Recent Updates
-
Michigan court ends conflict over juvenile life sentences
Court Watch 06/20/2018Judges, not juries, have the sole power to decide whether someone under 18 gets life in prison without parole, the Michigan Supreme Court said Wednesday.The 4-2 decision settles a conflict at the state appeals court and clears the way for more than 2...
-
Top Texas court says condemned inmate not mentally disabled
Court Watch 06/04/2018Texas' highest criminal court narrowly ruled Wednesday that a death row inmate is mentally capable enough to execute, despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that his intellectual capacity had been improperly assessed and agreement by his lawyer and pros...
-
Czech court: Attacker on Petra Kvitova taken into custody
Court Watch 05/26/2018A Czech Republic court has ruled a suspect in a knife attack on two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova be taken into custody.Zuzana Buresova, a spokesperson for the county court in the city of Prostejov, says the court issued the ruling on Thursda...
-
California high court to rule on social media access
Court Watch 05/25/2018The California Supreme Court will decide whether Facebook and other social media companies must turn over user content to criminal defendants.The justices are expected to rule Thursday in a case that has pitted some of Silicon Valley's biggest compan...
-
Supreme Court greenlights driver rights in rental car case
Court Watch 05/15/2018The Supreme Court said Monday that people who borrow rental cars from friends or family are generally entitled to the same protections against police searches as the authorized driver.The justices ruled unanimously that as a general rule someone who ...
-
Court to hear challenge to Winona County's sand mining ban
Court Watch 05/04/2018Winona County, Minnesota's only county to ban the mining of silica sand for use by the oil and gas industry in hydraulic fracturing, goes to court Monday to defend the ban.Minnesota Sands LLC, which holds extensive mineral rights in southeastern Minn...
-
Supreme Court to hear appeal of Missouri death row inmate
Court Watch 04/25/2018The Supreme Court agreed Monday to review the case of a Missouri death row inmate who says his rare medical condition could cause him to choke on his own blood during an execution.The justices said they would hear the appeal of inmate Russell Bucklew...
-
Cosby defense team lobs attacks in court of public opinion
Court Watch 04/20/2018Jurors weren't allowed to hear testimony that Bill Cosby's chief accuser was once hooked on hallucinogenic mushrooms or had her sights set on becoming a millionaire, but that hasn't stopped the defense from airing the explosive claims about Andrea Co...
-
Environmentalists ask court to restore oil-gas emission rule
Court Watch 04/19/2018Environmentalists are asking an appeals court to reinstate a rule restricting harmful methane emissions on U.S. lands, at least temporarily.Attorneys for 13 groups on Friday asked a federal appeals court in Denver to block an order by a lower court t...
-
Constitutionality of murder conviction upheld by high court
Court Watch 04/18/2018The South Dakota Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of a man's conviction for killing his 4-year-old son.Forty-four-year-old Chris Miller was sentenced to life in prison for the death of his son, Jacob Miller, and an additional 50 years f...
-
Michigan Democrats back Nessel for state attorney general
Court Watch 04/14/2018Thousands of fired-up Michigan Democrats endorsed Dana Nessel on Sunday in a hotly contested race for state attorney general, backing the former prosecutor-turned-civil rights lawyer to wrest back control of an office the party last held 16 years ago...
-
Court: Mexican family can't sue agent in cross-border death
Court Watch 03/22/2018A federal appeals court says a U.S. Border Patrol agent who fired his gun in Texas and fatally wounded a teenager across the Mexican border cannot be sued by the teen's family.The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday in the case of 15-year...