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Lawyer questions memory of Philadelphia accuser
Court Watch |
2013/01/18 11:31
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A longtime heroin addict whose complaint helped imprison a Philadelphia archdiocese official came under attack Wednesday, as jurors in a priest-abuse trial learned that he had given three different locations for one alleged rape. Defense lawyers questioning the gaunt, 24-year-old policeman's son poked several holes in his accounts, some of which he attributed to years of heavy drug use. The man said he as "semi-comatose ... but standing" when he first spoke with a church investigator in 2009. The witness, with prompting from a counselor, had called the archdiocese from a drug clinic, ultimately reporting that two Roman Catholic priests and ex-teacher Bernard Shero had sexually assaulted him in about 1999. Shero, 49, of Levittown, and the Rev. Charles Engelhardt, 66, of Wyndmoor, are on trial, fighting the charges. Now-defrocked priest Edward Avery is in prison after pleading guilty. During cross-examination Wednesday, Shero's lawyer said the accuser has said over the years that the teacher raped him in his sixth-grade classroom, near a trash bin outside an apartment complex and in the parking lot of a city park. The accuser explained that he was high when he spoke to the church investigator in a car outside his parents' house, and doesn't remember much of the conversation. His drug habit at times reached 15 to 20 bags of heroin a day, the young man acknowledged. |
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NY appeals court denies bail in cannibalism case
Court Watch |
2013/01/16 22:13
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A federal appeals court has denied bail for a New York City police officer charged with conspiring to rape, kill and eat women.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied bail for Gilberto Valle (VAL'-ee) on Tuesday.
Attorney Edward Zas argued for bail for Valle. He said the officer merely engaged in the same sexual fantasies as 40,000 other people who go on Internet sites that cater to fetishes.
Judge Chester Straub disputed the lawyer's claim. He said there appeared to be evidence Valle took steps to carry out some of the plots. A prosecutor agreed.
A co-defendant from New Jersey previously was denied bail.
Valle's trial is scheduled to start next week. However, defense lawyers say they may need more time to prepare their case. |
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Court: Judges cannot indefinitely delay appeals
Court News |
2013/01/09 19:46
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The Supreme Court says federal judges cannot indefinitely delay a death row inmate's federal appeals to see if the convict can become mentally competent enough to help his lawyer.
The high court unanimously ruled Tuesday against Arizona death row inmate Ernest Gonzales and Ohio death row inmate Sean Carter.
Inmates appealing state death sentences to federal court have a right to a lawyer. But the courts never said whether the inmates have to be mentally competent enough to help their lawyers with their federal appeals. Gonzales and Carter wanted the high court to say that federal judges have discretion to hold up proceedings indefinitely until the inmates are ready.
Justice Clarence Thomas says "at some point, the state must be allowed to defend its judgment of conviction." |
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Benefits fight brings lesbian couple to high court
Court Watch |
2012/12/21 00:08
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Like a lot of newlyweds, Karen Golinski was eager to enjoy the financial fruits of marriage. Within weeks of her wedding, she applied to add her spouse to her employer-sponsored health care plan, a move that would save the couple thousands of dollars a year.
Her ordinarily routine request still is being debated more than four years later, and by the likes of former attorneys general, a slew of senators, the Obama administration and possibly this week, the U.S. Supreme Court.
Because Golinski is married to another woman and works for the U.S. government, her claim for benefits has morphed into a multi-layered legal challenge to a 1996 law that prohibits the federal government from recognizing unions like hers.
The high court has scheduled a closed-door conference for Friday to review Golinski's case and four others that also seek to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act overwhelmingly approved by Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton.
The purpose of the meeting is to decide which, if any, to put on the court's schedule for arguments next year.
The outcome carries economic and social consequences for gay, lesbian and bisexual couples, who now are unable to access Social Security survivor benefits, file joint income taxes, inherit a deceased spouse's pension or obtain family health insurance.
The other plaintiffs in the cases pending before the court include the state of Massachusetts, 13 couples and five widows and widowers. |
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Bernard Madoff brother to face victims in NY court
Legal Interview |
2012/12/20 15:11
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The suspense surrounding the sentencing of the brother of Ponzi king Bernard Madoff will largely be absent because a plea agreement makes a 10-year prison term all but certain.
But drama will likely fill the courtroom Thursday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan anyway as 67-year-old Peter Madoff faces some of the heartbroken investors who lost their savings when the unprecedented fraud was revealed four years ago this month.
When he pleaded guilty to conspiracy and falsifying books and records of an investment adviser, the former senior compliance officer at the Madoff private investment business said he was "shocked and devastated" when his brother revealed several days before he surrendered that thousands of accounts supposedly worth $65 billion were worthless. Investigators say Bernard Madoff had distributed most of the $20 billion he took in over several decades to other investors while investing none of it in the markets as he had promised to do.
A court-appointed monitor has so far recovered nearly $9.3 billion that was lost, mostly by clawing back money from investors who received large payouts along the way. Most of the money has not yet been distributed. A small part of the recovery has resulted from the sale of numerous Madoff family assets, including the toys of the wealthy — multi-million dollar homes, fancy cars, yachts and art.
In a pre-sentence brief, attorney John Wing said his client was subject to a "draconian forfeiture order that in one stroke stripped him of all existing assets, his home, his pension, his savings, his personal property, etc. and of all future assets and income should he even have the opportunity to earn any income after serving his prison sentence." He said Peter Madoff will be left a "jobless pariah" when he gets out of prison. |
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