Hearing set in Seneca County assault weapons case

Finger Lakes Times

WATERLOO — A hearing will be held in the case of a Geneva man accused of having stolen assault weapons in Seneca Falls last September.During an appearance by Gary Goodman in Seneca County Court Monday, Judge Dennis Bender scheduled a suppression hearing for March 29. Goodman is being represented by local attorney Steven Getman.

New move to avoid ID errors in criminal cases

Rochester (NY) Democrat & Chronicle:

A spate of exonerations in recent years has revealed the weaknesses of memory and witness identification. Of the 289 people exonerated nationally by DNA evidence over the past quarter-century, about 75 percent were wrongly identified by witnesses....

Local police agencies say they have embraced change. They've revised policies within the past two years to match improved identification guidelines from the state District Attorneys Association and the Division of Criminal Justice Services, or DCJS. They've also trained officers to ensure that communications with witnesses are not leading, and encouraged police to actually position themselves out of sight of a witness viewing a photo array so there are no unintended signals....

Still, some say more can be done to eliminate human error or intentional or unintentional directions from police to eyewitnesses....

A New York task force, created by Court of Appeals Chief Justice Jonathan Lippman, has studied the core causes of wrongful convictions and plans to push legislation to tackle the common issues, such as misidentification and false confessions....

Appeal: Mother Loses Support, Custody for Interfering With Father's Rights

From the New York Law Journal:

A mother who "deliberately and unjustifiably frustrated" a father's attempts to visit his child was appropriately stripped of child support and primary custody, an appellate panel in Albany has held.

The Appellate Division, Third Department, unanimously affirmed a Schuyler County Family Court judge in a case where the custodial mother had repeatedly hindered her estranged husband's efforts to establish relations with his daughter, even though the father made no attempt to enforce his visitation rights for six years....

The court said that while the father "lost contact with his daughter for several years and did not adequately explain why he took so long to re-establish a connection," by the time of the hearing he had been working for more than a year to connect with his daughter.

"The record supports the finding that the mother deliberately and unjustifiably frustrated the father's visitation, moving without notifying the father and attempting to informally transfer custody to another person…without informing the father," Justice McCarthy wrote in an opinion joined by Justices Karen K. Peters , John A. Lahtinen, Leslie E. Stein and Elizabeth A. Garry.

Appearing were Martha N. Hertzberg of Ithaca for Mr. Luke; Lisa K. Miller of McGraw for Ms. Luke; and Steven J. Getman of Ovid for the child.

New law bans dumping rechargeable batteries in the trash

Beginning Monday (December 5) it is illegal in New York to dispose of rechargeable batteries in the trash.

The New York State Rechargeable Battery Law prohibits the disposal of rechargeable batteries, including cell phone batteries, laptop batteries or camera batteries, in
non-recyclable containers.

Instead, the batteries must be returned to recycling bins at retail stores.

Almost every retailer that sells rechargeable batteries is now required to
provide recycling receptacles to consumers in their stores. Small-food stores that sell

Failure to provide or use the receptacles can lead to fines ranging from $50.00 for consumers and $5000.00 for the retailers.

More on the new law can be found here.

New York State Court of Appeals to Decide Tompkins County School Harassment Case

From the Ithaca Journal:

ALBANY -- The state's highest court has agreed to hear the Ithaca City School District's appeal of a finding that it failed to adequately address racial harassment and threats of violence against a black middle-school student....

The state Division of Human Rights decided in May 2009 that the school district engaged in unlawful discriminatory practice by failing to protect the girl from a group of white students' harassment and threats in the 2005-06 school year....

Ithaca City schools have maintained that the Division of Human Rights does not have jurisdiction over public school districts. The state Supreme Court in Tompkins County agreed with the district in a 2009 decision.

The state Appellate Division, 3rd Department disagreed in a June 30, 2011, ruling. It reduced awards of $200,000 each for the mother and daughter to $200,000 for the daughter and $50,000 for Amelia Kearney.

But Ithaca City schools point to a case on Long Island that was dismissed by the mid-level state court, which said school districts don't come under the state human-rights law, which applies to education corporations and associations.

It has been reported that fewer than one out of ten applications for leave to appeal are granted.

The existence of conflicting rulings among the Appellate Divisions, as is apparently the case here, is one of the factors that will sometimes convince the state's high court to hear an appeal.

Schools are open. Drive safe. Avoid tickets.

New York State schools begin classes this week.

This means that many school speed limits are, again, in effect. Typically, these speed limits are fifteen miles per hour, effective from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm on school days.

In addition, school buses will be back on the roads in the early mornings and late afternoons, picking up or discharging children.

Many police agencies will be out in force this week, enforcing these laws. Penalties for violating these traffic rules can be stiff, ranging from fines, to points on your drivers’ license and, in some case, lose of driving privileges. If you receive a traffic ticket for violating any of these laws, it is recommended that you consult with a qualified attorney of your own choosing, to determine the penalties you face, and your legal rights.

However, the best way to avoid these penalties is to drive safely. Motorists are reminded to be on the lookout for schools, buses and pedestrians, to make sure each student has a safe and enjoyable school year.

Texas Man Kicked Off Jury For Trying To 'Friend' Defendant

AOL News:

A North Texas juror got an unfriendly reaction from a judge after he tried to 'friend' the defendant on Facebook....

Jonathan Hudson pled guilty to four counts of contempt of court as a result of his actions, which his lawyer described as a "silly mistake"....

In 2009, the New York Times wrote a piece about the ways in which the Internet has contributed to a several mistrials across the country.

Federal courts again experiment with allowing cameras

From the Citizen Media Law Project:

The program, which was approved by the U.S. Judicial Conference last year and allows court-operated cameras to cover civil proceedings in 14 federal trial courts, is just the latest chapter in the long saga on the question of camera coverage of federal trial courts.

This is not the first time that the federal courts have experimented with camera coverage of their proceedings. From 1991 through 1994, the federal courts conducted a limited test of camera coverage of civil trials in eight federal district courts, which led to a recommendation that federal courts allow televised proceedings. But the Judicial Conference -- which sets policies for all federal courts except the U.S. Supreme Court, which sets its own rules -- rejected this recommendation, concluding in 1994 that “the intimidating effect of cameras on some witnesses and jurors was a cause for serious concern.”

The Judicial Conference then relented a bit, deciding in March 1996 to allow each federal Circuit to decide the issue for itself and the district courts in its geographic area, while strongly urging the Circuits to follow the Conference’s 1994 policy.