People contesting police seizures won’t pay bond under law
LANSING (AP) — People whose property is seized by law enforcement will no longer have to pay a bond to contest the forfeiture under legislation signed by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder.
The law enacted Wednesday is the latest move by lawmakers to address concerns about police taking cash, vehicles and assets from people not convicted of crimes.
Under the old law, people contesting a seizure had to pay a bond worth 10 percent of the property’s value, or at least $250 and not more than $5,000.
Roberts recuses from patent case after discovering conflict
WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts says he will no longer participate in deciding a patent infringement case because he discovered he owns shares in the parent company of one of the parties.
Roberts took part in arguments in the dispute between California-based Life Technologies Corp. and Wisconsin-based Promega Corp. on Dec. 6.
A letter Wednesday from court clerk Scott Harris says Roberts has learned Life Technologies is owned by Massachusetts-based Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., and Roberts owns shares valued at about $175,000.
Harris says the ordinary conflict check “inadvertently failed to find this potential conflict.”
Federal law prohibits judges from hearing a case if they have a financial interest in a participating company.
The case involves a dispute over the international reach of U.S. patent laws.
Man convicted of killing son in hot car seeks new trial
ATLANTA (AP) — Lawyers for a Georgia man have begun their appeal of his conviction in the death of his young son, who died in a hot car in suburban Atlanta.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that lawyers for Justin Ross Harris filed a motion last week for a new trial, the first step in what’s likely to be a lengthy appeals process.
In the court documents, defense lawyers say prejudicial testimony allowed by the court made the prospect of a fair trial an “absolute impossibility.”
Jurors in November found the 36-year-old Harris guilty of murder after his son, 22-month-old Cooper, died in the back of an SUV in June 2014, as temperatures climbed into the high 80s.
Harris moved from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to Georgia to work at Home Depot’s corporate office in Cobb County, Georgia.
Cat that fell from moving car on highway found alive
BOSTON (AP) — A cat that fell from a moving car on a Massachusetts highway on Christmas Day has been found alive.
Owner Erin McCutcheon was taking 6-year-old Juno from Boston to her mother’s house in New Hampshire when it slipped out of its carrier. McCutcheon’s boyfriend, James Norton, opened and re-shut their rattling van door, and the cat tumbled onto Interstate 93.
The couple spent days searching for the cat.
The Boston Globe reports electricians doing maintenance work at I-93 on Wednesday found the cat crouched and hiding 80 feet up in the air on a steel girder that runs under the highway .
A worker lured the cat with food before grabbing it and taking it to safety. The electricians recognized the cat from a poster McCutcheon and Norton had put up and contacted them.
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