JuristMail - Legal News » appeal

Verdict Expected for Kercher Murder Appeals Trial

John Fiore — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 18:01:39 +0000

An Italian jury began deliberating Tuesday in the appeals trial of a man convicted of murdering a British student and sentenced to 30 years in jail. Rudy Hermann Guede of Ivory Coast denies killing Meredith Kercher and has appealed his conviction. A verdict by the eight-member jury is expected later Tuesday. Also convicted in the case, but in a separate trial, are Amanda Knox, the U.S. student who was the victim’s roommate in Perugia, and Raffaele Sollecito, Knox’s boyfriend at the time of the 2007 slaying.

Knox and Sollecito deny wrongdoing and are expected to appeal the their convictions. They were sentenced earlier this month to 26 and 25 years in prison, respectively. Guede, who was arrested in Germany shortly after the killing, has admitted being at the scene of the crime the night of the murder, but said he did not kill Kercher. His lawyers have requested that the verdict be overturned and he be acquitted.

According to the ANSA news agency, defense attorney Valter Biscotti likened Guede to Sam Sheppard, the U.S. doctor who was first convicted and later acquitted of killing his wife in 1954 and whose case inspired the movie and television series “The Fugitive.”

Prosecutor Pietro Catalani asked the court Tuesday to uphold the guilty verdict.

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Missouri Court Overturns Death Sentence for 2002 Murder

John Fiore — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 04:01:33 +0000

The Supreme Court of Missouri has overturned the death sentence for a southeast Missouri man because his attorney did not question the character of a murder victim who had child pornography on his computer. The court unanimously acknowledged in a ruling on Tuesday that character evidence for murder victims is typically barred. Relatives of the victim, Ralph Lape Jr., testified on his generous nature and good character during sentencing, but no counter-evidence was permitted.

The Supreme Court says jurors may then have been less inclined to sentence Gill to death for the July 2002 kidnapping, robbery and shooting.

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Sniper’s Attorneys to Appeal Execution

John Fiore — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:54:27 +0000

Attorneys for the John Allen Muhammed, the mastermind behind the October 2002 sniping attacks, have planned to file an appeal with the Supreme Court to stop his execution. Muhammed has been scheduled to die via lethal injection on November 10th at a prison in Virginia. His attorneys say they plan to file the appeal on Monday. A bid for clemency was rejected by Governor Timothy M. Kaine last month.

Muhammed has been scheduled to be killed for the slaying of Dean Harold Meyers at a Manassas gas station, as well as a string of shootings that left ten dead and three wounded across three states.

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Fla. Court Overturns $24M Verdict Against Honeywell

John Fiore — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:23:47 +0000

A Florida court of appeals has overturned a twenty-four million dollar decision against Honeywell International entered after a jury in Miami found an amateur mechanic developed lung cancer due to his exposure to asbestos in brake pads made by the company. According to the 3rd District Court of Appeals’ decision, the trial court should have excluded from the evidence prejudicial language in a letter written by an employee of Honeywell’s corporate predecessor.

Stephen Guilder alleged that Honeywell, as the successor of the manufacturer that created the brake pads, was responsible for his lung cancer. When the jury returned its $24 million award in April 2008, Guilder’s attorney David Jagolinzer of the Ferraro Law Firm said it was the largest-ever compensatory award in Florida in an asbestos suit.

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DA Asks Court to Stop OJ Co-Defendent’s Appeal

John Fiore — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:49:29 +0000

O.J. Simpson’s co-defendent was convicted in a fair trail, and was not a victim of “spillover prejudice” as he alleges in his appeal, prosecution said. David Roger, District Attorney for Clark County, said “A defendant ‘is not entitled to a perfect trial, but only a fair trial,” citing federal and state case law supporting his position. The appeal relates to the conviction of Clarence “C.J.” Stewart, who was arrested for his role in an armed robbery at a hotel in 2007.

Stewart’s lawyer, Brent Bryson, has not yet commented. He does, however, still have a chance to respond to the prosecution’s forty-six page report

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Cuban Spy Seeks Reduced Sentence

John Fiore — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 06:18:29 +0000

A federal judge in Miami, Florida will decided whether or not to approve a reduction of the twenty-year sentence for a convicted Cuban spy. A United States court of appeals threw out last year’s sentencing of life in prison as unjustifiably harsh, and changed fifty-year-old Antonio Guerrero’s prison term to twenty years. Guerrero is a member of the “Cuban Five,” who were all convicted in 2001 of spying on the United States.

United States District Judge Joan Lenard has set the hearing for Tuesday. If Lenard approves, Guerrero would serve about nine more years in prison. The Cuban Five are considered to be heroes in their homeland.

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Supreme Court Denies Priest’s Appeal in Nun Killing

John Fiore — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:30:11 +0000

The United States Supreme Court nixed the appeal of a Roman Catholic priest who was convicted of murdering a nun in Ohio. The court said on Monday that it is going to decline hearing the appeal of Reverend Gerald Robinson, who was convicted in 2006 for the murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl.

Pahl’s body was discovered on Easter weekend in 1980 in a hospital chapel where both she and Robinson worked. She had been strangled and stabbed over thirty times in the face, neck, and chest. Robinson, now aged seventy-one, was a chaplain at the hospital at the time of the murder. Robinson was sentenced to fifteen years to live in prison.

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Microsoft Allowed to Continue Selling Word during Upcoming Appeal

James Gapinski — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:02:20 +0000

In a short-term victory for the Microsoft Corporation, the U.S. Appeals Court for the Federal Circuit has granted Microsoft permission to continue selling its popular Microsoft Word brand Word Processing Software while Microsoft appeals a patent ruling.

The case that Microsoft is appealing, first heard in a Texas district court, finds that certain versions of Microsoft Word infringe on a Canadian company’s software patent. Of primary concern is the way Microsoft Word 2003 and 2007 allow users to adjust document coding customization. The Texas judge ordered $290 million in damages and ruled that Microsoft should cease selling certain versions of Word by October, 2009.

Microsoft’s appeal will be heard on September 23rd, 2009. However, the case is expected to be in litigation for quite a while, so the decision to allow Microsoft continued selling of Word 2003 and 2007 is a key victory for Microsoft as this case waits in legal limbo until opening arguments later in the month.

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