The University of Arizona has agreed to pay $700,000 to 41 Havasupai tribal citizens to settle claims that the university misused DNA samples given by tribe members over a decade ago.
John Hockenberry sat down with Colorado Attorney General John Suthers earlier this week, and part of their conversation we're bringing to you here online. John asked Suthers about the growing numbers of medical marijuana dispensaries in Colorado, the voters' initiatives that Suthers says are being badly stretched to allow this many dispensaries, and his desire to have Colorado voters explicitly vote on what he calls "back door legalization."
Activists seem to be gaining ground in their fight to normalize pot use in the U.S.: Fourteen states have legalized medical marijuana to some extent, and fourteen others have marijuana-related proposals in the works.
When 28-year-old Jerry Lemaine of Long Island was told to plead guilty to ownership of a misdemeanor amount of marijuana posession, he probably didn't realize that it would result in his deportation to his family's home country of Haiti. Why is the American legal system levying such harsh penalties on non-citizens for minor infractions?
Yesterday the headlines about Bank of America came fast and furious. The Security and Exchange Comission came to a new settlement deal with Bank of America for $150 million; now it has to be approved by the same judge who threw out a much smaller penalty last year. Louise Story, business and finance reporter for The New York Times, helps us decode the legal actions.
The Obama administration is considering moving the trial of chief organizer of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed out of New York City. Benjamin Weiser, reporter at The New York Times tells us why.
In the spring of 2002, members of the Bush administration came to John Yoo, then a deputy Assistant Attorney General at the Justice Department, to help the administration decide where the legal limit was between interrogation and torture.
In what will certainly be looked back upon as a landmark and highly controversial decision, the Supreme Court reversed longstanding restrictions on campaign finance yesterday: specifically, laws restricting corporations and corporate money during election season.
A federal court in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle has overturned a Washington state law that said convicted felons had no right to vote. The case turned on questions of racial bias in Washington's justice and penal systems, and could have wide-reaching implications for other laws involving prisoners. To unpack the decision, we're joined by Dale Ho, assistant counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which has been working on this case for the past 6 years.
One of the most frequent arguments against allowing the trials of self-professed 9/11 'mastermind' Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four of his accused associates to proceed in civilian court is that the trial will give the men a platform from which to spew anti-American propaganda. Ron Kuby, a criminal defense attorney with experience in terrorism cases, says Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will probably toe the al-Qaida party line – speaking out from the stand on whatever is the "issue du jour," be it Palestine, Iraq or Afghanistan.
We also spoke with Ed MacMahon, the court-appointed attorney for Zacarias Moussaoui. MacMahon says no federal judge will allow Mohammed, or any of the accused, to act out of turn in court. But that's not the only terror-related news today. A federal judge unsealed charges against eight men who are accused of recruiting young Somali-Americans to join an Islamic insurgency in Somalia. It's a complicated story and to break it down we speak to Abdi Aynte, an editor with Voice of America. Aynte used to cover the Somali community in Minnesota.
A third of men who take paternity tests end up finding out that they're not really the father. And just as stricter federal rules are holding baby daddies more accountable, the science of proving paternity is getting cheaper, easier and more reliable. It all combines for some awkward family talks, tough moral decisions and nasty legal battles. We hear from Tanner Pruitt, a father who took an unexpected route to gaining custody of a daughter that isn't his -- not genetically anyway. We also speak to Ruth Padawer, who writes about this in Sunday's New York Times magazine.
Read Ruth Padawer's story in this weekend's New York Times magazine
A case brought to the Georgia Supreme Court this Tuesday might decide whether Georgia can afford to levy the death penalty any more. Jamie Weis has been sitting in jail for four years waiting for a trial because the state can’t afford to give him adequate representation or his Sixth Amendment-guaranteed right to a "speedy and public trial." Yesterday, Jamie presented a pre-trial appeal — drop his charges, or at least the possibility of the death penalty.
To find out more we spoke with Emily Green, a reporter covering the justice system for Georgia Public Broadcasting, and Robert McGlasson, an attorney at law who represented a previous death-penalty defendant in one of the most expensive cases in Georgia history. (You can read other stories in our "Deep Cuts" series on states' budget shortfalls.)
At a memorial for victims of the Fort Hood shootings, President Obama said the killer will "be met with justice in this world and the next." We focus on the legal challenges for the alleged shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, in this world. Hasan will probably face a long and complex trial, but only after an equally complex assessment of his mental health. We speak with Eugene Fidell, who teaches military law at Yale Law School and is president of the National Institute of Military Justice. We also speak to New York Times national security reporter Scott Shane, who gives us the latest on the case.
A Brooklyn jury acquitted two former Bear Stearns executives Tuesday. The two men had been charged with lying to investors. To give us the low-down on all of this is a man accustomed to suing Wall Street titans, former New York attorney general (and former governor) Eliot Spitzer.
Comedian David Letterman and Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) were both recently blackmailed for what's long been considered taboo: consensual relationships with their employees. But is it really that bad to date someone you work for or who works for you? For some answers we talk to Liz Shalet, an employment lawyer who specializes in sexual harassment cases.
Last night, David Letterman had a startling admission to his audience: that he had had sexual relationships with female staff members and was being extorted for it. Authories have arrested a suspect for the alleged extortion scheme but haven't released a name, though the AP reports that the suspect is Robert Halderman, a producer on CBS's show "48 Hours." We talk with our friend Delaina Dixon, TV blogger at DelainaDixon.com.
Watch his admission for yourself:
Former New York Giants wide-reciever Plaxico Burress accepted a plea bargain yesterday which will send him to prison for 2 years after pleading guilty to a weapons charge. As you might remember, Burress walked into a nightclub in New York City last November with a gun tucked in the waistband of his sweat pants. The gun slipped, and as Burress grabbed for it, he accidentally shot a bullet into his own leg. Burress' Florida gun license was expired; he had no license to carry a gun in New York.
Also making headlines is Jamaican runner Usain Bolt, who broke his own world record in the 100m dash. Again.
Joining us is Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, The Takeaway's sports contributor, along with New York Giants fan and family-law attorney Jeff Blank.
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