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Woman pleads guilty to murder of husband
Court Feed News | 2007/04/23 15:18

Following a guilty plea to first-degree murder a Nowata County woman was sentenced to life without parole. Rhonda Jane Robirds, 40, was sentenced by Nowata-Washington County District Judge Curtis Delap following her guilty plea. In accepting the plea, Delap granted the request of Assistant District Attorney Scott Julian to withdraw the bill of particulars thus removing the possibility of a death sentence.

According to the statement of facts to which Robirds pleaded, on Feb. 12, 2006, Robirds instructed Joshua Hill, then 21, of Coffeyville, to shoot her husband, Steven Means, 49, at the family home east of Lenapah.

Following this act, Robirds enlisted her teenage children to assist in removing Means’ body to a location in rural Labette County, where the body was weighted down with cement blocks and dumped into a creek. Robirds and her children then attempted to remove evidence of the crime with home cleaning products.

Robirds waived her right to remain in the county jail for an additional 10 days and asked to be delivered to the custody of the Department of Corrections as soon as possible. She will be held by Nowata County Sheriff Jim Hallett until that time.

According to District Attorney Rick Esser, Hill is scheduled to also plead to murder on May 11.



OCA outraged by racist talk on CBS radio
Lawyer Blog News | 2007/04/23 14:17

The Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA) on Sunday expressed outrage over a recent CBS radio segment, which it described as "racist, vulgar and sexist."

WFNY 92.3 Free FM, which is part of CBS Radio, aired twice a segment of a talk show involving a prank call to a Chinese restaurant.

In a press release, the OCA called for an immediate apology from the hosts of the segment, JV & Elvis, their producer and the station.

The leading Chinese American group also demanded the immediate firing of JV & Elvis and their show's producer.

In the segment, the caller began by telling the first restaurant employee, "I would like some Asian food, son of a bitch" as well as to the second employee, "I would love to have lots of Asian food, son of a bitch."

The caller then told the restaurant's female employee, "Should I come to your restaurant so I can see you naked? " and continued, "That way, I can see your hot Asian spicy ass."

As the caller went on, he told another employee that he would like some "flied lice," but not "some old dung" and indicated that "I am training in Kung Fu, bitch" before ending with "Tell that hot Asian girl answering the telephone, I'd like to tap her ass."

OCA-New York President Vicki Shu Smolin said that what is especially disturbing to the Asian American community is that even after CBS fired Don Imus for referring to the Scarlet Knights, the Rutgers University women's basketball team, as "nappy-headed hos" on April 4, one day before the segment was first aired, JV & Elvis aired it again on April 19.

It is apparent that not only did JV & Elvis not learn anything from the Don Imus scandal, but CBS and CBS Radio decided that Asian Americans are easy prey for racist radio broadcast, he said.

John Tandana, executive vice president of OCA-Long Island, said:" Once again, radio has tried to gain ratings to the detriment of Asian Americans. The segment lasted over six minutes, the entire time, casting Asian Americans and women in a demeaning manner. We will not allow talk radio to spread stereotypes that hurt our community."

The Dog House with JV & Elvis is a radio talk show airing in New York City. The Dog House stars JV (Jeff Vandergrift) and Elvis (Dan Lay), and the two met in 1993 and have been radio co-hosts for some 15 years.

Prank phone calls are considered one of the most controversial parts in their program. This segment involves JV or Elvis calling random people from the phone book and the calls are usually humiliating.



Washington Governor Signs Domestic Partnership Law
U.S. Legal News | 2007/04/23 04:02

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire signed legislation Saturday recognizing domestic partnership status for same-sex couples. The law guarantees gay and lesbian couples some of the legal rights that previously were afforded only to husband and wife. To be considered a legally recognizable domestic partnership, couples must be over the age of 18, live together and not be in a domestic relationship with anyone else. The legislation also introduces a state wide domestic partnership registry and affords same-sex couples hospital visitation rights, inheritance rights, and the ability to authorize medical decisions for their partner. The registry will also include heterosexual couples with one partner over the age of 62. Many of these couples have been hesitant to marry because of the repercussions for their pension or social security benefits.

