Time magazine announced Tuesday that it plans to appeal an August 30 decision by the Supreme Court of Indonesia awarding former Indonesian President Haji Mohammad Suharto $106 million in damages in Suharto’s defamation suit against the publication. Suharto sued Time over a 1999 article that said Suharto had hidden billions of dollars in foreign banks. [...]

New Orleans District Attorney Eddie Jordan declined Monday to file criminal charges against a local nursing home for the death of 19 elderly residents during post-Hurricane Katrina flooding. During the hurricane, nuns from the Sisters of the Holy Family , who operated the Lafon Nursing Home, decided evacuation posed a greater risk to patients than [...]

A Florida Fifth Judicial Circuit judge ruled Monday that the December 2006 execution of Angel Diaz was not "botched," as previously alleged by a medical examiner. According to autopsy reports, Diaz endured a 34-minute-long lethal injection that required a second injection after needles were improperly inserted into his arm. In his opinion, Circuit Judge Carven [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the death sentence of Stevie Lamar Fields Monday, ruling that a jury foreman's reliance on Biblical scripture had no "substantial and injurious effect" on the jury's sentencing decision. The court ruled 9-6 against Fields' habeas appeal. Fields was convicted of rape, kidnapping, robbery, and murder [...]

Ousted Philippines president Joseph Estrada maintained his innocence Tuesday and predicted he will be acquitted of corruption charges when the verdict in his six-year trial is handed down Wednesday. Estrada was removed from power in a 2001 revolt that brought his former vice president, current Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to power. He has been held [...]

French Justice Minister Rachida Dati engaged in emergency discussions with senior members of the French judiciary on Monday to prevent a threatened judges' revolt. Objections have been raised to what some regard as the authoritarian style the controversial politician has adopted since her appointment by new French President Nicolas Sarkozy ; in the process, Dati [...]

Steve Lamar Fields v. Jill Brown, US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, September 10, 2007 . Read the full text of the opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

A lawyer for US Marine First Lt. Andrew Grayson, an intelligence officer accused of mishandling an investigation into the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians at Haditha , said Monday that Grayson has rejected a plea offer from military prosecutors requiring him to admit attempting to cover up the killings in exchange for prosecutors dropping all [...]

The Dutch government has invited UN representatives to discuss final arrangements for the UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon it has agreed to host to try suspects for the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri , Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said Monday in a letter to the Dutch parliament . The UN delegation [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Brian J. Foley of Drexel University College of Law says that on the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, we should remember that the US government has steadfastly refused to allow investigations that might locate individual blame for this massive security failure… After major tragedies there are two investigative roads to take [...]