Federal judge again rules man competent to stand trial in 2007 Bessemer bank robbery and teller deaths

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - A man charged in the 2007 shooting deaths of two tellers during a Bessemer bank robbery is competent to stand trial, a federal judge ruled Friday.

The trial of William Merriweather Jr., who could face the death penalty if convicted, has been delayed more than seven years as he was evaluated by federal prison doctors and his defense attorneys argued he was incompetent to stand trial. The delays have frustrated families of the two tellers and two other tellers who were wounded.

U.S. District Judge David Proctor had ruled in February 2013 that Merriweather was competent to stand trial. The judge set a trial date, which was then delayed twice as Merriweather's attorneys argued that  previously undisclosed nurses notes from his mental evaluation at a federal prison plus a doctors' new concerns deserved new look at competency.

Proctor held a second competency hearing this summer, a decision he explained in Friday's ruling.  "In light of the belated disclosure of the nurses' notes, (federal prison) Dr. (Christine) Pietz's concerns about Merriweather's mental state, and the fact that this is a capital case, the court found that a supplemental hearing was warranted," he stated.

On Friday the judge issued his 124-page ruling denying defense attorney's renewed quest to have Merriweather ruled incompetent.

Proctor denied the request, stating: "The record makes it clear that Merriweather has a comprehensive understanding of the criminal trial proceedings: he understands the charges against him; he has the ability to discuss his various options with his lawyers; he can consider options available to him; and he suffers no memory impairment that would make him unable to assist in his defense."

A new trial date will be set, Proctor stated in a Friday order.

Merriweather ruling

Merriweather is charged with one count of killing during the commission of a bank robbery and two counts of use of a firearm during a crime of violence related to the May 14, 2007 bank robbery.

According to prosecutors, Merriweather was wearing a green baseball-style cap, white shirt, tie, and slacks and shoes partially wrapped in electrical tape, when he walked into the Wachovia Bank branch on Ninth Avenue in Bessemer.

Minutes later, Merriweather walked out of the bank with $11,255 cash and the bank manager in tow as a hostage. Inside, bank tellers Eva Lovelady Hudson and Sheila McWaine Prevo lay dead and two others, Anita Gordon, Latoya Shaniece Freeman, were seriously wounded.

Merriweather didn't make it out of the parking lot after being wounded by a sheriff's deputy.

source of:- http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2014/10/federal_judge_again_rules_man.html

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Alabama Man Convicted Of Rape Won't Be Going To Prison

An Alabama man convicted of raping his former neighbor and friend found out Wednesday that he won't be going to prison for the crime, according to AL.com, an Alabama Media Group blog.

Austin Smith Clem, 25, was found guilty of three counts of rape (one count of first-degree rape and two counts of second-degree rape) in September. However, on Nov. 13, Judge James Woodroof ordered Clem to spend two years in a reform program aimed at nonviolent criminals and three years on probation, according to the official court order from the Limestone County Circuit Court. Clem will also have to register as a sex offender.

Woodroff's decision reportedly stunned Chief Deputy District Attorney Jim Ayers, who apparently leapt to his feet exclaiming, "This isn't legal. It's not a legal sentence," as described to AL.com. The report notes that according to the Code of Alabama, first-degree rape sentences range from 10 to 99 years in prison, while second-degree rape ranges from two to 10 years.

The victim told Al.com that she is "livid" about the decision. She was raped by Clem twice when she was 14, and once when she was 18. The woman urged the judge to reconsider, particularly because Clem has three young daughters, the report notes.

Despite the victim's protests, the defense maintains the decision is appropriate, in light of the case. Dan Totten, Clem's defense attorney, told Mother Jones the sentence is "not a slap on the wrist" and noted that Clem's life will be very restricted for the next six years, two of which he'll spend in the Limestone County Community Corrections Plan. The reform program is intended to provide the "diversion of non-violent offenders from the penitentiary," according to its website.

Clem isn't the only rape convict to be given a relatively light sentence in recent days. As the Los Angeles Times reported this week, 45-year-old California soccer coach Timothy Lyman was sentenced to just one year of jail time after pleading no contest to raping one of his players while she was drunk and unconscious. Under California law, the minimum sentence for raping a minor is seven years. The light sentence was the result of a plea deal.

Source of:- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/15/alabama-man-rape-jail-prison-austin-smith-clem_n_4281870.html

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Ride Sharing vs. Traditional Taxis: How do Injury Insurance Claims Compare?

