States brief ~ OH Supreme Court ruling gives grandparents visitation rights News
States brief ~ OH Supreme Court ruling gives grandparents visitation rights

[JURIST] Leading Monday's states brief, the Ohio Supreme Court unanimously ruled [PDF text] today that grandparent visitation can be awarded over the wishes of the child's parents as Ohio law requires courts to balance the best interests of the child against the parent's wishes. The decision resolved conflicting rules among the state's courts and overruled a court of appeals decision [JURIST report] in favor of the father. The court found the grandparents should be awarded visitation, "especially considering that they raised [the child] for the first 5 years of her life." AP has more.

In other state legal news …

  • The president of the Entertainment Software Association [official website] said Monday that the association plans on challenging a new California law banning the sale of violent video games to children [JURIST report]. The Entertainment Software Association has already challenging similar laws in Illinois [JURIST report] and Michigan [ESA press release] and is "confident we will prevail" based on federal court decisions striking down similar laws in Washington state, Indianapolis and St. Louis County. The law, signed last week, bans the sale and rental of video games to minors that show things like killings and sexual assaults that are atrocious or cruel. The Herald News Daily has more.
  • The New York Court of Appeals [official website] will consider this month how distance should be measured under a state law that makes it a crime to sell illegal drugs within 1,000 feet of school property. The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court held that the distance should be measured by a straight line as "that furthers the purpose of the statute which is to provide a corridor of safety for children coming to and from school," but the defendant's attorney argues that a walking route from the school to the defendant's location is the appropriate measure of distance. In addition, the court will decide whether state authorities can charge someone located in another state with a crime when that person's only connections to the crimes occurring in New York are telephone calls. The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court [official website] upheld the conviction because an element of the crime occurred in the state. AP has more.
THIS DAY @ LAW

38 Santee Sioux hanged by US for rebellion

On December 26, 1862, 38 Santee Sioux men were hanged in a mass execution for their roles in a rebellion against US authorities in Minnesota which left hundreds dead and made refugees of some 40,000 white settlers. Government annuities promised under a treaty with the Sioux had failed to arrive on schedule and credit for purchases was not advanced in the meantime, threatening the tribe with starvation. The Santee Sioux Tribe's members were deported first to South Dakota and ultimately to Nebraska, where they remain today. Learn more about the 1862 Minnesota Sioux Rebellion.

Louis XVI put on trial during French Revolution

On December 26, 1792, Romain de Sèze, a defense attorney for deposed King Louis XVI, presented a defense of his client. The former King was on trial before a French Revolutionary court on thirty-three charges, including treason and other crimes against the state. He was convicted on January 15, 1793 executed by guillotine on the following January 21.