The Washington State Senate and House of Representatives approved the bill in March and early April respectively. Opponents of the measure claim it erodes the institution of marriage, but the bill's supporters stressed the importance of granting equal rights to same-sex couples. The bill is the latest step in Washington's pioneering stance on gay civil rights which includes a revision of the state's Civil Rights Act to include the phrase "sexual orientation" among the classes of people protected from discrimination in housing, lending, and employment.



Police: Poor Review Set Off Nasa Gunman
Criminal Law Updates | 2007/04/22 19:11

William Phillips, 60, took a revolver to work at the Johnson Space Center on Friday and shot dead fellow employee David Beverly, 62. Phillips bought the gun on the same day last month that he printed off the bad review, police said.

A woman was also held hostage in a four hour ordeal but was only slightly hurt.

Nasa said Phillips, a contract engineer, had been employed for about 12 years, was unmarried, had no children and reportedly lived on his own.

Security review

Nasa officials said Phillips brought the revolver into a building that houses communication systems for the space shuttle. Phillips confronted Beverly, a quality-control engineer, about the review and despite attempts by his victim to calm him, shot him twice. The stand-off took place in the communications Building 44

Phillips left the room briefly but later returned and shot Beverly another two times as he tried to resist, police said.

"The suspect blamed Mr Beverly for being responsible for his negative job-performance situation," Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt said.

Nasa said the woman hostage, Fran Crenshaw, was tied to a chair for hours and succeeded in providing a calming influence, preventing the situation from getting worse. Phillips held her hostage until he shot himself dead.

Nasa says it is undertaking a review of security procedures. It evacuated some employees in the building when the situation occurred while others were ordered to stay in their offices.

The Johnson Space Center contains Nasa's mission control, which oversees the agency's space flights.

Doors to mission control were locked and outlying roads cordoned off.

The stand-off came less than a week after a gunman killed 32 students and teaching staff at Virginia Tech university before killing himself.

There has been a rash of security alerts across the US, which is also marking the eighth anniversary of the Columbine school massacre in which 15 people died.



US law would have denied Virginia Tech killer a gun
Legal Career News | 2007/04/21 19:06

Virginia Tech shooting gunman Seung-Hui Cho was technically prohibited from purchasing firearms after a Virginia court found Cho to be an "imminent danger to himself" in December 2005 and issued an order for Cho to receive psychiatric treatment, the New York Times reported Friday. Under federal law, persons "who have been adjudicated as a mental defective or who has been committed to a mental institution" are prohibited from possessing or receiving "any firearm or ammunition." US federal firearm regulations define "adjudicated as a mental defective" to include a determination by a court that the person "is a danger to himself."

Virgina is among 22 states currently submitting mental health records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which requires Federal Firearms Licensees to request background checks on individuals attempting to receive a firearm. Despite being the leading state in reporting mental disqualifications, Virginia's state rules on "mental disqualifications to firearms purchase" differs from the federal regulations and only require submission of records of persons who have been "involuntarily committed" or ruled mentally "incapacitated." Legislation seeking to improve NICS enforcement has been introduced in the House of Representatives in the past three terms, but has never become law.



Judges’ ruling requires ID to register to vote
Lawyer Blog News | 2007/04/21 08:00

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held late this week that Arizona may enforce its voter identification law while a non-profit organization challenges the law in federal court. The law, which Arizonans approved in 2004 as Proposition 200, requires voters to show a government-issued ID at the polls. The Ninth Circuit ruling was filed Thursday. Opponents of the law have called it a "21st century poll tax," since it requires people to purchase photo ID cards, and have argued that the law places an unconstitutional burden on minority, immigrant and elderly voters. Proponents say it prevents illegal immigrants from casting ballots. Last year, the US Supreme Court ruled that Arizona could enforce the law at the polls for the November elections, reversing a Ninth Circuit decision rendered earlier that month.



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