Ridesharing companies like Lyft and Uber are aggressively expanding to new markets throughout the United States.

These companies are directly competing with traditional taxi companies. The taxi companies, however, are fighting back with a strong public relations campaign painting the ride-sharing companies as a danger to the community as a whole, and the passenger in particular.

Incredibly, the taxi companies claim that a passenger injured in a Lyft or Uber car during a car accident may very well find himself or herself without insurance coverage to pay medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. This claim is usually accompanied by a stern "buyer beware" warning to those thinking about trying the ride-sharing services.

However, the reality is that Lyft and Uber provide massive mounts of insurance coverage for passengers personally than the coverage provided by taxi companies. The very same taxi companies leading the campaign claiming that ridesharing companies will leave you without coverage.

Lyft and Uber's Liability Policy Covers When the Driver's Insurance Denies a Claim
What is unique about Lyft and Uber's coverage is that it is "excess coverage" above what the actual driver carries for him or herself.

The critics have correctly pointed out that almost all insurance companies will deny a claim made against the ridesharing driver's policy-- why? The driver will almost certainly have a personal insurance policy and not a commercial insurance policy. And, personal insurance policies almost always exclude coverage if the driver was acting "for profit" when driving.

That means if you are a passenger injured while riding in the back seat of a Lyft car, you will almost assuredly have your claim with the driver's insurance company denied.

However, Lyft and Uber's Liability will pick up and cover damages even if the driver's policy rejected your claim. So, if you are riding in a Lyft vehicle, the argument that the driver's insurance company will not cover your injuries is immaterial: Lyft has you covered from the first penny.

Lyft and Uber provide $1 Million Dollars In Liability Coverage
So, how much coverage does Lyft or Uber provide those injured due to taxi driver negligence? According to the Lyft's certificate of liability policy, up to $1,000,000.00.

As you can probably guess, that is a massive amount of coverage. For frame of reference some states do not require drivers to carry bodily injury coverage. Of the states that do, the required coverage is usually between $10,000 to $25,000 per person injured in an accident.

But what about taxi cab policies? Every state is different, but states require a minimum amount of injury coverage for a taxi cab driver of between $250,000 and $500,000. Florida, for example, requires coverage in the amount of $125,000 per person and $250,000 per accident occurrence.

That means if you are injured due to your taxi driver's negligence in Florida, your cab driver is probably carrying only $125,000 in coverage. If you and your spouse (for example) are both injured, your total amount of coverage combined is $250,000.

And because taxi companies are in the business of making money, they rarely if ever carry more than the minimum required. Accordingly, in Florida, your coverage if you are injured due to your Lyft driver's bad driving is between 400 percent-800 percent greater than if you are injured due to a Taxi drivers' mistake.

Lyft and Uber Also Provide Coverage If You Are Hurt by an Uninsured Motorist Striking Your Cab
Perhaps even more noteworthy, Lyft and Uber will provide excess uninsured motorist coverage if you are injured by another vehicle and through no fault of your driver.

Let that sink in.

If you are hurt and Lyft's driver drove absolutely perfectly, Lyft will also pick up the tab for you if the driver's insurance (or your own insurance) does not pay or cannot pay for all of your damages.

And like Liability insurance, Lyft and Uber provide $1 million in Uninsured Motorist coverage.

What is Uninsured Motorist coverage? This is coverage you buy that protects you from getting injured by another person who does not carry insurance, or carries a small amount of insurance that cannot cover your bills.

But what about the taxis? Do they provide Uninsured Motorist coverage too? Much like liability coverage, every state is different in how they handle a taxi cabs Uninsured Motorist coverage. Florida, for example, does not require taxi cabs to provide uninsured motorist coverage for the cab's passengers.

That means if you are injured in a cab due to the bad driving of an uninsured motorist, and you do not have your own personal uninsured motorist coverage, you are out of luck. But if you are injured in the exact same scenario while riding in a Lyft or Uber vehicle, you will have up to $1,000,000.00 in additional insurance benefits available to you.

The Bottom Line
While there are still concerns over Lyft and Uber's personal property coverage for the driver, the bottom line is that the passenger in a Lyft or Uber vehicle often has more coverage available than if he or she was injured in an identical situation but in a taxi cab. In some states like Florida, that coverage can be more than 400 percent greater than the taxi cab's comparable coverage.

