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Butte man pleads guilty in overdose death
Headline News |
2013/09/30 13:39
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A 20-year-old Butte man has pleaded guilty to a selling a prescription narcotic patch to a man who died of an overdose.
The U.S. Attorney's Office says Dacota Robert Rogers pleaded guilty to distribution of Fentanyl during a hearing Friday before U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon in Helena. Sentencing is set for Feb. 21.
Court records say Rogers told investigators that he sold the victim the patch for $35 last December and showed him how to smoke it. The man died of an overdose on Dec. 8.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opiate used to manage moderate to severe pain for patients who don't get enough relief from morphine or oxycodone. |
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Federal court upholds California's foie gras ban
Headline News |
2013/09/03 19:45
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A federal appeals court ruled Friday that California can keep in place its ban on the sale of foie gras.
In doing so, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals signaled that a lawsuit filed by foie gras producers seeking to invalidate the California law was on its last legs.
The appeals court said the producers of the delicacy — the fatty liver of a force-fed goose or duck — "failed to raise a serious question that they are likely to succeed on the merits" of the lawsuit. The producers wanted the appeals court to lift the ban while their lawsuit is under consideration in a Los Angeles federal court.
The three-judge appeals panel rejected the producers' arguments that the ban illegally interferes with commerce and is too vaguely worded, among other claims, indicating the court's doubts about the underlying lawsuit in the process.
The ruling upheld a lower court decision, which expressed similar skepticism about the lawsuit filed last year by Canadian and New York producers of foie gras.
Nonetheless, Marcus Henley, the operations manager of New York's Hudson Valley farm, said he and his lawyers would continue to fight the California law. Henley said lawyers would appeal Friday's ruling while continuing to argue in the Los Angeles district court for the invalidation of the California law. |
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Judge denies motions in WVU media rights laws
Headline News |
2013/08/26 23:43
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A judge has denied several motions to dismiss West Virginia Radio Corp.'s lawsuit over how West Virginia University awarded a media rights contract for sporting events.
Judge Thomas Evans on Monday rejected requests by WVU Board of Governors, the WVU Foundation and other parties to dismiss the lawsuit in Monongalia County Circuit Court. The motions were based on arguments that West Virginia Radio had failed to make a case for fraud and a violation of public procurement laws. Evans ruled these are important public policy matters and need to be heard.
The network wants Evans to stop WVU from finalizing a 12-year contract with North Carolina-based IMG College.
The judge also is hearing arguments on West Virginia Radio's motion to block the deal and reset the clock to June.
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Minn. Supreme Court sides with HIV-positive man
Headline News |
2013/08/22 15:20
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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 says Disneyland can keep Segway ban
Headline News |
2013/07/26 10:15
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A California appeals court says Disneyland Resort can keep a ban on Segways at its parks.
The Orange County Register says the court ruled last week against a woman with muscular dystrophy who sued for discrimination four years ago because she couldn't use a Segway at Disneyland.
The 4th District Court of Appeal says Disney showed that the stand-up, two-wheeled scooter was unsafe to use inside the crowded Anaheim park.
Disney has since developed its own four-wheel standing scooter for use in the park. |
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Court: Legal status can't be used in civil cases
Headline News |
2013/07/17 22:45
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A person's legal status in the country can't be used in civil cases by attorneys to intimidate or coerce under a new rule approved by the Washington Supreme Court last week.
Since 2007, advocates have been working to make the change to the Rules of Professional conduct that attorneys licensed in the state must adhere to following. The lobbying began after members of the Latino/a Bar Association of Washington had seen attorneys and, in some cases, judges discuss a person's legal status in the country openly in court to intimidate.
"We thought it was unethical to do," said Lorena Gonzalez, who was president of the attorney association at the time. "We looked at the rules there was silence on the issue."
The rule does not affect criminal cases, but does cover civil matters, such as family disputes, personal injury claims, workplace cases, medical malpractice and other fields. |
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