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Billionaire pleads guilty to sexual assault charge
Headline News |
2014/06/10 19:56
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A Wisconsin billionaire has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of having sexual contact with a teenage girl.
Fifty-nine-year-old Samuel "Curt" Johnson III of Racine was originally charged with a felony count of child sexual assault. But prosecutors sought to downgrade the charge after they say the victim and her mother refused to cooperate.
Before sentencing Friday, Johnson apologized to the victim and her mother for "the tremendous hurt I have caused."
Judge Eugene Gasiorkiewicz allowed the downgrade of charges. Then he sentenced Johnson to four months in jail, short of the one-year maximum. Johnson was also fined $6,000.
Johnson's family has run home-products giant SC Johnson for five generations. Johnson worked for the company decades ago but has had no formal relationship with the company in years. |
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Court gives OJ lawyers a week to resubmit appeal
Headline News |
2014/06/03 20:24
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O.J. Simpson's lawyers were given another week Friday to reformat and resubmit an appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court seeking a new trial in the kidnapping and armed robbery case of the former football star.
In the order, Chief Justice Mark Gibbons agreed to accept a supersized 20,000-word document that Simpson's lawyers had submitted before a May 21 deadline if it complies with court formatting rules.
"Basically they want it to be double-spaced," court spokesman Michael Sommermeyer said.
The document hasn't been made public, and the seven justices haven't decided whether to rehear oral arguments in case. The court rejected an initial appeal by Simpson in September 2010.
Simpson attorney Patricia Palm said she was glad the justices agreed to accept the 19,933 words she submitted nine days ago. The new deadline is June 6.
Palm noted the court frequently accepts briefs longer than its 14,000-word limit in complex cases.
Palm and Simpson appeal lawyers Ozzie Fumo and Tom Pitaro want the court to reconsider the contention that Simpson got bad legal advice, that his trial lawyer had a conflict of interest, and that Simpson's 2008 Las Vegas trial was tainted by his notoriety. |
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Federal court upholds California water transfer
Headline News |
2014/05/20 19:24
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A federal appeals court says environmental reviews were properly done on the nation's largest farm-to-city water transfer, the latest ruling to uphold a 2003 agreement on how California agencies divide that state's share of Colorado River water.
A three- judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that federal authorities properly considered how the transfer from Imperial County to San Diego would affect the Salton Sea, California's largest lake. The shrinking lake relies on water runoff from Imperial Valley farms.
The ruling upholds a decision by U.S. District Judge Anthony Battaglia in San Diego. Imperial County and the Imperial County Air Pollution Control sued in 2009, alleging violations of the National Environmental Policy Act. |
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California court charging for online access
Headline News |
2014/05/16 22:22
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A Northern California county has begun charging people to look at civil court records online — part of a trend at cash-strapped courthouses around the state that is raising concerns among some lawyers and public access groups, a newspaper reported.
As of April 23, Alameda County Superior Court charges $1 for each of the first five pages of a civil court record downloaded online, the Oakland Tribune reported on Monday.
The per-page viewing cost drops to 50 cents after the fifth page, and there is a $40 maximum charge for any single document.
Sacramento County Superior Court is implementing a similar fee structure this summer, the Tribune reported. Fees in the Los Angeles County Superior Court system start at $4.75 for each record search. Santa Clara County plans to begin charging in two to four years, according to the Tribune.
Court officials say the fees help make up for cuts in state aid.
"There's a budget crisis in the courts," said Teresa Ruano, spokeswoman for the state's Administrative Office of the Courts. "Revenue is part of the solution, a small part of the solution."
Each court decides whether it wants to charge a fee for records, though the state sets the maximum amount that can be charged for both paper and online records. Some counties don't put records online, forcing people to come in and visit the clerk's office. |
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Court: Red Bulls must pay $2.8M in property tax
Headline News |
2014/05/13 20:54
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A New Jersey appeals court ruled Monday that the state's Major League Soccer franchise is liable for nearly $3 million in property taxes to the town of Harrison.
The New York Red Bulls have played at Red Bull Arena in Harrison since 2010. During that time, the town billed the team for about $1.5 million for the 2010 tax year and about $1.3 million for 2011, according to court documents.
The team has paid the taxes, according to a team spokesman, but had filed a lawsuit to have them reimbursed.
In the lawsuit, the Red Bulls claimed they are exempt from paying taxes under state law because the property and stadium are devoted to "an essential public purpose."
The Red Bulls have the rights to all revenues from the stadium including naming rights, while the town and the Harrison Redevelopment Agency are allowed to use the stadium for events such as high school or college sports championships or public ceremonies.
Monday's appellate ruling held that while those other uses benefit the public, they are subordinate to the Red Bulls' uses of the stadium and therefore don't qualify the stadium for exemption under state law. |
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Court says final 'No' to Jewish restitution claim
Headline News |
2014/05/02 20:36
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The Czech Republic's highest court has confirmed the rejection of a restitution claim by the descendants of a Jewish man who owned a snap button factory that was taken over by the Nazis and then nationalized.
The Constitutional Court confirmed its 2010 verdict, which overturned a 2009 Supreme Court ruling and all previous rulings of lower courts that found in favor of three relatives of Zikmund Waldes, who owned the Koh-i-noor factory in Prague when the Nazis seized it in 1939 during their occupation of what was then Czechoslovakia. The heirs will also not get back a collection of some 20 paintings that were housed in the plant.
The latest verdict sent to The Associated Press by the court on Friday is final. It said the legal complaint by the heirs was "clearly baseless" because it didn't contain any new arguments. |
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High court to hear dispute about TV over Internet
Headline News |
2014/04/21 21:52
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Thirty years ago, big media companies failed to convince the Supreme Court of the threat posed by home video recordings.
Now they're back — and trying to rein in a different innovation that they say threatens their financial well-being.
The battle has moved out of viewers' living rooms, where people once marveled at their ability to pop a cassette into a recorder and capture their favorite programs or the sporting event they wouldn't be home to see.
The new legal fight shifts to the Supreme Court Tuesday with arguments against a startup business using Internet-based technology to give subscribers the ability to watch programs anywhere they can take portable devices.
Aereo takes free television signals from the airwaves and sends them over the Internet to paying subscribers in 11 cities. |
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