former rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight told a judge that he is suffering from blindness and other health complications moments before he was taken to a hospital Monday morning.
Knight told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Brandlin that he had fired attorneys handling his murder case and was receiving inadequate medical treatment while in custody.
The Death Row Records co-founder said he was blind in one eye and had only about 15 percent vision in his other eye during a brief court appearance on Monday. Knight said he was having difficulty comprehending the proceedings and told the judge he had been shot six times last year and had a blood clot in his lungs and other complications. He also said he had lost 35 pounds as a result of his injuries.
Brandlin transferred Knight's case to another judge, and he was taken for medical care before his case could be called in Judge Ronald Coen's courtroom. Coen said before calling the case that Knight had been taken to a hospital, but he did not elaborate.
Knight has pleaded not guilty to murder, attempted murder and hit-and-run charges after he struck two men with his truck, killing one, on Jan. 29. He remains held without bail.
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Bankrupt Caesars unit gets court's OK to use cash, for now
Headline News |
2015/03/05 14:09
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A federal judge in Chicago ruled Wednesday that a bankrupt division of Caesars Entertainment Corp. can tap some of the $847 million in cash it has on hand for at least five weeks.
Judge Benjamin Goldgar said Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. could access its cash in the interim despite objections from some of the company's creditors.
A budget the company submitted to the court indicated it plans to spend $334 million through April 3. The documents showed revenue is expected to offset spending and leave the company with $834 million in cash at the end of five weeks.
Goldgar scheduled a hearing to reconsider the motion on March 26.
Several other motions, including requests for an examiner to investigate the company's pre-bankruptcy transactions, were delayed until March 25.
The company was also seeking to get out from under several contracts that would save it $675,000 a month.
Among the contracts is a suite for Kansas City Chiefs football games, a sponsorship with the New York Mets, an advertising agreement with The Forum in Los Angeles, and deals with a tour bus operator to support its Horseshoe Bossier City casino in Louisiana and a nearby Springhill Suites hotel operator where the company regularly reserved a block of rooms. |
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Philippine court enters not guilty plea for US Marine
Headline News |
2015/02/25 10:19
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A Philippine court entered a not guilty plea Monday for a U.S. Marine charged with murdering a transgender Filipino, allegedly after he discovered her gender when they checked into a hotel.
Marine Pfc. Joseph Scott Pemberton refused to enter a plea in the brief proceeding in a court in Olongapo city northwest of Manila, according to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima. Journalists were barred from the courtroom.
Dozens of left-wing protesters waved red flags outside the courthouse, demanding justice and an end to the U.S. military presence in the former American colony. Gay and lesbian groups have also staged protests denouncing the killing of Jennifer Laude, whose former name was Jeffrey, as a hate crime.
Monday's arraignment paves the way for Pemberton's trial, which lawyers of the victim's family said is scheduled to start next month.
"Finally justice can be attained for our sibling," Marilou Laude, the victim's sister, told reporters. She said she was shaking in anger when she saw the handcuffed suspect, who was guarded by several security escorts in the courtroom.
Pemberton has been charged by prosecutors in the Oct. 11 killing. They say the U.S. Marine strangled her and then drowned her in a hotel toilet after discovering she was a transgender woman. They had checked into the hotel after meeting in a bar. |
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