New York: Judge: ‘Disturbia’ did not copy short story
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge in New York has dismissed a copyright lawsuit that claimed the 2007 thriller “Disturbia” ripped off Alfred Hitchcock’s classic “Rear Window.”
Federal Judge Laura Taylor Swain tossed out a lawsuit late Tuesday in which Steven Spielberg and others were sued by the estate of the literary agent who owned the rights to the 1942 short story, written by Cornell Woolrich, on which “Rear Window” was based. Woolrich died in 1968.
“Disturbia” stars Shia LaBeouf as a kid who spies on neighbors, including a man he suspects is a serial killer.
Swain said similarities between the story and “Disturbia” were not protected by copyright. She said they were similar only “at very general levels of abstraction.”
Messages left with lawyers on both sides were not immediately returned.
New York: Ex-traffic court judge went on date with defendant
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal appeals court says a former traffic court judge must lose his law license for going on a date with a defendant and then ruling in her favor.
Michael Dorsky worked for the Department of Motor Vehicles in Garden City, Long Island.
The defendant was a New York City police officer who was accused of driving an uninsured vehicle.
Dorsky lost his job after the case.
The ruling was made last week.
Mississippi: Ex-football coach faces federal, state charges
ABERDEEN, Miss. (AP) — Prosecutors will take molestation charges against an Alabama high school football coach to separate federal and state grand juries.
Federal prosecutors have accused Dwight Bowling of tampering with a witness and repeatedly taking a minor across state lines for sex. On Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Jerry A. Davis bound Bowling’s case over to a federal grand jury. Davis also ordered a psychiatric evaluation.
In the hearing before Davis,, prosecutors produced transcripts from taped conversations in which Bowling allegedly encouraged one of the alleged victims to lie about whether they’d had a sexual relationship.
Documents show investigators secretly recorded conversations between Bowling and one teenager less than two weeks ago.
The transcript indicates Bowling tried to get the alleged victim to lie to investigators about their relationship.
At one point he tells the teenager:
“I could lose my job, I could lose everything I’ve got. ...
“I could lose my life.”
Later Wednesday, Monroe County Circuit Judge James Roberts signed arrest warrants on 10 state charges against Bowling.
District Attorney John Young said Bowling is accused of three counts of fondling, two of sexual battery and one of child exploitation, all in Monroe County. Young said charges of and in Itawamba County on one count of fondling, all in Monroe County. In addition, Young said one count of fondling, one of sexual battery and two of child exploitation will be filed in Itawamba County.
Young said the alleged sexual acts occurred in both counties. Young said he will present the cases to the two grand juries when he’s confident they’re ready.
Bowling was being held without bond in the Lafayette County jail in Oxford.
Bowling, who coached at Smithville High School for 28 years, retired there and took a similar job in Sulligent, Ala., five years ago. He was arrested Friday on his way home to Itawamba County from a football game.
On Wednesday, federal prosecutors said that at the time of Bowling’s arrest on Friday night, he had a 13-year-old boy in the truck with him. Prosecutors said the boy gave a statement to Lamar County, Ala., investigators Bowling improperly touched him four times since January with the last occurrence three weeks ago.
Bowling’s attorney, Christi R. McCoy of Oxford, said she declined to ask for bail in state court because of the federal hold.
Bowling is on administrative leave from his job.
Washington: Muslim inmates suing Pierce County Jail
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — Two Muslim inmates from the Pierce County Jail in Tacoma are suing, claiming they are banned from practicing their religion.
The lawsuit was filed this week with the help of the ACLU and Public Interest Law Group in federal court in Tacoma.
The News Tribune reports that inmates Raymond Wesley Garland and Larry Edward Tarrer say the jail prohibits Muslims from group prayer, bans certain religious clothing and refuses to accommodate their diet.
A deputy prosecutor who represents the jail, Craig Adams, disputes the claims. He says the jail offers Muslims meals without pork and allows them to pray together and perform ritual cleansing.
California: Dismissal of mom’s missing heart suit upheld
DALY CITY, Calif. (AP) — The California Supreme Court has upheld dismissal of a mother’s lawsuit claiming the San Mateo County coroner kept her son’s heart without her consent after an autopsy.
Selina Picon’s 23-year-old son Nicholas died unexpectedly at their Daly City home in 2006 and the mother learned after burial that the coroner had kept her son’s heart for further study.
State law allows coroners to keep tissues or body parts in death inquiries.
But Selina Picon sued for negligence, denial of the right to control the remains of her son and emotional distress. But an appellate court ruled she never established that family consent was needed for the coroner’s office to keep the heart.
The San Francisco Chronicle says the state’s high court on Wednesday unanimously denied review of the ruling.
Connecticut: Man charged in Conn. killing disrupts hearing
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend and being caught months later in Mexico disrupted a court hearing when a judge ruled that a TV camera will be allowed at his trial.
The Hartford Courant reports that judicial marshals and prison guards grabbed Darryl Crenshaw and led him out of a state courtroom in Hartford Wednesday, after he stood up quickly, demanded to be returned to prison and ignored the judge’s order to sit down.
Crenshaw is charged with murder, kidnapping and assault in the August 2008 killing of Ashley Peoples, who was found dead from head and neck injuries at her Enfield apartment.
Crenshaw was caught in Mexico in January 2009 shortly after the case was shown on the show “America’s Most Wanted.”
