SAN FRANCISCO – Gene Balas and Carlos Morales were facing health problems and crushing financial pressures plaguing many U.S. households when they decided to file bankruptcy as a married couple.

The Obama administration said they couldn't, citing the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits federal recognition of same-sex marriages.

On Monday, 20 of 24 judges sitting on the country's largest consumer bankruptcy court sided with the gay couple. In doing so, the court took the extraordinary step of declaring the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional.

The ruling is the first such attack of the Defense of Marriage Act in bankruptcy court, and it adds to the building pressure on the Obama administration to make good on a February pledge to stop defending the law in court.

Balas and Morales were among the 18,000 Californian same-sex couples who wed Aug. 30, 2008, during the brief period when gay marriages were legal in the state.

"It is hurtful to hear my own government say that my marriage is not valid for purposes of federal law," Balas said in a court filing.

Balas said he was laid off from his $200,000-a-year job in the financial industry in March 2009. The couple said they share all income and expenses...
Full Article

I actually remember this event.

Ypsilanti— A woman involved with her three sons in a notorious shootout at a motel in 1987 that resulted in the death of three Inkster police officers has died.
Alberta Easter, who was being held at Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Ypsilanti, died on Sunday shortly after being taken to St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor, a Department of Corrections spokesman said.
Easter, who was 93, died from natural causes, according to prison system spokesman Russ Marlan.
The shootout occurred at an Inkster motel where Easter was living when the officers tried to arrest her and one of her sons on charges that they bounced a $286 check.
After the officers were shot, Easter and three sons kept other police at bay during a 10-hour standoff that involved hundreds of rounds fired from the first-floor motel room.
Killed in the initial shootout were Officers Clay Hoover, 24, and Dan Dubiel, 36, and Sgt. Ira Parker, 41.
Hoover and Dubiel were shot 29 times each, according to testimony at the murder trial.
Easter and three sons were convicted of first-degree murder and given three life sentences apiece.

http://detnews.com/article/20110614/METR...s#ixzz1PLV7OfNZ

One of the biggest trials in the West, which is being held here, is going to the jury tomorrow:

James Arthur Ray is charged with multiple counts of manslaughter in a "Spiritual Warrior" sweat lodge experience in which three people died. How they died is the point on which this case turns. Prosecution alleges Ray deliberately told his followers they'd be liberated after a "near death" experience, and refused to acknowledge or help people who were obviously in extremis from heat stroke. Defense alleges they had free choice, and that insecticides embedded in and near the sweat lodge caused the deaths. Both sides paid expert witnesses to testify to the cause of death--they didn't rely on the coroner, whose testimony wasn't considered definitive.

Senior Citizen Foils Carjacker

He walked from the post office to his Ford Escape, carefully looking around as he always does, before getting in the vehicle. A second later, a gun was pointed at him.

It was early afternoon on June 13, and Moses Baldwin was being carjacked.

But he isn't your average 81-year-old: Baldwin is a retired Detroit police officer who served on the force for 25 years and carries a concealed weapon.

The retired cop and carjacker exchanged gunfire. The thief escaped, but by Thursday, police said they had identified a suspect.

The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office is reviewing a warrant request for the suspect, who is in custody on other charges. Baldwin said he knows the outcome could have been different as he fought off a young, armed carjacker.

"Get out, get out, get out, get out, get out!' " Baldwin said the man yelled, telling him to put the keys in the ignition.

But Baldwin threw the keys on the floor. He said he was trying to buy time so he could get up from his seated position.

"I just slid out and started backing up and he says, 'Give me your money,' " Baldwin said.

"I said, 'I don't have any money.' "

Baldwin, who would end up about 10-15 feet away from the carjacker, reached into his pocket. He had some loose cash and pulled out a $5 bill with his left hand and threw it.

Then he reached for something else.

The carjacker, Baldwin said, asked: "What you reaching for? What you reaching for?'"

"I said, 'This.' "....

msnbc.com news services updated 2 hours 4 minutes ago 2011-06-20

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court ruled for Wal-Mart on Monday in the largest sex-discrimination lawsuit ever, handing down a decision that could have broad implications for workers seeking jointly to sue their employers.

The justices overturned an earlier U.S. appeals court ruling that gave class-action status to 1.5 million female Wal-Mart employees, past and present, seeking billions of dollars in a suit accusing the retailer of paying women less and giving them fewer promotions at the company.

Woman arrested for videotaping police

NEW YORK -- In May, the Rochester Police Department arrested a woman on a charge of obstructing governmental administration after she videotaped several officers' search of a man's car. The charge is a criminal misdemeanor.

The only problem? Videotaping a police officer in public view is perfectly legal in New York state -- and the woman was in her own front yard. The arrest report of the incident also contains an apparent discrepancy from what is seen in the woman's own video...

so, its legal and on her own property. i believe the officer will be suspended because he just cost the force some money.

What is going on in Tennessee?
Cyber-Bullying Law goes too far??

DSK case about to fall apart?

The criminal case against French political heavyweight Dominique Strauss-Kahn is in jeopardy of falling apart because the hotel maid who accused him has been caught in a web of lies, sources said.

