JuristMail - Legal News » Supreme Court

Court Throws Out Death Penalty for Slayer of Three

John Fiore — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:40:49 +0000

The Arkansas Supreme Court has ordered a new sentencing for a death row inmate convicted of killing his girlfriend and her two young children around the holidays in 2006. Justices on Thursday upheld James Aaron Miller’s murder conviction but ordered that he be resentenced. Miller was convicted of killing Bridgette Barr, 5-year-old Sydney Barr and 2-year-old Garrett Barr while the children visited their mother in Fort Smith for Christmas. The children lived with their father in Oklahoma.

Justices ruled that two witnesses should not have been allowed to recommend that the jury impose the death penalty during the sentencing phase. Justices rejected Miller’s argument that the bodies were discovered during a warrantless search of his apartment.

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Religious College Group May Have to Admit Gays for Funding

Alicia Norman — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 04:02:41 +0000

The United States Supreme court is pondering if a College Christian group at a California Law School has to admit homosexuals and non-believers in order to gain campus status.

The case was brought to the attention of the US Supreme court after a chapter of the Christian Legal Society at the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law brought an appeal before the Justices. They argue that they do not receive funding and benefits as a group because of a policy of exclusion. In an initial judgement, a federal judge ruled against the Chapter, indicating that the college made it clear that they recognized campus groups with an inclusion policy as a part of their evaluations.

Still, the chapter seeks to receive such funding and benefits despite the fact that refuse to open membership to gays, lesbians and nonbelievers – a requirement of the San Francisco school.

The 30-member Hasting group appealed that decision and are seeking to have the requirements changed to accomodate thier own policies.

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Courts Revisit Miranda Warnings, Possible Re-write

Alicia Norman — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 04:02:27 +0000

A Florida Supreme Court is looking over the famous Miranda warnings this week in order to ensure that officers of the law explicitly state that criminal suspects can have lawyer present ruing interrogations. The Miranda laws currently state that criminals have the ability to have a lawyer present but in what capacity and during what phase of arrest is not indicated.

The potential revamp was brought up after Florida Suspect Kevin Dwayne Powell was given Miranda warnings that included telling him he had a right to a lawyer before questioning. Powell’s lawyers indicated that police did not include that in the warning when he was arrested and did not elaborate that he had a right to a lawyer during police interrogation.

The Florida Courts initially overturned it.

This past Monday, Judge Stephen Breyers asked Powell’s lawyers if the man had been told that he could have a lawyer present during his interrogation. The question was asked repeatedly but not to the court’s satisfaction.

The evaluation of the Miranda readings will ascertain if the warning should unequivocally state that a suspect has a right to an attorney upon arrest and during interrogation as well.

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Court Refuses to Revive Student Speech Case

John Fiore — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 07:08:57 +0000

The Supreme Court has refused to revive a case in which a high school student’s speech was halted because it contained religious themes. The high court refused to hear an appeal from Erica Corder on Monday. Erica was punished in 2006 for her speech at the Lewis-Palmer High School graduation ceremony. Her speech was screened in advance, but she later changed the text to urge the audience to consider taking up the Christian religion.

The principal forced her to write a letter acknowledging that the comments she made in the speech were just her personal beliefs before she was given a diploma. Corder later sued, but federal courts threw out her lawsuit. The courts said it was not a violation of free speech because the ceremony was sponsored by the school, and therefore fell under the separation of church and state.

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Supreme Court Rejects Case Involving Religious Speech Delivered at Shcool

Alicia Norman — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:20:04 +0000

A student who complained that her constitutional right to free speech was violated when a school turned her microphone off during her graduation speech, will not be able to bring her case to the Supreme Court.

A federal appeals court had already ruled against valedictorian Brittany McComb of Henderson, Nev. who challenged the actions of Clark County school officials after they turned the microphone off because of a Jesus laden monologue. The school asserted that the speech was inappropriate because of graphic descriptions of Christ’s Crucifixion and a call for students to join the Christian faith.

School officials also noted that McComb had given them a previous speech which they pre-approved but she had changed the text prior to the event in question.

The justices said Monday they will not re-consider the lawsuit and denied the student’s request for a new trial.

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Supreme Court to Look at Life Sentences for Juveniles

John Fiore — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:35:33 +0000

The Supreme Court is deliberating on whether sentencing a juvenile to life in prison with no chance of parole is cruel and unusual punishment. Their considerations are focused particularly on cases where the crime was a homicide. The cases, which were heard on Monday, involve two convicted men from Florida. They were sentenced to live in prison when they were thirteen and seventeen, and are now twenty-two and thirty-three, respectively.

Florida prisons hold over seventy percent of the country’s juveniles that have been sentenced to life in prison for crimes other than homicide. Lawyers for the two men argue that it is unwise to render a final judgement against people so young.

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Supreme Court Tosses Student’s Religious Speech Appeal

John Fiore — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:35:18 +0000

The Supreme Court recently rejected an appeal from a student whose microphone was turned off during her religious high school graduation speech. The justices said on Monday that they will not hear a lawsuit filed by Brittany McComb of Henderson, Nevada, which challenged the actions of school officials from Clark County. A federal appeals court had previously ruled against her.

McComb’s microphone was turned off because she strayed from a text that had been approved by the school in order to provide a graphic account of Jesus’ crucifixion, and to credit God for her success in school.

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Justice O’Connor’s Husband Dies at age 79

Alicia Norman — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:02:40 +0000

The husband of retired United States Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, John J. O’Connor III died Wednesday from complications related to Alzheimer’s Disease. The 79-year-old lawyer died in Phoenix Arizona after two decades of deterioration from the disease.

Married in 1952, the O’Connor’s were a well known Washington couple who enjoyed the social scene there. After Sandra Day O’Connor was confirmed as the first woman to sit on the Supreme court in 1981, the duo moved to Arizona where they remained until his death.

Judge O’Connor retired from the US Supreme Court in 2005 to take care of her ailing husband.

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Life in Prison Deemed Cruel and Unusual Punishment for Juveniles

Alicia Norman — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:04:38 +0000

The Supreme Court is examining the case of two Florida convicts who were given a life without parole sentence for non-homicide related crimes. The young men in question were both sent away to prison when they were in their teens. Attorneys fro the men argue that it would be considered cruel and unusual punishment to sentence teens to life in prison for crimes outside of murder.

Slated to be heard by the High Court on Monday, the two cases in question involved Joe Sullivan, who was 13-years-old when he was sent away for life without possibility of parole for raping an elderly woman. The other prisoner, Terrance Graham, was 16 when he was linked to an armed robbery.

Sullivan, now 33 and Graham 22, are being represented by a legal team who argues that rendering final judgment when the offenders are so young is not a good precedent to set. The team hope is to repeal sentences for adolescents who were sentenced to life in prison without parole in cases that were not homicide related.

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Booksellers say Law Protecting Kids Goes Too Far

John Fiore — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:50:36 +0000

The Supreme Court of Ohio heard arguments on Tuesday in a case that pitted defenders of online child protection against advocates of free speech. This is one of the longest-running cases that wrestles with how states protect minors from pornography and predators on the internet without stepping on the rights of adults. Two federal laws written in the 1990s enforcing decency restrictions and online safety were ruled unconstitutional.

“It really speaks to the difficulty of trying to write laws that fit constantly-changing technology,” said Carrie Davis, counsel for the Ohio chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. “Any time a legislative body tries to pass a restriction on technology, it’s difficult because technology is changing so fast.”

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