The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Wednesday halted the execution of a Texas man who was convicted of killing his children while their mother listened on the phone. John Battaglia was scheduled for execution on March 30, but the court held that the lack of access to counsel during his habeas [...]
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Thursday acquitted Vojislav Šešelj , president of the Serbian Radical Party and former Assembly member of Serbia, of all crimes against humanity and war crimes in connection with the Balkan war. Šešelj faced three counts of crimes against humanity including persecution, deportation and inhumane act [...]
A US government official on Wednesday announced that the Department of Defense has told Congress that it plans to transfer as many as 12 prisoners from the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. The plan would help the US move towards closing the military prison, a goal that US President Barack Obama has held since the [...]
US President Barack Obama on Wednesday commuted the sentences of 61 federal drug offenders in an effort to reform the sentencing of non-violent criminals. Obama believes the large number of low-level drug offenders facing longer sentences than would be granted under today’s laws are clogging up jails and burning through tax dollars. More than one-third [...]
The Constitutional Court of South Korea on Thursday upheld a law that punishes individual sex workers. The ruling came in response to a petition to overturn the anti-prostitution law, which was brought by a prostitute convicted under the law. The court found against the petitioner in a 6-3 ruling, calling prostitution “violent and exploitative in [...]
The Mississippi Senate approved a highly debated religious freedom bill by a 31-17 vote on Wednesday. The Senate made slight revisions to the bill after it was passed by the House, requiring the House to give final approval before it is sent to Governor Phil Bryant . The bill prohibits the government from taking action [...]
A federal jury in Manhattan on Wednesday found that a defective ignition switch in a General Motors (GM) vehicle was not to blame for a 2014 accident. The jurors deliberated for less than a day to determine that although the faulty ignition switch made the 2007 Saturn Sky unreasonably dangerous and GM failed to properly [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in two cases. In Welch v. US the court heard arguments on whether a robbery under Florida state law constitutes a violent felony for sentencing purposes under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) . As a second issue, the court considered whether its decision in Johnson v. [...]
Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Wednesday granted the military police powers to arrest and detain suspected criminals. The junta leader issued a decree called “Suppression of wrongdoings that could threaten Thai economy and society,” which grants soldiers of a certain rank, in the army, navy and air force, the power to summon and detain [...]
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled Wednesday that the officers responsible for the killing of Charles de Menezes should not be prosecuted. De Menezes was mistakenly thought to be connected to the 7/7 London bombings in 2005. The judges, through a vote of 13-4, held that the UK did not violate Article 2 [...]
