appellate court

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Bad News for Oklahoma Murder Convict of Netflix Fame

Tommy Ward's 1989 conviction in murder of Donna Haraway is reinstated

(Newser) - The murder conviction of a prisoner featured in the Netflix documentary series The Innocent Man will stand after all because he waited too long to raise concerns about suppressed evidence, a court has ruled. Tommy Ward, convicted in the 1984 murder of 24-year-old convenience store clerk Donna Haraway in Oklahoma,...

Appeals Court Rules to Keep Block on Vaccine Mandate

5th Circuit says rule oversteps OSHA authority

(Newser) - A federal appeals court that hit pause on a Biden administration vaccine requirement ruled Friday to block it. A requirement that businesses with 100 or more employees have staff get vaccinated or be masked and tested weekly was scheduled to go into effect Jan. 4. Three judges in the US...

Lawyer Thinks New DNA Analysis Will Absolve Avery

Appellate court must approve the testing first

(Newser) - Steven Avery's lawyer is confident his fate is not yet sealed. A leading expert is willing to use a new form of DNA analysis on human bones found in the Manitowoc County-owned gravel pit next to Avery's Wisconsin property, which "will prove [Teresa Halbach's] murder and...

Polanski Taunt Brought DA Down on Him

Director's lawyers said prosecutors weren't trying to catch him

(Newser) - Roman Polanski may have his own lawyers to thank for his current predicament. This summer, in an attempt to get the charges against the director dropped, they told an appellate court that prosecutors weren’t actually trying to catch him, because they were afraid to face old misconduct allegations. That...

Court: Ashcroft on Hook in Post-9/11 Detention Case

Bush attorney general slammed for imprisonment without charges

(Newser) - Former Bush attorney general John Ashcroft can be held personally responsible in a lawsuit brought by a US citizen who was detained on suspicion of being a material witness to terrorism but was never charged with a crime, an appellate court ruled today. Abdullah al-Kidd alleged the detention, begun in...

Quietly, O'Connor Fills In on Appellate Courts

(Newser) - Three years after retiring from the Supreme Court, Sandra Day O'Connor is still on the bench—in federal appellate courts across the country, where the high court's first woman justice has quietly been filling in as a substitute judge. O'Connor has heard nearly 80 cases and written more than a...

McDonald's Doesn't Own 'Mc' Prefix: Malaysian Judge

Court reverses decision against McCurry's restaurant

(Newser) - A Malaysian court ruled that McDonald’s does not control the rights to every word with the “Mc” prefix, the AP reports. The appellate court overturned a 2006 decision that forced a Malaysian restaurant named “McCurry’s” to pay damages to McDonald’s for using the name to...

Supreme Court May Have Too Many Judges
Supreme Court May Have
Too Many Judges
ANALYSIS

Supreme Court May Have Too Many Judges

Is the High Court Too 'Judgey'?

(Newser) - Chief Justice John Roberts recently praised the present makeup of the Supreme Court, which, for the first time in history, consists only of former federal appeals judges. The move towards a Court dominated by those with judicial experience has been afoot since the 1950s, writes Adam Liptak in the New ...

Craig's Plea Withdrawal Denied

Guilty plea stands. Widely.

(Newser) - Larry Craig’s guilty plea will stand—probably with a wide stance—a Minnesota appeals court ruled today, rejecting the Idaho Republican's attempt to withdraw it. Craig, who is retiring from the Senate, had argued that his case was not fully investigated, while his lawyer maintained that there was “...

High Court to Hear Immigrant ID Theft Case

Could impede Justice tactic of jail time for illegal immigrants

(Newser) - The Supreme Court said today it will hear a case pertinent to a recent surge in identity-theft prosecutions against illegal immigrants, the Washington Post reports. Lower courts were split over whether the government must prove that thieves knew they were stealing the identity of an actual person when they use...

Court Rejects NYC Suit Against Gun Makers

City says too many criminals get weapons

(Newser) - A federal appeals court today tossed out a lawsuit brought by New York City against gun manufacturers for allowing their weapons to get into criminal hands, the New York Times reports. The city said gun makers create a public nuisance by not keeping a closer eye on retailers—thus supplying...

NY Stays Calorie-Count Law
 NY Stays Calorie-Count Law 

NY Stays Calorie-Count Law

Restaurants use delay to seek another delay

(Newser) - Today a New York judge delayed a law requiring Big Apple eateries to list calorie content on menus. Set to kick in today, the law is now slated to take effect Friday—which gives the city time to sort out a suit by New York restaurants, which are seeking yet...

Ex-Qwest CEO's Conviction Overturned

Exclusion of expert testimony nets Nacchio new trial

(Newser) - A federal appeals court overturned Joe Nacchio’s guilty verdict today and ordered a new trial for the ex-Qwest CEO before a different judge, the Denver Post reports. The court ruled that the district judge who presided over Nacchio's trial on insider trading charges erred in excluding testimony from an...

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