Be critical of the dire warnings of "buyer beware" regarding Lyft and Uber services, at least in regards to if you should ride in a Lyft or Uber car. If you a passenger, Lyft and Uber have got you covered.

source of:- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christian-denmon/ride-sharing-vs-tradition_b_5273964.html

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Suthers, Prosecutors Suppressed Crime Lab Concerns Defense Lawyers Say....

Colorado prosecutors were informed about alleged misconduct in the state toxicology lab at least three weeks before the problems were disclosed to defense lawyers, according to documents obtained by The Colorado Independent.Leaders in the criminal defense community say the district attorneys’ silence breaks constitutional provisions requiring prosecutors to disclose evidence that might favorably affect defendant cases. Potentially botched DUI lab results and other kinds of toxicology tests can make or break a criminal case. The same is true of potentially biased testimony given by lab technicians.A report released last Friday about the Colorado Department of Health and Environment’s Laboratory Services Division found security breaches, faulty training and bias in favor of prosecutors dating back at least to August 2011. Its findings were withheld since March and, when they were released in May, shared with prosecutors. That was well before defense attorneys, whose clients’ cases are affected by the lab evidence, were brought into the loop.

“Prosecutors’ obligation is to see justice, not convictions. They’re constitutionally required to turn over all evidence, including potentially exculpatory evidence, and it appears that they have failed miserably as it relates the continual problems at the Colorado Department of Health’s laboratory,” state Public Defender Doug Wilson said Thursday night.Tom Raynes, executive director of the Colorado District Attorney’s Council, didn’t answer an email seeking a response.Top defense attorneys also are slamming state Attorney General John Suthers. Documents show a staffer from Suthers’ office was present at a meeting in which the District Attorney’s Council discussed the report. That meeting came three weeks before Suthers notified the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar.Meeting minutes show the district attorneys’ group had been made aware of the report detailing the allegations about the lab on May 17. Defense lawyers weren’t notified about the report until June 7. Suthers’ office didn’t respond to calls for comment after office hours Thursday.“As the chief law enforcement officer of the state of Colorado, it is disappointing that the attorney general’s office saw fit to discuss the report with prosecutors three weeks before meeting its constitutional obligation to release the report to the defense community, thus potentially impacting hundreds of cases during that period of delay,” Wilson said. News of the delayed disclosure came hours after Gov. John Hickenlooper’s office announced the resignation of Chris Urbina, executive director and chief medical officer of the health department, the agency that oversees the lab. Urbina has been under fire since last week, when Suthers — whose office also represents the health department — wrote a letter publicly disclosing the report and its findings of probable gross mismanagement. The investigation was commissioned by the health department and conducted by the Mountain States Employers Council. Investigators found credible allegations that• the lab is understaffed;• refrigerators used to store urine and blood samples weren’t locked, “making them accessible by unauthorized personnel”;• lab employees are not properly trained to testify in court;• a supervisor “had toxicology lab employees help him/her with his/her master’s thesis during work hours”;• and that the same supervisor “made statements that suggest s/he is biased against defendants in criminal cases” and “imposes unreasonable burdens on toxicology analysts by making excessive accommodations for prosecutors and law enforcement agencies.”

The report is dated March 18.

Members of the defense community question why the health department and Suthers’ office didn’t disclose the problems immediately — while criminal cases were being prosecuted based on the lab’s test results and its technicians’ expert testimonies.Critics also question why district attorneys were informed about the report three weeks earlier than the lawyers defending clients against criminal charges.In response to a freedom of information request filed by The Independent, Raynes at the DA’s Council disclosed the minutes that show the crime lab report was discussed. Minutes from the group’s May 17 meeting at the Lodge at Vail read that its staffer Chris Halsor “had just received a call indicating that there was a ‘report’ at issue in a Denver case related to the CDPHE, the lab, and potentially Ms. Cynthia Burbach in particular.“[Halsor] noted that Ms. Burbach has currently been taken off court testimony at this time,” the minutes continue. “Mr. Halsor will be speaking with the CDPHE attorney for more information and updates on this and other recent CDPHE policy changes.”The documents show that most Colorado district attorney offices were represented at the meeting. Attorney General staffer Matt Durkin was also present.About two weeks after the meeting, Burbach – manager of the toxicology lab who was discussed at the DA’s Council meeting – left her job. Burbach, according to the minutes, was also the subject of discussion at a DA’s Council meeting in April, 2012, after she contacted the group to explain that “one of her laboratory analyst(s) had been terminated for not following particular protocols.”“It was determined that the analyst had handled approximately 1,700 blood samples,” the author of the minutes wrote.Problems in Colorado’s toxicology lab are estimated to have potentially affected the outcome of thousands of criminal cases statewide. Wilson likens the controversy to scandals that have unfolded in labs in Texas and Massachusetts.“As more evidence comes to light,” he said, about problems at the lab and about how information about those problems has been handled, he called on Hickenlooper to “follow those states’ leads… by assigning an agency independent of the attorney general’s office and the health department to head the investigation into the laboratory and any other people involved with potential criminal or civil liability.” Wilson manages 410 lawyers defending thousands of indigent clients each year. He said those clients deserve to know whether the attorney general’s staff and the state’s prosecutors have been suppressing evidence that might be vital to arguments being made on behalf of defendants across the state.source of:- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/14/colo-crime-lab_n_3441763.html

