FBA schedules State of the Court luncheon
The Federal Bar Association — Eastern District of Michigan Chapter (FBA) will host its 2011 State of the Court Luncheon on Thursday, September 22, beginning at 11:30 a.m., in the Venetian Ballroom at the Westin Book Cadillac in Detroit.
The featured speaker will be U.S. District Court Chief Judge Gerald E. Rosen, Eastern District of Michigan.
In addition, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan will honor the attorneys who have accepted pro bono assignments from the court in the past year.
Tickets are $25 for FBA members and $30 for non-FBA members.
For more information, contact Kimberly Altman, chapter program chair, at 313. 234.5163.
Visit www.fbamich.org to register online.
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Federal appeals court overturns conviction in 2000 Detroit slaying
DETROIT (AP) — Ten years later, a federal appeals court has overturned a murder conviction in Wayne County because jurors weren’t told that the gunman had a history of mental illness.
The court recently ruled in a 2-1 decision that Reginald Walker’s trial lawyer was ineffective. The court ordered Walker’s release from a life sentence unless he’s brought to trial again within six months.
There is no dispute that Walker fatally shot a man inside a Detroit liquor store in 2000 and then walked out. The victim was a complete stranger.
The 57-year-old Walker has a history of mental illness, but his defense was based on self-defense.
The appeals court says the 2001 trial strategy was greatly contradicted by “every piece” of evidence.
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Jurors asked to give up pay to help state
FLORENCE, Ala. (AP) — Court officials say jurors in Alabama are being asked to forego their pay to help the state save money.
The TimesDaily reports that Lauderdale Circuit Court Clerk Missy Homan Hibbett says jurors in the Shoals area are not being pressured to give up their pay, but are being asked at the request of the state.
She says few are doing so.
In Alabama, jurors receive $10 per day and 5 cents per mile for travel from their home to the courthouse.
Alabama spends about $2 million to pay jurors each year.
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Court: Docs can discuss mom-fetus relationship
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — It is legal for South Dakota to require doctors to tell a woman seeking an abortion that she has a legal relationship with her unborn child, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier was incorrect when she ruled it was unconstitutional for doctors to be required to tell patients there is a relationship between mother and fetus.
But the court said Schreier was correct in striking down parts of the state’s abortion law that require doctors to tell patients that undergoing the procedure increases the likelihood of suicide.
Planned Parenthood, which runs the state’s only abortion clinic in Sioux Falls, sued the state after its 2005 law was passed and Schreier had temporarily prevented it from taking effect. The 8th Circuit overruled that order in 2008 and the state began enforcing the law.
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