KERA
July 8, 2009
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kera/news.newsmain/article/0/0/1526471/North.Texas/Judge.Withholds.Evidence.in.School.Trial..and..News.Roundup
 |
A judge plans to keep a cell phone containing videos of orchestrated fights at a Texas facility for the mentally disabled out of evidence unless prosecutors find case law to change her mind.
District Judge Sandra Watts said today she would likely grant a motion by a former employee at the Corpus Christi State School to suppress the evidence because it was essentially stolen property. In March, almost 20 videos dating to 2007 were discovered on the cell phone that was found at a store and later turned in to police. The videos showed staff at the school forcing residents into late-night bouts, even kicking them to egg them on.
The videos of what police termed a "fight club" would have been prosecutors' most powerful evidence of the abuse. Eleven staff members were identified in the videos and six were charged. None of those charged still works at the school.
Gay Bar Raid
A man hospitalized after a raid at a Fort Worth gay bar says he's still nursing injuries from the incident now that he's home. Chad Gibson had bruises, muscle strain and bleeding in his brain after his arrest more than a week ago on suspicion of public intoxication at the Rainbow Lounge.
Police have said the 26-year-old injured himself when he fell and hit his head. Witnesses say officers slammed him into the wall and floor and tackled other patrons who were arrested that night.
Police say some of the bar patrons made sexual gestures toward the officers and allege Gibson grabbed a Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission officer's groin. In interviews after his release from the hospital yesterday, Gibson denied groping the officer.
Taylor Denied Bond
A Missouri judge has refused to lower the $25,000 cash bond for the former fiancee of Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki. Judge Nancy Schneider decided after a hearing today in St. Charles, Mo.
Crista Ann Taylor's attorney had argued that his client has a "higher-risk pregnancy" and needs outside medical care. Matthew Fly also said his client suffered a miscarriage in January. But Schneider says Taylor seemed to be in stable condition.
A Texas grand jury has charged her with theft for not paying a dentist for thousands of dollars in dental work. She's also accused of violating probation from a Missouri forgery case.
Taylor was arrested at Nowitzki's Dallas home in May. She told The Dallas Morning News that she's pregnant with Nowitzki's child. Nowitzki has filed for custody if a paternity test proves he's the father of the child.
Pastor Prostitution
A former Texas pastor wants a federal appeals court to throw out his conviction and sentence for a charge he imported a woman from Kenya to act as his sex slave after promising her a free education.
James Cornell Clark was sentenced to 10 years after a jury convicted him in December 2007 of importing an alien for immoral purposes.
During a hearing today before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, the lawyer for the former minister argued the man's conviction must be overturned because the term "immoral purposes" is unconstitutionally vague.
A three-judge panel didn't immediately rule.
Clark also was convicted of separate charges that he defrauded the government out of nearly $600,000 intended to feed needy children.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.