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Which State Has The Most Car Accidents?

The best drivers in the United States live in northern Colorado, while motorists on the crowded roadways of Washington, D.C., are twice as likely to crash as the national average, according to Allstate America's Best Drivers Report released this week.

Drivers in the nation's capital get involved in crashes once every 4.8 years on average, compared with a national average of once per decade. The most dangerous cities to drive in after Washington are Baltimore; Providence; Hialeah, Florida and Glendale, California.

New York drivers have crashes on average once every 7.3 years, while those in Chicago and Houston crash once every 8 years.

By way of comparison, the average driver in Fort Collins, Colorado, crashes every 13.9 years. The next-safest cities were Boise, Idaho; Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Brownsville, Texas and Madison, Wisconsin.

The report, released Tuesday, surveyed Allstate insurance claims over 2011 and 2012 in 200 of the United States' largest cities to determine how often drivers there have crashes.

The company uses the two-year time frame in each annual report to mitigate any spikes in the numbers due to weather events or similar unusual influences on the statistics.

Allstate drivers make up about 10 percent of all insured motorists nationwide, the report said.

The report draws distinctions between driving in big cities, where traffic, emergencies, public transportation and simply getting lost pose more dangers, and small-town driving, where high speed limits, fewer crosswalks and large vehicles are among the most common threats.

Indeed, almost all of the 20 cities with the safest drivers have less than half a million residents, the largest of them Tucson, Arizona, with 524,000 residents and crashes happening to drivers about once every 11.4 years - similar to Lincoln, Nebraska, which is about half the size.

Larger or more crowded cities landed on the bottom of the list. The 20 least safe cities for drivers include Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Newark and Miami.

source of:- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/28/state-car-accidents-dangerous-drive_n_3831158.html

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One Lawyer's Campaign To Improve Legal Defense For Indigent

Fifty-one years ago, the Supreme Court in Gideon v. Wainright ruled that every American accused of a crime is entitled to an attorney. But today public defenders are overworked and underpaid, often burning out and leaving the job shortly after they start, according to Jonathan Rapping, the founder of an organization that helps to prepare lawyers for a career as a public defender.

Rapping, the founder of the Atlanta-based public defender organization Gideon's Promise, believes that the poor working conditions for public defenders can result in a lack of legal representation for the country's most vulnerable citizens. As a consequence, Rapping says, criminal justice systems across the country have "come to accept embarrassingly low standards of justice for poor people."

Rapping told The Huffington Post that these structural flaws are taking their toll on even the most inspired lawyers.



"I would meet young passionate public defenders who wanted to make a difference," Rapping told The Huffington Post. "They would go in with crushing caseloads, and the systems would beat the passion out of them. They would either quit or become resigned to the status quo."

Rapping spent 10 years working as a public defender in Washington, D.C. Seven years ago, he founded Gideon's Promise, an organization that by his count has trained more than 250 public defenders to help fill the void left by poorly funded and overburdened public defenders' offices.

Now Rapping is about to embark on a speaking tour to raise awareness of shortcomings in the criminal justice system, and to raise funds to help fix them.

"There's something terribly broken about our criminal justice system all across our country," Rapping said. "If you go back 51 years ago, the Supreme Court said the only way we can make sure there is equal justice is to make sure there is equal representation."