The Bronx chambermaid's credibility crumbled as investigators linked her to a network of crooks and found her to have to multiple bank accounts stuffed with a total of almost $100,000 in dirty cash, sources said Thursday night.

Prosecutors now believe there was little truth in anything the Guinean-born maid has told them since NYPD cops yanked the one-time contender for the French presidency off a plane at Kennedy Airport on May 14, the sources said.

Rush to Justice???

This makes it all the more difficult to prosecute rapists. It's a terrible situation.

Of course if Strauss is innocent or if the evidence says he should not be charged, so be it.

BUT, it's just wrong to me that in cases like rape you can dig up all kinds of shit about the accuser's past, BUT if the defendant has had similar arrests for same charges, in some (if not all?) states, it can't be known to the jury.

That being said, it is sad that some women would falsely accuse a man of rape. I just can't imagine any woman wanting to go through the legal process based on a lie. Takes all kinds I guess.

TIS

Texas rules of trial procedures prevent a defendant from bringing up an alledged rape victim's sexual history. Pre-trial motions may result in such history emerging.

This is what has happened in the Strauss case. The accuser's veracity is being questioned by investigators. A defendant's arrest and conviction record at trial would prejudice the jury, so it is disallowed.

Prosecutors' Letter

Exactly.

MSNBC is reporting there is a verdict in the Casey Anthony trial to be read at 2:15 p.m. Talk about quick deliberations.



TIS

Gotta be guilty, no?

I mean, deliberations that fast usually only come back in favor of the prosecution. But I guess that's not an exact science. I'll tell you one thing: If they found her guilty of capital first-degree murder that fast, they're very likely to vote in favor of the death penalty at sentencing. Central Florida has an awful lot of Bible thumpers.

I guess we'll know soon enough .

All the speculation is that it is guilty but you never really know. Obviously they all must have been on the same page going into deliberations. It does seem there was a lot of evidence (a lot of circumstancial evidence I hear) to go over but they must have been convinced one way or the other.....my guess is it's guilty.


TIS

NOT GUILTY except on the "providing wrong information to law enforcement" charges.


TIS

See, you never know.

Not guilty across the board except for making false statements to law enforcement.

Wow!

Having served on one murder trial, I can say I took it very seriously as I'm guessing these jurors did. You try to follow the judge's instructions (which is like a novel it seems); you must not hold it against the defendant if he/she doesn't take the stand and you judge by evidence/testimony provided. It can be very very stressful and when it comes to murder and in this case possible death penalty, one would certainly want to be thorough and fair.

I laugh at the talking heads having to backtrack after all there speculations that a quick verdict means "guilty." I admit, I thought that's what it would be too. You truly NEVER know.

TIS

BTW, regarding the charges of making false statements to law enforcement, with her being in jail all this time can the courts say it was "time served" and she'll go free in the end?

Sure, that could very well happen, Tis.

Say the Judge gives her a year for each count she's been found guilty of, then runs them concurrently. If she's been incarcerated for longer than said year, she'd get time served. But I'm just using one year as an example; I'm not even sure what the penalty is in Florida.

One thing's for sure: Every day that she's spent behind bars will count towards her sentence. That's the law.

saw that coming...sadly enough their wasn't enough proof saying that casey killed her daughter. the only proof they have is that casey is a bitch when it comes to being a mother.

Won't that be an interesting house for Thanksgiving dinner.

If this had been an accident, she would've never acted the way she acted. Molested by her father? Are you fucking kidding me? Then her mother comes on the stand and lies about Googling chloroform. I'm not saying I would've wanted her to get the death penalty, but convict her for aggravated manslaughter!!! The behavior this woman displayed is sick.

TIS. You asked if she could get time served for being found guilty for lying to the police. She very well could. She's been in prison for the last three years now and she faces up to five years in prison for four counts of providing false information to the authorities. PB pretty much answered this, but that's the penalty down in Florida. If she gets three years or less, she'll walk right then and there.

I agree. I'm anti-death penalty except for very extreme cases, but I was hoping this woman would have been found guilty of at least manslaughter. In Florida the judge would probably have maxed her out. Now she's going to be out after doing only three years for a crime that she obviously played a part in.

Don't even get my wife started. She's hoping some redneck cracker grabs a shotgun on the courthouse steps .

If only I were in Florida.....

The only thing I really liked about this was watching Nancy Grace's head explode.

Ha ha ha!! I heard a clip of her reaction which was unusually calm BUT she remarked something like "The Devil is Dancing Tonight."


TIS

Yeah, as disgusted as I am by this verdict, at least Grace has one less thing to be so fucking smug about. She's a HORRIBLE woman. It wouldn't surprise me if her boyfriend in college paid that guy to kill him, just so he could get away from her.

Although I know that the defense did their job extremely well, I found their jumping up and down and celebrating a bit much. The news showed footage of them high-fiving each other and whooping it up in a bar afterwards. They may as well have been dancing on Caylee's little grave.

Could someone PLEASE remember that a little girl died, far too young, and way too tragically? Although I'm sure that she died by her mother's hand, the prosecution didn't have a strong enough case to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. It's a horror, for sure, and Caylee deserved way better.