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Fla. man guilty of lesser counts in music shooting
Topics in Legal News |
2014/02/18 15:30
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Prosecutors say they may retry a Florida man on first-degree murder charges in the fatal shooting of a teenager after an argument over loud music.
A jury convicted Michael Dunn, a 47-year-old software developer, on Saturday of attempted murder for shooting into a carful of teenagers after the argument, but jurors couldn't agree on the most serious charge of first-degree murder. A mistrial was declared on that charge. State Attorney Angela Corey said her office would consider seeking a retrial.
Meanwhile, defense attorney Cory Strolla said he plans to appeal based on several issues, including how the jury could reach guilty verdicts on four counts and deadlock on another.
Dunn was charged with fatally shooting 17-year-old Jordan Davis, of Marietta, Ga., in 2012 after the argument over loud music coming from the SUV occupied by Davis and three friends outside a Jacksonville convenience store. Dunn, who is white, had described the music to his fiancee as "thug music." He claimed he acted in self-defense.
The trial was Florida's latest to raise questions about self-defense and race, coming six months after George Zimmerman was acquitted in the shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, about 125 miles south of Jacksonville. The Dunn trial was prosecuted by the same State Attorney's Office that handled the Zimmerman case. |
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Lawyers for Boston Marathon suspect due in court
Topics in Legal News |
2014/02/10 15:07
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Federal prosecutors and lawyers for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will be in court this week for the first time since U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder authorized prosecutors to seek the death penalty against Tsarnaev.
A status conference is scheduled Wednesday in U.S. District Court.
The 20-year-old Tsarnaev is charged with carrying out a terrorist attack that killed three people and injured more than 260. Prosecutors say he and his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, built pressure cooker bombs, then placed them near the finish line of the marathon last April 15.
Prosecutors announced Jan. 30 that they will seek the death penalty against Tsarnaev. He has pleaded not guilty to a 30-count federal indictment.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev died following a shootout with police. |
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Teens charged in death of Australian due in court
Topics in Legal News |
2014/02/06 16:32
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Three teenagers accused of fatally shooting an Australian baseball player as he jogged down an Oklahoma street, allegedly because they were bored, are expected in court Tuesday for a hearing that could reveal details about the case.
Police allege that Chancey Allen Luna and James Francis Edwards Jr., who are both 16, and Michael Dewayne Jones, 18, randomly targeted and shot Chris Lane last summer. Each teenager is charged with first-degree murder.
Lane's death garnered heavy media coverage in both the U.S. and Australia, prompting the judge to issue a gag order barring anyone involved from talking about the case outside court. That means little information has been released since the 22-year-old Melbourne native was shot in the back and died in August.
But investigators have said Lane was shot while jogging down a tree-lined street near the home of his girlfriend's parents in Duncan, about 80 miles south of Oklahoma City. He and his girlfriend had just returned to Oklahoma after visiting Australia, and he was preparing for his senior season playing catcher at East Central University in Ada, about 90 miles east of Duncan. |
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Teen charged in Mass. teacher killing due in court
Topics in Legal News |
2014/01/30 15:35
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A 15-year-old Massachusetts boy charged with killing his math teacher is returning to court Thursday for arraignment on a second rape charge.
Philip Chism is charged in the October killing of Colleen Ritzer, a 24-year-old teacher at Danvers High School.
Chism has pleaded not guilty to charges of rape, robbery and murder. He was indicted last week on the initial rape charge. In court documents filed last week, state police say Chism admitted killing Ritzer but denied raping her.
Police say they want to conduct a forensic examination of Chism's cellphone to see if he memorialized the killing in photos, video or audio recordings.
Authorities allege Chism raped and killed Ritzer after she asked him to stay after school for extra help.
Chism's arraignment is in Salem Superior Court. |
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2 killed in attack at German court
Topics in Legal News |
2014/01/24 14:26
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Two men were killed Friday in a shooting and stabbing at a court complex in Frankfurt in what may have been a revenge attack, authorities said.
Frankfurt prosecutors said the case appeared to be linked to the fatal stabbing of a car dealer near Frankfurt in 2007, which the court was considering this week, news agency dpa reported.
Deputy police chief Gerhard Bereswill said the suspected assailant is believed to be the brother of the 2007 victim and was injured himself in the earlier attack, while the two men who died Friday — who also were car dealers — were suspects.
The suspect is believed to have fired shots in a courtyard at the courthouse in the German financial capital at about 8:45 a.m., fatally wounding one of the victims. The other apparently fled inside the building, but the assailant followed and stabbed him, police spokesman Ruediger Reges told N24 television.
The two victims were aged 45 and 50. One died at the scene and the other shortly afterward at a hospital, police said.
The suspected attacker fled on foot but was arrested near the courthouse, he said. A police statement said he was a 47-year-old Afghan national and resident of Eschborn, a town near Frankfurt. |
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