Rapping said public defenders' offices are easy targets in an economic and political climate that prioritizes budget cuts. Rhoda Billings, a former chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, speaking to the Associated Press last year, identified 18 states that pass along the costs of public defense to their counties.

But, Rapping said, the results of de-emphasizing or underfunding criminal defense for the indigent can be devastating, especially on a society in which 80 percent of defendants qualify for a public defender.

"The people going through the system aren't some distant community of demons or monsters or others," Rapping said. "They are the people who bag their groceries, or make them a cappuccino at their local coffee bar. They are our neighbors, and we should treat them like people we care about."

Rapping said that in some circumstances, innocent people will plead guilty because they see their situation as lose-lose. According to the federal Bureau of Justice Assistance, as many as 95 percent of cases are settled outside of a courtroom in plea deals, many intended simply to clear case backlogs and keep the system churning along.

"People are given money bonds that they can't afford. They're given a plea that day and they're told, 'If you take the plea, you can get out, or you can sit in jail on a bond that you can't make,'" Rapping said. "Plenty of people faced with that decision of, 'Am I going to see my family or keep my job?' -- they will plead guilty without being able to challenge the allegations against them."

"Forcing people to plead guilty has become a way of providing justice to poor people," Rapping added. "That is something we are building a generation of lawyers to stand up to."

source of:- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/14/jonathan-rapping-gideons-promise_n_5147029.html

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$1.5 Million Award in Autistic Child Tardive Dyskinesia Legal Case.

On Feb. 11, 2014, a Chicago jury awarded $1.5 million to an autistic child who developed a severe case of tardive dyskinesia and tardive akathisia while being treated by psychiatrists with Risperdal and then Zyprexa between 2002 and 2007. The drug-induced disorder was diagnosed when he was 15 years old and by then had become disabling and irreversible.

I was the psychiatric expert in the case. I testified that the doctor was negligent in not warning the youngster and his parents about the dangers of so-called antipsychotic drugs, in not educating the parents about the symptoms of tardive dyskinesia so that they could be alert for them, and in not monitoring the child closely enough. Here is a transcript of my complete trial testimony.

Tardive dyskinesia describes a group of persistent or permanent movement disorderscaused by antipsychotic (neuroleptic) drugs including Risperdal, Zyprexa, Invega, Abilify, Geodon, Seroquel, Latuda, Fanapt and Saphris. In addition to typical tardive dyskinesia spasms and twitches of his face, eyelids, and tongue, the youngster developed a severe case of tardive akathisia involving torturous internal agitation that drove him into constant, unrelenting motion.The boy was diagnosed with autism as a child and then started on SSRI antidepressants before the age of 6 or 7. He continued to be treated with the antidepressants Zoloft and then Paxil which, I testified, caused his mental condition and behavior to deteriorate. I also presented evidence (here) and (here) that the antidepressant drugs very frequently cause disturbed emotional reactions in children, including disinhibition and mania.

Instead of removing the child from the offending antidepressants, his first psychiatrist started him on Risperdal (risperidone). His second psychiatrist, who was the defendant in the case, continued him on Risperdal and then Zyprexa for 2.5 years, despite the appearance of tardive dyskinesia symptoms. I explained to the jury how antipsychotic drugs cause tardive dyskinesia at a high rate in children and adults, and how the doctor's negligent actions caused the boy to develop severe tardive dyskinesia and tardive akathisia.

In recent decades, it has become entirely too common for psychiatrists and other prescribers to give psychiatric drugs to children who could be far better treated by other means. The FDA-approved labels for all antidepressants warn not only about increased suicidality in children and youth but also about drug induced aggression, mood instability, anxiety, impulsivity, and mania . The labels for antipsychotic drugs(here) and (here) warn about tardive dyskinesia as a risk for patients across the age spectrum. My own work (here) and (here) has contributed to these label changes, adding to my disappointment at how little attention some doctors pay to these warnings.

There is a continuing need for prescribers, patients and their families to be warned about the dangers of psychiatric drugs and for doctors to take these dangers into account when considering whether or not to prescribe.

The Chicago attorney in the case was Francis P. Morrissey. The malpractice case was Angel v. Segal, State of Illinois, In the Circuit Court of Cook Count, Illinois, County Department, Law Division, No. 09 L 3496.

source of:- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-peter-breggin/15-million-award-in-child_b_4861391.html

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