|
|
|
Fla. man pleads guilty to rhino horn trafficking
Legal Line News |
2014/07/07 15:08
|
A South Florida man has pleaded guilty to illegally trafficking in the horns of the black rhinoceros in violation of the Endangered Species Act.
A federal judge is scheduled in September to sentence 76-year-old Gene Harris of Miami following his guilty plea this week. Harris could get up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
According to court records, Harris sold a variety of wildlife products, including taxidermy mounts. In 2011, he arranged for a customer in California to buy two black rhinoceros horns from a seller in Phoenix, Arizona, for $60,000.
Court documents show Harris was paid a $10,000 finder's fee.
Black rhinoceros horns are prized commodities in many Asian countries, where they are turned into ornamental carvings and other items.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Billionaire pleads guilty to sexual assault charge
Legal Line News |
2014/06/10 12:35
|
A Wisconsin billionaire has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of having sexual contact with a teenage girl.
Fifty-nine-year-old Samuel "Curt" Johnson III of Racine was originally charged with a felony count of child sexual assault. But prosecutors sought to downgrade the charge after they say the victim and her mother refused to cooperate.
Before sentencing Friday, Johnson apologized to the victim and her mother for "the tremendous hurt I have caused."
Judge Eugene Gasiorkiewicz allowed the downgrade of charges. Then he sentenced Johnson to four months in jail, short of the one-year maximum. Johnson was also fined $6,000.
Johnson's family has run home-products giant SC Johnson for five generations. Johnson worked for the company decades ago but has had no formal relationship with the company in years.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Court revives victim lawsuit in mistaken shooting
Legal Line News |
2014/05/05 15:23
|
The Supreme Court has reinstated the lawsuit filed by a former major league baseball player's son who was shot on the porch of his family home by a Houston-area police officer.
The justices on Monday ordered a lower court to reconsider the case of Robert Tolan, son of former major leaguer Bobby Tolan. The son was shot in the chest after police mistakenly believed he was armed and had stolen a vehicle.
A Houston-area jury acquitted Bellaire police Sgt. Jeffrey Cotton of criminal charges in the shooting, which happened on New Year's Eve in 2008. A federal appeals court dismissed Tolan's civil lawsuit claiming that Cotton used excessive force.
The high court said the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals acted too hastily. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
High court to hear dispute about TV over Internet
Legal Line News |
2014/04/21 14:22
|
Thirty years ago, big media companies failed to convince the Supreme Court of the threat posed by home video recordings.
Now they're back — and trying to rein in a different innovation that they say threatens their financial well-being.
The battle has moved out of viewers' living rooms, where people once marveled at their ability to pop a cassette into a recorder and capture their favorite programs or the sporting event they wouldn't be home to see.
The new legal fight shifts to the Supreme Court Tuesday with arguments against a startup business using Internet-based technology to give subscribers the ability to watch programs anywhere they can take portable devices.
Aereo takes free television signals from the airwaves and sends them over the Internet to paying subscribers in 11 cities. |
|
|
|
|
|
Legal Marketing News RSS
